Bilingual Publishing Co. (BPC): E-Journals
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Maintaining Sustainability and Resilience in Rangeland Ecosystems
No full textRangelands contribute to human well-being worldwide. However, its fragile ecosystems are threatened due to inappropriate management that has been leading to its degradation in African rangelands in general and in Ethiopian rangelands in particular. Rangeland degradation is attributable to both natural and anthropogenic causes. Restoring degraded areas by replanting using native species is one of the most promising sustainable rangeland management tools to fight the degradation in the rangelands and enhance resilience in the face of environmental shocks. Restoration improves vegetation cover and biomass yield and enhances other ecosystem services. Native drought-tolerant species have produced promising rehabilitation outcomes and have been recommended for the restoration of degraded rangeland areas. Replanting using native species remains a viable sustainable management option to enhance resilience in the face of environmental shocks. Therefore, to maintain the sustainability and resilient rangeland ecosystems, comprehensive approaches and strategies suitable for rangelands need to be revitalized, developed, strengthened and promoted
Autonomy and Coordinating Mechanisms of State-Society Boundary Organizations in Mainland China
No full textState-society boundary organizations face the challenge to maintain autonomy as well as flexibilities to respond to various goals and needs of state and non-state actors. Chinese state used to exert much control over intermediary NGOs (boundary organizations) and some have become bureaucratized. Recent reforms have sought to transform them to be more autonomous from the government and more responsive to NGOs. This paper investigates the managerial autonomy and coordinating mechanisms of 29 intermediary NGOs in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong. Regardless whether they are initiated by the state or non-state actors, as boundary organizations, they can effectively play a bridging role when they simultaneously deploy multiple mechanisms to sustain autonomy and at the same time integrate differences of interests between state and non-state actors
Does Digitalization Matter for Grievance Redress Mechanism? An Analysis of the E-Government Procurement in the Local Government
No full textPublic procurement denotes the attainment of goods, works, or services required by governments through contracts. Public procurement is usually plagued with covert practices and exclusive forms of corruption in Bangladesh. The cost of development finance is much higher in public procurement than that of others in Bangladesh. There have been no unified rules or laws regarding government purchases since 2006. The Government of Bangladesh enacted its ever first act of public procurement, the Public Procurement Act, 2006 (PPA, 2006), and the Public Procurement Rules, 2008 (PPR, 2008). The procurement entity must disseminate procurement information through electronic medium i.e. Electronic Government Procurement (hereinafter e-GP). Despite passing over an era since its enactment, the role of the PPA, 2006 remains seriously under-researched area, specifically there is no research on the issue of the grievance redress mechanisms. The study has been done using a qualitative case study methodology, backed by both primary and secondary documentary analysis. Based on empirical data, this paper explained the role of digitalization in the process of government procurement and depicted changes that have been brought by the implementation of e-GP in government purchases. However, it concluded that the grievance redress mechanism in the process of procurement is only existing in the policy papers which need mandatory implementation for a transparent and accountable governance system. Despite the significant changes and up-gradation in digital government procurement, it is hardly found that the GRM process is digitalized. And the mass tenderers are yet to be acquainted with the improvised system apart from the consistent efforts of the government
Role of Effective Leadership on Empowerment, Effective Communication, and Motivation in Customer Service
No full textCustomer service is the act of supporting customers of a business that can break a business or generate profit in the competitive environment with growing customers’ expectations. Regarding the critical role of customer service to differentiate between businesses, it is considered as one of the top considerations in businesses. However, there is a range of key factors that are tied to the success of a customer service provider in offering quality customer service that will eventually lead the business through exceeding or falling short in responding to customers’ expectations. Besides, businesses are prone to face some challenges in the employment of customer services that are required to be addressed. This paper aims to discuss the importance of customer service and the establishment of an efficient customer service strategy in business considering different influential factors that affect offering quality customer services. It also explains challenges that businesses may face in providing amazing customer services and how to address them
Do Oil Price Shocks and COVID-19 Lead to Policy Uncertainty?
No full textThis study examines the asymmetric effects of the structural oil price shocks and COVID-19 pandemic on four uncertainty indexes. The author used the SVAR approach for the period 31-Dec-2019 to 28-Jun-2020. The results indicate that the effects are asymmetric of oil price shocks. The author also finds that COVID-19 shocks lead to positive responses to the economic policy uncertainty index. In addition, oil prices (their shocks) have a negative impact on the four indicators of uncertainty. Consequently, governments should actively take effective measures to prevent crude oil prices from shocking and maintain stable economic policies
The Role of Legislators and Budget Process in Nigeria
No full textThis study examined the role of the legislators and budget process in Nigeria. For the objective of the study to be achieved, the study embraces the library research which involves a review of extant literature and this forms the basis for drawing up the conclusion. Flowing from the review, the study shows that argument has been raised by several analysts that legislative oversight committees have found not to be very effective in stimulating Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for budget outcomes attainment. The argument is that oversight activities are used by some legislative committees to intimidate rather than encouraging (MDAs) to perform at the optimum levels especially in the areas of budget implementation. The study therefore recommends that the legislators in the Nigeria budget process should ensure that the MDAs make proper use of the funds allocated to them efficiently and effectively with a view to preventing careless spending, diversion as well as the misappropriation of public funds. The oversight activities of the legislative committees should be used to encourage MDAs to perform at the optimum levels especially in the areas of budget implementation and not to intimidate
Adverse Effects of Condenser Cooling Seawater Temperature, Fouling, and Salinity on the Output Power and Thermal Efficiency of BWR NNPs
No full textIncreasing the thermal efficiency in newly designed power stations is a priority. Keeping the efficiency in existed plants close to the rated one is of paramount importance. This research contributes to investigating the adverse effects of changes in condenser seawater coolant characteristics, (temperature, fouling, and salinity), on the thermal performance of a Boiling Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plant (BWR) NPP. A mathematical model is developed to relate seawater cooling temperature, fouling, and salinity to output power and thermal efficiency. The model also explains the impact of the condenser performance on power and efficiency. The thermal efficiency of the considered BWR NPP is reduced by 2.26% for a combined extreme increases in the condenser cooling seawater temperature, fouling factor of seawater and treated boiler feed water, and salinity by 10 °C, 0.0002, 0.00001 m2K/W, and 100 g/kg, respectively. A rise in the condenser efficiency from 40 - 100 % results in an increase in the output power by 7.049%, and the thermal efficiency increases by about 2.62%. Conclusions are useful for reactor’s desig
Geotechnical Properties of Some Clay Deposits in Some Parts of Southwestern Nigeria in Relation to Its Engineering Implications on Constructions
No full textTwenty-two clay samples from Oduna, Okada, and Etsako clay deposits in Southwestern Nigeria were subjected to Geotechnical analysis to evaluate their impact on engineering, especially on construction. The results revealed that the clays deposits were majorly fine-grained texture (<60%), with Plasticity ranging from 23% to 121%, Liquid Limit (25%~205%) having plasticity of medium to very high with a specific gravity from 1.93 to 2.58. Using the American association of state highway and ransportation office (AASHTO) and Unified system classification scheme (USCS), the samples fell within A-7-6 (clayey soil) indicating a subgrade that is fair to poor and within the CL-CH category of fine-grained soil with medium to very high plasticity. Compaction having maximum dry density (MDD) to optimum moisture content (OMC) ranges from 0.94 g/cm3 ~1.68 g/cm3 to 11.9%~44.5%, Triaxial result with cohesion between 0.33~35 and shear strength from 44~120 and California bearing ratio for unsoaked bottom 7.52~40, top 4.82~39.18 and soaked bottom 2.89~30.41, top 4.21~33.53. The geotechnical properties of the clay deposits do not meet the standard requirement hence the implication in engineering might be susceptibility to construction failures
Control of Progressive Collapse of the Structure Using Shear Wall
No full textThe vulnerability of reinforced concrete (RC) building systems to progressive collapse has turned out to be a challenging trouble for professionalstructural engineers so as to prevent total failure on account of nearby damage. The goal of this paper is to enhance the knowledge of such buildings’behavior underneath several scenarios of misplaced columns at differentfloor stages, and their capacity for progressive collapse. The homes hadbeen analyzed following the guidelines for progressive collapse evaluation and design organized by means of the general services administrationguidelines (GSA). The progressive collapse of a ten story structure subjected to a simplest gravity load is taken into consideration and the columnhas been eliminated at one place and the spread damage is evaluated. Theprogressive collapse study has been carried out by way of removing thecolumn at a diagnosed crucial locations (at corner, middle and at interior) as in line with GSA guidelines. Static analysis is done using analysisprogram ETABS. For each case, the consequences were taken in terms ofdemand capacity ratio (DCR) at critical section, and as a result the structurehas been assessed for it’s susceptible to progressive collapse. The availability of shear wall is made on the component wherein collapse occurred andDCR values are mentioned. After imparting the shear wall to the structure,the progressive collapse of the structure because of accidental load maybe controlled in order that the GSA guidelines recommended DCR valuewould be within the range
Natural Caves and Architecture Carved in the Rocks in Bosnia and Herzegovina
No full textStudents of the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo, through the courseArchitecture of the Old Age, were able to get acquainted with “architecturecarved in rock”, and only a very limited number of examples - the architecture of ancient Egypt, ancient Greek architecture in Asia Minor (Lycia),and the architecture of ancient Persia. Many examples of this architecturalexpression remained unknown to them: the architecture of ancient andmedieval India, the architecture of ancient and medieval China, the architecture of the ancient Middle East (the area of today’s Israel, Jordan, SaudiArabia), vernacular architecture around the world from different historicalperiods. As a teacher at the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo, the author,after switching to the education of architecture students in accordance withthe “Bologna process” (2003), presented “architecture carved in the rocks”through a series of subjects, through all levels of education (undergraduate,master’s and doctoral studies), within the framework of processing narrower topics of architecture: constructive systems in architecture, bioclimaticarchitecture, architecture as an energy system, architecture in context. Thecomplex process of creating architecture and explaining its appearance waselaborated by the author (1988) in his doctoral dissertation. The topic “Architecture Carved in Rocks” was elaborated according to this model, whichon the one hand confirmed its applicability, and on the other hand enabledstudents to look at the highly dispersed appearance of architecture in an extremely systematic way, without losing sight of its basic elements: environment, man, boundaries and perspectives. The aim of this work is to show(and through examples in Bosnia and Herzegovina) that natural caves, withmore or less “refining”, are still used today, and that “carving architectureinto rocks” is an all-time and planetary phenomenon