Challenges and Opportunities of Building Resilient MSMEs in Zambia

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This research paper addresses the challenges and opportunities in building resilient Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Zambia. The paper also examines the different forms of resilience and there implications on organisational resilience. The findings indicates that challenges encountered by MSMEs in building resilient business organisations can be addressed in different ways including through the development and implementation of monitoring and response capabilities, learning abilities and anticipation. The research study relied on secondary data sources and was able to conclude that building resilient MSMEs was vital for the survival of these business organisations.

Distance Learning Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic: Attitude and Assessment Performance of High School Students in Three Moroccan Private High Schools

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The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic worldwide urged educational institutions to come up with quick and effective alternatives to ensure students’ learning and academic year continuity. Morocco was no exception to deal with that situation. As a response to the pandemic, the Ministry of Education launched distance learning as a “new” mode for learning across the country. The objective of the current study is to investigate students’ attitude towards distance learning during the pandemic. Also, it is an attempt to evaluate the impact of distance learning on students’ assessments. 119 students from 3 private schools in Rabat Morocco were involved in the study. A closed-questionnaire was shared with the target population via Google-Form. Later, 12 student informants were recruited to share insights on their learning journey amidst the outbreak of the pandemic. The findings reveal that students’ attitudes have shifted to a positive direction after being introduced to distance learning. However, the findings indicate that there is a negative correlation between distance learning and in-class assessment. The study also concludes by key recommendations found in the students’ responses and review of literature on the need to adopt effective methods in distance learning.

Integrated Use of Co-Compost with Lignite Fly Ash on Yield and Nutrient Uptake of Certain Crops

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A field experiment was conducted to know the response of crops to combined application of co compost and lignite fly ash. Field experiments were conducted in experimental farm (rice and maize) and farmers holding (groundnut and brinjal) to study the response of certain crops to the application of co composts and lignite fly ash grown in clay loam and sandy clay loam soil, respectively. The treatment consisted of Dairy Farm Waste + Crop Residues, Pressmud+ Crop Residues, Dairy Farm Waste + Crop Residues + LFA @5 t ha-1, Dairy Farm Waste + Crop Residues + LFA @10 t ha-1, Dairy Farm Waste + Crop Residues + LFA @15 t ha-1, Pressmud + crop residues + LFA @5 t ha-1, Pressmud + crop residues + LFA @10 t ha-1and Pressmud + crop residues + LFA @15 t ha-1 .The grain and straw yield in rice and maize, pod and haulm yield in groundnut and fruit yield of brinjal were recorded during harvest. Differences in yield of crops between the treatments indicate significantly different effects on soil fertility and crop yield after long-term fertilization. The uptake of nutrients increased linearly with levels of LFA tried and it was higher when it was applied with co compost of pressmud and crop residue. The addition of co composts alone or with graded dose of lignite fly ash significantly improved the physical properties of the soil.

Is Modern Standard Arabic A Good Language for Subtitling?

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Subtitles tend to use a standard form of language for the sake of clarity and accessibility to different types of viewers regardless of their idiosyncrasies. However, the use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in subtitling may not always achieve this objective. This article aims at arguing that MSA hinders the subtitler’s task as it does not provide them with the tools that might enable them to carry out their mission efficiently. It provides evidence that the problem is not exclusively connected to the specificity of subtitling as a constrained translation or to the ideological motives that engender manipulation. It concludes that MSA manipulates subtitlers as the linguistic options it offers are very limited if not sometimes inexistent. These restrictions and scarcities of options manipulate translators and push them in turn to manipulate their translations.

Electronically Tunable Third Order Feed Forward CM Band Pass Filter for Q = 10

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A new electronically tunable current-mode third order filter is proposed in this paper. OP-AMP is used as an active building block. With current input the filter can realize band pass responses in current mode. The filter circuit realizes calculated transfer function. The other attractive features of the filter are a) Employment of minimum active and passive elements b) Responses are electronically tunable c) Low active and passive sensitivities d) Suitable for high frequency operation e) Ideal for integrated circuit implementation.

Managing Competency-Based Teaching of Teachers at Specialized High Schools in Hanoi

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Managing competency-based teaching activities of teachers at specialized high schools includes 7 aspects: 1) Managing teaching goals; 2) Managing content of the teaching program; 3) Managing teaching methods; 4) Managing forms of teaching; 5) Managing educational facilities and equipment; 6) Managing the teaching environment; 7) Managing student assessment. A survey of 152 leaders and teachers at 3 specialized high schools in Hanoi on the management of competency-based teaching activities of teachers at specialized high schools showed that management of competency-based teaching activities was performed well and relatively even among 7 aspects.

A Comparative Study on the Efficiency of Stakeholder Involvement in Community-Based Tourism (CBT) Development

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Community-based tourism (CBT) is a development strategy for the community to manage its resources through the use of tourism as a medium. For CBT to operate, communities may rely on the external assistance in their development project. These stakeholders are academia, local government, and international organizations. This paper compares the work efficiency of these stakeholders’ and their involvement in operating CBT strategies. A total of 535 online respondents with work experience as different stakeholders are gathered and compared. The results shows that local government involvement is ranked the most attentive by the community, followed by the assistance of academia, the community itself, and international organizations (where appropriate). This outcome supports the idea in the literature where government is the most crucial external stakeholder to reach out to during the planning stage of CBT development, but it also suggests that the involvement of academics is more efficient than that of international organizations, possibly due to the fact that academics are from a smaller set of individuals or group with theories and consultancy expertise in the field of CBT rather than the international organizations that are more general with the power and resources they could offer. In future study, in-depth interviews with different stakeholder members would allow further explanation and observation of these relationships.

Single Visit Apexification Using MTA: A Case Report

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Trauma to the dentition during the period of root formation may cause incomplete development of root resulting in open apex. In order to eliminate infection from root canal endodontic treatment is a tooth-saving treatment modality. The absence of a natural apical constriction in a nonvital permanent tooth makes endodontic treatment a challenge. Therefore, it is necessary to induce or create an apical barrier against, which the obturating material can be condensed. Traditionally, calcium hydroxide is considered as the gold standard to induce apexification. Due to certain drawbacks such as very long treatment period, possibility of tooth fracture, and incomplete apical barrier formation, it is being replaced by materials, which have a more predictable outcome like mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA). One-step apexification with MTA reduces the treatment time when compared with traditional calcium hydroxide apexification, which requires an average time of 12–19 months. Also, MTA has various other superior properties compared to calcium hydroxide that are discussed below in detail along with successful treatment of an immature permanent tooth with open apex wherein MTA was used for one-step apexification.

Feminist Issues and the Popularity of Feminist Literature in the World and Vietnam

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Currently, feminism and feminist movements seem to have become “popular” and is extremely in favor of all aspects of social life. Especially in the field of literature, the trend of feminist research shows that the need for equality and charity as well as the fight for gender equality is becoming more and more urgent both in the world and Vietnam. This is a large and in-depth research topic, but with the limited volume of the article, the author only mentions feminism issues, feminist theory as well as the popularity of feminist literature. At present time comparing and contrasting feminist literature in the world as well as in Vietnam so far. Since then, it is clear that the value of feminist literature and the popularity of feminist literature is an inevitable development in the current gender equality trend.

Mapping Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Akure Industrial Layout for Sustainable Development

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This research aimed at mapping the spatiotemporal dynamics of the Industrial Layout located in Akure Ondo State Nigeria. The dataset used are the administrative map of Ondo State, Akure Industrial Layout Boundary,various Landsat imageries of 32m resolution which are Thematic Mapper (TM) of 1986 & 1991, Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM)+ of 2002, Operational Land Imager / Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI/TIRS) of 2014, 2017, 2020; and Worldview 3 image 2020 of 1.24m resolution. The Landsat data were used to extract the different Land use/Land cover (LULC) within the study area. GPS receiver and Worldview 3 image were used to obtain the coordinates of the different LULC classes, which aided in the classification of image, and also for accuracy assessment of the classified image. All the Landsat standard data products were processed, to ascertain that they are free of radiometric and geometric errors using the Level 1 Product Generation System (LPGS) and extracted to obtain the landsat image bands. The extracted Landsat images (bands) were used in the processing and calculating the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and calculation of LULC changes. Evaluation the accuracy of the results produced from the land cover classification was carried out by comparing the results of ground coordinates with the coordinates obtained from a higher resolution image (Worldview 3 image) in order to determine the accuracy of the land cover classification in the study area. The trend of changes of land cover in these areas was assessed and also, the prediction for the future condition both in terms of development was determined based on the results obtained from the initial results. Results from various maps produced and numerical data generated showed that Akure Industrial Layout was mainly dominated by shrub and grass land in 1986 and has in 34 years experienced transformation of 604% in the built environment (18% /year), 119% of Bareland (3.5%/year), and -29% of Grassland (0.9%/year), -66% of Shrub (2%/year). The forecast of the probable spatial extent for the years 2025 and 2030 were estimated to be 175.3Ha and 214.8Ha respectively, which shows there will be a continuous increase in the future development in Akure Industrial layout. The research recommended a proactive action from the government and end-users that will ensure a sustained manageability of the layout.