Perception of artisans towards bamboo preservation for improved product durability in Uganda

Bamboo continues to attract attention globally as a sustainable material and is used in many applications. However, the quality of bamboo products in Uganda remains poor and cannot compete in the local and international markets. Bamboo's low product quality is associated with poor raw material processing and limited preservation methods, which lead to the short service life of the products due to its susceptibility to bio-deterioration and degradation. To cope with the above, artisans in Uganda apply various preservation methods depending on their knowledge and available resources. In this paper, the authors seek to determine the methods used by the artisans to preserve bamboo, understand the background of their intention to preserve, and their perception towards bamboo preservation. The Theory of Planned Behaviour was used as the main framework to understand artisans' perceptions towards the intention to preserve bamboo. A cross-sectional survey with 186 randomly selected artisans working with bamboo was conducted across three agroecological zones presumed to be Uganda's main bamboo growing areas. The study reported 13 available bamboo species, with the artisans exploiting mainly three of these species. Most artisans (86%) were aware of the need to preserve bamboo, with 67.4% practising bamboo preservation. The artisans use different methods and chemicals for preservation, i.e. leaching (17%), smoking (14%), soaking in crude lake salt (31%), boric acid and borax solutions (20%), surface application (16%), and pressure treatment (1%). Ordinal logistic regression was used to model artisans’ intention to engage in bamboo preservation. Attitude and subjective norms were the psychological factors that significantly influenced artisans’ intention to preserve bamboo. Interventions that increase benefits accrued from preserved bamboo can improve artisans’ attitude and subjective norms and enhance their intention to engage in bamboo preservation

SOCIAL POLICIES ON LABOR MARKET AS THEORY AND PRACTICE IN BULGARIA

Current paper presents challenges to development of labor market and social policies in transition periods through the example the transition from planned to market economy in the Republic of Bulgaria.Some important implications are made about passive and active social programs as a whole and in particular about advantages and disadvantages of national social programs targeted to overcoming social marginalization. The specific example of the National program “From social support to employment” is discussed as a good practice in the attempts to conduct an active social policy addressing to some extent education and qualification problems and providing useful recommendations for future development of social policies in the country, organization and implementation of social programs and measures on different levels and assessments of their effectivess

The National Employment Plan in Bulgaria - Policies, Priorities and Necessary Changes Due to Covid-19

The paper comprises two interrelated parts and focuses on the analysis and study of the processes on the Bulgarian market, which unfold in the emergency situation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemics. In the first part, an attempt is made for a systematic analysis of the current national employment plan, its priorities and the needed revisions thereof in the conditions of a critical situation

Covid-19 and the National Employment Plan in Bulgaria - Analysis and Opportunities for Change

This paper is the second part of an extensive study which analyzes and examines the processes on the Bulgarian market that unfold in the emergency situation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemics. The focus is on the state of the labour market before the pandemic crisis and the subsequent changes in the current national employment plan in view of the challenges of the situation caused by COVID-19. It proposes measures and supports actions for restructuring the financial resource for adaptation of the plan to the new challenge to the labour market in Bulgaria

An application of the 3-dimensional q-deformed harmonic oscillator to the nuclear shell model

An analysis of the construction of a q-deformed version of the 3-dimensional harmonic oscillator, which is based on the application of q-deformed algebras, is presented. The results together with their applicability to the shell model are compared with the predictions of the modified harmonic oscillator.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe

Advanced Technologies for Increasing the Durability of Timber and Extending Its Service Life

Wood is one of most used and appreciated material among humans, and is an irreplaceable choice for building furniture, utility poles, bridges, and more [...

Gamma-soft Analog of the Confined Beta-soft Rotor Model

A gamma-soft analog of the confined beta-soft (CBS) rotor model is developed, by using a gamma-independent displaced infinite well beta-potential in the Bohr Hamiltonian, for which exact separation of variables is possible. Level schemes interpolating between the E(5) critical point symmetry (with R(4/2)=E(4)/E(2)= 2.20) and the O(5) gamma-soft rotor (with R(4/2)=2.50) are obtained, exhibiting a crossover of excited 0+ bandheads which leads to agreement with the general trends of first excited 0+ states in this region and is observed experimentally in 128-Xe and 130-Xe.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, including 7 eps figure