Volunteering as a Human Resource in Provision of Public Social Services in the Municipality

The research aims to identify the main factors and obstacles supporting the development of volunteering in municipalities as a basis for volunteering as an additional human resource in the provision of social services in the municipality. It has been achieved through qualitative analysis and generalization of academic literature and other publicly available sources. The article adheres to the opinion that volunteering is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly important in democratic societies. In the analyzed context of public administration, we treat volunteering as follows: activities that create social benefits for society; freely assumed obligations authorized by agreement; activities appropriate to mutual assistance; unpaid activities of public service; useful work; activities satisfying the needs of human self-realization; activities allowing to acquire professional skills. All the components of this multifaceted definition evidence the social benefit to society, and at the same time to the municipality, where volunteering is being developed. The analysis of academic literature and the good practice of other countries in the development of volunteering showed that the social benefits created by volunteering are complex, the social impact is a long-term and systemic. The social benefits created by volunteering affect the volunteer him/herself, the organization that hosts the volunteer, the community of service provision, the service recipient and his/her family members, society. The study revealed the following factors activating volunteering in the municipality: recognition of volunteering benefits and support at all levels of government; determination and periodic analysis of obstacles to involvement of volunteers in social activities; formation of volunteers’ involvement mechanism and administration of activities thereof; material and information resources for the coordination and support of volunteering activities; competent human resources to activate and involve volunteering; mutual co-operation of the municipal administration units and departments; cooperation of the municipal administration with NGOs and state-financed organizations in developing volunteering in municipalities; dissemination of good practice; inclusion of volunteering activities in curricula of pre-school educational institutions.

Levels of Hydroquinone, Selected Heavy Metals (Hg, Pb, As) and Chemical requirements in Some Skin Lightening Creams Sold in Mbarara Municipality

In this study, Skin-lightening creams commonly sold in Mbarara municipality were analyzed for chemical parameters (pH, thermal stability and fatty substance content), total hydroquinone, Lead, Mercury, and Arsenic contents. Total heavy metal content was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The levels of hydroquinone were determined using High Performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). All the creams showed detectable mean levels of mercury, ranging from 0.07±0.01ppm to 0.33±0.01ppm. Only 26.31% of the creams showed detectable levels of lead and 15.79% creams recorded detectable levels of arsenic. The mean levels of hydroquinone ranged from 0.54±0.02% to 4.47±0.02%. All the creams passed the thermal stability and fatty substance content tests. However, all the creams had very low pH values below the recommended 4.5- 8.5 pH ranges by Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS). The levels of mercury, arsenic and lead in the samples were less than the UNBS, European Union and US Food and Drug Administration’s acceptable limits. Only 84.2% of the cream samples analyzed contained hydroquinone levels higher than the recommended WHO limit of 2%. The use of such creams may lead to serious health hazards. While the low concentrations of heavy metals detected in the cream samples analyzed do not pose any potential risk to consumers, repeated application of these creams may cause a cumulative effect over prolonged exposure. The low pH values may cause skin irritations. Therefore, the community needs to be sensitized on the implications of using skin lightening creams and UNBS should conduct periodic analysis to ascertain the levels of hydroquinone, heavy metals, and chemical requirements of skin lightening creams sold in Uganda as well as encourage manufacturers to state the exact bleaching agents in their creams.

Water quality of rivers in the eastern region of Cianorte (Paraná, Brazil) under relevant influence of industrial and agricultural waste

The Catingueiro, Cristalino and Ligeiro Rivers, present in the eastern region of Cianorte, Paraná, Brazil, are under constant influence of industrial effluents and agrochemicals. In 2022, the public supply of this municipality will be made by waters of the Ligeiro River, and the sites predicted for abstraction are close to the sites of confluence of the Catingueiro River and the Cristalino River with the Ligeiro River. We evaluated in two periods of 2020, based on different parameters, the water quality of the Catingueiro River at two sites, P1 and P2 (P2, upstream of the confluence), the Cristalino River in one site, P3, and the Ligeiro River at two sites, P4 and P5 (P5, downstream of the confluence). Levels of nitrite, nitrate and sulfate in waters were within the range set by law. All points had a high concentration of fluorides and phosphato in the two collections. In P1, in both collections, a high concentration of copper was found. P1 and P2, in the second collection, presented high levels of aluminum. Silicon was detected at all sites. Waters were phytotoxic to L. sativa and cytotoxic to the root meristems of A. cepa. Physical-chemical and toxicity analyses suggest a compromise in water quality. These data are an alert to the public authorities of Cianorte and Paraná regarding the anthropic actions carried out in these rivers and alert the sanitation company to carry out a preliminary and periodic analysis of the waters in order to know the contaminants present before treating them.

Periodic Analysis of the Relationship between Gold, Crude Oil, Exchange Rate and India’s Stock Market

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find out the relationship between price of Gold, price of Crude Oil, Exchange Rate of India, and India’s stock market. The research has been done on Pre-COVID time periods to analyse the relationship in scenarios like pre-global financial crisis, during crisis and post crisis. The authors incorporate the data from pre-crisis phases i.e., 2005 to 2019, to find out the relationship between the variables using Granger causality test, Johansen’s Cointegration, and Vector Autoregression. To study the spill-over effect on India’s stock market, regression has been used. The empirical results indicate that for the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis periods, “Gold” does granger cause “USDINR”, for all three periods “Crude oil” does granger cause “Gold”, for the crisis and post crisis periods “Gold” does granger cause “Crude oil”, for the post crisis period “USDINR” does granger cause “Crude oil”. No other causality relationship was established with the help of this empirical analysis. Johansen’s cointegration test revealed that no cointegration exists amongst the three variables. The impact of exchange rate on India’s stock market has changed as compared to the previous time periods. Exchange rate was inversely related to the stock markets for the Pre-Crisis and Crisis periods and is directly related to the stock market for the Post-Crisis period. This study adds to the existing literature on the variables, by using phase wise data and performing empirical analysis to find out the relationship between the variables. Not many literature demonstrate together the relationship among these three variables in three different periods. This is a significant gap that the study aimed to address.

INNOVATION AND INVESTMENT MECHANISMS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY IN UZBEKISTAN

The article is devoted to the study of the development of industry in Uzbekistan in the context of the growing globalization of the world market. During the study, the innovation and investment mechanisms for the development of industry in Uzbekistan were indicated.The article is devoted to the study of the development of industry in Uzbekistan in the context of the growing globalization of the world market. In the course of the study, innovation and investment mechanisms for the development of industry in Uzbekistan were indicated.Scientific novelty of the research:1. It is proposed to conduct a periodic analysis of the level of development of economic sectors, taking into account the development trends of world markets and entrepreneurs' initiatives.2. Determination of mechanisms for attracting investments in "niches".3. Study of the restructuring of the existing system of public administration for the development of industrial innovation

Status Set Sequential Pattern Mining Considering Time Windows and Periodic Analysis of Patterns

The traditional sequential pattern mining method is carried out considering the whole time period and often ignores the sequential patterns that only occur in local time windows, as well as possible periodicity. Therefore, in order to overcome the limitations of traditional methods, this paper proposes status set sequential pattern mining with time windows (SSPMTW). In contrast to traditional methods, the item status is considered, and time windows, minimum confidence, minimum coverage, minimum factor set ratios and other constraints are added to mine more valuable rules in local time windows. The periodicity of these rules is also analyzed. According to the proposed method, this paper improves the Apriori algorithm, proposes the TW-Apriori algorithm, and explains the basic idea of the algorithm. Then, the feasibility, validity and efficiency of the proposed method and algorithm are verified by small-scale and large-scale examples. In a large-scale numerical example solution, the influence of various constraints on the mining results is analyzed. Finally, the solution results of SSPM and SSPMTW are compared and analyzed, and it is suggested that SSPMTW can excavate the laws existing in local time windows and analyze the periodicity of the laws, which solves the problem of SSPM ignoring the laws existing in local time windows and overcomes the limitations of traditional sequential pattern mining algorithms. In addition, the rules mined by SSPMTW reduce the entropy of the system.

Real-Time Operational Research: Case Studies from the Field of Tuberculosis and Lessons Learnt

Real-time operational research can be defined as research on strategies or interventions to assess if they are feasible, working as planned, scalable and effective. The research involves primary data collection, periodic analysis during the conduct of the study and dissemination of the findings to policy makers for timely action. This paper aims to illustrate the use of real-time operational research and discuss how to make it happen. Four case studies are presented from the field of tuberculosis. These include (i) mis-registration of recurrent tuberculosis in Malawi; (ii) HIV testing and adjunctive cotrimoxazole to reduce mortality in TB patients in Malawi; (iii) screening TB patients for diabetes mellitus in India; and (iv) mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on TB case detection in capital cities in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The important ingredients of real-time operational research are sound ethics; relevant research; adherence to international standards of conducting and reporting on research; consideration of comparison groups; timely data collection; dissemination to key stakeholders; capacity building; and funding. Operational research can improve the delivery of established health interventions and ensure the deployment of new interventions as they become available, irrespective of diseases. This is particularly important when public health emergencies, including pandemics, threaten health services.

Wounds, Antimicrobial Resistance and Challenges of Implementing a Surveillance System in Myanmar: A Mixed-Methods Study

Wound infections with drug-resistant bacteria lead to higher mortality and morbidity and increased healthcare costs. We aimed to describe the spectrum of bacterial pathogens, isolated from wound cultures in Yangon General Hospital in 2018, and their antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns and to understand the challenges in implementing an AMR surveillance system in Myanmar. We conducted a concurrent mixed-methods study involving analysis of surveillance data and in-depth interviews with nine key personnel involved in AMR surveillance. Of 1418 wound specimens processed, 822 (58%) were culture-positive. The most common Gram-positive bacteria were coagulase-negative staphylococci (23.3%) and Staphylococcus aureus (15.1%). Among Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli (12.5%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (10.1%) were common. Staphylococcus aureus isolates were resistant to penicillin (98%), oxacillin (70%) and tetracycline (66%). Escherichia coli showed resistance to ampicillin (98%). Lack of dedicated and trained staff (microbiologist, technician, data entry operator), lack of computers at sentinel sites and non-uniform and non-standardized data capture formats were the major challenges in implementing AMR surveillance. These challenges need to be addressed urgently. We also recommend periodic analysis and sharing of antibiograms at every hospital to inform the treatment regimens used in wound management.