Social Studies

Sustainability refers to a concept which has been widely evaluated in recent years, affirming the development and continuity over the time. Sustainability can be examined at all the aspects of life and architecture, so that physical sustainability of architecture has been regarded as an aspect which has not been evaluated in the architecture. Physical sustainability refers to the continuity and survival of building as well as accountability based on the addressee's needs and interests over the time. Recognition of factors affecting the physical sustainability of the buildings which have remained sustainable can assist us in exploiting from the parameters which provide the physical sustainability. The present research has aimed to evaluate and recognize the factors affecting physical sustainability in Iran via descriptive-analytic method and evaluation of the buildings with Esfahani style which are accounted as the sustainable samples in Iranian architecture.

Various studies have made strides to discuss causes of uncontrolled urban development; this paper goes ahead to discuss the causes and remedies to the same issue based on sub-Saharan countries. Squalor settlements are becoming a threat to growth of cities and development of towns worldwide. The scenario is likely to worsen by the year 2030 as many people migrate to most of these cities and if appropriate actions will not be taken. It was based on a study undertaken in Eldoret town; Kenya strives to discuss uncontrolled urban development and its mitigations. In this case Mann’s Urban Model was adopted, which emphasizes the need for a systematic growth of urban centers in a more concentric and planned manner. It was a case study, focusing on two informal settlements: Langas and Munyaka selected purposely. The two settlements were selected for study due to; the high density and consolidation and they are settlements outlying on the urban periphery with lack of appropriate infrastructure, poor maintenance regimes, overcrowding, uncontrolled and conflicting land uses. Arising from the study, most causes were found to be tailored to economic, social, political and environmental. Increased movement from rural areas to urban has doubled the demand for housing and basic amenities overwhelming the service provider. The situation is coupled with institutional weaknesses and lack of capacity in the municipality to control urban development. This paper recommends that, liaison and co-ordination between different government agencies and stakeholders is necessary for expertise, exchange of ideas and machinery during planning.

The United States is a land of immigrants, and newcomers have a greater propensity to start new ventures, however immigrant-owned businesses, also often fail within the first 5 years. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the strategies U.S.-based Togolese small business owners who were engaged in entrepreneurial activities in Togo used to finance personally led business ventures. The lens of the Schumpeterian entrepreneurship theory underpinned the study represented the conceptual framework. Semistructured interviews of 20 successful Togolese small business owners who resided in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, and engaged in entrepreneurial activities in Togo, and were in business for more than 5 years constituted the data collection. The analysis of the interview data analysis entailed coding techniques, word clustering, and thematic analysis, using a method of constant comparison with the aid of qualitative data analytical software. Methodological triangulation facilitated further analysis to improve the depth and quality of the study. The key themes emerging from the coding and thematic analysis of interviews included scarcity of loans from banks and financial institutions, the use of personal money to exclusively finance a business or to complete insufficient funding allocated by banks. The findings of the study may serve to improve the business success of immigrant business owners, and immigrant entrepreneurs may use the knowledge to finance business ventures, which could lead to the creation of jobs and improvement in the standard of living of U.S.-based Togolese entrepreneurs. The findings from this study may have a positive bearing on the welfare of local communities in Togo, in contributing to economic growth stimulation.

This study examines Persian address terms within the theory of politeness in the three distinct historical periods of Qajar (1791-1925), Pahlavi (1926-1979) and after the Islamic Revolution (1979 -up to now). Data was collected from 24 novels to best reflect various interpersonal relationships. Data analysis shows that Persian address terms are clearly divided into positive and negative types. All types of positive address terms have shown to increase in number. Negative address terms of ‘honorifics’, ‘educational’ & ‘cultural’ and ‘teknonyms’ decreased while ‘occupational’ and ‘zero address terms’ have increased in frequency which reveals a gradual and regular movement from formality to solidarity.

The current study aimed at investigating the effect of storytelling on the development of Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. Accordingly, sixty out of one hundred and thirty EFL learners based on their scores in the proficiency test were selected as the subject of this study and randomly classified into experimental and control group. Each group in each level consisted of thirty learners. All the conditions especially teaching materials were kept equal and fixed at each level, except for the EG the subjects reading was thought through story telling. At the end of the experiment both groups, experimental and control, were given a reading comprehension posttest. The post scores of both groups in were compared using a t-test to discover if there was any significant difference in reading comprehension between two groups. The results of the study showed that due to story telling a significant difference was found in reading comprehension development between the experimental and control groups at the level of .05.

There are many changes occurring in higher education in Kenya and the world over. These changes range from a rapid expansion in student enrolments to a proliferation of programmes and institutions offering higher education. Moi University introduced such a programme in 1998. As a result of these developments, there has arisen concern amongst the stakeholders on the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of higher education offered. The paper reports the findings of an investigation carried out in the year 2003 to determine the internal efficiency of the Privately Sponsored Students Programme at Moi University. The target population for the study was all the students enrolled in the privately Sponsored Students Programme at Moi University in the 2002/2003 academic year. Data for this study was collected by use of a questionnaire from a random sample of 300 respondents. The significant finding was Privately Sponsored Programmes operated below optimal efficiency levels. Although enrolment growth rates had been steady in the immediate past three academic years, dropping out, temporary withdrawal and other indicators of inefficiency were on the increase and therefore a source of concern. Different degree programmes demonstrated different levels of efficiently in the way they translated their inputs (students) into outputs (graduands). Students with outstanding fees balances were barred from graduating. Also, it was established that many critical performance inputs were lacking or in short supply, such as library books and journals, computers, furniture in lecture rooms and chemicals in laboratories. To reduce these inefficiencies, there is need to enhance provision of critical inputs like books and journals, computers and science equipment as well as various consumables items. There is also need to assist students to identify suitable accommodation places. In order to break barriers of suspicion between regular and self-sponsored students (PSSP) the University should work towards integrating the two groups of student as far as possible.

Information on social media platforms suffers from a relative lack of professional gatekeepers to monitor content. Therefore, credibility and privacy on social media platform has become important issues for today information consumers. This study aims at exploring Saudi Youths' trends toward some social networking issues which are credibility, and privacy and how their awareness of these controversial issues affect their use of social media. The study is based on a survey with a sample size of 300 young people from Saudi university. The findings indicate that Saudi students reported that the information found on social network sites are not credible, and they are worried about their privacy when using any social network sites.

Health is the integrative exertion of multiple discipline effective locally, countrywide and internationally to achieve most favorable health for people, animals and the environment. As the human inhabitants continue to augment transversely the world, the crossing point of people, animals and the environment becomes more significant and impactful. For the past few years, the one Health concept has brought together experts in the areas of animal and human health. It has provided a new synthesis for public health and veterinary communities across the world. Health initiatives have majorly focused on veterinarians, medical doctors and public health professional. However, the Environmental Health profession has a major role to play in Health activities based on Uganda's experiences.

This article investigates social trust- trust in other citizens- and its determinants in two cities of Iran. For this purpose, a model based on institutional theory of Rothstein and Stolle (2008) and Putnam's social capital theory was designed and tested. Variables extracted from the first theory include: feeling social security, discrimination experience, attitude toward corruption and institutional trust. Variables extracted from the second theory are membership in formal groups, membership in informal groups, components of socioeconomic status (education, income and job rank), using mass media, age as well as city of residence. Through cluster sampling 1200 individuals were randomly selected to contribute to the study. The results clearly indicate that the institutional theory is stronger to explain social trust than social capital theory. That is to foster social trust in a society primarily it is necessary to control destructive factors so that nurturing factors of trust are effective.

The study attempted to find out the impact of capacity building of teachers of Government Boys’ Primary Schools on classroom teaching. The objectives of the study were to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the capacity building initiatives for professional development of teachers in district Swat and to make recommendations for improving the current efforts of government and other agencies for capacity building of primary school teachers. Capacity is developed when individuals are motivated to use knowledge, skills and resources in order to enhance organizational objectives. An opinionnaire containing eleven statements was handed over to Head Masters, a questionnaire containing eleven questions were handed over to the teachers, who had received training and a checklist for classroom observation of 5th class students of 101 primary schools in district Swat. The relevant literature was reviewed, which provided indicators for development of tools. The data obtained were quantified and described. The results revealed that Head Masters could play more effective role for school effectiveness by developing clear vision; providing instructional feedback to teachers; effective monitoring and supervisory mechanism; setting a democratic environment conducive to teaching learning process and involving the stakeholders in decision-making. The results of the study further indicated that school effectiveness owed itself to capable Head Masters, committed staff, non-political intervention, a procedure of incentives and disincentives, positive feedback to teachers and last, but not the least, a continuous instructional supervision of what happened in classroom. The recommendations for improving classroom teaching required continuous on-the-job training, commitment of teachers to the teaching profession and improved pedagogical skills of teachers as well as updating classroom management.