The concept of patient confidentiality is nearly as old as the practice of health professions and, has evolved and transformed over the years, from one jurisdiction to the other. Patient confidentiality can be a fundamental human right, an ethical duty or, a legal duty. The Saudi laws have evolved around its Shari’ah-based legal culture, its history and the international human right laws (IHRLs). These elements have moulded the Saudi Arabia’s unique perspective on patient confidentiality. Its confidentiality laws are found scattered in several legislations. Is the Saudi patient confidentiality law able to adequately deal with the contemporary challenges? The study reviewed the relevant Saudi laws in the light the International Humana Rights Laws. Findings suggest that there are issues bordering on the lack of quality comprehensive data protection laws, on clarity and foreseeability of the existing laws, and on the accessibility of the courts. Furthermore, the lack of a system of law reporting and stare decisis potentially gave the judges a wider latitude of discretion in interpreting the laws. Therefore, the study recommends for a comprehensive data protection law with a clear definition of “confidential information”, of data controllers and their role, and of specific safeguards against potential abuses. Others include defining legitimate purposes for using the patient’s data, and his role, and the extent to which he can control the use of his own data. Consistency in legal interpretations, and an improved law reporting system could positively enhance the overall outcome.

Academic entrepreneurship focuses on commercialization of research. Even though it is practiced worldwide for decades, Bangladesh is a newcomer in this segment. In Bangladesh only 2 Universities have Technology Transfer Offices or TTOs which are established with the sole focus of commercialization of researches of the students and the faculty members of the Universities. This article focuses on worldwide practices of technology transfer and academic entrepreneurial activities and also explores the opportunities and challenges of such entrepreneurs through detail investigation of the existing body of knowledge. Apart from exploring the problems and prospect of academic entrepreneurship in Bangladesh, this article also introduces the concept of Full-Service Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO), which existing literatures do not offer. The authors believe that by establishing such KTOs as a self-sustaining body, it is possible for an academic entrepreneur to stimulate, support and sustain their activities in Bangladesh. The concept of full service KTOs can also become models for other nations, specially the developing ones, to establish and nurture a culture of academic entrepreneurship.

The paper analyzes the actions that improve innovativeness in production enterprises in the Silesian province. Innovation is one of the elements that allows to achieve a competitive advantage. It turns out justified to research various factors that are important in improving innovativeness. The research includes selected production enterprises in the Silesian province, adopting the descriptive statistics measures and statistic tests: random sample test, chi-square independence test and the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test based on a survey questionnaire. As part of the most important factors determining the possibilities of innovation by manufacturing companies were detected contacts with other enterprises, R&D centers and counseling institutions, competitive position of the company and creating appropriate incentive systems.

Developing prosperous and inclusive societies requires a reformulation of the business-society nexus toward sustainability. This means that all economically motivated behaviors of firms need to also consider their social and environmental impact, and all social and environmental policies need to also consider their impact on the economy. With the Companies Act 2013, the Indian government adopted a legislative approach to reconfigure the business-society nexus. Mandating what has been considered discretionary elicited an extensive academic debate. We employ Content Configuration Analysis on 70 local and international English-language book chapters, research articles, reports, reviews, and expert commentaries published between 2013 and 2019 to develop a typology of the advantages and disadvantages associated with the Companies Act 2013. We find that, among the large set of arguments for and against the Act, specific arguments extolling its advantages concurrently appear as disadvantages in other texts. This paradox is indicative of the difficulties of satisfying stakeholder expectations, as well as the complexities corporate responsibility programs face in India. By systematizing the opportunities and challenges associated with the Companies Act 2013, we reveal how, similar to China, context and culture influence India’s socioeconomic development trajectory beyond the conventional market economy canon.

American secularisation is considered a exceptional case in the Western world because of, on the one hand, the softer way it seems to have occurred in relation to other Western countries and, on the other, the fusion it seems to have been done among Judeo-Christian traditions into what is known as American civil religion. The point proposed before is problematic and needs to be called into questions under the light of both the revisions made to the secularization theory by scholars such as Casanova through the interpretation of empirical data collected through the world about the religiosity of people and the multiple works made about the use of “sacred” language in American public life. However, this paper takes those problematic dimensions for granted in order to deepened into what can be considered another secular human endeavour endowed with a religious spirit, namely: the spirit of Silicon Valley. This new secular-sacred narrative is not just American but is being exported as a narrative with “Messianic” traces that seems to aspire to embrace the whole world. Thus, this article explores the origins and evolution of this narrative in the United States, on the one hand, and the expansion of what can be considered a “salvation” ideology abroad that country, on the other.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse the dynamic relationship between remittances inflows of Egyptians working abroad and asymmetric oil price shocks. Design: This study uses a vector autoregressive (VAR) model to explain the impulse response functions (IRFs) and the forecast error variance decomposition (FEVD). The rationale behind using these tools is its ability to examine the dynamic effects of our variables of interest. Findings: The impulse response functions confirmed that remittance inflows have various responses to asymmetric oil price shocks. For instance, inflowing remittances increase in response to positive oil price shocks, while it decreases in response to negative oil price shocks. Also, the results indicate that the responses are significant in the short and medium-run and insignificant in the long run. The magnitude of these responses reaches its peak or trough in the third year. Further, the variance decomposition reveals that oil price decreases are more influential than oil price increases. Originality: This means that remittances inflows in Egypt are pro-cyclical with oil price shocks. That explained by the fact that more than one-half of those remittances sent from GCC countries where real economic growth is very pro-cyclical with the oil prices. This empirical assessment will help policymakers to determine the behaviour of remittances and highlights the impact of different kinds of oil prices shocks on remittances. Unlike the little existing literature, this study is the first study applied the VAR model using a novel dataset spanning 1960-2016.

The design, facilities and conditions inside a classroom play a significant role in the teaching and learning experience for both students and lecturers. Prior studies of primary schoolchildren indicate three design principles affecting student learning, namely: naturalness, individualisation and stimulation. The current study extends these investigations to Higher Education through a survey of undergraduate students and university lecturers aimed at determining the most critical factors in undergraduate classroom design. One-to-one interviews were conducted with students and lecturers (n. 31) at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus. Interviewees were encouraged to express their opinions, comments, concerns and suggestions through open-ended questions. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed and coded using NVivo10. Results show a strong desire among lecturers and students for improved classroom equipment, greater flexibility in classroom arrangement, more attractive decoration and for the addition of natural elements to the classroom environment. Of the three design principles, individualisation and naturalness emerged most strongly from the interviews and appear to be more important factors for undergraduates than stimulation. These findings could make a novel and significant contribution to the physical aspects of classroom design in Higher Education settings. Educational institutions are increasingly employing non-traditional classroom designs, which are expected to provide for more flexible, collaborative, and active learning and teaching experiences. Taking into consideration the environmental psychology of teaching and learning, several of the reported design attributes can serve as benchmarks for upgrading current classroom design and facilities in the future, as institutions look to upgrade their physical infrastructures to meet the changing demands of teachers and learners arising from technological innovations and shifts in our understanding of the methods and purposes of Higher Education.

This study explores how to delineate Russian cities in order to make them comparable on the world scale. In doing so we introduce the concept of large urban regions (LUR) applicable to the Russian urban context. This research is motivated by a principal research question: how to construct a statistical urban delineation, which would allow first, to demonstrate integration of cities into globalization, and second, to make global urban comparative research. Previous studies on urban delineation in Russia have focused almost exclusively on functional urban areas, which have substantial limitations and are not suitable for global urban comparisons. Addressing this research gap, we propose a new definition of Large Urban Regions (LUR). In doing so, first, we introduce the context of Russian cities (2), then we discuss existing Russian urban concepts (3), and justify a need for a new urban delineation (4). Afterwards, we present a general method to delineate Large Urban Regions in Russian context (5.1), and illustrate it in the two case studies of St. Petersburg (polycentric region) and Samara (monocentric region) (5.2). In the last part (6), we discuss the 10 the largest urban regions in Russia and describe a constructed database including all Russian LURs.

Since the late 1980s the idea of sustainable development has been gaining widespread recognition as a guiding framework for policies on development and the environment. However, the concept of sustainable development has received a number of criticisms, including its over-emphasis on meeting human needs through economic growth, as well as its failure to recognize dynamic human-environment interactions. In response to these shortfalls, the concepts of resilience and adaptive governance have emerged as alternative perspectives for pursuing sustainable development. Resilience in social-ecological systems emphasizes the capacity of coupled human-environment systems to deal with change while continuing to develop. Adaptive governance relies on diverse and nested institutional mechanisms for connecting actors across multiple scales to manage conflicts and uncertainties in ecosystem management processes. However, the ethical dimensions of resilience and adaptive governance have not received enough attention. A promising ethical perspective for guiding policies on human-environment interactions is the philosophy of deep ecology which highlights the need for recognition of the intrinsic values of all living things, as well as the nurturing of ecological and cultural diversity. We argue that an integration of the principles of deep ecology and adaptive governance provides a complementary set of ethical principles and institutional attributes that offers better prospects for pursuing sustainable development in the era of the Anthropocene. The implications of this integrative agenda include: adoption of a holistic conception of dynamic human-environment interactions; recognition of diverse knowledge systems through an anti-reductionist approach to knowledge; promotion of long term sustainability through respect for ecological and cultural diversity; and embracing decentralization and local autonomy. We further illustrate this integrative agenda using the management of protected areas as a case study.

This study is aimed to explore the environmental risk posed by the unsustainable mining activities in Mulawarman village, East Kalimantan, and articulate the disproportionate impact from the perspective of environmental justice on how mining regulations affect the lives of a vulnerable community. A qualitative comparative analysis based on the legislation and administrative rules on coal mining, and a case study of Mulawarman village were adopted. The information was framed based (participatory) observation, and in-depth interview, and purposively conducted to six selected respondents. The result shows how the laws and regulations disadvantage the community and expose them to unequal treatment. The adverse effects of mining activities change the socio-environmental dynamics in this village. Being the breadbasket in 1997, Mulawarman villagers experience the loss of food self-sufficiency, and turn to the government and mining company for social welfare, and clean water. Also, inconsistent and incomplete regulations pertaining to mining, favor to serve the business interests before the environment and the local community. This results in severe encroachment upon community rights and leads to long-term conflicts between mining companies and local communities, and has weakened the capacity of local authorities to help the affected community to recover their rights.

The growth of sustainable apparels provides grounding for the emergence of a new consumer market. Surprisingly, this movement has not only taken place in developed countries but also in emerging countries. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no systematic reviews have been carried out on sustainable apparels, focused specifically on emerging countries. The goal of this systematic review is to analyse the existing literature on various factors that influence sustainable apparel consumption in emerging countries, as well as presenting future research directions. This detailed literature review is guided by the PRISMA Statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) review method, and its searches encompass sources such as Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases which, in result, identified 19 related studies. Furthermore, the reviewers segregated the factors into four major domains which include value, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and knowledge. The results of this review demonstrate that most customers in the emerging countries have already experienced a growing interest in sustainable apparel with a strong development of knowledge, great concern, values and social circle. In sum, this systematic literature review provides an insightful information about sustainable apparel purchase behaviour and helps academicians, manufacturers and retailers to position and market their sustainable clothing brands.

There has been rampant fold-ups, merger and acquisitions occurring in the Ghanaian banking industry. Then, the questions arise: Is the Ghanaian Financial System in Crisis? This study was conducted to find answers to these problems unsolved with prior literature. A sample of seventy customers of the Royal Bank, 8 employees of the Royal Bank and 2 managers of the Royal Bank were selected for a case-survey. The study also monitored the Trend of the Ghanaian Financial System through the reading and monitoring of daily news on the Financial System and reports of banks. The data from the field and the secondary data from news and reports were analysed symmetrically. The study drew on Minsky’s Financial Crisis Theory to explain the phenomenon in the Ghanaian economy and to draw predictions of what would happen in other developing economies. The study found out that: (1) The Ghanaian financial system is fragile and it holds true for most developing economies; (2) The financial system suffers greatly when the confidence level of customers falls significantly; (3) Management information systems raises the confidence level of customers (borrowers and lenders) such that there is a greater fall and impact in times of instability in the economy; (4) The higher the level of MIS adoption in an unstable economy, the more fragile the Financial System becomes and (5) A higher adoption of Management Information Systems in a Fragile Financial System indirectly contributes to Financial Crisis of the Financial System.

The creative potential of homo sapiens is the biological basis of his spirituality. To take into account factor of spirituality in analysis of global problems of demography and ecology used analogies of chemical kinetics. Stable in the historical time, population of people was modeled by open thermodynamic system, equilibrium state of which depends on climate and geophysics. The demography of creative potential was divided into two geographical zones - north and south. Process of society sapientation was formalized by introducing into logistic equation of Verhulst, in addition to a couple of parents, at least one more teacher from among educated people. Stationary solution of the modified kinetic equations determines optimal demography for sustainable development of population in accordance with its education index. The solution of the demographic, energy and environmental problems of mankind is determined by the level of world creative potential, the growth of which is currently limited by the consumption paradigm.

The article analyses the main aspects of upstream social marketing for implementing of mobile government (MGov). The methodology of current research is based on the systematic literature review in the fields of MGov and social marketing. According to our findings, most researchers investigated MGov from the side of citizens (consumers) and emphasised the benefits to them while changing their attitudes and behaviours in employing mobile applications. However, as there is a lack of the researches from the side of governmental bodies, in this paper, we were contrary looking for new meanings, attitudes and values from their perspective. Limitations of employment of MGov occur due knowledge gap among decision makers and public policy formers (upstream audience). Therefore, we argue that upstream social marketing for the upstream audience would bring the success in faster MGov implementation. Specific social marketing would be mostly valuable on the municipal level that is the closest substance to the society. Thus, in our paper we emphasise the benefit of the MGov for the local upstream audience and propose possible external marketers as well as the motivating theses based on these 7P of marketing mix for the successful MGov on municipal level.

Saudi Arabia is an oil-reliant nation as a large percentage of its GDP comes from oil resources. Oil dependency leaves a county at the mercy of the international crude market, and a decrease in the price of crude can seriously destabilize the economy of such nations. An example is the case of Venezuela whose dependence on oil caused a national disaster (McCarthy, 2017). As such, the nation’s exports, GDP, and government revenue are primarily dependent on oil revenue, and the recent decrease in the oil prices has decreased Venezuela’s national revenue resulting in economic collapse as well as inflation. A shift from a resource based economy to a knowledge based economy will help Saudi Arabia become less reliant on its oil revenues for its economic stability and growth (Nurunnabi, 2017).

Food allergy has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as a chronic disease that could lead to fatality. The symptoms can mediate from mild to severe consequences. Some cases have reported that food allergy sufferers are bullied and are discriminated at workplace, thus increasing their stress level, apart from facing difficulty in consuming certain food due to allergy. This has an adverse effect on the quality of life amongst food allergy sufferers. Medical bills are increased when food allergy sufferers become unknowingly exposed to food allergen. Hence, this study investigated food allergens among food allergy sufferers in order to make their lives better. A total of 250 respondents participated in an online survey. Surprisingly, apart from chicken, soybean and other food allergens that have been listed under the Big Eight Allergens, the respondents mentioned some fruits that could trigger allergic reactions, such as rambutans and watermelons. Food allergy sufferers can be allergic to seafood and seafood products as well, such as shrimp paste or locally known as belacan, which refers to fermented shrimp paste cured under the sun. It is a common food ingredient used among Malaysians. The study findings offer practical insights, such as avoidance of food allergens amidst food allergy sufferers and help the government to carefully manage for menu planning. The knowledge contribution of this study reveals several specific food and fruits, as aforementioned, which appear to be common and nutritious food, yet harmful to food allergy sufferers.

The goal of this study is both to determine the opinion that professors and students at the University of (details removed for peer review) have of active methodologies and to describe the perception and opinion of the modes of organization, methodological focuses, and evaluation systems that define the teaching-learning process. On surveying the professors and the students in their classes, we found significant differences in 32 of the 92 variables in common. The content of these results shows that professors and students are believe they are making progress toward a learning-centered model, that implementation of active methodologies implies new functions in their teaching practice.

The aim of this study was to identify gender differences in technical-tactical behaviour in football. To this end 68 matches of the first division of the Spanish men’s and women´s league, corresponding to 2016/17 season were analyzed. A comparison of medians was carried out using the Mann-Whitney U-test were conducted as post hoc test and a grouping of the variables through the clustering bootstrapping technique in both groups. We have detected statistically significant differences regarding all accurate passes, in favour of men, as well as a greater number of yellow cards. In female football, a greater number of picking up free balls, interceptions, lost balls, recoveries, challenges and attacks, both positional and counterattacks, are produced. The clustering analysis also allowed that in male football, the circumstance of receiving a red card is closely related to the number of goals conceded and most of the shots on goal are achieved by positional attacks. In women's football, ball possession on own half is closely related to the number of losses. These results could be useful for gender-specific training information for optimal preparation. However, more research is warranted to establish the main gender differences and characterize women's football.

The study is to identify motivational factors that lead to collective intelligence and to understand how these factors relate to each other and to innovation capabilities in enterprises. The relationships between each of the sub-factors of the collective intelligence construct with the sub-factor of incremental innovation were examined. The study used the convenience sampling of corporate employees who use collective intelligence from corporate panel members (n=1500). Collective intelligence was found to affect work process, operations, and service innovation. This suggests that as work processes are made more innovative, the more actively collective intelligence is pursued, the greater the improvement in the performance of work processes, work procedures, work efficiency, customer satisfaction, and services. This study provides significant implications for corporations operating collective intelligence services such as online communities. First, such corporations vitalize their services by raising the quality of information and knowledge shared in their communities. Additionally, contribution motivations that take the characteristics of knowledge and information contributors into consideration require further development.The sample for this study was identified through convenience sampling of corporate employees who use collective intelligence from corporate panel members (n=1500). Collective intelligence was found to affect work process, operations, and service innovation. This suggests that as work processes are made more innovative, the more actively collective intelligence is pursued, the greater the improvement in the performance of work processes, work procedures, work efficiency, customer satisfaction, and services. This study provides significant implications for corporations operating collective intelligence services such as online communities. First, such corporations vitalize their services by raising the quality of information and knowledge shared in their communities. Additionally, contribution motivations that take the characteristics of knowledge and information contributors into consideration require further development.

Sustainability, as well as a concept related to a development model, is becoming a real guide to drive the governance choices of value chains. A sustainable policy has the objective of perpetuating production models over time while maintaining the environmental, economic and social dimensions that characterize a given production process. It is therefore important to measure the sustainability of a production system in its environmental, social and economic components and to understand the ongoing trends under the pressure of agricultural policies, market dynamics and innovation pattern introduced along the time in a production system. The purpose of the article is to assess the evolution of the level of sustainability of Parmigiano Reggiano production system under the effect of 20 years of innovation mechanism which impact on product quality, value chain performance and rural development. To this aim the paper discuss a holistic framework that allows the representation of stakeholder’s role considering the value chain and the territorial dimension. The paper discus also the use of dimensional indicators and propose a use of synthetic indexes to provide an overall picture of the evolution of sustainability of specific production system.

This paper investigates the role of English language proficiency (ELP) as a measure of cultural integration on U.S. immigrant families’ economic integration, as measured by annual earnings, and health care market integration, as captured by annual medical care spending. Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation of a mixed bivariate ordered probit (MBOP) model of annual earnings and medical care spending is conducted using a nationally representative pooled cross-sectional sample data from the U.S. National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). The results reveal that limited English proficiency is associated with lower marginal earnings propensities (-$44.83, -$50.66, and -$56.97), and higher marginal medical care spending propensities ($8.09, $6.09, and $4.32) for each of the three decreasing levels of ELP. Furthermore, we find a small yet statistically significant positive 7.2% correlation between immigrant families’ annual earnings and medical care spending propensities. Therefore investing to raise immigrants’ families ELP in the U.S. would not only contribute to more effective socio-economic integration, but also strengthen the U.S. workforce and economy for decades to come.

In recent years, several brands have received much negative press coverage when trying to market their food and drink products specifically at women. This is, in part, because the taste preferences/sensitivities of men and women are actually quite similar. In fact, perhaps the one and only area where consumers are willing to accept (or should that be swallow) ingested products explicitly targeted at women or men is in the case of nutritional foods/supplements. Such products are not really sold on the basis of their taste/flavour anyway. Many consumers are also sensitive to the so-called pink tax, when near-identical products cost more when sold to women rather than to men (e.g., as in the case of female razors). As the four recent examples discussed in this review make clear, it can be difficult to roll-out a new food or beverage product, or else extend a pre-existing product line, that is especially for women without coming across as sexist/condescending. As such, marketers need to tread carefully, otherwise they may end-up generating unwanted negative publicity. Ultimately, therefore, adopting an implicit approach to gender-based marketing, should that be the direction that a brand wants to take, will likely have more chance of avoiding negative publicity than the explicit targeting of food/beverage-related products in what is undoubtedly a highly-politicized area.

This article is about school evaluation. The objective was to explain critically the mediating relationships between educational evaluation and the production of school knowledge from the perspective of the Dialectical Historical Materialism. With this interest, a documentary analysis was made, obtaining as result four explanatory categories: production, subsumption, distribution and exchange of knowledge, which form a concrete totality with distinctions and antagonistic relationships between them, limited by their opposite. It is concluded that the evaluation as a mediating form lacks antagonistic pair and consequently of control by opposition, emerging from the school daily as autonomous and sovereign entity, oppressive of school subjects.

Sustainable development (SD) is essential to reduce and mitigate climate change impacts, environmental deterioration and to increase social sustainability. SD is therefore highly relevant for the engineering profession and is today found integrated with the higher education of specific engineering programs. This paper investigated the knowledge of SD for students entering the master’s program in Sustainable Building Information Management (BIM) by comparing levels of knowledge at the start and end of the first course Sustainability, Analyses and Simulations. The level of knowledge of SD was analyzed by classifying students’ conceptions of sustainability using SOLO taxonomy and the spectrum of liminality and the threshold concept. Students written responses to the question “What do you know about sustainability?” and written group project reports were used for analyzing levels of knowledge of SD. Levels of knowledge of SD was classified as pre (pre-liminal or pre-structural); uni-structural, multi-structural, relational and post-stages (extended abstract or post-liminal). In total, 68% of the students entering the master’s program in 2017 and 88% in 2018 showed a pre-structural, uni-structural and multi-structural SD knowledge. In general, few students entering the program showed relational and post-stages of SD knowledge, 32% and 12% of the students in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The students at the post-stage were able to express themselves more individually and creatively compared to previous levels in that they could connect the dimensions of SD to the context of SD of buildings, but also argue why SD of buildings was important and they could also suggest actions or tools for improved SD that engineers should use. Only one group of five (in 2017) showed a post-stage level of knowledge in the group project report. It is likely that the student’s general approach to the work with the reports was to mainly cope with the course requirements which is a sign of surface approach to learning. It, therefore, seems reasonable that future developments of the course should ensure that the students use the scientific literature in their group project reports to make it easier for them to understand the relationship between software use and the connection to green buildings certificate systems and SD of buildings. By making it mandatory to include scientific literature in the reports the students will be encouraged to read and think critically, and deeper, and to put the practical implementation of the software analysis results into a scientific context of SD and BIM.

The development of major economic sectors can provide the bedrock on which long-lasting national economic prosperity is formed. Iceland’s tourism sector is an example of a rapidly expanded industry in recent years, to the extent that it has become the largest sectoral contributor to the nation’s economy. The growth of the sector has led to a number of sustainability impacts, thus presenting opportunities and challenges in terms of meeting the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. Using the case study of Iceland, this paper aims to advance conceptual understanding of the synergies and trade-offs between a nation’s tourism sector and performance across the 169 targets of the SDGs. Empirical results were derived from four theme-based focus groups, comprised of expert participants, who were tasked with completing scoresheets concerning their perception of the extent of synergies and trade-offs for each target. The majority (126 in number) of the mean scoresheet outcomes for the SDG targets revealed neither synergies nor trade-offs. However, 32 synergies and 11 trade-offs were identified. Many of the target synergies related to new economic opportunities, such as jobs, employment and training for young people. Target trade-offs tended to be environmental and social. In particular, concern was voiced about the greenhouse gas emissions of the Icelandic tourism sector, which derives from international aviation, cruise ships and rental car usage. The outcomes of this study are of particular relevance to tourism companies, policy-makers and governance institutes, all of whom are increasingly endeavouring to link their activities with the fulfilment of the SDGs, maximising synergies, mitigating the extent of any potential trade-offs, and potentially transforming trade-offs into synergies. Furthermore, the results are likely of interest to academics focused on researching the broad sustainability impacts of economic sectors and their contribution to meeting the visionary goals of the SDGs.

Abstract Background: Chronic pain is common among older adults and is associated with adverse physical and psychological outcomes. Given the expected burden and limited healthcare resources, an innovative and cost-effective method to manage chronic pain should be developed. Peer volunteers (PVs) have been used as an affordable alternative to professional services to help patients manage their chronic conditions including pain with success and acceptance. The aim of this paper is to explore the experiences and perceptions of PVs in a peer-led pain management program among nursing home residents. Methods: This longitudinal study formed part of a wider research study, a clustered randomised controlled trial, which investigates the effectiveness of a 12-week peer-led pain management program (PAP) in relieving chronic pain and enhancing pain self-efficacy among nursing home residents. Quantitative data were collected from questionnaires (demographics, pain situation and pain knowledge) for all PVs. Qualitative data (PVs’ experiences in leading the PAP, their perceived benefits, limitations and barriers encountered, its usefulness to the participants and recommendations for improving the PAP) were collected from focus group for a selected sample at baseline (before attending the training) and at week 12 (upon completion of the PAP). Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences and NVivo 8. Results: A total of 46 PVs were recruited (34 female, 74%), with mean±SD age of 61.0±5.1 years. Thirty-one PVs reported to have chronic pain. Before the training, self-rated pain knowledge was 39.1±20.4 (maximum 100 points). When actual pain knowledge was assessed, a mean pain knowledge score of 86.1±10.6 points was found. There was a significant difference between the self-rated pain knowledge and the pain knowledge score (p<0.001). PVs reported to have improvement in their knowledge and skills. No PVs reported negative comments regarding their role in the PAP, although experienced barriers such as communication, space and privacy were reported. Conclusions: This study provides further evidence that peer-led pain management program is feasible. Barriers identified may benefit the design and planning of future PAP. Trial registration: ClincalTrials.gov (NCT03823495), 30 January 2019. (Retrospectively registered).

This paper analyzes the theoretical and pragmatic implications, for international relations and world politics, of the new holistic approach to climate change articulated by Pope Francis in the Encyclical Laudato si’, particularly through the notion “integral ecology”. Far for being just a new chapter in the unfolding process of the “greening” of religions, the document raises in radical terms the issue of the sustainability of the present world system. I contend that the perspective of the Encyclical calls for a radical transformation of international relations, since it puts emphasis on the deep implications of environmental issues on the entire spectrum of security, development, economic and ethical challenges of contemporary world politics. Against this backdrop, I connect the main tenets of the Encyclical to the environmental turn in International Relations Theory and to the new epistemological challenges related to paradigm shift induced by the new planetary condition of the Anthropocene and the questions arising for a justice encompassing the humanity-earth system. Practicing sustainable international relations means exiting the logic of power or hegemony, operationalizing the concept of care.

Vulnerability is the big issue of the small inland urban centers exposed to the risk of depopulation. In the climate and in the context of an increasing seismic risk in the center-northern part of Italy, seismic vulnerability can become the determinant cause of the final abandonment of a small town. In some Italian regions, as well as Emilia Romagna, municipalities are implementing seismic vulnerability reduction policies based on the Emergency Limit Condition that has become a basic reference for ordinary land planning. This study proposes a valuation planning approach to the seismic vulnerability reduction carried out within the general planning framework concerning the Faentina Union, a group of five small towns located in the south-western part of the Province of Ravenna, Italy. The approach consists of three main stages: knowledge – the typological, constructive and technological description of the buildings specifically concerning their vulnerability degree; interpretation – the analyses aimed to outline a range of hypotheses about the damages in case of seism; planning – identifying the works intended to definitely reduce the vulnerability of the buildings. This stage includes a cost modelling tools aimed at outlining the trade-off between the extension and the intensity of the vulnerability reduction works, given the budget.

Tourism, and particularly residential tourism, has led to a change in the urban and demographic model of towns along the European Mediterranean coastline. Water as a limited and limiting resource for the growth of tourism is a popular topic in the scientific literature. However, the incorporation of non-conventional resources (desalination) has meant, in theory, that this limitation has been overcome. The aims of this paper are: a) to identify the different tourism models implanted in this territory and describe them from the point of view of their consumption of water in the demand cycle from 2002 to 2017; b) analyse the hydrosocial cycle, highlighting the measures aimed at satisfying water demand; and c) identify the limitations associated with these hydrosocial systems. To this end, different types of information will be processed, and various complex indicators produced. The results show the importance that demand management and the use of desalinated water in increasing the resilience of this territory to aridity. However, this has generated other problems associated with a tsunami of construction and the continuity of a non-sustainable territorial model.

The aim of the research was getting to know the risk of dependency on physical exercising in individual sportspeople and the relationship with body dissatisfaction and motivation. 225 triathletes, swimmers, cyclists and athletes- with ages going from 18 to 63 years old took part in the research, of which 145 were men (M = 35.57 ±10.46 years) and 80 women (M = 32.83 ±10.31 years). The EDS-R was used to study the dependency on exercising, BSQ to study body dissatisfaction, BREQ-3 to know the motivation of participants and BIAQ to analyse conducts of avoidance to body image. The obtained results show that 8.5% of the subjects had risk of dependency on exercising and that 18.2% tend to have corporal dissatisfaction, without meaningful differences in the kind of sport they practiced. However, there were important differences concerning the dependency on physical exercise (15% vs 4.8%) and body dissatisfaction (31.1% vs 11%) in relation to sex, being the higher percentage referring to women. The introjected regulation and the conduct of food restriction were the predictor variables of the dependency on exercising and corporal dissatisfaction.

Attitudes and behaviours towards the natural environment have been extensively studied in certain cultural settings during the last 40 years. In education, the teacher's ability to grasp the fundamentals of an academic subject may define his or her own attitudes towards that discipline; certainly the reverse is also valid. The correlations between affective and cognitive domains appear to play a significant role in teaching-learning dynamics. In this study we seek to assess whether the affective posture towards school sciences of a cohort of teachers in rural communities shows an association with their cognitive competence in the disciplines. The results of this study provide evidence that there is a statistically significant correlation between the cognitive and affective domains for in-service teachers. The affective domain, therefore, could serve as a predictor for cognitive competency and self-efficacy expectancies with respect to both content and career fulfilment.

Changes brought about by the Internet to Scholarly Communication and the spread of Open Access movement, have made it possible to increase the number of potential readers of published research dramatically. This two-phase study aims, at first, to assert the satisfaction of the potential for increased open access to articles published by authors at the University of Coimbra, in a context when there was no stimulus for the openness of published science other than an institutional mandate set by the University policy on Open Access (“Acesso Livre”). The satisfaction of the access openness was measured by observing the actual archiving behavior of researchers (either directly or through their agents). We started by selecting the top journal titles used to publish the STEM research of the University of Coimbra (2004-2013) by using Thomson Reuters’ Science Citation Index (SCI). These titles were available at the University libraries or through online subscriptions, some of them in open access (21%). By checking the journals' policy at the time regarding self-archiving at the SHERPA/RoMEO service, we found that the percentage of articles in Open Access (OA) could rise to 80% if deposited at Estudo Geral, the Institutional Repository of the University of Coimbra, as prescribed by the Open Access Policy of the University. As we concluded by verifying the deposit status of every single paper of researchers of the University that published in those journals, this potential was far from being fulfilled, despite the existence of the institutional mandate and favorable editorial conditions. We concluded, therefore, that an institutional mandate was not sufficient by itself to fully implement an open access policy and to close the gap between publication and access. The second phase of the study, to follow, will rescan the status of published papers in a context where the Portuguese public funding agency, the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, introduced in 2014 a new significant stimulus for open access in science. The FCT Open Access Policy stipulates that publicly funded published research must be available as soon as possible in a repository of the Portuguese network of scientific repositories, RCAAP, which integrates the Estudo Geral.

In relation to organizational performance measurement, there is a growing concern about the creation of value for people, society and the environment. The traditional corporate reporting does not adequately satisfy the information needs of stakeholders for assessing an organization’s past and future potential performance. Practitioners and scholars have developed new non-financial reporting frameworks from a social and environmental perspective, giving birth to the field of Integrated Reporting (IR). The Economy for the Common Good (ECG) model and its tools to facilitate sustainability management and reporting can provide a framework to do it. The present study is the first one that empirically validates such metrics on a sample of 206 European firms. Consequently, it allows knowledge to advance as it checks their statistical validity and reliability.

Nowadays, environmental circumstances and business rules of organizations are complicate, active and uncertain, so, they cannot assurance their long- term survival through some actions such as, structural changes and methods or relying on creativity of some people in organization. Companies and organizations should prepare conditions to institutionalize entrepreneurial culture in their organization. Corporate entrepreneurship can improve the value of the organization. The entrepreneurial oriented organizations are more responsive for environment and market changes. Opportunity recognition is the base of being successful. The research is applied and in terms of method is descriptive. Data were analyzed, using Linear Regression and Multiple Moderated Regression (MMR) and SPSS software. In this research the effects of organizational entrepreneurship (innovation, proactiveness and risk-taking) on performance of the centers influenced by environmental factors (government’s strategies, competitiveness and technology) as moderating variables, were studied. Furthermore, the study presents that there is a significant positive relationship between organizational entrepreneurship and performance. Although the study does not show any significant moderating effect of environmental factors (Government’s strategies, competitiveness and technology) on the relationship between organizational entrepreneurship and performance, however, the result of the study manifests direct relationship between environmental factors and performance of such centers.

Preparing high school students for engineering disciplines is crucial for sustainable scientific and technological developments in the USA. This paper discusses a pre-college program, which not only exposes students to various engineering disciplines but also enables them to consider engineering as the profession. The four-week long “Engineering Innovation (EI)” course is offered every year to high school students by the center of outreach, Johns Hopkins University. EI program is designed to develop problem-solving skills through extensive hands-on engineering experiments. A team consisting of an instructor, generally a PhD in Engineering, and a teaching fellow, generally a high school science teacher, closely work with students to pedagogically inculcate basics of core engineering disciplines such as civil, mechanical, electrical, materials, and chemical engineering. EI values independent problem-solving skills and simultaneously promote the team spirit among students. A number of crucial engineering aspects such as professional ethics, communications, technical writing, and understanding of common engineering principles are inculcated among high school students via well-designed individual and group activities. This paper discusses the model of EI program and its impact on students learning and their preparation for the engineering career.

Health of migrant is a widely studied topic. It has been argued that migrant health may deteriorate over time. Though migrants are ‘a hard to reach’ population in survey data, this paper builds on a unique dataset provided by Médecins du Monde from five countries. We study self perceived health (SPH) in connection with socio-economic and demographic factors and length of stay. Results show different results for men and women. Asylum seekers compared to other documented migrants have a worse health. Migrants with better living conditions tend to be in better health. Employment and stable accommodation has a positive effect on SPH. Women from poorer countries have a better physical SPH after 3 months of residing in the host country. This paper contributes widely to knowledge of health of migrants. Contrarily to other evidence, health of migrants tends to improve for some migrants.

We analyze real telematics information for a sample of drivers with usage-based insurance policies. We examine the statistical distribution of distance driven above the posted speed limit – which presents a strong positive asymmetry – using quantile regression models. We find that, at different percentile levels, the distance driven at speeds above the posted limit depends on total distance driven and, more generally, on such factors as the percentages of urban and nighttime driving and on the driver’s gender. However, the impact of these covariates differs according to the percentile level. We stress the importance of understanding telematics information, which should not be limited to simply characterizing average drivers, but can be useful for signaling dangerous driving by predicting quantiles associated with specific driver characteristics. We conclude that the risk of driving long distances above the speed limit is heterogeneous and, moreover, we show that prevention campaigns should target primarily male, non-urban drivers, especially if they present a high percentage of nighttime driving.

While some researchers have suggested that the self-employment (SE) sector is a haven during a financial Crisis, others believe that SE is not necessarily the desired outcome, but an indicator that the labor market is tightening for some groups. Few researchers have compared the SE sector before and after the occurrence of a significant financial Crisis, especially in developed countries. This paper analyzes the determinants of entry into self-employment during the 2008 Spanish Crisis. Using data from the Encuesta de Presupuesto Familiar (EPF), results show that although the rate of SE did not experience a significant change during this time the Crisis affected people differently based on gender, with being females more affected than males. Results also suggest differences between Comunidades Autonomas in how the self-employment sector behaved during the Crisis.

The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale in the context of outdoor physical activities. In order to do this, we carried out a research in some Primary and Secondary school l located in western Andalucía (Spain), with kids aged 9-12 years old [M= 11.22; SD= 1.07), therefore a sample of 455 students (228 boys= 50.1% 227 girls = 49.9% = 50.1) was used]. Descriptive, exploratory and confirmatory analyses were conducted. We also analyzed several factors such as internal consistency, composite reliability, average variance extracted and convergent validity. Afterwards, differences by gender and school year were also studied. Data showed the need to eliminate many of the items from the original scale, giving as a result a model of 5 items with satisfactory fit in the confirmatory analysis. The ANOVA statistical test carried out in terms of sex and school year didn’t show any tangible difference between the target groups.

Abstract：Commuting of residents in big city often brings tidal traffic pressure or congestions. Understanding the causes behind this phenomenon is of great significance for urban space optimization. Various spatial big data make possible the fine description of urban residents travel behaviors, and bring new approaches to related studies. The present study focuses on two aspects: one is to obtain relatively accurate features of commuting behaviors by using mobile phone data, and the other is to simulate commuting behaviors of residents through the agent-based model and inducing backward the causes of congestion. Taking the Baishazhou area of Wuhan, a local area of a mega city in China, as a case study, travel behaviors of commuters are simulated: the spatial context of the model is set up using the existing urban road network and by dividing the area into travel units; then using the mobile phone call detail records (CDR) of a month, statistics of residents' travel during the four time slots in working day mornings are acquired and then used to generated the OD matrix of travels at different time slots; and then the data are imported into the model for simulation. By the preset rules of congestion, the agent-based model can effectively simulate the traffic conditions of each traffic intersection, and can also induce backward the causes of traffic congestion using the simulation results and the OD matrix. Finally, the model is used for the evaluation of road network optimization, which shows evident effects of the optimizing measures adopted in relieving congestion, and thus also proves the value of this method in urban studies.

This paper evaluates the determinants of decision making in relation to the production of four crops (banana, cassava, potato and sweet potato). Understanding the division of labour and decision-making in crop management may lead to designing better interventions targeted at improving efficiency in smallholder agriculture. A household quantitative survey with heads of households involving 261 women and 144 men in Burundi and 184 women and 222 men in Rwanda was conducted in 2014. Most of the decisions and labour provision during production of both cash crops (potato and banana) and food crops (sweet potato and cassava) were done jointly by men and women in male-headed households. Higher values for ‘credit access’, ‘land size’ and ‘farming as the main occupation of the household head’ increased the frequency of joint decision-making in male-headed households. A decline in the amount of farm income reduced the participation of men as decision makers. A reduction in total household income and proximity to the market was correlated with joint decision making. Gender norms also contributed to the lower participation of women in both decision-making and labour provision in banana and potato cultivation. Although a large proportion of decisions were made jointly, women perceived that men participate more in decision-making processes within the household during the production of cash crops. Increased participation by women in decision-making will require an active and practical strategy which can encourage adjustments to existing traditional gender norms that recognise men as the main decision-makers at both the household and community levels.

The framework of product life cycle (PLC) cost analysis is one of the most important evaluation tools for a contemporary high-tech company in an increasingly competitive market environment. The PLC-purchasing strategy provides the framework for a procurement plan and examines the sourcing strategy of a firm. The marketing literature emphasizes that ongoing technological change and shortened life cycles are important elements in commercial organizations. From a strategic viewpoint, the vendor has an important position between supplier, buyer and manufacturer. The buyer seeks to procure the products from a set of vendors to take advantage of economies of scale and to exploit opportunities for strategic relationships. However, previous studies have seldom considered vendor selection (VS) based on PLC cost (VSPLCC) analysis. The purpose of this paper is to solve the VSPLCC problems considering the situation of a single-buyer-multiple-supplier. For this issue, a new VSPLCC procurement model and solution procedure are derived by this paper to minimize net cost, rejection rate, late delivery and PLC cost subject to vendor capacities and budget constraints. Moreover, a real case in Taiwan is provided to show how to solve the VSPLCC procurement problem.

Currently the rapid growth of global economy has the competition among high-tech industries develop from regional to global, and the competition becomes fierce. In face of such fierce competition in global high-tech industry, it is realized that tangible assets could no longer be the differentiation basis, but intangible assets are regarded as the differentiation capital. An enterprise with sustainable innovation would dominate the world market and enhance the international competitiveness of domestic economy. When internal entrepreneurial culture is prevalent, an enterprise would naturally promote the innovation capability. Such a point of view also explains more popular of the innovative products or services of some enterprises than those with larger scales. Aiming at employees in high-tech industry in Guanxi Province, total 500 copies of questionnaire are randomly distributed, and 337 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 67%. The research results reveal significantly positive correlations between 1.entrepreneurial culture and sustainable innovation capability, 2.sustainable innovation capability and patent, and 3.entrepreneurial culture and patent. According to the results, suggestions are proposed, expecting to explain how a high-tech business outperforms in the changeable digital era and acquires the sustainable innovation capability and patent to grasp the opportunity.

The coexistence of human beings and environmental sustainability becomes individually and even globally concerned issue. In addition to environment issues, people also encounter negative issues of infectious diseases, gap between rich and poor, violence in society, uneven resource distribution, people’s health decline, and population structure aging, which would affect the sustainable development of cities. When taking sustainable development from the world to cities, it appears sustainable cities. The goal of a healthy city is to pursue the sustainability of a city. Aiming at residents in Shanghai, total 360 copies of questionnaire are distributed, and 277 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 77％. The research results conclude that 1.“safety” is the most emphasized dimension, followed by “convenience & prosperity”, “sustainable ecology”, “vitality & health”, and “culture friendly” and 2.security, Internet city, pollution control, space use, and inheritance education are top five indicators, among 15 evaluation indicators. According to the results, suggestions are proposed to provide the government with correct, objective, and simply understandable healthy city indicators and sustainable development indicators for the appropriate planning and review of the administration objectives to enhance the public awareness of healthy city and the participation. It would stop the worsening of environment and promote residents’ health and the sustainable development of cities to have the city and the public moving towards healthy development.

Responsible innovation combines philanthropic and economic aspects and it is common to refer to entrepreneurs who lead it as "social entrepreneurs". The present study of 100 Mexican SMEs, provides knowledge of exploratory nature about what the models of organization are conducive to SMEs in the generation and development of responsible innovations. Through the statistical technique of cluster analysis, this study identified and characterized four models of organization according to the level of social entrepreneurship reached: (1) “The techno-scientific organization”, (2) “The techno-social organization”, (3) “The capitalist-social organization” and (4) “The capitalist organization”. While in Europe the dominant discourse about responsible innovation focuses on the control of the risk of social rejection of the advance of science and technology; in contexts such as the Mexican, the phenomenon is configured as the mechanism through which entrepreneurs articulate its technological and scientific capabilities to solve priority and specific problems of the society, however, the social impact does not crucially affect their business initiatives. The techno-scientific organization (50% of studied SMEs) is proposed as the model of organization with greater viability for Mexican entrepreneurs.

This article presents the study of religious pluralism and decolonization of Indian mind in Russia. The paper analyzes the investigation results concerning psychological features of modern Indian students from universities in Russia and India. For measuring of connection between religious pluralism and decolonization of Indian mind we made socio-psychological investigation of Indian students. We made 254 semi-structured interview with Indian students who are studying in Russia and India. According to the result of investigation that decolonization of Indian mind is connected with the level of religious pluralism. Among the values principles of religious pluralism get more significance and importance in decolonizing mind of Indian students.

A common motivation for increasing open access to research findings and data is the potential to create economic benefits – but evidence is patchy and diverse. This study systematically reviewed the evidence on what kinds of economic impacts (positive and negative) open science can have, how these comes about, and how benefits could be maximized. Use of open science outputs often leaves no obvious trace, so most evidence of impacts is based on interviews, surveys, inference based on existing costs, and modelling approaches. There is indicative evidence that open access to findings/data can lead to savings in access costs, labour costs and transaction costs. There are examples of open science enabling new products, services, companies, research and collaborations. Modelling studies suggest higher returns to R&D if open access permits greater accessibility and efficiency of use of findings. Barriers include lack of skills capacity in search, interpretation and text mining, and lack of clarity around where benefits accrue. There are also contextual considerations around who benefits most from open science (e.g. sectors, small vs larger companies, types of dataset). Recommendations captured in the review include more research, monitoring and evaluation (including developing metrics), promoting benefits, capacity building and making outputs more audience-friendly.

Model selection and model averaging have been the popular approaches in handling modelling uncertainties. Fan and Li(2006) laid out a unified frame work for variable selection via penalized likelihood. The tuning parameter selection is vital in the optimization problem for the penalized estimators in achieving consistent selection and optimal estimation. Since the OLSpost-LASSO estimator by Belloni and Chernozhukov (2013), few studies have focused on the finite sample performances of the class of OLS post-penalty estimators with the tuning parameter choice determined by different tuning parameter selection approaches. We aim to supplement the existing model selection literature by studying such a class of OLS post-selection estimators. Inspired by the Shrinkage Averaging Estimator (SAE) by Schomaker(2012) and the Mallows Model Averaging (MMA) criterion by Hansen (2007), we further propose a Shrinkage Mallows Model Averaging (SMMA) estimator for averaging high dimensional sparse models. Based on the Monte Carlo design by Wang et al. (2009) which features an expanding sparse parameter space as the sample size increases, our Monte Carlo design further considers the effect of the effective sample size and the degree of model sparsity on the finite sample performances of model selection and model averaging estimators. From our data examples, we find that the OLS post-SCAD(BIC) estimator in finite sample outperforms most of the current penalized least squares estimators as long as the number of parameters does not exceed the sample size. In addition, the SMMA performs better given sparser models. This supports the use of the SMMA estimator when averaging high dimensional sparse models.

We find that the overnight returns of Korean exchange-traded index funds (ETFs) are significantly positive, whereas the subsequent intraday returns are negative. These intraday return reversals are caused by relatively higher opening prices than the closing prices. In the Korean ETF market, where institutional investors are dominant participants, the return reversals are not explained by the attention hypothesis as in Berkman et al. [1]. Hence, we investigate whether the disagreement hypothesis can explain return reversals. Under the disagreement situations between positive and negative traders at the open, positive traders can have a positive influence on the ETF prices by increasing their investments. However, negative traders, who give up investments due to limited short selling opportunities in the ETF market, have no effects on the prices. Comparing ETF markets with KOSPI 200 Futures where there are no restrictions on short selling, we find that short selling constraints are significant factors for the return reversals. This implies that disagreement among the investors can cause return reversals even in the markets without noise traders. Using unique Korean market data, we conclude that return reversals cannot be completely explained by the attention hypothesis, and that disagreement among investors is also a significant factor for the return reversals. This study contributes to the existing literature by showing that the attention hypothesis does not explain return reversals in the ETF market completely, and suggesting the disagreement hypothesis as an alternative.

This paper investigates and explores the minor crops production in Pakistan and its association with the agricultural gross domestic product. The agriculture sector of Pakistan has a rich contribution to the economic growth and development. Like major crops; minor crops also have a vital role to boost up the agriculture sector. Time span data was used in this study and it was collected from the Economy Survey of Pakistan annual reports. Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) unit root test and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method was used to analyze the data and results were interpreted by employing the Johansen co-integration test. Study results reveal that bajra, barely and jowar has a significant impact on the agricultural gross domestic product, while the total cropped area has a negative impact on AGDP. On the basis of the study results, we recommend the policy implications.

The advantageous location, port clusters, strong economic strength, developed financial system, rational and orderly urban division of labor and modern industrial system of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao greater bay area provide sustainable driving force for innovation activities in this region. This paper selected the Gini-coefficient, first degree index and concentration index to measure the spatial pattern characteristics of innovation output in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao greater bay area. The results show that the innovation output presented a spatial pattern of center-periphery in the study region with Shenzhen and Guangzhou as the dual centers and engines of innovation and Dongguan and Foshan as the main innovative areas. Further empirical analysis of the impact of various factors on innovation output in the study region found that R&D expenditure, the number of R&D personnel, the level of economic development and industrial structure all have significant promoting effects on innovation output. Accordingly, this paper put forward countermeasures and suggestions to promote the innovative development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao greater bay area and build a world-class scientific and technological innovation bay area.

This study aims to identify the factors determining the income of forestry household in South Korea. We examine an empirical analysis using 3-year panel data conducted by the Korea Forest Service charged with maintaining South Korea's forest lands. The hypothesized factors determining the income of forestry household are classified into four types of assets and three types of livelihood strategies. We divided the income of forestry household (IFH) into three elements: forestry income (FI), non-forestry income (NFI), and transfer income (TI). We assessed the influences of household assets and livelihood strategies on each income. A random effect model was used as a statistical analysis with valid 979 of forestry household for three years. We found that household head's age, labor hours, savings, business category, cultivated land size, and region are significantly associated with IFH. Also, FI is influenced by labor capacity, cultivated size, business category, forestry business portfolio, and region while NFI is determined by household head's age, household head's gender, forestry business portfolio, and savings. TI is affected by household head's age, household head's education level, forestry business portfolios, savings, and region. The effect sizes and directions vary across different types of income (IFH, FI, NFI, and TI). The findings show that forestry in South Korea is highly dependent on sustainable assets and strategies. It is therefore expected that the effectiveness of forest policies to increase the income of forestry household would be differed by the source of each income. The results of this study draw attention to the need for an income support policy that should consider the characteristics of household assets and livelihood strategies in order to enhance IFH in South Korea.

Inequality of health service for different specialty categories not only occurs in different areas inequality of health service for different specialty categories in the world, but also happens in the online service platform. In the online health community (OHC), health service was often of inequality for different specialty categories, including both online views and medical consultation for offline registered service. Moreover, how the factor city-level impacts the inequality of health service in OHC is still unknown.   We designed a causal inference study with data on distributions of serviced patients and online views in over 100 distinct specialty categories on one largest OHC in China. To derive the causal effect of the city-levels (two levels inducing 1 and 0) on the Gini coefficient, we matched the focus cases in cities of rich healthcare resources with the potential control cities. For the Gini coefficient of serviced patients in over 100 specialty categories, the average treatment effect of level-1 cities is 0.470, which is 0.029 higher than that of the matched group. Similarly, for the Gini coefficient of online views, the average treatment effect of Level-1 cities is 0.573, which is 0.016 higher than that of the matched group. For each of the specialty categories, we also estimated the average treatment effect the specialty category’s Gini coefficient ( ) with the balanced covariates. The results support the argument that the total Gini coefficient of all the doctors in OHC shows that the inequality of health service is still very serious. This study contributes to the development of the theoretically grounded understanding of the causal effect of city-level on the inequality of health service in an online to offline healthcare service setting.

In this communication, we clarified the factors affecting the nonmarket fruit and vegetable (FV) receiving frequency. For Survey 1, we conducted a cross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire for men aged 50—74 in city (A) in Gunma, Japan. Participants were asked questions regarding FV receiving frequency, FV gardening, social cohesion (4 to 20 points), and basic characteristics. For Survey 2, a similar survey was conducted for residents aged 20—74 in three areas in city (B) in Gunma, but we added more variables. For analysis, ordinal logistic regression models were used. In the survey 1, 243 participants were used for analysis. As a result, FV receiving frequency was positively associated with non-gardeners, and social cohesion. In Survey 2, 791 participants were used for analyses. For Survey 2, vegetable receiving frequency was positively associated with rural and suburban area, family structure, employment status, and non-farmers. The relationship between receiving frequency and social cohesion was similar to that found in Survey 1. In conclusion, in areas where FV cultivation flourished, it appears easy to obtain FV through the social networks of receiving, even for those who are not cultivating themselves.

This research is part of the Doctoral thesis "Perceptions of university professors on Health Promotion and Sustainability: a research proposal based on Health Promoting Universities (HPU) / World Health Organization (WHO) ", University Fernando Pessoa (UFP) / Porto - Portugal, authored by Ivaní Nadir Carlotto: (1) Background: Universities are essential institutions for health promotion (HP). Bioethics, as a transversal discipline, seeks to analyse and systematise these values in an ethical way, strengthening the synergy between health and HP. Ecological models are a possibility to develop health actions in a holistic, sustainable and salutogenic way, stimulating positive aspects related to ethics, well-being and quality of life; (2) Methods: Exploratory-descriptive methodology and quantitative-qualitative approach. Sample: Teachers from 9 higher education institutions (HEI), random sample, probabilistic for convenience, CI = 95%, n = 1400 persons; (3) Results: Production of 6 main components through Factorial Analysis categorized and interpreted by Qualitative Content Analysis and MAXQDA® software; (4) Conclusions: Universities function as research and learning venues to strengthen HP's activities. Bioethics and HP aim to build qualified actions in health, to defend and promoting well-being, quality of life, equity, inclusion, sustainability and social justice, with the proper conceptual clarity that distinguishes it.

This study aims to examines three elements shape leadership in Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory as a relationship and process. LMX quality is important for the company, because it relates to employee behavior and attitudes, including improving employee performance. The research method applied literature review using description logic and systematics. In this article the theory will be observed specially the effect of LMX on employee performance and antecedents of LMX. The results of the study found that the effect of LMX quality on performance is determined by the characteristics of the task as antecedent LMX in the company.

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology have developed a learning concept for school classes in science centres named ‘learning trails’. In this concept, groups of students perform a series of thematically related experiments with installations in the science centre. The learning trails are designed to support the generic learning outcomes for science centre visits. We argue for using the previously developed Engagement Profile in an indicator to determine both media forms and generic learning outcomes for such learning concepts. Further, we implemented the learning trails in two modes: one mode used paper-based content to guide the students, while the other mode supported the use of tablet PCs where engaging content is triggered when the students approach the location of an experiment in the learning trail. We studied the engagement factors of the learning trails and observed how school classes use these. In a study with 113 students from lower secondary school, they answered short questionnaires that were integrated into the implementation of the learning trails. While the concept of the learning trails was evaluated positively, we could not find significant differences in how engaging the two implemented modes were.

In social & health sciences, many statistical procedures and estimation techniques rely on the underlying distributional assumption of normality of the data. Non-normality may lead to incorrect statistical inferences. This study evaluates the performance of selected normality tests on the stringency framework for the skewed alternative space. Stringency concept allows us to rank the tests uniquely. Bonett & Seier test (T_w) turns out to be the best statistics for slightly skewed alternatives and the Anderson-Darling (AD), Chen-Shapiro (CS), Shapiro-Wilk (W) and Bispo, Marques, & Pestana, (BCMR) statistics are the best choices for moderately skewed alternative distributions. Maximum loss of Jarque-Bera (JB) and its robust form (RJB), in terms of deviations from the power envelope, is greater than 50% even for large sample sizes which makes them less attractive in testing the hypothesis of normality against the moderately skewed alternatives. On balance, all selected normality tests except T_w and COIN performed exceptionally well against the highly skewed alternative space.

Universities are essential institutions for health promotion (HP). Bioethics, as a transversal discipline, seeks to analyse and systematise these values in an ethical way, strengthening the synergy between health and health promotion. Ecological models are a possibility to develop health actions in a holistic, sustainable and salutogenic way, stimulating positive aspects related to ethics, well-being, quality of life and happiness. Research with exploratory-descriptive methodology and quantitative-qualitative approach. Sample: University professors from the Rio Grande do Sul, random sample, probabilistic for convenience, CI = 95%, n = 1400 people. The research approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Hospital das Clínicas of Porto Alegre (HCPA), Brazil, Ethics Committee of the University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Porto, Portugal. Universities function as research and learning venues to strengthen HP's activities. Bioethics and HP aim to build qualified actions in health, to defend and promoting well-being, quality of life, equity, inclusion, sustainability and social justice, with the proper conceptual clarity that distinguishes it.

The digital format opens up new possibilities for interaction with monographic publications. In particular, annotation tools make it possible to broaden the discussion on the content of a book, to suggest new ideas, to report errors or inaccuracies, and to conduct open peer reviews. However, this requires the support of the users who might not yet be familiar with the annotation of digital documents. This paper will give concrete examples and recommendations for exploiting the potential of annotation in academic research and teaching. After presenting the annotation tool of Hypothesis, the article focuses on its use in the context of HIRMEOS (High Integration of Research Monographs in the European Open Science Infrastructure), a project aimed to improve the Open Access digital monograph. The general line and the aims of a post-peer review experiment with the annotation tool, as well as its usage in didactic activities concerning monographic publications are presented and proposed as potential best practices for similar annotation activities.

This paper constructs a model of climate-related damage for small island developing states (SIDS). We focus on the loss of private productive capital stocks through extreme climate events. In contrast to most economic analyses of climate impacts, which assume temperature-dependent damage functions, we draw on the engineering literature to allow for a greater or lesser degree of anticipation of climate change when designing capital stocks and balancing current adaptation expenditure against future loss & damage. We apply the model to tropical storm damage in the small island developing state of Barbados and show how anticipatory behavior changes the damage to infrastructure for the same degree of climate change. Thus, in the model, damage depends on behavior as well as climate variables.

Along with the advantages associated with access to information and fast communication, screen time from increased digital media consumption has recently been associated with adverse effects on youth well-being. To get a clearer picture of its value for global youth based sustainability initiatives, this study investigates the effects of increased digital media consumption on youth's interests in ecosystem services, sustainability and science as a means for disease prevention. We achieve this, using data on 187821 adolescent students from 50 countries worldwide. Methodologically, we rely on a mixed bivariate ordered probit representation of youth's joint interest in the biosphere (ecosystem services and sustainability) and science as a means for disease prevention, which we then estimate using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) Methods.  We found that each level increase in adolescent students' reported frequency of news blogs visits and web browsing on broad science adversely affect their interests in ecosystem services, sustainability and science as a means for disease prevention. Although each level increase in youth's frequency of ecological website visits also reduces by 20% (with 95% CI [-0.36; -0.32]) their interests in the biosphere, it is found to increase however by 3% (with 95% CI [0.02; 0.05]) their interest science as a means for disease prevention. Overall, our results highlight heterogeneous effects of digital media consumption on adolescents' well-being in terms of their interests in ecosystem services, sustainability, and science as a means for disease prevention.

Relying on the USA, Canada and Mexico extract from the cross-national data sample on the environmental affection and cognition of adolescent students (Niankara, 2019), along with seemingly unrelated bivariate weighted ordered probit regression modeling (Niankara and Zoungrana, 2018), this study reports on the convergence of technological awareness and expectations within the context of international trade. We achieve this by adopting a regional perspective in investigating the effects of affective, cognitive and situational factors on youth's awareness and expectations about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and nuclear power technology (NPT) within the North American free trade block. Identification of model parameters is achieved using maximum simulated likelihood methods. The findings show that although it has been over 20 years as of 2015 that USA, Canada, and Mexico ratified the north American free trade agreement (NAFTA), the diffusion of technology and information within the trade block has not succeeded in homogenizing awareness and expectations about GMOs and Nuclear power technology, as observed in the youth population across the three countries. Indeed, with regards to technological awareness, compared to youth from the USA, those from Canada show 15% (GMOs) and 7.1% (NPT) more awareness respectively; while those in Mexico are respectively 34.4% and 19.5% less aware about GMOs and NPT. With respect to technological expectations, compared to youth from the USA, those from Canada and Mexico are respectively 34.4% and 39.9% more optimistic about GMOs, while 15% and 49.7% more optimistic about NPT. Overall, youth within NAFTA country members are respectively 2.5% and 6.7% more optimistic about GMOs and NPT for every level increase in their awareness about the two technologies.

Relying on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) extract from the cross-national data sample on the environmental affection and cognition of adolescent students, and seemingly unrelated bivariate weighted ordered probit regression modeling, this study adopts a national perspective to investigate the determinants of adolescent students' awareness and expectations about nuclear power technology and nuclear waste in the UAE. Identification of model parameters is achieved through maximum simulated likelihood estimation. The findings show that each level increase in UAE youth's interest in ecosystem services and sustainability raises their awareness of nuclear electrical power and nuclear waste by 13.5%, while reducing by 2.4% their level of optimism towards the technology. Furthermore, we find significant heterogeneity in youth awareness and expectations about nuclear power technology across the seven Emirates. Accounting for all other factors (including interest in ecosystem services), UAE youth awareness about nuclear electrical power technology appears to not significantly influence their expectations about the evolution of this technology for the next 20 years. Given that the UAE first nuclear power plant ``Barakah'' is scheduled to start operations end of 2019 beginning 2020, and the typical long life-span of nuclear wastes, our results provide important insights for developing sustainable nuclear energy policies and establishing a long-term nuclear energy program in the UAE.

XGBoost is recognized as an algorithm with exceptional predictive capacity. Models for a binary response indicating the existence of accident claims vs. no claims can be used to identify the determinants of traffic accidents. We compare the relative performances of logistic regression and XGBoost approaches for predicting the existence of accident claims using telematics data. The dataset contains information from an insurance company about individuals’ driving patterns – including total annual distance driven and percentage of total distance driven in urban areas. Our findings show that logistic regression is a suitable model given its interpretability and good predictive capacity. XGBoost requires numerous model-tuning procedures to match the predictive performance of the logistic regression model and greater effort as regards interpretation.

Markets dominate the world’s food systems. Today’s food systems fail to realize the normative foundations of ecological economics: justice, sustainability, efficiency, and value pluralism. I argue that markets, as an institution for governing food systems, hinder the realization of these objectives. Markets allocate food toward money, not hunger. They encourage shifting costs on others, including nonhuman nature. They rarely signal unsustainability, and in many ways cause it. They do not resemble the efficient markets of economic theory. They organize food systems according to exchange value at the expense of all other social, cultural, spiritual, moral, and environmental values. I argue that food systems can approach the objectives of ecological economics roughly to the degree that they subordinate market mechanisms to social institutions that embody those values. But such “embedding” processes, whether through creating state policy or alternative markets, face steep barriers and can only partially remedy food markets’ inherent shortcomings. Thus, ecological economists should also study, promote, and theorize non-market food systems.

Background User fee exemption for maternal and child health care service policy was introduced with a focus on providing free caesarean sections (CS) in Nigeria from 2011 to 2015. This policy had a positive impact on access to facility-based delivery, but its effect on socioeconomic and geographical inequality remains unclear. This study’s main objective is to examine access to birth by CS in the context of free maternal health care. Specifically, the study examines socio-demographic and geographical inequality in access to birth by CS among women who gave birth between 2011 and 2015 under the free maternal health care policy using a population-based survey data obtained from two of the six main regions of the country. Methods Data were obtained from 1227 women who gave birth during the period the policy was in operation selected using cluster random sampling between May and August 2016. Adjusted and unadjusted binary logistic regression models were used to examine whether there is socio-demographic and geographical inequality in access to birth by caesarean section. Results The overall caesarean section rate of 6.1% was found but varies by income (14.1% in monthly income of over $150 versus 4.9% in income of $150 and below), education (11.8% in women with higher education versus 3.9% among women with secondary education and less) and place of residence (7.8% in urban areas versus 3.6% in rural areas). Women who earn a monthly income of $150 or less were 48% less likely to have a birth by CS compared to those who earn more. Compared to women who were educated to tertiary level, women who had secondary education or less were 54% less likely to have birth by caesarean section. Conclusion This study shows that inequality in access to CS persists despite the implementation of free maternal health care services. Given the poor access to facilities with capabilities to offer CS in most rural areas, free maternal healthcare policy is not enough to make birth by CS universally accessible to all pregnant women in Nigeria.

Analyses of the Environmental Kuznet's Curve (EKC) hypothesis have largely focused on economy level data with occasional analyses exploring sector level data. This paper exploits a new data set which contains sector level data on greenhouse gas emissions from the US energy sector as well as subsector data from six disjoint subsectors which together comprise the entire energy sector. The data contained in this data set is annual data at the state level from 1990 through 2011. A battery of EKC models are tested and some evidence supporting the EKC hypothesis is found for the US energy sector and its subsectors. We find that aggregated subsector level estimates outperform sector level estimate on in-sample accuracy. These estimated models are then used to forecast emissions for the energy sector. We find that EKC estimations for the energy sector as a whole are consistently lower than aggregated subsector EKC estimates. Addressing the title, we find limited evidence at best that US greenhouse gas emissions are at or near a peak.

Intercultural education can be seen as a cornerstone in the sustainability of the current culturally diverse society. In addition, through the establishment of policies and strategies to reverse situations of discrimination and exclusion, there is a consensus on the importance of the social inclusion of groups at risk of exclusion. In this context, actions are suggested to reverse high dropout rates and school failure within the Roma population. The aim of this systematic review in the educational context is to analyze investigations of programs and interventions that have been made to promote the educational inclusion of Roma students. Three databases are used, Scopus, Web of Science, and Eric, to examine 419 articles, which after a selection, based on an inclusion criterion which follows the guidelines given by the Declaration PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes), 17 articles were chosen for the analysis. The main findings shed light on data for programs and interventions developed mostly within the school setting and for students of elementary and secondary education. These programs provide answers for the molding of intercultural education and the policies for educational inclusion of Roma people.

In recent years, it has become common for individuals to juggle employment and unpaid care work. This is just as true for the England-based academic workforce, our focus in this article. We discuss how, in the context of English HE, support for carers is enacted and negotiated through policies and practices of care. Our focus on academics with a diverse range of caring responsibilities is unusual insofar as the literature on care in academia is overwhelmingly concerned with parents, usually mothers. The article is informed primarily by critical and post-structuralist feminist perspectives. We draw on a corpus of 47 interviews conducted with academics representing a broad range of caring responsibilities, subjects, and positions. A thematic analysis reveals how carers’ relationship with the provision and policies of care support at institutional level is characterised by ambiguity. On the one hand, participants approve of societal and institutional policy support for carers. On the other hand, they are often reluctant to position themselves as the beneficiary of such policies, expressing instead a general preference for support from outside the workplace or for workplace-based inter-individual and informal care arrangements. This resistance is particularly noticeable in the case of participants with caring responsibilities other than the parenting of healthy, able-bodied children and of those whose gender, class, racial, or sexual identity do not conform with the figure of the ‘ideal academic’, contributing to their othering in the academic realm. These findings have significant implications for policies supporting carers, pointing to the need for greater visibility and recognition of caring responsibilities in academia, especially in terms of their diverse identities.

Organised hiking and trekking tours are promoted by many providers in adventure travel. Such guided tours shall be engaging for the tourists and evoke positive attitudes towards enjoying nature. We present the Trekking Engagement Profile as a tool to evaluate engagement factors of such guided tours, based on engagement research performed in a different domain, namely evaluating engagement in museums and science centres. This tool shall strengthen guides’ soft skills and enable them to increase engagement during an ongoing arrangement. For instance, the Trekking Engagement Profile can be applied when tourists indicate that the quality of a guided tour is not entirely to their liking. We show the viability of using the Trekking Engagement Profile in a small study with guides and participants of trekking tours offered by the Norwegian Trekking Association. Further, we offer guidance and charts to promote its practical use.

The main objective of this article is to explore the causes of household electricity poverty in Spain from an innovative perspective. Based on evidences of energy inequality across households with different income levels, a quantile regression approach is used to better capture the heterogeneity of determinants of energy poverty across different levels of electricity expenditure. Results illustrate some interesting and counter intuitive findings about the relationship between household income and electricity poverty and the technical sufficiency of quantile regression compared to the blurred results of a standard single coefficient / OLS approach.

After World War II, the economic recovery of Western Europe implied a swift economic transition for all regions, including the area of the Alps, although affecting various parts at different pace and stages. The resulting out-migration led to population decline in some mountain valleys and regions already since the 1950s. A similar out-migration movement began in China after its rural reform started in the 1970s. The effect was in some cases even more significant than in the Alps, with the first village being deserted in the 1980s. Current estimations report of about 380,000 abandoned rural villages in China between 2000 and 2016, particularly in its mountain regions. While lower population densities might alleviate the pressures on ecology and contribute to environmental benefits, these movements aggravate a spiraling-down process of local economies and culture.  In the Alps many regions facing challenges of out-migration and economic changes elaborated agritourism schemes that provided both economic incentives and stability to involved mountain farmers, and continuation of local land management systems. In contrast, in China hardly any comparable trends of rural tourism developed. However, in recent years China's interest for tourism-oriented farm diversification increased and a range of rural tourism and agricultural tourism initiatives emerged. This paper focuses on the analysis of successful initiatives, problems and development prospects in the Alps and China's rural areas, redefining agritourism as a systematic integrated activity. Agritourism might therefore be assessed as a core element of the future sustainable development of the Alps and the Chinese countryside.

Development of both marketing and culture sector has a multi-directional nature showing relationships with the concept of sustainable development that should be considered on various levels of management of cultural sector, i.e. on the level of cultural policy of the state or region, and on micro-scale – in cultural institutions. This is because not only natural environment, economy and technology, but also society and culture constitute the area of sustainable development.   Considering the assumptions of sustainable development by cultural institutions is related to implementing in this sphere the marketing concepts that are the expression of adoption of market orientation (on culture participant). The objective of the paper is to show the role of marketing in cultural institutions in the context of assumptions of sustainable development concept. The paper is based on literature studies and results of empirical research of quantitative character, which was conducted on a sample of 451 people managing cultural  institutions in Poland. The research included general managers, managers and artistic directors, managers of marketing, promotion and sales departments, as well as owners of cultural institutions. Analysis of research results shows that culture participant has the highest position among groups of consumers of actions conducted by cultural institutions and development of offer diversity, comprised in the concept of sustainable development, emerges as factor stimulating development of culture market that is closely related to growth of the quality of cultural institution offer.

This paper draws an earlier book (with Evans and Higgins) entitled Bad Call: Technology’s Attack on Referees and Umpires and How to Fix It (hereafter Bad Call) and its various precursor papers. These show why it is that current match officiating aids are unable to provide the kind of accuracy that is often claimed for them and that sports aficianados have been led to expect from them. Accuracy is improving all the time but the notion of perfect accuracy is a myth because, for example, lines drawn on sports fields and the edges of balls are not perfectly defined. The devices meant to report the exact position of a ball – for instance ‘in’ or ‘out’ at tennis – work with the mathematically perfect world of virtual reality, not the actuality of an imperfect physical world. Even if ball-trackers could overcome the sort of inaccuracies related to fast ball speeds and slow camera frame-rates the goal of complete accuracy will always be beyond reach. Here it is suggested that the purpose of technological aids to umpires and referees be looked at in a new way that takes the viewers into account.

Bio-economy is a major area of the strategy that can afford the European Union to achieve growth: (i) smart, through the development of knowledge and innovation; and (ii) sustainable, based on a greener, more efficient economy in resource management. We believe that the progress of bio-economy cannot be achieved without the harnessing of intellectual capital. Our research aimed to emphasize the benefits of the dynamics of the intellectual capital growth on the evolution of the bio-economy. Thus, the information published by Eurostat (European Statistic Institute) during a period spanning seven years (2011-2018) was used to assess the influence exerted by the conduct of the harness of intellectual capital related to sustainability as well as for the reporting of indicators relevant to appreciating an economic progress and sustainability (renewable waste material, share of renewable energy and energy intensity of the economy). The ultimate goal was represented by the generation of a regression model to see what factor influences mostly the progress of the bio-economy at European and Romanian level. Significant dependency relationships were identified. The results remain robust even after the introduction of certain control variables, such as gross domestic product rate, food production, population growth, urbanization growth and inflation. Our paper sets out to contribute to expanding the specialty literature by highlighting the involvement of intellectual capital as a factor in optimizing sustainability growth and, at a methodological level, by using a multiple regression.

The main objective of the study is to analyse time trends in excessive body weight (obesity, overweight) of Czech adolescents between 2002 and 2018 with regard to the socioeconomic status (SES) of adolescents’ families and to find SES-mediated correlates of adolescents’ obesity. A nationally representative sample of 29,879 adolescents (49.6% of them boys) aged 10.5-16.5 years was drawn from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children cross-sectional, self-reported questionnaire surveys conducted in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 in the Czech Republic. Across the quadrennial surveys from 2002 to 2018, we observed a clear increase in the prevalence of excessive body weight (overweight/obesity) in all SES categories of adolescents, which was most striking (p < 0.05) in adolescents with low SES (boys: +5.2/+7.5 percent points (p.p.); girls +6.3/+2.4 p.p.). When all the survey cycles were compared, the highest prevalence of overweight/obesity was evident in the low-SES adolescents in 2018, both in girls (14.9%/5.1%) and boys (20.4%/12.0%). The lower odds of obesity were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with regular vigorous physical activity, participation in organized sport. An unreasonable increase in the prevalence of obesity in adolescents with low SES suggests that national health-related and sports programmes have the least impact on children from low-SES families.

The goal of the project was to gain an understanding of the secondary school youth experience with food literacy and school gardens on their mental well-being. Over the course of five months, sixteen youth participated in a photovoice research project in which they expressed their personal experiences about food and gardening through photography and writing. The aspects of secondary school youths’ life experiences affected by exposure to food literacy and school gardens and their impact upon their well-being were identified. These included emotions and feelings, having a safe place, nutrition and relaxation. The youth explicitly connected relaxation with the themes of love and connectedness, growing food, garden as a place, cooking, and food choices. This was linked to nature, beauty, environment and sustainability. Youth clubs or groups were also identified as a key enabler for connection. Youth shared their food literacy experiences, observing that their engagement improved some aspect of their mental well-being. They identified food literacy and gardens as being the most important to mental well-being including: connecting, personal health and personal growth. The youth recognized that connecting comes from having community, relationships and respect. Fostering opportunities for food literacy such as growing and preparing food contributes to resiliency.

The move to a low carbon economy is very important for enhancing international competitiveness. The eco-innovation is the critical factor of the green paradigm. This study is designed to investigate deeply the determinants of eco-innovation of manufacturing firms in Korea by suggesting anticipated regulations, self-regulations, and industry-specific characteristics as external factors and open information sources as internal factors. The data used in the analysis is 1946 sample firms from Korean Innovation Survey 2010 based on the Oslo Manual. Using the multi-variate probit analysis and the zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression analysis, we have found out that the anticipated regulations and self-regulations have significant influences both on eco-process innovation and eco-product innovation, while industrial characteristics have no effects. The empirical results also show that the breadth of information sources has a positive effect on businesses in implementing eco-innovations. Our findings show that the Korean government should provide a good platform where firms can better understand the future trends of environmental policies, particularly policies on anticipated and self-regulations. At the same time, Korean firms should establish a voluntary system to control environmental activities so that they can improve eco-innovations through integrating external information.

The influence of both the absolute values of the dollar/ruble exchange rate (rate) and its changes per day on the balance of the Bank of Russia operations for ruble liquidity provision and absorption (saldo) was investigated. Daily data were used from January 2015 to April 2018. It was found that the change in the rate 6 days ago is the cause (according to Granger) of the saldo value. For the saldo dynamics, an oscillatory model with an external force - a change in the rate - is proposed. Using the Kalman filter, the model parameters were estimated and saldo forecasted. Found period of self-oscillation is 4.218 days and attenuation of the amplitude for a day in 2.179 times. The rate growth of 1 RUB, after 6 days, causes saldo increase of approximately 20 billion rubles. In fact, the changes in rate cause the variability of the saldo not more than for found coefficient of determination (26.7%), but the "change in the rate-liquidity saldo" system during the crisis-free period has a high "Q-factor," and changes in the rate, repeated with a period close to self-one, can cause large-amplitude fluctuations in saldo.

Energy and Environment Tax is used globally as a means of environment policy. Energy and Environment tax plays an important role as a driving force for the conversion to environmentally friendly energy. The basic tax principles considered in the design of energy and environmental taxation increases the efficiency of policy instruments. The purpose of this study is to evaluate South Korea’s energy and environmental taxation based on tax principles, namely, equity, efficiency, simplicity, flexibility, and accountability and to suggest directions for improvement. This study applied a methodology that provides policy implications, such as reviewing existing literature and comparing energy and environmental taxes. Results of this study show that South Korea’s energy and environmental taxation is negative in terms of equity, simplicity, and accountability. South Korea’s current energy and environmental tax is regressive to income classes and complex tax structures and it does not objectively measure the impact of energy and environmental taxation. However, energy and environmental taxation is evaluated positively in terms of efficiency and flexibility because it meets the greenhouse gas reduction policy and operates a flexible tax rate. The results of this analysis provide policy implications for reorganizing South Korea’s energy and environmental taxation

Healthy houses is a problem on developing countries. This study mainly focus on urban areas and the health effect of poor water and sanitation, floor, inadequate heating, poor food storage and overcrowding. This research has used qualitative method with questionnaires has spread to a hundred and six homes about characteristics of healthy home. The questionnaires have spread to Pondok village and Bukit Kerman village, Kerinci District, Jambi Province, Indonesia. Result showed 90% houses too dense and 10 no dense, 98% houses on this area are unhealthy houses and 10% healthy houses. Unhealthy houses that affected diseases such as 20% diaarhea, 29% other diseases, 13% ARI, 10% malaria 15% skin and 12% no diseases. We recommended to make a public health policy to reducing unhealthy houses on this area.

In an era characterized by a move towards a “knowledge society”, universities are central in fostering “knowledgeability”, that is the reflexive understanding of knowledge in knowledge societies. The objective of “knowledgeability” can be met through creating a stronger link between education and research. Furthermore, overall student performance, for example in critical thinking and problem solving, can be improved if research-related activities are incorporated into the curriculum. The aim of this paper is to use inter-national examples to discuss the research- education nexus from four different perspectives, namely context, policy, im- plementation and quality, with case studies from higher education institutions in Singapore and Sweden. We suggest that different integrative technologies can be used to enhance the links, but it will be essential to consider the inputs of training, service and support in using new technology. Interestingly, the act of evaluating the link between edu- cation and research will increase awareness of this linkage by stakeholders involved in both education and research. In turn the link can be strengthened, contributing to increased quality in both education and research.

A new model for risk assessment of urban rainstorm disasters, based on information diffusion method and variable fuzzy sets (IDM-VFS) was proposed. In addition, an integrated index system of urban rainstorm risk was established. In the proposed model, IDM was employed to calculate the classification standards of urban rainstorm risk levels, then the VFS was adopted to assess the dangerousness, sensitivity, vulnerability and comprehensive risk of urban rainstorm disasters. In the present study, the urban rainstorm risk of Jiangsu province was evaluated with the proposed model. The results show that Wuxi, Changzhou, Nanjing and Suzhou have higher dangerousness, due to sustained rainfall and strong rainfall intensity in short duration; Wuxi, Changzhou and Nanjing have higher sensitivity because of lower disaster resistance ability; and Wuxi and Suzhou have higher vulnerability because these cities have higher potential losses in face of urban rainstorm disasters. The comprehensive risk zoning map of urban rainstorm shows apparent regional characteristics: the northwestern cities have lower risk than the southern cities. Moreover, most cities of the Jiangsu province are of the moderate urban rainstorm risk level. The results are consistent with the actual situation of Jiangsu province, and the study can provide some decision-making references for the urban rainstorm management.

Land degradation monitoring and assessment in the Sahel zone has relied substantially on temporal trends of remote sensing-based vegetation indices, which are proxies for the bioproductivity of the land. However, prior studies have shown that negative or positive trends in bioproductivity are not necessarily associated with degradation or improvement of land condition. In this short communication, while acknowledging the contributions of remote sensing-based indices and global-scale datasets to dismantling an outdated desertification narrative, we argue that local land users have much to contribute to our understanding of land degradation, and particularly to ensuring that scientific assessments of degradation capture variables relevant to them. We used the participatory photo elicitation method in three sites in the Senegalese Ferlo in order to elicit local pastoralists’ perspectives on land degradation and identify the indicators that they use to characterize pasture quality, while empowering them to lead the discussion. The discussion revealed indicators far beyond bioproductivity, including livestock performance as well as composition and quality of the herbaceous and woody vegetative cover, invasive species, soil quality and water availability. We found that the pastoralists’ knowledge and interest in the issue could potentially be harnessed more systematically, and at larger scales, in order to build a spatially explicit field-based knowledge base of land degradation complementary to remote sensing-based maps of trends in bioproductivity. Such a dataset could serve as a standalone product or as a reference dataset for development and validation of remote sensing-based indicators.

While microcredits are, by the development practitioners, repeatedly hailed as a useful measure of development policy, this empirical research in Bangladesh arrives at different results: the governing and disciplinary measures are necessary to trigger the best possible repayment success. Based on interviews with the microfinance beneficiaries, loan officers, and microfinance experts in Bangladesh, I chart some of the most frequently used governing and disciplinary techniques including fictitious proximity of loan officers, their fields of visibility and surveillance processes. The “success” of credit delivery is a neoliberal stance that ensures the ceaseless debt repayment process using the intentional and planned conduct, capitalizing social capital and credit honour reputation, surveillance over business enterprises, use of equivocal language and different forms of deception. The development strategy through microfinance in Bangladesh is a development “dispositif” with a changing shift in its declared social missions.

Since the public inauguration of the URP (Urban and Regional Planning) Bill in 2009, which is now law (The Urban and Regional Planning Act No. 3 of 2015), urban planning in Zambia has undergone changes. In partnership with the Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) Federation, the Zambian parliament put into effect pilot urban planning assistance programs to assist districts around the country, including Chipata District in 2011, transition to a more decentralized, integrated and locally-defined approach to urban planning. However, the presence of discrimination, corruption, and negative attitudes towards urban planning engagement, social maladies prominently displayed in Zambian society, pose challenges to implementing the ideal goals of the 2009 URP Bill. The extreme, widespread poverty in Zambia merely exacerbates the propensity towards corrupt and discriminatory behavior, and influences poor attitudes toward urban planning engagement. This paper describes the projects undertaken by the VSO volunteer from the USA between 2011 and 2012 in the light of the specific urban problems facing Chipata District, and discusses the ways the social maladies play out in Zambian society to pose challenges to implementing the recommended changes to the planning system scribed in the 2009 URP Bill.

As one of the unfair procedures, dumping acts as a tool for illegal competition used by some of enterprises in foreign market and it can destruct domestic production sectors of importer countries. Whereas general regulations of World Trade Organization (WTO) have emphasized on accepting of free trade system and thus reducing of tariff barriers and required member states to coordinate their economic and legal structures with regulations of this organization so the risk has been increased for occurrence of dumping. The antidumping WTO agreement includes some measures e.g. enforcement and imposing of additional levies to fight against this anti-competitive activity that is taken usually with the request from domestic producers by the governments. The unfair trade procedures are some measures based on unfair method in which the goal and result are creation of disorder in the market and injury to benefits of commercial partners. In these procedures, the competitive potential is noticeably increased for the goods that enjoyed unfair measures. The government may not play role in dumping while the commercial enterprises import their products at price lower than usual value to capture market from their rivals. Thus, this main research question is proposed: What are the foremost strategies in WTO to tackle with dumping problem? In response to the major hypothesis, it has been emphasized on this point that presentation of countervailing duties, subsidies and civil liability are the foremost solution to fight against dumping in WTO.

This study reassesses the resource–economic growth nexus by incorporating several channels. Advanced panel time series techniques are used to analyse panel time series data from 1980 to 2015 in 31 oil-rich countries. Results show that oil rent augments economic growth; thus, oil rent is conducive rather than impediment for economic growth. The role of governance in economic growth is significant in the selected countries. Oil rent exerts a positive significant impact on economic growth in countries with good governance compare to countries with poor governance. Financial development is an unimportant channel in the resource–growth nexus because FD is often unable to mobilise oil rent from the government to the private sector in oil-rich countries. Globalisation is advantageous for countries and promote economic growth. Moreover, war exerts a significant negative effect on growth in the long term.

The present short communication aimed to determine the effects of vegetable cultivation on health. We conducted a qualitative study using responses to an open-ended question that was part of a survey on regional differences on vegetable intake. Participants in this study were residents of Gunma Prefecture, Japan, and were aged between 20–74 years. In the questionnaire, we asked: “Aside from increasing vegetable intake, how does vegetable cultivation affect your health?” We were able to categorize the answers into six subcategories related to physical health, mental health, and social well-being.

One of the main challenges of housing demand is the optimal selection of housing that almost everyone faces. A model that can measure the role and impact of all factors affecting the demand for housing is not presented unambiguously and has not been dramatically formulated explicitly. Considering the centrality of budget, behavioral and control factors in housing demand, the present study seeks to explain and design the mental pattern of consumer demand, capital and housing leases with a cognitive and behavioral approach in Tabriz. The present study is based on the qualitative approach and using the grounded theory method. The data collection method was semi-structured interviews. In order to collect information, an interview was carried out using a targeted sampling method with 12 experts in the field of housing. Data analysis was performed in three stages: open coding, axial coding, selective coding, and a qualitative research model has been designed. The results of this study indicate that extraction of more than 250 codes, along with an inventory of more than 20 concepts and 4 categories, are presented in the form of a paradigmatic model including budget constraints as axial categories and causal conditions (as reasons for selection), underlying factors (physical factor) and interventional conditions (control and behavioral factors).

Postgraduate research is a massive stumbling block to students who had never had an opportunity of exposure to research methods. A study conducted by the researcher (Costa, 2018) revealed challenges in postgraduate supervision—one of these challenges was lack of exposure to research language by students. Qualitative research and its complexities due to a variety of approaches including rigour determination pose a plethora of challenges to novice researchers. This document presents C.O.S.T.A model as a tool suitable for use by academics and students, with a panoramic view of steps to be taken first to understand foundational concepts and the language of  research and secondly to make informed choices on the research methods and design strategy options available for the prospective researcher. Conclusions drawn on the reliability of the model are based on empirical evidence of application of the model observed over a period of 12 months, with some students testifying to have passed their research projects satisfactorily at their respective leading universities in South Africa. Secondary research also provides voluminous sources of success of similar research supervision programmes both in South Africa and abroad.

We provide a comprehensive framework for forecasting five minute load using Gaussian processes with a positive definite kernel specifically designed for load forecasts. Gaussian processes are probabilistic, enabling us to draw samples from a posterior distribution and provide rigorous uncertainty estimates to complement the point forecast, an important benefit for forecast consumers. As part of the modeling process, we discuss various methods for dimension reduction and explore their use in effectively incorporating weather data to the load forecast. We provide guidance for every step of the modeling process, from model construction through optimization and model combination. We provide results on data from the PJMISO for various periods in 2018. The process is transparent, mathematically motivated, and reproducible. The resulting model provides a probability density of five-minute forecasts for 24 hours.

(1) Background: Water resources at Chia lagoon experience possible threat to its sustainability. Communities are seeking alternatives to improve water quality at the lagoon. The study evaluated the extent at which local communities are WTP to improve water quality at Chia lagoon and the influencing factors. (2) Methods: A study was conducted at Chia lagoon, Western Part of Lake Malawi from November, 2015 to March, 2016. Wide range of data collection approaches such as household surveys, exploratory surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and field observation were employed. A sample of 240 households were selected randomly. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors influence WTP. (3) Results: Out of 240 respondents, 57.4% expressed WTP. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated significant (P<0.01 or P<0.05) relationship between demographic (Gender, age, literacy level), social-economic (Land ownership, main agriculture water source and income) and institution (civic education and social network, extension, water user rights) factors and WTP. (4) Conclusion: The findings from this study provide significant clues for further research and baseline information for local government and local communities in development of more effective and holistic approaches to improve water quality.

Performance appraisal is a fundamental indicator in public accountability to achieve the good governance principles. Hence, this study aims to analyze the performance measurement that can improve performance on government agencies in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The study was conducted in qualitative approach. The research found that non-integrated models of performance measurement in South Sulawesi are inefficient and ineffective. Inefficiency happens because it uses time and cost resources separately, while being ineffective is because both models focuses on each goal instead on performance goals and the process is not supported by the actual management.

Employees’ organizational commitment is considered to be a critical issue in higher educational setting for the success of its visions and goals, as well as to keep its employees motivation granted for achieving better work performance.  This subject has therefore, been studied so as to draw attention to enhance effectiveness of higher educational institution in Ethiopia, particularly in reference to Haramaya University.  The major objective of study was to find out the level of academic staffs’ commitment. The study assessed whether significant difference exist in academic staffs’ commitment level in terms of their gender and level of education. Researchers used cross-sectional research design and both primary and secondary data sources were used for the study; 242 participants were selected using stratified sampling technique. Questionnaire, focus group discussion and document review were used to collect data. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics; and the qualitative data were also analyzed using narration methods of analysis. Study result showed there was moderate level of in overall commitment and in specific commitment dimensions among academic staffs. The study further indicated that there is no significance difference in commitment of academic staffs with reference to gender; however, a significant difference in commitment was existed in reference to level of education.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the real impact of ICT skill mismatch on SME’s sustainable competitiveness in presence of minimum wage guaranteed. As part of public policies – the minimum wage need to maintain a balance between increasing employment and not being a burden for the companies, leading them to bankruptcies, especially in times of disruptive change in which economy have to be more resilient. The rapid progress in information and communication technologies has dramatically redefined the rising unemployment as a result of skills mismatch. This paper aims to understand, on one side if, there is a match between the supply demand of ICT skills and how increasingly powerful digital technologies affect skills, jobs, and the demand for human labour. On the other, if increasing productivity and a fair minimum wage could be an integrated approach in stimulating SME’s in increasing sustainable competitiveness.

The prevalence of autism in children in the world is estimated as one per 62 children, higher levels reported in some countries. These children experience significant problems with the development of social, behavioural and verbal and non-verbal communication skills. The skills impairment levels varies from an individual to another and that made teaching autistics a challenge for caregivers such as teachers and relatives. Hence, there are quite a number of frameworks of a software learning systems which focus on gaining the children’s attention using representational visual illustration as a learning method instead of the textual form. However, majority of these tools are lacking the personalisation ability to suite everyone in the spectrum. Assistive technology offers an alternative way to attract children with autism. Therefore, this research is proposing an Adaptive Content Management Learning System (ACMLS) model to assist caregivers to produce, design and fine-tune or customise the learning materials appropriately so that the system interface and the materials are suitable for every individual in the spectrum according to each child personal profile aiming to make learning attractive and to contribute in improving their social, communication and behavioural skills and nonetheless, their attention level to the delivered educational topics. The ACMLS model design adopts four main components which are: (1) Design component: which covers the visual design, design principles and the mental model of the children with autism. (2) Technology component: which covers the assistive technology tools and the architecture of the ACMLS system. (3) Education component: Which covers the learning objectives, styles, strategies, methods and the cognitive model. (4) Participants component: which covers the main participants who’re playing a role in the ACMLS model such as: caregivers and children with autism.

Building an ethical culture is challenging and a basic requirement of the companies to embed transparency in their systems, creating a positive image; serving the internal and external communities. This paper based on detailed interviews of 12 family owned businesses over a period of 16 months explores how these companies build the ethical culture, identifying the ethical culture sustainability triggers, challenges and role of religion in such practices. The values, culture, community and social norms are identified as major ingredients of a sustainable ethical culture development and implementation of the ethical policies and procedures require institutional and structural mechanisms for effectiveness in family owned businesses. The findings at numerous occasions are in contrast to the literature, whereas, in other instances are similar. The religion, society, family image, the entrepreneurs themselves and their family members play a vital role. Non-interference in private matters of the employees, whistle blowing, code of ethics, training and awareness creation and a number of other factors play a leading role in ethical culture development in family businesses.  

This paper aims to research whether there is link between FDI inflows and Economic growth in the Republic of Seychelles Island. The ordinary least square results obtained shows that in the impact of FDI inflows on economic growth is low. Small Island Developing States attracts less FDI inflow because they are limited to few resources that attracts overseas firms which results in retarded development. The research lighted that impact of foreign direct investment on host countries does not only depend on the quality and quantity of the FDI inflows but some other variables such as the internal policies and the management skills, market structures, economic trends among others.