FAMILY PLANNING KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE AMONG WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE IN NIMULE PAYAM, SOUTH SUDAN

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine family planning Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) among women of reproductive age in Nimule Payam, South Sudan. Method: The study used a descriptive cross-sectional design and quantitative approach to explore family planning knowledge, attitude and practice among women of reproductive age in Nimule Payam. The study population consisted of 6,621 women of reproductive age in the Bomas of Anzara (1,930), Jalei(,1521), Olikwi (1,536) and Nimule Central (1,634). A sample size of 342 was determined from the population using the formulae of Leslie. Stratified simple random sampling was employed through a researcher administered structured questionnaire to collect data from the respondents. The data was cleaned, coded and analyzed using EPI-INFO version 7 to generate descriptive statistics and the results were presented in tables. Results: The study revealed that women of reproductive age in Nimule Payam had high 273 (79.82%) level of family planning knowledge, good 233 (68%) family planning practices and positive attitude towards family planning. The positive attitude towards family planning was because majority 270 (78.97%) believed family planning was safe to use, could not cause infertility 252 (73.82%), cancer 264 (76.93%) and future abortion 251 (73.36%). The respondents also generally agreed that 319 (93.07%) family planning could prevent unwanted pregnancy. However, the majority of the respondents acknowledged that the practice of family planning was against their God/Allah 268 (78.31%) and culture 229 (67.03%). Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study found that women of reproductive age in Nimule Payam had a high level of family planning knowledge, a fairly positive attitude with a moderate number practicing family planning methods. Increased sensitization of the respondents and their partners on family planning is required to improve their attitude and practice. Future studies should focus on the factors influencing the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of family planning methods among women of reproductive age in Nimule Payam.

Where to move? Evaluating the potential of BMO field and Varsity Centre to host the Toronto Argonauts

The Toronto Argonauts are the oldest continuously running professional football team in North America and a storied franchise within the Canadian Football League. However, they are also a team facing vagrancy, with their lease at Rogers Centre expiring on December 31, 2017 and have historically had trouble-selling tickets at this locale. The team is now looking to play in a smaller established venue that is more realistic to fill and such stadiums suggested have included BMO Field and Varsity Centre. Therefore, the research within this paper addresses the gap in the planning knowledge of which of these two stadiums should be chosen to move the team to from evaluations that include redevelopment cost, site location, accessibility, and a surrounding land use. The research highlights that Varsity Centre has the greatest potential, while also providing a set of recommendations for either site to optimize the potential to host the team.

Where to move? Evaluating the potential of BMO field and Varsity Centre to host the Toronto Argonauts

The Toronto Argonauts are the oldest continuously running professional football team in North America and a storied franchise within the Canadian Football League. However, they are also a team facing vagrancy, with their lease at Rogers Centre expiring on December 31, 2017 and have historically had trouble-selling tickets at this locale. The team is now looking to play in a smaller established venue that is more realistic to fill and such stadiums suggested have included BMO Field and Varsity Centre. Therefore, the research within this paper addresses the gap in the planning knowledge of which of these two stadiums should be chosen to move the team to from evaluations that include redevelopment cost, site location, accessibility, and a surrounding land use. The research highlights that Varsity Centre has the greatest potential, while also providing a set of recommendations for either site to optimize the potential to host the team.

An intelligent simulation-based framework for automated planning of concrete construction works

PurposeThis paper proposes an innovative intelligent simulation-based construction planning framework that introduces a new approach to simulation-based construction planning.Design/methodology/approachIn this approach, the authors developed an ontological inference engine as an integrated part of a constraint-based simulation system that configures the construction processes, defines activities and manages resources considering a variety of requirements and constraints during the simulation. It allows for the incorporation of the latest project information and a deep level of construction planning knowledge in the planning. The construction planning knowledge is represented by an ontology and several semantic rules. Also, the proposed framework uses the project building information model (BIM) to extract information regarding the construction product and the relations between elements. The extracted information is then converted to an ontological format to be useable by the framework.FindingsThe authors implemented the framework in a case study project and tested its usefulness and capabilities. It successfully generated the construction processes, activities and required resources based on the construction product, available resources and the planning rules. It also allowed for a variety of analyses regarding different construction strategies and resource planning. Moreover, 4D BIM models that provide a very good understanding of the construction plan can be automatically generated using the proposed framework.Originality/valueThe active integration between BIM, discrete-event simulation (DES) and ontological knowledge base and inference engine defines a new class of construction simulation with expandable applications.