21 research outputs found
Assessing the Adaptive Capacity of Slum Households to Flooding in the Coastline of Portee and Rokupa, Freetown, Sierra Leone
No full textFrequent flooding has been a significant problem in Freetown, causing loss of lives and properties. The situation is worse for coastal residents, who are more vulnerable and exposed to the impacts. The government has made commitments to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity by 2030. However, there is currently insufficient information to comprehend the coastal residents of Portee and Rokupa’s capacity to adapt to the yearly flooding to which they are subjected. This study aims to assess the adaptive capacity of 204 slum households selected by purposive sampling and using the local adaptive capacity framework. The results show that the widespread adaptive concerns are unflood-proofed housing; low membership in community-based organizations; and the lack of innovative, flexible and forward-looking flood management initiatives. This study argues that the inhabitants have reached their adaptation limit and are now fated to more loss and damage. The author recommends future studies to forecast the assets in the study location that will potentially be affected by different flood intensities when subjected to future climate change scenarios
Evolution of Floods: From Ancient Times to the Present Times (ca 7600 BC to the Present) and the Future
No full textFloods are one of the most dangerous natural disasters, causing great destruction, damage, and even fatalities worldwide. Flooding is the phenomenon of a sudden increase or even slow increase in the volume of water in a river or stream bed as the result of several possible factors: heavy or very long precipitation, melting snowpack, strong winds over the water, unusually high tides, tsunamis, or the failure of dams, gages, detention basins, or other structures that hold back water. To gain a better understanding of flooding, it is necessary to examine evidence, search for ancient wisdom, and compare flood-management practices in different regions in a chronological perspective. This study reviews flood events caused by rising sea levels and erratic weather from ancient times to the present. In addition, this review contemplates concerns about future flood challenges and possible countermeasures. Thus, it presents a catalogue of past examples in order to present a point of departure for the study of ancient floods and to learn lessons for preparation for future flood incidents including heavy rainfalls, particularly in urbanized areas. The study results show that ancient societies developed multifaceted technologies to cope with floods and many of them are still usable now and may even represent solutions and measures to counter the changing and increasingly more erratic weather of the present
Households’ readiness and community-based organisations’ role in flood management: The case of Freetown City’s coastal area
No full textFlooding is a well-known extreme climate event affecting coastal settlements around the world. It is the principal climate-related disaster encountered by residents of Portee and Rukupa, coastal slums in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The impacts of floods in these slums have been exacerbated by the lack of effective control measures to address the disaster. One reason for this ineffectiveness is a lack of information about how households are ready to manage floods and the roles of community-based organisations (CBOs) in these events. Given this concern, this study examines household readiness and CBOs’ roles in flood management in Portee and Rokupa using observation, purposive, and snowball sampling techniques to study 204 households and 12 CBOs. The results show that flood-related information in the community is mostly shared verbally among residents. In addition, most households claimed not to have received support amidst flood events, whereas CBOs within the area claimed the opposite. As such, we recommend that future studies look at household perceptions of vulnerability and willingness to take risk-reduction actions. This study encourages community members to strengthen inter-community and organisational learning, feedback, and support systems and adopt a “no wait on the government principle” for flood management
Households’ readiness and community-based organisations’ role in flood management: the case of Freetown City’s coastal area
No full textFlooding is a well-known extreme climate event affecting coastal settlements around the world. It is the principal climate-related disaster encountered by residents of Portee and Rukupa, coastal slums in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The impacts of floods in these slums have been exacerbated by the lack of effective control measures to address the disaster. One reason for this ineffectiveness is a lack of information about how households are ready to manage floods and the roles of community-based organisations (CBOs) in these events. Given this concern, this study examines household readiness and CBOs’ roles in flood management in Portee and Rokupa using observation, purposive, and snowball sampling techniques to study 204 households and 12 CBOs. The results show that flood-related information in the community is mostly shared verbally among residents. In addition, most households claimed not to have received support amidst flood events, whereas CBOs within the area claimed the opposite. As such, we recommend that future studies look at household perceptions of vulnerability and willingness to take risk-reduction actions. This study encourages community members to strengthen inter-community and organisational learning, feedback, and support systems and adopt a “no wait on the government principle” for flood management
Prevalence and associated influential factors of mental health problems among Chinese college students during different stages of COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review
No full textThis systematic review aims to take China as an example to determine the prevalence of mental health problems and associated influential factors of college students in different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and provide a reference for effective intervention in the future. A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google scholar. A total of 30 articles were included. 1,477,923 Chinese college students were surveyed. In the early stage, the prevalence rates of depression, anxiety, stress, and PTSD ranged from 9.0% to 65.2%, 6.88%–41.1%, 8.53%–67.05%, and 2.7%–30.8%, respectively. Major risk factors were being a female, a medical student, isolation or quarantine, having family members or friends infected with COVID-19, and challenges of online learning. During the normalization stage, depression, anxiety, and insomnia prevalence rates ranged from 8.7% to 50.2%, 4.2%–34.6%, and 6.1%–35.0%, respectively. The main risk factors were self-quarantined after school reopening, regular taking temperature, and wearing face masks. The prevalence rates of mental health problems and associated influential factors unveiled in both stages showed that the students' mental health status was greatly affected. Therefore, a combination of efforts from the government, universities, and families or communities is highly needed to alleviate the mental health sufferings of students
Attitude of Kabawa community towards girl child education and sustainable development in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State Nigeria
No full textThe paper examined Kabawa Community's attitude on girl child education and sustainable development in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, Nigeria. The study was undertaken to look at the cultural and educational variables which influence the attitude of Kabawa Community towards girl child education. In conducting the design, the author used a Descriptive Survey research design. The population of 25,150 female students was used from 62 secondary schools that girls are enrolled under the Kebbi State Secondary School Management Board (KSSMB), Nigeria. A sample of 8 schools was randomly selected; 250 students were randomly chosen proportionately. A sample of 58 parents was drawn using quota sampling. The paper found out that non-educated Kabawa parents, especially those in the rural areas, have a negative attitude towards girls' child education
Social media as a promotional tool towards SME's development: Evidence from the financial industry in a developing economy
No full textThe notable contribution of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the development of socio-economics has been very encouraging in terms of its GDP contribution and employment creation. Both developed and developing countries are living testimonies of the contributions by SMEs. The primary aim of this paper is to assess the use of social media as a promotional tool for SME development. To achieve this objective, a total of 800 structured questionnaires were developed through an intercept and online survey to obtain data for the exercise. A non-probability sampling technique was employed for the collection of the data of which 648 respondents were dully accurate for the data processing/analysis. Using PLS-SEM with the help of ADANCO software v 2.2.1, findings revealed that the use of social media as an advertising tool has a significant effect on a firm’s financial performance, business motivation, customers’ perspective/attraction, and an increase in market share, thus, a key in reflecting a positive change in their marketing and promotional activities in the consumer market. The findings of the study are both beneficial to practitioners/owners of SMEs and the social media marketing literature in general. This study further strengthens the need for businesses to invest in digital marketing tools and employ them effectively to stay competitive in the long term for the firm’s growth and survival. © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.Tomas Bata University in Zlin [IGA/FaME/2021/005, IGA/FaME/2020/002, IGA/FaME/2021/012]Univerzita Tomáše Bati ve Zlíně: IGA/FaME/2020/002, IGA/FaME/2021/005, IGA/FaME/2021/01
Assessment of the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the prospects of e-learning in higher learning institutions: The mediating role of academic innovativeness and technological growth
No full textThis paper assesses the antecedents (prospects) geared toward the implementation of e-learning strategy in the HLI’s of Ghana (a developing country) amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The study again espouses the enabling factors that influence the e-learning system usage during the Covid-19 pandemic in a less digitalized economy. In doing so, the authors relied wholly on a quantitative research paradigm by leveraging on structural equation modelling (SEM) technique to achieve the study goal(s). The findings from 563 valid responses showed that the outbreak of the novel Covid-19 has positively and significantly strengthened the adoption of e-learning strategies across HLI’s in Ghana. It also revealed that “academic innovativeness” and “technological growth & development” have a significant mediation effect on the relationship between the Covid-19 pandemic and the adoption of e-learning strategy. In practice, the study offers contributions for universities’ management and policymakers to understand the relevant factors needed urgently by students and instructors of HLI’s for ensuring the successful usage of e-learning systems. The conclusion and future research direction has been presented in the paper. © 2022 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.Univerzita Tomáše Bati ve Zlíně: IGA/FMK/2020/001Internal Grant Agency (IGA) of the Faculty of Multimedia Communications (FMK) of Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Czech Republic [IGA/FMK/2020/001
Global Research Trends on Gold and Silver Nanoparticle-Induced Cytotoxicity in Cancer Cells:A Bibliometric Perspective
No full textThis study presents a comprehensive analysis of the wealth of available data on the toxicity of gold (AuNPs) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Over the past 25 years, significant research has been conducted on the cytotoxic effects of these NPs on cancer cells. The specific objective of this study is to investigate the bibliometric trends in this field, examining the contributions of different authors, years, countries, and organizations. To conduct this analysis, a collection of publications related to the cytotoxic impact of AuNPs and AgNPs from 2000 to 2025 was gathered from the Web of Science database in April 2025. Microsoft Excel, GraphPad Prism, and VOSViewer software were utilized to analyze the annual publication trends, country citations, and frequently used keywords. A total of 1224 published papers were identified and analyzed. The results of the bibliometric analysis revealed that India had the highest number of publications (436) and citations (15417), followed by Saudi Arabia with 199 articles. The most highly cited paper in this field, with 698 citations, was published by Brown in 2010 in JACS. Furthermore, the co-occurrence analysis of author keywords highlighted the frequent use of keywords such as AgNPs, green synthesis, cytotoxicity, and anticancer activity. Overall, this bibliometric analysis highlights the promising potential of NPs in cancer research within the field of nanomedicine. The findings provide valuable insights into the research landscape and can guide future investigations in this exciting area of study
The impact of social media on consumer-brand loyalty: A mediating role of online based-brand community
No full textThis paper aims at examining the mediating role of online based-brand community (OBBC) through social media platforms (SMP) given the interplay of consumers’ purchasing attitude in a virtual space. To do this, an online survey was used to gauge the views of online consumers so as to establish the relationship between social media usage and consumer-brand loyalty (CBL) via the online based-brand community. A total of 122 social media users affiliated to at least one online brand community took part in the survey. The findings generated through the partial least square and structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) showed that OBBC on the social media platform positively initiates consumer-brand engagement and user-brand relationship. While SMP indirectly stimulates consumer-brand promise and trust (CBPT), towards CBL via OBBC. For the purpose of brand management and the firm’s profitability, this paper offered a conceptual model that depicts a connection between SMP and CBL. The managerial implication of this research was to help practitioners and industry players to harness the usefulness of social media platform in their quest to increase market share in the medium to long-term goals. © 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.Tomas Bata University in Zlin [IGA/FaME/2019/008]; Tomas Bata University in Zlin [project NPU I] [MSMT-7778/2018 RVO -
