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Prioritizing projects in rural electrification planning: Integrating MAUT with OnSSET
No full textopen access articleThis study employs the Open-Source Spatial Electrification Tool (OnSSET) to identify the least-cost technology options, investment requirements, and capacity needed to electrify all unelectrified communities in Sokoto State, Nigeria. Based on OnSSET modelling, the total number of unelectrified settlements in the study area is 1,453, with a corresponding population of 1.28 million. Our results show that mini-grid PV is the least-cost electrification option for electrifying about 90% of the unelectrified settlements. We estimate the cost of providing basic electricity access to unelectrified communities at US$231.4 million, and the additional capacity required is 125 MW. Given the large number of unelectrified settlements, and the financial requirements for achieving universal electricity access, we proceed to prioritize the settlements using the Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT). This approach identifies settlements that have the highest socio-economic benefits if electrified, based on five criteria: financial, economic, social, demographic and political. We conclude by noting that the technical, institutional, and governance constraints to achieving universal electrification in Nigeria are being addressed; however, the financial constraints persist. We recommend that financial support by multilateral development organizations should also include support for setting up assembling and/or manufacturing facilities for renewable energy equipment in Nigeria as this will substantially reduce the cost of mini-grid projects as well as the associated risks of such projects in terms of cost recovery
Gamification as an innovative approach for the assessment of procedural knowledge
No full textopen access articleIn the era of artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI tools like ChatGPT 4.5 have greatly improved the ease of obtaining answers to questions, thereby diminishing the importance of memorizing declarative knowledge while increasing the significance of procedural knowledge required in the problem-solving process. However, conventional assessment approaches such as paper-based assessments still focus on assessing declarative knowledge; these are difficult to adapt to the challenges of the AI era. This study aims to explore an innovative approach for the assessment of procedural knowledge, with a specific emphasis on gamification. This study employs a comprehensive approach involving an experimental research method, a case study, and a questionnaire survey. A total of 151 undergraduate students were recruited and randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group for the experiment. We compared performance outcomes between a gamification-based assessment and paper-based assessment. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the gamification-based assessment, demonstrating its superiority over the paper-based assessment in assessing procedural knowledge. The findings of the paper are not only applicable to assess knowledge in emergency situations such as fire safety but can also be applied to the assessment of procedural knowledge across various academic subjects within educational institutions
The Perceptions of Male Accessibility to the Fields of Nursing Practice by Those Studying or Teaching Nursing in England: Cross‐Sectional Survey
No full textopen access articleAims: Investigate the perception of male accessibility to the fields of nursing practice by those studying or teaching nursing in England.
Design: Cross-sectional survey.
Methods: Online questionnaire with three closed-scale questions and two open-text questions designed to elicit perceptions on the accessibility of men to the fields of nursing practice. The questionnaire was distributed to the staff and students at 61 nursing schools in England. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the closed questions data and inductive content analysis was used to analyse open-text questions data.
Results: Students (n = 52) and staff (n = 51) responded to the survey. Adult (Mdn = 6, IQR = 2) and mental health (Mdn = 6, IQR = 2) were perceived as the most accessible fields of nursing practice to men, and child (Mdn = 4, IQR = 2) the least. Specialised practice areas in acute and emergency (Mdn = 6, IQR = 2), education (Mdn = 6, IQR = 2), leadership (Mdn = 7, IQR = 1), prison services (Mdn = 7, IQR = 1), and research (Mdn = 7, IQR = 2) were rated the most accessible to men and neonatal care (Mdn = 3, IQR = 3) the least. Societal stereotyping and stigma were seen as barriers to men entering the nursing profession. The perception that nursing is a feminised profession persists and a distrust of men is associated with child nursing. Men were viewed as progressing to leadership roles with greater ease than women.
Conclusion: Societal level stereotyping and stigma are perceived as prevalent in nursing practice areas considered less accessible to men entering the nursing profession.
Impact: This study adds insight into the gendered nature of nursing and highlights the barriers to men entering a profession with a workforce crisis.
Reporting Methods: STROBE cross-sectional
studies guidelines. COREQ guidelines for content analysis.
Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution
Aerodynamic Approach to Two-Passenger City Car Design: A Study of Square Back and Compact Shapes
No full textopen access articleThe development of lightweight electric cars for urban mobility requires efficient aerodynamic design without sacrificing space efficiency. This study presents a novel method by investigating the combination of a two-seater city car's compact dimensions and square back shape, which has not been extensively researched for low-to medium-velocity vehicles. This study's objective is to assess the design's aerodynamic performance using numerical simulations using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach. The vehicle model is designed with a compact body and square back, which is commonly used in small vehicles with high maneuverability requirements. The simulations are conducted at three different air velocity levels: 10, 20, and 30 m/s. The results of the study showed an increase in the value of the drag coefficient (C d) along with an increase in flow velocity. At a velocity of 10 m/s, the C d value was recorded at 0.4536. When the velocity increased to 20 m/s, the drag coefficient increased slightly to 0.4563. Further increases in velocity to 30 m/s resulted in a C d value of 0.4581. This C d value shows the consistency of aerodynamic performance with increasing velocity, with fluctuations that remain within the efficiency limits of lightweight vehicles. The pressure distribution contour shows high-pressure accumulation at the front and low pressure at the rear of the vehicle, which generates large turbulent wakes in the rear area and contributes to increased drag. These findings indicate that the square rear body design faces significant aerodynamic challenges. Therefore, design strategies such as adding a rear spoiler, using a rear diffuser, and optimizing the rear body angle are suggested as potential solutions to improve flow efficiency
The Impact of Social Media Activities on Stock Price Informativeness
No full textopen access articleThis study investigates the influence of social media activities on stock price informativeness. Using a panel of 49 countries with 231,462 balance-panel firm-year observations from 2010 to 2020, we find that social media activities increase stock price informativeness. Furthermore, social media engagement for political and civil activities reduces information asymmetries that are linked to greater stock price informativeness. We further evidence that the intensity of the impact of social media activities varies between economic development and sectors, which implies that while some of the social media activities proxies are more pronounced in developed countries others are more pronounced in emerging economies. The same applies to the services and non-services sectors. The result is more pronounced when varying offline political actions are most commonly mobilized on social media. For identification, we employ principal component analysis, difference-in-difference, and propensity score matching
Evidence for motivated control? Climate change related distress is positively associated with domain-specific efficacy beliefs and climate action
No full textopen access articleRecent cross-sectional and experimental research has found measures of climate change related distress to be positively associated with measures of efficacy beliefs. Authors of some of these studies have interpreted this finding in terms of motivated control, that is, people who experience climate change related distress are motivated to believe that they can help mitigate climate change. We extend this notion of motivated control by assuming that efficacy beliefs flowing from climate change related distress play a role in encouraging climate action. In two cross-sectional studies, we investigate this assumption: Study 1 used data from a multi-country study and found that negative emotions regarding climate change were positively associated with climate action and both individual and collective efficacy. Furthermore, we found evidence for an indirect effect of negative emotions on climate action via efficacy beliefs (individual and collective). Study 2 conceptually replicated this mediation effect, using data from a sample of citizens in Germany and a different measure of distress, focusing on climate change worry. Additional exploratory analyses revealed that the association with individual efficacy was stronger for more adaptive forms of climate change worry, compared to less adaptive forms. We conclude that our findings provide correlational support for motivated control being one of the psychological processes – and efficacy beliefs being one of the person-level factors – that account for adaptive behavioral reactions to climate change related distress. Experimental and longitudinal studies are needed to further substantiate this conclusion
Ecologies beyond the Human - Reimagining Nature-based Solutions through Relational and Multispecies Perspectives.
No full textDespite growing interest in Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and their promise to deliver social, economic, and environmental benefits for society, their human-centred utilitarian functionality raises questions about the adequacy and effectiveness of NbS. Now, with two-thirds of the world's population projected to live in cities by 2050, this trend could potentially accelerate biodiversity loss and wildlife habitat destruction, ultimately weakening our resilience against the looming planetary ecocide.
This paper offers a critique of Nature-based Solutions, focusing on their anthropocentric framing and explores how this can be reimagined through relational thinking and multispecies perspectives to envision resilient cities where all species thrive in harmony.
This study will employ a horizon scan approach for literature review, which allows for capturing the recent, fast-changing dynamics of NbS, urban planning, and more-than-human approaches. In particular, it examines recent developments at the intersection of NbS and multispecies justice to address human exceptionalism in urban planning and the built environment. We propose a moral shift that addresses ecological justice issues through transformative policy reform, plural knowledges and reimagined pedagogies, and more-than-human urban design
A learning algorithm based on similarity identification and knowledge transfer for dynamic multi-objective optimization
No full textThe file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Prediction-based dynamic multi-objective optimization algorithms (DMOEAs) are widely used to explore the relationships of Pareto-optimal solutions (POSs) under continuous time steps, aiming to tackle dynamic multi-objective optimization problems (DMOPs). However, DMOPs with irregular POS shapes pose significant challenges to the quality of predicted solutions owing to the misaligned binding of solutions. To bridge this gap, this paper proposes a learning algorithm based on similarity identification and knowledge transfer, called SIKT-DMOEA, which comprises the following three steps. Firstly, a cluster centers-driven feedforward neural network (CCD-FNN) with global optimal binding assignment is constructed, aiming to learn the regional POS dynamics between adjacent environments. Secondly, a similarity identification technique archives valuable knowledge in historical environments and transfers it to the current environment for evolutionary acceleration. Finally, a population reconstruction strategy is presented for adaptive guidance according to the dominant property of each solution, which approximates the new POS with superior convergence and distribution. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that SIKT-DMOEA manifests competitiveness when addressing DF test problems and one real-world application problem compared to state-of-the-art DMOEAs. SIKT-DMOEA has corroborated its capability of effectively reducing the loss of population convergence and diversity facing different patterns of environmental changes
Revealing Emergence
No full textThe file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The artist and technology researcher Tove Noorjahaan Dalenius shares the journey of discovery, creative practice, technological research and academic dissemination, as well as face-to-face exhibition of the direct-write digital hologram Emergence, which visualizes the full extent of the clitoris in its anatomical setting. The intent is to invite readers to consider the entire endeavour through an organic and integrated approach. The project was built through a multidisciplinary process, using a practice-based research method. Through active collaboration and using collage visual methods, Dalenius created a well-researched transplane work of art which engaged audiences. The description of the exploration includes both facts and figures and some personal reflections to situate the journey. This article covers the inception of the project through to the exhibition of the artwork, a time span of fifteen years. The research concerning the anatomy of the clitoris by urologist Helen O’Connell and a visualization model by researcher and anti-sexism activist Odile Fillod are introduced. The reader is familiarized with the creative and technical medium of direct-write digital holography (DWDH). The work of art Emergence is revealed and details of the work are discussed. Finally, Dalenius describes displaying the work at the SPIE Photonics West conference, and The Women’s Building community centre in San Francisco, United States. Dalenius also brings the reader along to the Women in Tech 2023 conference in Stockholm and shares how Emergence became cover news for the feminist magazine Feministiskt Perspektiv (FemPers). The article is illustrated by ample images. By mixing innovative research in both the fields of anatomy and imaging technology, the artist/researcher/technologist has been able to create both beautiful and informative piece of art which engages the viewer. Through interaction with global audiences in different communities and settings, the work and the artist have informed, entertained and raised further questions and curiosity about anatomy, holography and societal issues
Trust, Scarcity, and Bricolage: Entrepreneurial Capital in Extreme Poverty
No full textEntrepreneurship is often viewed as a pathway out of poverty, especially in low-income countries. The existing literature has examined how poverty restricts access to resources, networks, and opportunities. Yet, less is known about how the poorest entrepreneurs, particularly those within deprived communities, in those low-income economies, confront and manage these constraints, especially around access to and use of financial capital. In response to this gap, our study addresses a central question: How do entrepreneurs in extreme poverty utilise bricolage techniques to accumulate and manage capital in their businesses across various entrepreneurial phases?
To explore this question, we draw on social capital and network theories to underpin our understanding of bricolage and the issue of trust, particularly in poverty-constrained environments. We adopt an ethnographic approach, combining six months of immersive fieldwork with 40 semi-structured interviews and participant observation in a deprived region of Bangladesh. This methodological choice enables a nuanced understanding of entrepreneurial practices as they unfold in real time within the lived
realities of poverty.
Our findings suggest that in contexts of extreme poverty, the poorest entrepreneurs adopt social capital driven bricolage to circumvent resource constraints. For the entrepreneurs in our study, bricolage was never just an isolated, individual course of action; instead, it was a dynamic process that involved multiple interactions and exchanges. Bricolage is both an individual and a social act which takes place simultaneously