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Blogging has established itself as an important and influential part of the
modern online media. At the dawn of the blogosphere people were publishing
their diaries and life journals. Nowadays, some bloggers operate blogs that are
hardly any different from online newspapers and magazines. On the one hand
professional blogging is broadly accepted in the society, but on the other hand
it is poorly understood. The purpose of this explorative study is to broaden
the understanding of blogging as a professional activity. In particular, this
study explores the aspects of professional blogging and the interplay between
credibility, authenticity and monetisation in blogs.
To understand blogging as a professional activity an extensive literature
research is conducted. First, main concepts of blogging as a social activity
are discussed. Then, the changes that come together with the transformation
of a social activity into a professional activity of blogging are discussed. To
look at the activity of blogging from an unusual perspective, a comprehensive
qualitative survey is conducted with blog readers. The survey examines
not only readers’ perception of blogging as a professional activity, but also
motivations for reading blogs and attitude to monetising practices and labelling
of monetised content in blogs. Information received from the survey is used to
draw some conclusions about the state of the art of blogging as a professional
activity, and challenges and opportunities blogging industry faces nowadays.
Water is an eminently important element for societal development. It must be available in sufficient quantity and quality to meet human requirements of consumption, food production and sanitation. The riverine ecosystems are increasingly deteriorated due to human interventions. This leads to changes in the natural flow patterns. The concept of environmental flow started to emerge. Due to the importance of environmental flow in the integrated river basin management, researchers and scientists worldwide have made great efforts towards assessing the environmental flow requirements in river ecosystems. Various tools and techniques were defined. Governmental authorities and water ministries (all over the world including Egypt) have introduced regulations and policies to assure the vitality of environmental flow in river management and water allocation too.
Although different methods are available for the environmental flow assessment, those techniques are not practically applied. Implementing the environmental flow in real world is a challenge, due to the lack of political will and the stakeholder support, the institutional barriers and conflicts of interest, and finally the insufficient resources and capacity in environmental management institutions. It is a multidisciplinary and intersectoral process.
The present study aims to report the importance of environmental flow regarding the inhabitants’ daily life as well as the overall Egyptian socio-economic, political and health status. It demonstrates the methods of applying the Environmental flow concept in Egypt with a focus on social and political aspects, detailing the current situation in Egypt, and clarifying the obstacles that face the implementation process. The data was collected via local people questionnaires, stakeholders’ interviews and field visits. The study proposes solutions to evade the environmental flow implementation obstacles and overcome current challenges. Moreover, the study predicts future issues and offers solutions to avoid their occurrence.
Observational studies and clinical trials have become increasingly important over recent years and play an essential role in advancing medical knowledge. In today’s world of clinical research, it is not possible to imagine trials without the founda-tion of a well-established it-infrastructure. Electronic capture and usage of data is pervasive.
In practice, medical progress requires the ability to integrate data from different systems. An essential factor in enabling different actors, such as institutions and hospitals, to have their systems exchange structured data and make use of the information is the interoperability of the data and systems.
FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperable Resources) is a free and easily customizable HL7 platform standard, based on 30 years of experience of HL7. It is focused on providing health-related information and defines a set of capabilities used in the health care process.
This thesis will provide a conceptual approach for working with FHIR, as well as concrete approaches for working with FHIR profiles and for customizing the standard for particular use cases. It will be carried out in cooperation with the Medical Systems R&D, which is a service provider within the University Hospital of Cologne.
The guiding request approach will focus on the evaluation of requirements for clini-cal trials and how clinical research protocols can be represented in an interoperable and machine-parsable format using FHIR.
Illegal Gold mining and water quality. A case study of River Offin in the Central Region of Ghana
(2018)
Ghana as a country in the west of Africa is naturally endowed with many rich natural resources some of which includes; Gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese, cocoa, etc. Currently, it’s the second leading producer of gold production in Africa after South Africa. Gold production has produced a lot of benefits to the nation but at the same time contributed to many negativities ranging from pollution (water and air), land degradation, ethnic conflicts and deforestation. Industrial gold mining itself was never a big issue that caused any panic in the country till illegal gold miners “Galamseyers” also commenced operating. The sole objectives of this research were to determine the level of some specific heavy metal (Mercury, Lead, Arsenic and Zinc) concentrations within the Offin River in Dunkwa-on-Offin, Buabenso, Ayanfuri and Nkotumso. Results after the research revealed that, Ayanfuri recorded the highest level of concentrations. Nkotumso followed in that order before Buabenso with Dunkwa-on-Offin recording the least concentrations. It also became clear later that, even though the degree of intensiveness of the illegal mining “Galamsey” operations could have been a main factor for the increased concentrations, another finding was that, towns or communities that recorded higher concentrations throughout the study also showed to be towns that made use of inorganic fertilizers on its farms. The Minerals and mining Act 2006 of Ghana was then analyzed and conclusion was that, though the country has very strong policies regarding illegal mining termed “Galamsey”, there seemed to be institutional loop holes that have not been strong enough to combat illegal mining in the country. In recommending policy directives to improve the river quality, six (6) institutions including the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology(MEST), Minerals Commission of Ghana, Environmental Protection Agency, Forestry Commission and the water Resources Commission were identified with detailed recommended roles clearly spelt out for each institution.
Urban settlements demand the highest levels of resource consumption and waste management.
It has been accepted that cities should be considered organisms. Through Urban Energy Metabolism the planning and management of energy that flows across cities achieves important developments towards sustainability. Energy Efficiency is one of the primary tools used to produce sustainable development. Cities worldwide are developing action plans that implement the teachings of holism and eco-friendly practices. Systems Theory is a field developed with the intention of managing systems based on interdisciplinarity and a holistic approach. Fundamental practices of systems thinking are applicable to the study of cities as sustainable organisms/complex systems. Planning for Energy Efficient Cities (PLEEC) is an European project that was executed by a group of participants from the public, private, and education sectors, with the purpose of designing energy efficiency action plans to meet the targets of 2020. This work introduces, based on a literature review, several systems theories. A critique of the characteristics of PLEEC’s framework is performed to assess the level of systemic consideration into holism and sustainability. The evaluation of the process or success of the energy efficiency plans elaborated is not in the scope of the research. Using a modified version of Michael C.
Jackson’s Total Systems Intervention and a table that summarizes the principles of systems thinking, it is concluded that the plan lacks systemic consideration of cities as complex systems. The framework includes several concepts attributed to the field, such as interconnection of elements exchanging information and resources, but fails in defining self-organizing feedback based structures and function-driven behavior. It is of paramount importance that system thinking basics be at the core of all planning.
With a rapidly growing population and urbanization, most modern slums (favelas) also proliferated in Brazil since the 1950s when many people left rural areas of Brazil and moved into the cities. Rio de Janeiro is one of those cities having a vast amount of favelas with poor living conditions. One of the main problems of electricity supply in favelas is illegal electricity use, called ‘Gato’ in Portuguese. Recent unexpected severe drought, economic crisis, and rapidly increased electricity price in Brazil affected the reliable supply of affordable electricity in favelas.
Considering abundant solar radiation of the country and the government’s willingness trying to shift the framework of energy supply from hydropower to renewable energy, this study analyzes the solar PV potentials to ensure a reliable supply of affordable electricity in favelas in Rio de Janeiro.
Literature reviews regarding solar PV development in Brazil, energy policy analysis in Brazil and electricity issues in favelas are revised. As a case study, the chosen favela ‘Babilônia’ is presented. The survey analysis about electricity consumption situation with social dimension targeting residences in Babilônia is implemented. Lastly, through economic analyses with cost-benefit calculation such as Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Net Present Value (NPV), Discounted Cash Flow, Payback period, Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and Weighted-Average Cost of Capital (WACC) models, this study develops the possible financing alternatives to implement a solar PV project with different scenario analyses in the current solar PV market and solar energy policy of Brazil.
The results of this study can be used as an aid to comprehend the electricity supply issue of the most vulnerable class in Brazil and the solar PV as a solution.