Suchergebnisse

In recent years sugar cane industry had been faced with challenges that are mainly manifested in utilization of its by-products such as bagasse and molasses, and the growing concern for the environment that makes the governments to orient its policies and efforts towards the product of fuel that is chemically extracted through fermentation and distillation.The research paper is directed to serve the economy through feasibility study to establish ethanol fuel plant to improve the profits of the sugar industry and alleviate the environmental problems resulting from the use of fossil fuels. The study revealed that a capital of $26,201,660 can be invested in plant that produces 200,000 liter/day of ethanol fuel; the annual gross revenue without considering taxes is estimated to be $11,133,000 with payback period of 3.67 years. The economic indicators are feasible showing that internal rate of return is 22.55%.

This study aimed to uncover the backings to passion that plays a great role on firm's entrepreneurial engagement. It explores a framework on what other factors determine the individual's engagement on entrepreneurship. To meet this, data's were collected from a sample of 112 firms and analyzed using descriptive and hierarchical linear regression analysis. The finding reveals that, Even if passion has a great impact on entrepreneurial engagement; it may not be successful without consideration of both their internal resource and external environments. The presence of human and financial capital as well as government supports intensifies the engagement of firms in entrepreneurship, while the unpredictability of environment hinders the successful practice of entrepreneurship. These are not the only factors that intensify the relationship; therefore, the future research should add other determinants such as technology diffusion and marketing environment and test on longitudinal study to capture the trends of individual firm's engagement.

As urban expands into peripheral areas, peri-urban indigenous farmers lose their land and highly vulnerable to negative externalities of urbanization. The aim of the study is to assess the economic linkage between urban development and the livelihood of peri-urban farming communities, focus on current practice and policies. From Ethiopia, Amara regional state was selected. Through multistage sampling, five municipalities (Debra Birhan, Shewa Robit, Kombolcha, Dessie, and Woldia) were taken as the sample from Amara regional state. Interviews were conducted with 30 municipalities' officials of the selected town. Questionnaires collected from 200 respondents of peri-urban evicted farmers. As the findings of the study suggest, peri-urban farmers' evictions from their indigenous land for land re-development are the continuous process that negatively affects the livelihood of farming communities. The factors that contribute for urban expansion in Amara regional state are economic policy reform, the creation of enabling the environment for private investors, the unsatisfied demand of urban dwellers for residential, and expansion of public sector projects. A collaborative effect of policy limitations, potential conflicts, unplanned livelihood, and poor saving habits of peri-urban farmers, lack of municipality intervention and lack of good governance negatively affect the livelihood of peri-urban farmers and jeopardize the image of government. The forwarded solutions are municipalities should have fully implemented urban policies, should have work on mutual benefits of concerned stakeholders, farmers' background should be recorded and continuous follow up of evicted farmers livelihood should be practiced.

This study assessesthe effectiveness of managers of technical college workshops from the perspective of stakeholders in North Central Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was employed. Three research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A 35-item questionnaire developed by the researchers and validated by three experts was used to collect data from 101 administrators, 140 teachers, and 24 workshop personnel randomly sampled and stratified along trades in technical colleges. Mean was employed to answer the research questions while one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to test the hypotheses using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for data analysis. Result revealed that respondent shared similar opinions on the management of technical college workshops. It was therefore recommended that: The managers of the workshops should use alternative approaches in the management of workshop instead of waiting for government to provide everything; maintenance of tools should be a regular practice in the workshops; administrators should recommend teachers and workshop personnel to attend seminars regularly in order to update their knowledge on current practices in the management of technical college workshops among others.

During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. conservative politicians and the media downplayed the risk of both contracting COVID-19 and the effectiveness of recommended health behaviors. Health behavior theories suggest perceived vulnerability to a health threat and perceived effectiveness of recommended health-protective behaviors determine motivation to follow recommendations. Accordingly, we predicted that-as a result of politicization of the pandemic-politically conservative Americans would be less likely to enact recommended health-protective behaviors. In two longitudinal studies of U.S. residents, political conservatism was inversely associated with perceived health risk and adoption of health-protective behaviors over time. The effects of political orientation on health-protective behaviors were mediated by perceived risk of infection, perceived severity of infection, and perceived effectiveness of the health-protective behaviors. In a global cross-national analysis, effects were stronger in the U.S. (N = 10,923) than in an international sample (total N = 51,986), highlighting the increased and overt politicization of health behaviors in the U.S.

Background. The effective implementation of government policies and measures for controlling the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires compliance from the public. This study aimed to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of trust ingovernment regarding COVID-19 control with the adoption of recommended health behaviours and prosocial behaviours, and potential determinants of trust in government duringthe pandemic.Methods. This study analysed data from the PsyCorona Survey, an international project onCOVID-19 that included 23 733 participants from 23 countries (representative in age andgender distributions by country) at baseline survey and 7785 participants who also completedfollow-up surveys. Specification curve analysis was used to examine concurrent associationsbetween trust in government and self-reported behaviours. We further used structural equation model to explore potential determinants of trust in government. Multilevel linear regressions were used to examine associations between baseline trust and longitudinal behavioural changes.Results. Higher trust in government regarding COVID-19 control was significantly associatedwith higher adoption of health behaviours (handwashing, avoiding crowded space, self-quarantine) and prosocial behaviours in specification curve analyses (median standardised β =0.173 and 0.229, p < 0.001). Government perceived as well organised, disseminating clear messages and knowledge on COVID-19, and perceived fairness were positively associated withtrust in government (standardised β = 0.358, 0.230, 0.056, and 0.249, p < 0.01). Higher trustat baseline survey was significantly associated with lower rate of decline in health behavioursover time ( p for interaction = 0.001).Conclusions. These results highlighted the importance of trust in government in the control of Covid-19.

The present paper examines longitudinally how subjective perceptions about COVID-19, one's community, and the government predict adherence to public health measures to reduce the spread of the virus. Using an international survey (N = 3040), we test how infection risk perception, trust in the governmental response and communications about COVID-19, conspiracy beliefs, social norms on distancing, tightness of culture, and community punishment predict various containment-related attitudes and behavior. Autoregressive analyses indicate that, at the personal level, personal hygiene behavior was predicted by personal infection risk perception. At social level, social distancing behaviors such as abstaining from face-to-face contact were predicted by perceived social norms. Support for behavioral mandates was predicted by confidence in the government and cultural tightness, whereas support for anti-lockdown protests was predicted by (lower) perceived clarity of communication about the virus. Results are discussed in light of policy implications and creating effective interventions.