Associations of womens position in the household and food insecurity with family planning use in Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Women in Nepal have low status, especially younger women in co-resident households. Nepal also faces high levels of household food insecurity and malnutrition, and stagnation in uptake of modern family planning methods. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to understand if household structure and food insecurity interact to influence family planning use in Nepal. METHODS: Using data on married, non-pregnant women aged 15-49 with at least one child from the Nepal 2011 Demographic and Health Survey (N = 7,460), we explore the relationship between womens position in the household, food insecurity as a moderator, and family planning use, using multi-variable logistic regressions. We adjust for household and individual factors, including other status-related variables. RESULTS: In adjusted models, living in a food insecure household and co-residing with in-laws either with no other daughter-in-laws or as the eldest or youngest daughter-in-law (compared to not-co-residing with in-laws) are all associated with lower odds of family planning use. In the interaction model, younger-sisters-in-law and women co-residing with no sisters-in-law in food insecure households have the lowest odds of family planning use. CONCLUSION: This study shows that household position is associated with family planning use in Nepal, and that food insecurity modifies these associations-highlighting the importance of considering both factors in understanding reproductive health care use in Nepal. Policies and programs should focus on the multiple pathways through which food insecurity impacts womens reproductive health, including focusing on women with the lowest status in households

The National Wildlife Control Training Program: an evolution in wildlife damage management education for industry professionals

Managing wildlife and reducing damage in rural areas has traditionally been achieved by hunting and trapping problem species or by preventing animals from accessing crops and entering buildings. With urban sprawl, specialized tools and management approaches often are needed to reduce wildlife conflicts in developed landscapes. To address these issues, the private wildlife control industry has grown considerably during the past 2 decades. State wildlife agencies have regulatory authority and oversight of this industry, and there is an increasing trend toward licensing or certification of commercial wildlife control operators (WCOs). Regulations differ in every state, however, and no consistent standard for training WCOs exists. We developed the National Wildlife Control Training Program (NWCTP) to provide a uniform standard for demonstrating core competency and understanding of integrated wildlife damage management (IWDM) principles. The NWCTP includes modules on basic principles of IWDM, physical safety, wildlife diseases, site inspection, general control methods, trapping, exclusion, toxicants, animal handling, euthanasia, legal, and ethical issues, and professionalism. The NWCTP was designed to be easily adapted for use in any state or province, and we encourage wildlife agencies that lack training materials to adopt the NWCTP

Developing Training Standards for Wildlife Control Operators

Wildlife have always threatened peoples’ comfort, safety, crops, domestic animals, and other property. Historically, wildlife and predator control were largely regulated by fur trapping and hunting laws, especially if an individual was protecting his or her property. Current laws that regulate problem wildlife are rooted in environmental conservation law. Enforcement of these regulations and laws regarding the capture and disposition of wildlife are conducted by game wardens or environmental conservation officers, whose primary mission is to enforce hunting and trapping laws. Under the Public Trust Doctrine, stewardship of wildlife is a government responsibility. State wildlife agencies have insufficient staff, however, to respond to the increase in human-wildlife conflicts created by rapid urbanization. Consequently, the profession of Wildlife Control Operators (WCOs) has emerged as a viable industry to manage negative wildlife interactions and conflicts. Thus, consistent training standards are needed for WCOs so that both wildlife and consumers are protected under Public Trust responsibilities. The National Wildlife Control Training Program (NWCTP) was created to provide a uniform standard for demonstrating core competency and understanding of integrated wildlife damage management (IWDM) principles

Ontology Summit 2008 Communiqué: Towards an open ontology repository

Each annual Ontology Summit initiative makes a statement appropriate to each Summits theme as part of our general advocacy designed to bring ontology science and engineering into the mainstream. The theme this year is "Towards an Open Ontology Repository". This communiqué represents the joint position of those who were engaged in the year's summit discourse on an Open Ontology Repository (OOR) and of those who endorse below. In this discussion, we have agreed that an "ontology repository is a facility where ontologies and related information artifacts can be stored, retrieved and managed." We believe in the promise of semantic technologies based on logic, databases and the Semantic Web, a Web of exposed data and of interpretations of that data (i.e., of semantics), using common standards. Such technologies enable distinguishable, computable, reusable, and sharable meaning of Web and other artifacts, including data, documents, and services. We also believe that making that vision a reality requires additional supporting resources and these resources should be open, extensible, and provide common services over the ontologies

Smart Card Adoption in Healthcare: An Experimental Survey Design using Message Framing

The smart card is a cloud-based device that enables participating healthcare organization’s greater access to a patient’s protected health information. This research investigates salient factors including the impact of communication using message framing on the likelihood to use the cards. We integrate the technology acceptance model theory (TAM) with the prospect theory, using message framing to assess the impact of gain-and loss-framed messages on patient’s likelihood to use. The conceptual model also adapts TAM by considering new constructs specific to the adoption of smart cards. Using data collected from 331 patients, we use logistic regression to investigate the adoption of this technology. Preliminary results indicate that concern for location monitoring and loss-framed messages have an adverse impact on a patient’s likelihood to adopt. Error prevention, smart card benefits, improved decision making and the social influence of healthcare actors have positive effects on the likelihood to use smart cards

A Conceptual Framework to Predict Mental Health Patients' Zoning Classification.

Zoning classification is a rating mechanism, which uses a three-tier color coding to indicate perceived risk from the patients' conditions. It is a widely adopted manual system used across mental health settings, however it is time consuming and costly. We propose to automate classification, by adopting a hybrid approach, which combines Temporal Abstraction to capture the temporal relationship between symptoms and patients' behaviors, Natural Language Processing to quantify statistical information from patient notes, and Supervised Machine Learning Models to make a final prediction of zoning classification for mental health patients

Conceptualizing Post-COVID-19 Malaysia’s Tourism Recovery: An Auto-Regressive Neural Network Analysis

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) has significantly affected the tourism industry. Tourist destinations have adopted emergency measures and restrictions that have affected the mobility of individuals around the world. This study aims to analyze the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry in Malaysia and its overall economic performance. This research used an extensive set of statistical tests, including a newly constructed Auto-Regressive Neural Network-ADF (ARNN-ADF) test, to determine if foreign visitor arrivals from 10 main source markets in Malaysia will revert to normal. Secondary data from various government published sources were used in this conceptual methodology technique for this study. Based on the research results and exploratory research of the literature, we listed in a synthesizing manner several measures to ensure the resilience of the tourism sector during the COVID-19 pandemic period. This research makes a significant contribution to the literature in terms of validating a new framework that emphasizes the effects of tourists that are largely transitory. In conclusion, this conceptual study will further help the authorities to take precautions and the best policy to be implemented in the future. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-SPER-10 Full Text: PD

Exploring Turnover Intentions and Work Engagement: A Mediation-Moderation Approach in the Malaysian Hospitality Industry

In the hospitality industry, staff turnover is a big problem. The aim of this paper is to explain how, using career construction theory (CCT), turnover intentions are linked to work engagement. An analysis of 36 independent star-rated hotels in Peninsular Malaysia finds that the root cause is orientation to happiness (OTH). OTH found a negative association between work engagement and employee attrition intentions in the report. Furthermore, perceived organizational support (POS) was established as a major boundary condition, with lower levels of POS resulting in a poorer mediated relationship. This study’s theoretical and practical results would benefit the hospitality industry.Dalam industri perhotelan, pergantian staf adalah masalah besar. Tujuan dari makalah ini adalah untuk menjelaskan bagaimana, dengan menggunakan teori konstruksi karir (CCT), niat berpindah terkait dengan keterlibatan kerja. Analisis terhadap 36 hotel bintang independen di Semenanjung Malaysia menemukan bahwa akar penyebabnya adalah orientasi pada kebahagiaan (OTH). OTH menemukan hubungan negatif antara keterlibatan kerja dan niat atrisi karyawan dalam laporannya. Selanjutnya, dukungan organisasi yang dirasakan (POS) ditetapkan sebagai kondisi batas utama, dengan tingkat POS yang lebih rendah menghasilkan hubungan mediasi yang lebih buruk. Hasil teoritis dan praktis studi ini akan menguntungkan industri perhotelan

The National Wildlife Control Training Program

Although state wildlife agencies allow private individuals to perform wildlife control services, only 14 have meaningful and appropriate training requirements for licensing wildlife control operators (WCOs). We developed a training program called the National Wildlife Control Training Program (NWCTP) to cover the fundamental skills and knowledge required by WCOs. This article explains the development of the NWCTP, its content, and the opportunity it provides for states and federal agencies, private companies, and individuals to train WCOs