This study aims to underscore the relevance of pre-existing resilience experiences within communities affected by socio-political violence in Colombia, particularly in the context of developing effective risk management practices and enriching the CBDM model. This research employs a qualitative design, incorporating a multiple case study approach, which integrates a comprehensive literature review, in-depth interviews, and focus groups conducted in two Colombian communities, namely Salgar and La Primavera. The community of La Primavera effectively harnessed community empowerment and social support practices to confront socio-political violence, which evolved into a form of social capital that could be leveraged to address disaster risks. Conversely, in Salgar, individual and familial coping strategies took precedence. It is concluded that bolstering citizen participation in disaster risk management in both communities and governmental support for community projects aimed at reducing vulnerability is imperative. This study reveals that capabilities developed through coping with the humanitarian consequences of armed conflict, such as community empowerment and practices of solidarity and social support, can enhance community resilience in the face of disasters.
When power is exercised, it results in political behavior in organizations. Excessively held organizational politics can hurt an organization and its members though some consider wisely used political behavior as positive. This study was conducted at Wolaita Sodo Polytechnic College (WSPTC) to investigate the effect of power and political dynamism on employee job satisfaction. Cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from stratified, randomly selected 146 informants. The Rahim Leader Power Inventory (RLPI), Interpersonal Power Inventory (IPI), Perception of Organizational Politics (POP), and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) were employed to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were made using statistical packages (SPSS version 23). The findings revealed that when managers legitimate, coercive, and reward power bases are higher, then organizational politics becomes higher. Power concentration at higher positions results in increased organizational politics than when it was shared. Regression analysis uncovered that 47% (R-squared 0.468) of variations in job satisfaction were explained by POP and power dynamics. Hence, it is recommended that having power sharing, empowering subordinates, and moderate political maneuvering in the use of power and politics will be helpful in maintaining constructive relationships and job satisfaction.
Proper understanding of LULC changes is considered an indispensable element for modeling. It is also central for planning and management activities as well as understanding the earth as a system. This study examined LULC changes in the region of the proposed Pwalugu hydropower project using remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) techniques. Data from the United States Geological Survey's Landsat satellite, specifically the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), the Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM), and the Operational Land Imager (OLI), were used. The Landsat 5 thematic mapper (TM) sensor data was processed for the year 1990; the Landsat 7 SLC data was processed for the year 2000; and the 2020 data was collected from Operation Land Image (OLI). Landsat images were extracted based on the years 1990, 2000, and 2020, which were used to develop three land cover maps. The region of the proposed Pwalugu hydropower project was divided into the following five primary LULC classes: settlements and barren lands; croplands; water bodies; grassland; and other areas. Within the three periods (1990–2000, 2000–2020, and 1990–2020), grassland has increased from 9%, 20%, and 40%, respectively. On the other hand, the change in the remaining four (4) classes varied. The findings suggest that population growth, changes in climate, and deforestation during this thirty-year period have been responsible for the variations in the LULC classes. The variations in the LULC changes could have a significant influence on the hydrological processes in the form of evapotranspiration, interception, and infiltration. This study will therefore assist in establishing patterns and will enable Ghana's resource managers to forecast realistic change scenarios that would be helpful for the management of the proposed Pwalugu hydropower project.
With the wide application of the Internet and smart systems, data centers (DCs) have become a hot spot of global concern. The energy saving for data centers is at the core of the related works. The thermal performance of a data center directly affects its total energy consumption, as cooling consumption accounts for nearly 50% of total energy consumption. Superior power distribution is a reliable method to improve the thermal performance of DCs. Therefore, analyzing the effects of different power distribution on thermal performance is a challenge for DCs. This paper analyzes the thermal performance numerically and experimentally in DCs with different power distribution. First, it uses Fluent simulate the temperature distribution and flow field distribution in the room, taking the cloud computing room as the research object. Then, it summarizes a formula based on the computing power distribution in a certain range by the numerical and experimental analysis. Finally, it calculates an optimal cooling power by analyzing the cooling power distribution. The results shows that it reduces the maximum temperature difference between the highest temperature of the cabinet from 5-7k to within 1.2k. In addition, the cooling energy consumption is reduced by more than 5%.
This study employed a qualitative approach to examine tertiary students’ perspectives on leveraging Social Studies in the fight against corruption in Ghana. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 21 students from a distance training institution. Some of the variables investigated were causes of corruption and the extent to which students perceived Social Studies as a potential force to combat corruption. The semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data from research participants while thematic analysis was adopted. Data from the study revealed that corruption in Ghana is caused by factors such as weak institutions, greed, poverty-related issues and cultural practices. The results also indicated that Social Studies could significantly help curb corruption. Beside Social Studies, other measures including strengthening institutions, meting out severe punishment to culprits and moral education can also reduce corruption. It was, therefore, recommended that the Ministry of Education through the Ghana Education Service should retool the Social Studies subject, and make it compulsory at all levels of education since it has the potential to reduce corruption.
Madura Island, with more than half of its population, are women encountering socio-economic problems, which eventually create high poverty and unemployment rates. However, the Madurese are also well-known for their resiliency and entrepreneurial characteristics. The effort to solve the issues by empowering the community, women in particular, has been taken seriously primarily by entrepreneurs who were born and raised in the community. Therefore, this research aims to gain insight into the current Madurese entrepreneur’s business pattern and their social concerns in order to propose a strategy to increase productivity as an effort to empower women’s communities. The methodology is qualitative research, which collects data using semi-structured interviews with representatives of the Madurese entrepreneurs in four areas of Madura Island. Their responses are then transcripted and coded for content analysis based on the designed themes. The result shows that they recognise and practise the social entrepreneurship (SE) pattern, although they do not understand the term. Subsequently, the technological application for business operations in general is still limited to the usage of digital technology (DT) for marketing and transaction activities, which helps increase business performance or productivity. Hence, the initiation of technosociopreneurship as a strategy to further develop SE activities with the hope of increasing productivity in empowering women’s communities is proposed. Further research development is advised using quantitative methods for generalisable findings.
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