PERCEIVED RESTORATIVE BENEFITS OF OBUDU MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE, NIGERIA

2015 ◽  
Vol 77 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Ojobo ◽  
Ismail Said ◽  
Sapura Mohamad ◽  
Aldrin Abdullah ◽  
Norsidah Ujang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Stress Relief ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Landscape Features ◽  
Mountain Landscape ◽  
Human Wellbeing

Specific natural environments evoke restorative potentials for the amelioration of stress necessary for human wellbeing. However, studies focusing on the evaluation of this phenomenon have covered mainly forests, wilderness and urban landscape features, while mountain landscape features have not been adequately explored. This study examined the perception of individuals regarding the benefits of contact with the features of a mountain landscape environment in relation to human wellbeing. A direct rating scale questionnaire was administered to 200 respondents drawn from a population of lecturers and students. Overall findings suggest that the multi-stimulus Obudu mountain landscape environment possesses the potential to enhance wellbeing through excitement, calmness and stress relief. This finding will inform policy makers and landscape architects in decision-making concerning the development of mountain landscape environments and provision of landscape features for specific environments.    

Anti-corruption in History

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Wellbeing ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Legitimate Power ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
Over Time

Anticorruption in History is the first major collection of case studies on how past societies and polities, in and beyond Europe, defined legitimate power in terms of fighting corruption and designed specific mechanisms to pursue that agenda. It is a timely book: corruption is widely seen today as a major problem, undermining trust in government, financial institutions, economic efficiency, the principle of equality before the law and human wellbeing in general. Corruption, in short, is a major hurdle on the “path to Denmark”—a feted blueprint for stable and successful statebuilding. The resonance of this view explains why efforts to promote anticorruption policies have proliferated in recent years. But while the subjects of corruption and anticorruption have captured the attention of politicians, scholars, NGOs and the global media, scant attention has been paid to the link between corruption and the change of anticorruption policies over time and place. Such a historical approach could help explain major moments of change in the past as well as reasons for the success and failure of specific anticorruption policies and their relation to a country’s image (of itself or as construed from outside) as being more or less corrupt. It is precisely this scholarly lacuna that the present volume intends to begin to fill. A wide range of historical contexts are addressed, ranging from the ancient to the modern period, with specific insights for policy makers offered throughout.

scholarly journals Health technology assessment in sub-Saharan Africa: a descriptive analysis and narrative synthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Hollingworth ◽  
Ama Pokuaa Fenny ◽  
Su-Yeon Yu ◽  
Francis Ruiz ◽  
Kalipso Chalkidou
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Narrative Synthesis ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Background Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are moving towards universal health coverage. The process of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) can support decisions relating to benefit package design and service coverage. HTA involves institutional cooperation with agreed methods and procedural standards. We systematically reviewed the literature on policies and capacity building to support HTA institutionalisation in SSA. Methods We systematically reviewed the literature by searching major databases (PubMed, Embase, etc.) until June 2019 using terms considering three aspects: HTA; health policy, decision making; and SSA. We quantitatively extracted and descriptively analysed content and conducted a narrative synthesis eliciting themes from the selected literature, which varied in study type and apporach. Results Half of the 49 papers identified were primary research studies and mostly qualitative. Five countries were represented in six of ten studies; South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. Half of first authors were from SSA. Most informants were policy makers. Five themes emerged: (1) use of HTA; (2) decision-making in HTA; (3) values and criteria for setting priority areas in HTA; (4) involving stakeholders in HTA; and (5) specific examples of progress in HTA in SSA. The first one was the main theme where there was little use of evidence and research in making policy. The awareness of HTA and economic evaluation was low, with inadequate expertise and a lack of local data and tools. Conclusions Despite growing interest in HTA in SSA countries, awareness remains low and HTA-related activities are uncoordinated and often disconnected from policy. Further training and skills development are needed, firmly linked to a strategy focusing on strengthening within-country partnerships, particularly among researchers and policy makers. The international community has an important role here by supporting policy- relevant technical assistance, highlighting that sustainable financing demands evidence-based processes for effective resource allocation, and catalysing knowledge-sharing opportunities among countries facing similar challenges.

scholarly journals Research use at the Ministry of Health in Burkina Faso: the decision-makers’ perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Dagenais
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Informed Decision ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Research Use ◽  
Informed Decision Making ◽  
Ministry Of Health ◽  
Policy Makers

Abstract Background Despite the increased emphasis placed on the use of evidence for policy development, relatively few initiatives have been developed to support evidence-informed decision-making, especially in West Africa. Moreover, studies examining the conditions under which policy-makers use research-based evidence are still scarce, but they show that their attitudes and opinions about research are one of the main determinants of such use. In February 2017, Burkina Faso’s Minister of Health planned to create a unit to promote evidence-informed decision-making within the ministry. Before the unit was set up, documenting the attitudes towards research at the highest levels of his Ministry appeared profitable to the unit’s planning. Method Individual interviews were conducted by the author with 14 actors positioned to consider evidence during decision-making from the Burkina Faso’s Minister of health cabinet. An interview grid was used to explore several themes such as attitudes towards research, obstacles and facilitators to research use, example of research use in decision-making and finally, ways to increase decision-makers’ participation in knowledge transfer activities. Interviews were partially transcribed and analysed by the author. Results The results show a mixed attitude towards research and relatively little indication of research use reported by respondents. Important obstacles were identified: evidence inaccessibility, lack of implementation guidelines, absence of clear communication strategy and studies’ lack of relevance for decision-making. Many suggestions were proposed such as raising awareness, improving access and research communication and prioritizing interactions with researchers. Respondents agree with the low participation of decision-makers in knowledge transfer activities: more leadership from the senior officials was suggested and greater awareness of the importance of their presence. Conclusions The conclusion presents avenues for reflection and action to increase the potential impact of the knowledge transfer unit planned within the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso. This innovative initiative will be impactful if the obstacles identified in this study and policy-makers’ preferences and needs are taken into account during its development and implementation.

scholarly journals Evaluating Stress Relief from Architecture: A Case Study Based on Buildings in Taiwan, China and Japan

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7899
Author(s):  
Ming-Chyuan Ho ◽  
Yung-Chia Chiu
Keyword(s):  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Stress Relief ◽  
Future Trend ◽  
Differential Method ◽  
City Image ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Architectural Styles ◽  
Stress Relieving ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Image Identity

The urban landscape can be improved to reduce the stress experienced by citizens. Therefore, stress-relieving buildings constitute a crucial topic and a future trend in architecture and design. In this study, different architectural styles were investigated to explore design methods for and characteristics of stress-relieving building shapes and to identify indicators for measuring participant stress relief while viewing buildings. To understand stress relief from architecture, we performed semi-structured interviews with 60 participants who viewed images of 30 buildings. The semantic differential method with a 7-point image scale was used to rate stress relief from different architectural styles. The study results revealed that the participants perceived curvilinear buildings as interesting but do not relieve stress. The participants identified as feeling high pressure considering rectilinear patterns to relieve more stress. To support this observation, we identified three principles—city image, identity, and spiritual atmosphere—as fundamental loci of designing cities for livability. We illustrate the three principles with several cases that facilitate a detailed understanding of their applicability in biodesign practices.

scholarly journals Measuring the Productivity of Energy Consumption of Major Industries in China: A DEA-Based Method

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xishuang Han ◽  
Xiaolong Xue ◽  
Jiaoju Ge ◽  
Hengqin Wu ◽  
Chang Su
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Data Envelopment Analysis ◽  
Malmquist Productivity Index ◽  
Productivity Index ◽  
Productivity Change ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Decision Making Units

Data envelopment analysis can be applied to measure the productivity of multiple input and output decision-making units. In addition, the data envelopment analysis-based Malmquist productivity index can be used as a tool for measuring the productivity change during different time periods. In this paper, we use an input-oriented model to measure the energy consumption productivity change from 1999 to 2008 of fourteen industry sectors in China as decision-making units. The results show that there are only four sectors that experienced effective energy consumption throughout the whole reference period. It also shows that these sectors always lie on the efficiency frontier of energy consumption as benchmarks. The other ten sectors experienced inefficiency in some two-year time periods and the productivity changes were not steady. The data envelopment analysis-based Malmquist productivity index provides a good way to measure the energy consumption and can give China's policy makers the information to promote their strategy of sustainable development.

A novel approach to diagnose ADHD using virtual reality

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ha Min Son ◽  
Dong Gyu Lee ◽  
Yoo-Sook Joung ◽  
Ji Woo Lee ◽  
Eun Ju Seok ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Diagnostic Test ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Adhd Diagnosis ◽  
Dsm 5 ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Potential Patient

Purpose The current golden standard for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis is clinical diagnosis based on psychiatric interviews and psychological examinations. This is suboptimal, as clinicians are unable to view potential patients in multiple natural settings – a necessary condition for objective diagnosis. The purpose of this paper is to improve the objective diagnosis of ADHD by analyzing a quantified representation of the actions of potential patients in multiple natural environments. Design/methodology/approach The authors use both virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to create an objective ADHD diagnostic test. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) and ADHD Rating Scale are used to create a rule-based system of quantifiable VR-observable actions. As a potential patient completes tasks within multiple VR scenes, certain actions trigger an increase in the severity measure of the corresponding ADHD symptom. The resulting severity measures are input to an AI model, which classifies the potential patient as having ADHD in the form inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, combined or neither. Findings The result of this study shows that VR-observed actions can be extracted as quantified data, and classification of this quantified data achieves near-perfect sensitivity and specificity with a 98.3% accuracy rate on a convolutional neural network model. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to incorporate VR and AI into an objective DSM-5-based ADHD diagnostic test. By including stimulation to the visual, auditory and equilibrium senses and tracking movement and recording voice, we present a method to further the research of objective ADHD diagnosis.

'Maatschappelijk draagvlak' als alibi : macht en tegenmacht inzake milieubeleid op het middenveld

Res Publica ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-356
Author(s):  
Stefaan Walgrave
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
Privileged Access ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
Intermediary Organisations

Social, political and commercial organisations are stakeholders in the environmental policy decision making. Their mobilised power and counter power determine to a large extent the content of the decisions taken. Lately, the environmental movement in Flanders has grown stronger in members, professionals, financially,... but it remains relatively weak in comparison with the traditional, strong and aften pillarised intermediary organisations like unions, farmers and employers organisations. Especially its limited informal access tothe policy makers is incomparable with the exclusive and privileged access of those big organisations. Nevertheless the environmental movement is becoming a policy insider instead of an outsider, but this threatens the movements independence and its movement functions.

scholarly journals The Psychological Puzzle: Contributing Factors to the Top-Down Politicization of Intelligence

Elements ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Moretti
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Rational Decision ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Rational Decision Making

Policy and intelligence are intimately intertwined. Policymakers need intelligence to make decisions, while the intelligence community derives significance from its ability to provide policy makers with reliable information. In this symbiotic relationship, it is healthy for intelligence consumers to at times check and direct the work of intelligence producers. However, if undertaken maliciously, this checking mechanism manifests as top-down politicization. Here, leaders use intelligence post facto to legitimize their policies instead of using it to guide them, reversing the rational decision-making process. Certain factors may compel leaders to manipulate intelligence to reflect their policy preferences. This essay demonstrates how three distinct processes of top-down politicization can arise from ambiguous evidence, the psychology of intelligence consumers, and the nature of the leaders’ political positions and responsibilities. It then proceeds to argue that political leaders’ psychology is the most potent source of top-down politicization.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Accounting Information Systems and Making Investment Decisions in the Industrial Companies Listed in the Saudi Stock Market

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qasim Alawaqleh ◽  
Mahmoud Al-Sohaimat
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Accounting Information Systems ◽  
Industrial Companies ◽  
Investment Decision Making ◽  
The Relationship

The study aimed to measure the relationship between the investment decision-making in the industrial companies listed in the Saudi Stock Market with the (IVs) characteristics of the accounting information systems (appropriateness and reliability, comparability and understanding), and renovation and maintenance of the hardware and software. The problem in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is that the government depends on oil revenues more than on attracting investments, therefore, the importance of this study is constituted by the provision of critical recommendations to policy makers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to overcome this issue and improve the investments. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, questionnaires were administered to 194 people representing the study population; a multiple regression (standard regression) was also used to test the study hypotheses. In general, all variables were positively significantly related with the investment decision-making.The findings of this study also showed that the independent variables explained more than 65% of the variance in investment decision-making. The Saudi government and policy makers should issue new regulations to increase the interest in accounting information systems in order to attract the investment. In relation to the practical and theoretical contribution, this study used new variables in the new model, such as renovation and maintenance of the hardware and software. Furthermore, practical contribution will help policy makers and the Saudi government to advance in this area and implement new policies for investors in order to protect the economy and the society stability due to the war in Yemen and Syria.

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