Social Studies

The present study aims to investigate the relationship of oil, non-oil exports, capital formation and economic growth in Iran. Empirical results show that there is positive significant relationship between these variables and economic growth. Thus, findings of this study recommend that government should create an enabling environment that would facilitate non-oil exports and augment capital formation.

Developing countries lack proper segregation practices leading to biomedical waste management. (Muhwezi, 2014). This has led to accidental injections with contaminated syringes causing 21 million hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections, 2 million hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, and 260,000 HIV infections globally(HCWMP 2016-2021). The aim of this study was to assess the biomedical waste handling practices amongst healthcare workers in Mombasa County hospitals. Cross-sectional study design, stratified random. Data collection instrument were structured questionnaire and observational charts. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 22 where comparison of mean by ANOVA was used to test significance of the results at 0.05 significant levels. Despite having knowledge on segregation and risks of exposure to biomedical waste 71.1%(1.17±0.157) of the respondents were exposed to biomedical hazards, sanitary staff(15.6% (2.11±0.123))of the respondents were less educated ( certificate the highest level) and lacked key information on biomedical waste guidelines of precautionary principle and government strategic plan on hospital waste management. 42.2 %( 1.21±0.091) of the respondents lacked adequate supply of color-coded waste containers leading to mixing of biomedical waste. 36.7 %( 1±0.00) of the respondents were informed of government medical waste management plan while 63.3% (1.14±0.46) had no idea P=0.277(>0.05). In conclusion, waste handling practices in Mombasa sub county hospitals are inadequate in relation to WHO,2014 guidelines due to deficient segregation and handling equipment and low level of awareness. I therefore recommend the review of the current waste management program and development of a more proactive approach that will ensure adequate supply of waste handling equipments and improve awareness on proper handling practices.

Financial crisis have led to sharp fluctuations of China’s foreign trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), which in no doubt exert a profound influence on the stabilizing effect of China’s economic growth. As trade and FDI are the primary impetuses of China’s economic growth, will this kind of growth effect fall dramatically during financial crisis? Utilizing data on China’s 36 industrial sectors, this paper conducts panel data regressions in terms of two stages - periods before and after financial crisis, and in terms of classification on the different degree of revealed comparative advantage(RCA). The result shows that financial crisis doesn’t weaken the economic growth effect of trade and FDI; instead, it strengthen the high efficiency of trade and FDI firms and the crowding out effect on other firms; In the group with higher RCA, the direct economic promotion of trade and FDI is stronger in post-crisis period than that in pre-crisis period, while in the group with lower RCA, the result is totally reversed. It demonstrates that financial crisis strengthens the efficiency advantage and resource reallocation effect of trade and FDI. From this point, the steady growth of trade and FDI is more important than enlarging domestic demand and investment to the stabilizing effect of economic growth.

It is fact that an Islamic society has different religious teachings and different values for its members as compared to non Islamic society. Therefore, in an Islamic society, cultural, social and moral values should be different; and consumer crimes should be also different. In practice, it is seen that in the era of globalization, mostly developing societies whether these are Islamic or non Islamic societies, all have similar consumer crimes. This shows that whether the Islamic societies are not acting upon Islamic teachings, or members of Islamic society have same worldly objectives like others. Or, these members are also giving preference to this mortal life over hereafter world. Therefore, in this article an overview about the consumer crimes of modern and globalized era is presented. In these crimes, some are committed by consumers while some others are committed by sellers and manufacturers. The purpose of both parties is to deceive the other which is not true, morally, socially and religiously also.

The degree of violence in Nigeria’s Niger Delta has become endemic and are too far-reaching to be ignored: for the inhabitants of this area, there are constant environmental hazards and security threat, The study, therefore, examined the community relations strategies used by oil companies in managing the crises in the Niger Delta. The study population comprised the community relations units of oil companies in the Niger Delta (among which Shell, Chevron and Agip were selected) and the indigenes of Omoku and Obrikom communities in Rivers State and Eruemukohwarien, Tisun and Kolokolo communities in Delta State. Both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (key informant interview and focus group discussion) methods of data collection were employed. The respondents for the survey were randomly selected while those for the interviews and focus groups were purposively selected. The study established that conflicts between oil companies and host communities had serious implications for the two parties and that the community relations strategies adopted by the selected oil companies were not adequate in preventing and resolving conflicts in the Niger Delta. That was because there was a lacuna between the strategies the oil companies believed host communities preferred for conflict resolution and the ones actually preferred by those communities. The research, therefore, recommend that to reduce conflict between oil companies and host communities in the Niger Delta, companies should be mindful of conflict propelling factors identified by the respondents and stated in the work, they should improve on their community relations strategies in order to impress the community and most importantly, they should introduce grassroots approach to the implementation of their strategies

Healthcare workers(HCW) are at risk of medical sharps injuries. According to the Kenya national policy on injection safety, 58% of healthcare workers have suffered these injuries. It has long been recognized that needlestick and other injuries from sharp objects place healthcare workers at risk of infection. The main objective of this research was to determine the outcomes of preventive and controls measures against medical sharps amongst HCW at Sub-County hospital in Mombasa County. The study sought to determine health workers adherence to safety guidelines available and determine the prevalence of needle-stick injuries at the county hospitals. This study focused on the HCW of different cadres. Questionnaire were distributed to the respondents of different job cadres of healthcare workers at the hospitals including Nurses, Clinical Officers, Lab Technologists, Public health officers, dentists, waste handlers/support staff who were selected proportionate to the sample frame. Interviews were done on the chosen wrkers. The research adopted a Descriptive cross sectional research design by employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection tools. A checklist was used to observe occupational risks and adherence related to exposure to medical sharps including needle sticks. The findings were collected and analysis done by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 22.0 and presented using pie charts, contingency tables, and bar charts. Dentists were found to have the highest level of exposure to sharp injuries [X2 (DF= 1, N= 117) = 0.408, p= 0.05].This was consistent with the findings that all dentists indicated that they re-cap used sharps. Recapping of sharps being a critical risk to sharp injuries was practiced more by those who got lower frequency of on-job training. On-job training on infection control had no effect on knowledge of risks involved with sharps injuries where those without exhibiting awareness and practiced safe disposal of sharps to a great extent [X2 (DF= 4, N= 117) = 0.109, p= 0.05]. The use of sharp disposal containers was one of most commonly used method and had significant reduction in exposure to sharp injuries. Personal protective equipment use such as safety boots increased level of protection against medical sharps injuries while others such as hand gloves had insignificant importance. The level of adherence to preventive control measures was found to be quite low and significantly affected the outcomes of the available control measures. Low level of adherence was established at both management level and personnel level where enforcement and practice respectively were found to be deficient. With a prevalence of about 43%, medical sharps injuries at Sub-County hospitals in Mombasa County is found to be of great concern as established in this study.

There exist a linkage between poverty- corruption – and insecurity in Nigeria and these vices affect the socio-economic and political development of Nigeria. The objective of this work therefore, is to underscore the vices of corruption and insecurity as banes to the socio- economic development of Nigeria, and consider the powers of the economic and financial crime commission in curbing these vices. Using questionnaires and in-depth interviews, data were drawn from 100 members of staff of the EFCC. he work adopted the Yaro Yameni formula in order to determine its sample size and a simple random sampling technique to give each element of the population an equal chance of being selected. Findings revealed that the EFCC is incapacitated in the performance of its duties especially when offenders are high profiled elites/members of the ruling party, leading to delays in court trials, unsubstantiated judgment, or outright dismissal of cases. The work recommends that considering the linkage between poverty, corruption and insecurity in Nigeria, public funds should be utilized to create more job opportunities and sincere or transparent empowerment programmes should be created to engage the youth thereby distracting them from being used to perpetrate violence. Again, a prerequisite for holding political or public office should be the prospective holder’s reputation in previous workplace, fear of God, corruption history, and love for humanity.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the analysis of physical fitness components and playing ability of Tamil Nadu Badminton Junior Ranking Players. To achieve this, 60 badminton players (40 boys and 20 girls) were selected from various districts of Tamil Nadu and age ranged from 13 to 15 years. Physical fitness components namely speed, agility, strength, flexibility, reaction time, balance, leg power and explosive power. It was measured by conducting 30 mts dash, 10 yards shuttle run, sit-up test, bend and reach test, Nelson hand reaction, stork balance, Sargent jump and standing broad jump. Hicks clear skill test were used to assess the badminton skill of the selected subjects. Pearson Product moment coefficient of correlation with significant level at (p<0.05) was used to examine the correlations between smash skill and speed, agility, strength, flexibility, reaction time, balance, leg power and explosive power. The analysis of data of boys badminton players revealed that clear skill was positively correlated with the strength (r = 0.318), and explosive power (r = 0.388), whereas agility (r = -0.476) was negatively correlated with the clear skill. No significant correlation was observed between speed, flexibility, reaction time, balance, leg power and clear skill of boys badminton players. The results in the case of girls badminton players shows that the clear skill was positively correlated with flexibility (r = 0.541), leg power (r = 0.596), explosive power (r=0.593), and negatively correlated with the speed (r = -0.381), agility (r= -0.669). On the basis of results no significant correlation was observed between strength, reaction time, balance and clear skill of girls badminton players.

Traditional products of Iran were created based on cultural needs and people’s beliefs and customs as well as functional needs. This study aimed to guide designers in designing new product based on cultural factors for Iranian people. In this study, the researcher wanted to experience his perception about cultural factors that influenced creating a particular traditional product in Iran and to study how these can contribute to designer practices. This study involved with qualitative method where interview has been conducted to identify specific traditional products, which have strong influence of cultural factors. Fifteen “Cultural Factors” has been identified, which can be beneficial to the designers for future product development.

Responders who search and rescue people in collapsed buildings and structures face individual and organizational challenges. These challenges are surmountable if responders and their institutions tactically endeavor to address them so that more lives are saved. This study sought to determine strategic options for the improvement of response during urban search and rescue. Findings revealed that many responders and organizations lacked code of conduct for responders and were financially and materially deficient during deployment and therefore relied on partnership and collaborations from other first line response organizations to be able to effectively carryout their work.