2,839 research outputs found
Government and Social Media: A Case Study of 31 Informational World Cities
Social media platforms are increasingly being used by governments to foster
user interaction. Particularly in cities with enhanced ICT infrastructures
(i.e., Informational World Cities) and high internet penetration rates, social
media platforms are valuable tools for reaching high numbers of citizens. This
empirical investigation of 31 Informational World Cities will provide an
overview of social media services used for governmental purposes, of their
popularity among governments, and of their usage intensity in broadcasting
information online.Comment: In Proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System
Sciences (pp. 1715-1724). IEEE Computer Society, 201
The Impact of Lighting Type on Consumer Behavior in the Purchase of Healthy Products
This project explored how lighting in the produce section of a supermarket can influence a consumer\u27s decision to purchase healthier options. There is research in this field that examines this idea in restaurants, however, this specific area has not been researched. For this study subjects participated in a pre survey, viewed renderings, and took a post survey all at one predetermined time. The estimated time for the completion of this was about 20 minutes, but this time varied between subjects based on how long they spent taking the surveys and viewing the models. The surveys determined correlation between lighting and consumers preferences and were used in the results section of my thesis
The informal market of education in Egypt : private tutoring and its implications
Education is generally perceived as a public good which should be provided by the state. In Egypt, free and equal access to education has been guaranteed to all citizens since President Nasser’s socialist reforms in the 1950s. However, due to high population growth rates and a lack of financial resources, the public education system has been struggling to accommodate rapidly increasing numbers of students. While enrolment rates have risen steadily, the quality of state-provided services has deteriorated. Teachers and students have to cope with high class densities, insufficient facilities, a rigid syllabus and a centralized examination system. Today, teaching is among the lowest-paying occupations in the public sector. One strategy to cope with this situation is the widespread practice of private tutoring, which usually takes place at students’ homes or in commercial tutoring centers. Based on research carried out in Cairo in 2004/05 and 2006, I use an actor-centered approach to analyze the motivations of Egyptian teachers and students for participating in private tutoring and the impact that this practice has on the relationship between teachers and students. Students of all socio-economic backgrounds resort to tutoring in order to succeed in a highly competitive and exam-oriented education system. However, the form and quality of tutoring that can be accessed depends on the financial means of the family. For teachers, tutoring provides a good opportunity not only to supplement their income, but also, in the case of renowned “star teachers”, to improve their professional status and autonomy.
On the informal “market of education” that has developed in Egypt during the last decades, the educational responsibilities of the state are increasingly being taken over by private actors, i.e. the process of teaching and learning is dissociated from the direct control of the state and from school as an institution. At the same time, education is turned into a marketable commodity. Despite the government’s efforts to provide free education to all citizens, the quality of social services that can be accessed in Egypt, thus, depends mainly on the financial means of the individual or the family
Corporate Social Responsibility in the German Pork Industry: Relevance and Determinants
Due to manifold scandals meat production and processing has been in the spotlight of public concern over the last decades. CSR can safeguard an enterprise against risks following e.g. food safety, environmental or social incidences in a sector. To reap the full benefit of their CSR involvement it is essential for firms to communicate their activities to their stakeholders in a credible way. Given this background, the objective of the paper is to find answers to the following questions: To what extent pursue and communicate German meat companies CSR activities, what factors determine their CSR involvement and communication and regarding the latter, how do those companies evaluate a CSR standardization?The results of our study are based on a standardized survey of 68 North Rhine-Westphalian companies in the pork value chain. The data is analysed using descriptive as well as uni- and multivariate methods. The findings show that companies of the pork sector already are active in the area of CSR. They also communicate their activities, however, not yet to a great extent. The level and kind of CSR performance and CSR communication vary between companies depending on firm characteristics (e.g. size). Main motives for firms to engage in CSR are differentiation from competitors and consideration of stakeholders’ requirements. In addition the analysis provides some indication that doing good has not to be at the expense of doing well. A CSR standard that could inform stakeholders in a credible way about companies’ CSR activities is evaluated very heterogeneously. The complementary implementation of voluntary more demanding and quasi-obligatory minimum CSR standards could be a solution to this problem
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Impacts of indoor surface finishes on bacterial viability.
Microbes in indoor environments are constantly being exposed to antimicrobial surface finishes. Many are rendered non-viable after spending extended periods of time under low-moisture, low-nutrient surface conditions, regardless of whether those surfaces have been amended with antimicrobial chemicals. However, some microorganisms remain viable even after prolonged exposure to these hostile conditions. Work with specific model pathogens makes it difficult to draw general conclusions about how chemical and physical properties of surfaces affect microbes. Here, we explore the survival of a synthetic community of non-model microorganisms isolated from built environments following exposure to three chemically and physically distinct surface finishes. Our findings demonstrated the differences in bacterial survival associated with three chemically and physically distinct materials. Alkaline clay surfaces select for an alkaliphilic bacterium, Kocuria rosea, whereas acidic mold-resistant paint favors Bacillus timonensis, a Gram-negative spore-forming bacterium that also survives on antimicrobial surfaces after 24 hours of exposure. Additionally, antibiotic-resistant Pantoea allii did not exhibit prolonged retention on antimicrobial surfaces. Our controlled microcosm experiment integrates measurement of indoor chemistry and microbiology to elucidate the complex biochemical interactions that influence the indoor microbiome
Die europäische Regulierung audiovisueller Mediendienste: Kohärenz des materiellen Anwendungsbereichs der AVMD-Richtlinie für hybride Onlineangebote vor dem Hintergrund der Medienkonvergenz
Die europäische AVMD-Richtlinie, die auch die deutsche Medienregulierung determiniert, befindet sich seit 2016 in einem Reformprozess. Insbesondere der materielle Anwendungsbereich der Richtlinie wird dem Anspruch einer rechtssicheren Unterscheidung zwischen regulierungsbedürftigen und nicht-regulierungsbedürftigen Diensten nicht gerecht. Auch mit der Neugestaltung der Richtlinie werden die Herausforderungen der Medienkonvergenz nicht angemessen bewältigt. Ausgehend von diesen Defiziten konzipiert die Autorin eine alternative Ausgestaltung des materiellen Anwendungsbereiches, die auf rechtsvergleichende Erkenntnisse der Medienregulierung in Großbritannien, Australien, Neuseeland und Deutschland zurückgreift und maßgeblich an die Meinungsbildungsrelevanz der Angebote anknüpft
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Care ethics in transnational healthcare: attentiveness, competence, and responsibility in medical travel facilitation
Travelling abroad and seeking healthcare beyond the national healthcare system is a reality for many patients, and a whole industry has evolved around medical travel over the last decades. Transnational healthcare is highly mediated, and different sorts of facilitators contribute to making medical travel more feasible and comfortable for international patients. However, the negotiation of different options, interests, and values around care is challenging, ethically complex, and compounded by the transnational context. This paper draws on care ethics to discuss the ways in which complexities around care are being negotiated through practices of medical travel facilitation between Oman and India. To do so, the paper analyses the process of selecting a healthcare provider abroad – one of the critical moments of mediating medical travel – in detail, with special attention to the ethical virtues of attentiveness, competence, and responsibility. The empirical data illustrates some of the ethical challenges around care, which are accentuated in transnational healthcare, and builds up a care ethic that allows for negotiations to be a situational and a collaborative effort towards a ‘good enough’ compromise
Die europäische Regulierung audiovisueller Mediendienste
Die europäische AVMD-Richtlinie, die auch die deutsche Medienregulierung determiniert, befindet sich seit 2016 in einem Reformprozess. Insbesondere der materielle Anwendungsbereich der Richtlinie wird dem Anspruch einer rechtssicheren Unterscheidung zwischen regulierungsbedürftigen und nicht-regulierungsbedürftigen Diensten nicht gerecht. Auch mit der Neugestaltung der Richtlinie werden die Herausforderungen der Medienkonvergenz nicht angemessen bewältigt. Ausgehend von diesen Defiziten konzipiert die Autorin eine alternative Ausgestaltung des materiellen Anwendungsbereiches, die auf rechtsvergleichende Erkenntnisse der Medienregulierung in Großbritannien, Australien, Neuseeland und Deutschland zurückgreift und maßgeblich an die Meinungsbildungsrelevanz der Angebote anknüpft
Country Portfolio Reviews: A tool for strategic portfolio analysis in German development cooperation
Background and objectives
The 2030 Agenda is making new demands on international cooperation International development cooperation is frequently criticised for being of limited effectiveness, and therefore doing little to actually promote sustainable development. It is undisputed that shortcomings in policy and institutional frameworks in partner countries, and inefficient structures and processes in international cooperation, prevent development cooperation from being more effective. In particular, partner country institutions face the challenges created by the growing fragmentation of development cooperation. More and more stakeholders are getting involved in development cooperation and playing an active role in more and more projects. In some partner countries many donors operate in the same sectors instead of complementing each other, which makes the task of coordination more complex for partner governments. In many cases, donors' working structures also act as a constraint on more effective development cooperation. Existing projects and programmes are continued for political reasons or due to the self-interest of implementing organisations, rather than in response to changing contextual factors. This means that the decisions taken are not always evidence-based. These challenges often prevent development cooperation from responding coherently and effectively to current development needs in a partner country, and prevent governments in partner countries from assuming ownership of joint development projects. Since 2015 the 2030 Agenda has provided a guiding framework for action by international cooperation. Through it the international community has agreed on a new understanding of development as well as 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It emphasises the alignment of international cooperation with partner country priorities and needs. The Agenda aims to achieve a holistic perspective on development challenges, and to take greater account of the interactions between the social, economic and environmental dimensions of development than has so far been the case. Against this background, ensuring the relevance and ultimately also the effectiveness of bilateral development cooperation will require strategic steps to be taken on various levels. This will involve focusing bilateral development cooperation as a whole (macro level), ensuring strategic alignment and coherence at country level (meso-level), and enhancing planning and management at programme and project level (micro level).
The BMZ has responded to these new demands on international development cooperation With this very much in mind, over the last few years the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has launched processes of structural change for the strategic planning and management of its bilateral development cooperation. Alongside efforts made by the BMZ at the macro level to focus bilateral development cooperation, an increasing number of changes are being implemented at the meso-level. As also emphasised by the strategy paper Entwicklungspolitik 2030 ['Development Policy in 2030' – currently only available in German] published by the BMZ in 2018, rather than pursuing a compartmentalised focus on individual programmes and projects, it is envisaged that portfolio management will now focus on integrated and holistic country-level approaches. These changes at the meso-level reflect the understanding of development inherent in the 2030 Agenda. Be it the coherent design of country portfolios, focusing on macro-level development needs and trends in the partner country, responding to current reform momentum and government priorities, or including interactions between the social, environmental and economic dimensions of development – needed management decisions cannot be taken at the level of individual projects. They can only be made at the portfolio level. Accordingly, the BMZ has been seeking to strengthen the coherence of country portfolios through country strategies ever since 2012
Nature Prescriptions and Indigenous Peoples: A Qualitative Inquiry in the Northwest Territories, Canada
Nature prescription programs have become more common within healthcare settings. Despite the health benefits of being in nature, nature prescriptions within the context of Indigenous Peoples have received little attention. We therefore sought to answer the following question: What are circumpolar-based physicians’ and Indigenous Elders’ views on nature prescribing in the Northwest Territories, Canada? We carried out thirteen semi-structured interviews with physicians between May 2022 and March 2023, and one sharing circle with Indigenous Elders in February 2023. Separate reflexive thematic analysis was carried out to generate key themes through inductive coding of the data. The main themes identified from the physician interviews included the importance of cultural context; barriers with nature prescriptions in the region; and the potential for nature prescriptions in the North. Reflections shared by the Elders included the need for things to be done in the right way; the sentiment that the Land is not just an experience but a way of life; and the importance of traditional food as a connection with Nature. With expanding nature prescription programs, key considerations are needed when serving Indigenous communities. Further investigation is warranted to ensure that nature prescriptions are appropriate within a given context, are inclusive of supporting Land-based approaches to health and wellbeing, and are considered within the context of Indigenous self-determination
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