Appraisal Techniques Research Articles

안성 공장 폭발화재 사례로 본 아조화합물의 위험성 및 감정 기법에 관한 연구

On Aug. 6, 2019, a large-scale fire broke out at a plant in Anseong, killing one firefighter, injuring 10 people and burning a warehouse. NISI reported by debris analysis that the AIBN(Azobisisobutyronitrile) was stored in the estimated ignition location. The AIBN is a “self-reactive substance”, which is sensitive to shock or friction and has a high risk of explosion, due to adverse reactions at air temperatures above 40℃. The risk of explosion with the reference material, BPO(Benzoyl peroxide) is compared, by measuring the explosive pressure, velocity and onset temperature according to the capacity of the AIBN, and proposed a policy for preventing fire by deriving the appraisal technique through qualitative analysis of GC/MS.

Ethnobotanical study of Buru Community Forest, Taraba State, Nigeria

An ethnobotanical study of Buru Community Forest was conducted using Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques. A total of 91 species of plants belonging to 43 Families with high endemicity were recorded. The dominant families were Fabaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Meliaceae. Many species such as Tetrapleura tetrapetra, Phyllanthus mullerianus, Sarcocephalus latifolius and Aframomum melegueta had multiple uses. The three major uses of the species are for medicinal (39 species), edible (33 species) and construction purposes (30 species). Keywords: Buru community forest, Ethnobotanical, Participatory Rural Appraisal technique.

Indigenous knowledge on the uses, management, drying and marketing of Celosia cristata L.- A culturally significant flower of the Kashmir Valley, India

Cockscomb flower (Celosia cristata), commonly known as ‘Marwal’, is an important part of Kashmiri culture. However, it has received little attention from researchers. In the present study, an effort has been made to document the indigenous knowledge of the native Kashmiri population about its ethnobotanical uses and bring this valuable plant into focus. The indigenous knowledge about C. cristatan was gathered by adopting Participatory Rural Appraisal technique. It involved interviews, and discussions with a total of 55 respondents. All the documented data was quantitatively analyzed using several ethnobotanical indices including Use Value (UV), Fidelity Level (FL), Informant Consensus Factor (FIC) and Index of Cultural Significance (ICS). The results revealed that the flower plays a crucial role in folklore medicine, local cuisine, and beautification of surroundings, and most importantly as a food colorant, which can serve as an alternative to the harmful synthetic color additives used in food industries. This innovative practice developed by the Kashmiri people need to be well protected. In addition, extensive studies are required to investigate, identify and characterize the biologically active compounds responsible for the pharmacological effects of C. cristata.

Utilization of Investment Appraisal Techniques by Large-Scale Businesses in Lagos State, Nigeria

The study was carried out to investigate the utilization of investment appraisal techniques by large-scale businesses in Lagos State. Two research questions guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population for the study was 150 portfolio managers of large-scale businesses (both banking and insurance organizations) from the three senatorial zones of Lagos State. Due to the manageable size of the population, the entire 150 portfolio managers were involved in the study; therefore, there was no sampling. The instrument for data collection was a well structured 30-item questionnaire. The questionnaire was face validated by three experts. The data for the study was collected by the researcher with the help of three well trained research assistants. The data collected for the study was analyzed using mean and standard deviation for answering the research questions while t-test statistics and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used for testing the hypothesis. Based on the data analyzed, the findings of the study showed that portfolio managers of large-scale businesses in Lagos State were not adequately utilizing non-discounted and discounted cash flow techniques analysis approaches for their investment appraisal in the State. Based on the findings, the study recommended that adequate and effective utilization of investment appraisal techniques should be ensured by management of large-scale businesses such as banks and insurance companies for economic success of the sub-sector and that Portfolio managers of businesses should be continuously made to undergo in-service training in investment appraisal techniques for proficiency on their jobs.

Local Institutions and Climate Change Adaptation: Appraising Dysfunctional and Functional Roles of Local Institutions from the Bilate Basin Agropastoral Livelihood Zone of Sidama, Southern Ethiopia

This study aimed to appraise the role of local institutions in adaptation to changing climate at the local level in the Bilate Basin Agropastoral Livelihood Zone of Ethiopia. Thirty-one years of climate data were analyzed by employing the Mann–Kendall trend and Sen’s slope test techniques. The survey was conducted on 400 households that were systematically randomized from 7066 households, while community-level data were collected through the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) technique. The entire analysis was framed by a tetragonal model. The results of the analysis indicated that temperature exhibited a significantly increasing trend, while rainfall, which is statistically related to temperature, showed a decreasing trend, resulting in lingering droughts and human and animal diseases. Major livestock declined by 69%. As a response, while Sidama indigenous institutions were well-functioning and nurtured through local knowledge, and the governmental and civic ones were entrenched with various limitations. Contextual fitness and compatibility, interplay, inclusiveness, and sustainability of their operations in temporal and spatial scales were some of their limitations. Therefore, federal and local governments should focus on monitoring, evaluating, and learning aspects of their grand strategies, review general education, farmers’ credit, and civic institutions’ governance policies and strengthen the synergy of civic, government, and indigenous institutions.

Drivers of cocoa encroachment into protected forests: the case of three forest reserves in Ghana

The study sought to unearth the immediate causes and underlying factors that fuel cocoa-driven deforestation in Ghana through four pathways: interviews, participatory rural appraisal techniques, facilitated community workshops and field observations in five forest-fringe and two admitted communities of Ghana's Ashanti and Western North Regions. The study found agricultural expansion and infrastructure extension to be the proximate causes of deforestation. These are driven by population growth, low cocoa productivity, inadequate cultivable land for cash and subsistence farming, abrupt shifts in government policies, droughts, wildfires, pests and diseases, land insecurity, limited alternative livelihoods in rural areas and lack of maintenance of admitted farm boundaries. The magnitude of the surge in cocoa encroachment in protected forests requires collaboration among diverse stakeholders and interlocutory action to stem the challenge while more holistic solutions are sought.

بناء تغييرالإجتماعي بالرعاية على النهر كدعوة تنمية المجتمع الإسلامي

The purpose of this study is to determine the structure of social change in people's lives as the goal of advocating the development of Muslims. The methodology used by researchers in this study is Participatory Action Research which deals with searching, employment, and registration. The research stages with this method are preliminary mapping, acculturation, defining research activities for social change, socialist mapping, forming research groups, formulating questions, designing question-solving strategies, and thinking about community participation. When researchers used the Participatory Rural Appraisal technique. The result of this research is that researchers and the community take care of the river to achieve social change in people's lives. Building community change by organizing the community in caring for rivers is the aim of advocating for the development of the Islamic community. The process of organizing the community in caring for rivers is to improve the quality of rivers and the quality of the environment to educate people about river care. Care for the river is an activity that advocates the development of Muslims to build social change in people's lives. Building community change is an effort to improve the economic, social, and cultural conditions of the community to achieve a better degree of life.

Investment Appraisal Practice in the European Union Countries

Purpose: The goal of the paper was to perform a literature study, to determine the state of the theory and practice of investment valuation in the countries of the European Union which should be the starting point for further research. Design/Methodology/Approach: In this paper, an analysis of literature sources was carried out about assessing the effectiveness of investments in European Union countries. The conducted review and description of the found scientific sources is aimed at determining the current state of investment valuation practice, a description of the research carried out so far, which will allow us to determine the starting point for a new study. Findings: During preliminary research found it profoundly surprising that despite the huge potential impact of better capital allocation, there are two main problems regarding investment appraisal practices in European companies. First and foremost, a large part of even the largest European corporations do not use advanced investment appraisal techniques or apply them only to a limited extent. Secondly, yet there has not been a research into practical applications of investment appraisal methodologies that would cover the entire Single Market, i.e., the European Economic Area and Switzerland. Practical Implications: Obtained conclusions allowed us to recommend a study of the relationship between investment appraisal practice and company performance for all the countries of the European Single Market. Originality/value: Further research should identify the differences regarding the use of investment appraisal methods between countries as well as sectors. It is expected that the conclusions from projected future research will considerably broaden the knowledge about a particularly important area of corporate activity – making decisions regarding resource allocation.

RETRACTED: An efficient modified dragonfly algorithm and whale optimization approach for optimal scheduling of microgrid with islanding constraints

This paper presented an effective technique for considering optimal scheduling of microgrid (MG) with islanding constraints. The proposed optimal scheduling approach is the combination of both the modified dragonfly algorithm (MDA) and whale optimization algorithm (WOA)-based approach named as (MDAWO). In this work, the searching conduct of the dragonflies is altered by the effective WOA approach. This WOA is used to the optimal scheduling of MG and also significantly reduces the computational burden. In this paper, the MDAWO is the appraisal technique used to set up the definite schedule of the MG coupling subject to the power assortment. The equality and inequality constraints are utilized to characterize the target capacity of a projected approach using the system information. Batteries act as an energy source to adjust the MG with continual running at an unfaltering and stable output control. Finally, the performance of the proposed technique is executed through the MATLAB/Simulink working platform with two different scenarios. With these two different scenarios, the proposed technique performance is compared with existing techniques such as dragonfly algorithm, firefly and gravitational search algorithm. Furthermore, the statistical analysis of the proposed technique based on cost and fitness are analyzed. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MG optimal scheduling model and explore its economic and reliability merits.

Challenges in Data Quality and Complexity of Managing Data Quality Assessment in Big Data

High Quality Data are the precondition for examining and making use of enormous facts and for making sure the estimation of the facts. As of now, far reaching exam and research of price gauges and satisfactory appraisal strategies for massive records are inadequate. To begin with, this paper abridges audits of Data excellent studies. Second, this paper examines the records attributes of the enormous records condition, presents high-quality difficulties appeared by large data, and defines a progressive facts exceptional shape from the point of view of records clients. This system accommodates of big records best measurements, best attributes, and best files. At long last, primarily based on this system, this paper builds a dynamic appraisal technique for records exceptional. This technique has excellent expansibility and versatility and can address the troubles of enormous facts fine appraisal. A few explores have verified that preserving up the character of statistics is regularly recognized as hazardous, however at the equal time is considered as simple to effective basic leadership in building aid the executives. Enormous data sources are exceptionally wide and statistics structures are thoughts boggling. The facts got may additionally have satisfactory troubles, for example, facts mistakes, lacking data, irregularities, commotion, and so forth. The motivation behind facts cleansing (facts scouring) is to pick out and expel mistakes and irregularities from facts so as to decorate their quality. Information cleansing may be separated into 4 examples dependent on usage techniques and degrees manual execution, composing of splendid software programs, records cleaning inconsequential to specific software fields, and taking care of the difficulty of a kind of explicit software area. In these 4 methodologies, the 1/3 has terrific down to earth esteem and may be connected effectively.

Participatory Rural Appraisal Techniques for Problem Identification and Formulation of Village Agricultural Development Plan of Chosla Village

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) paves a way to understand the grass root level problems faced by farmers following which successful research programs can be proposed. The present study was carried out at Chosla Village of Tonk District in Rajasthan. The PRA tools such as transect walk, agro-ecological mapping, social mapping, time trend, seasonal calendar, gender analysis, timeline, livelihood analysis, technology mapping, consequence diagram and SWOT analysis. Around 20 major problems were identified; in which aphid in mustard, fragmented lands, non-availability of irrigation water were the top three agricultural problems whereas among the non-agricultural problems: sanitation, lack of higher Education facility and lack of awareness about govt. schemes occupied the top three positions. The action plans for these various problems were formulated by the researchers which would eventually serve as the solutions to improve the socio and economic status of the peoples of the Chosla village.

Community engagement in COVID-19 prevention: experiences from Kilimanjaro region, Northern Tanzania.

Prevention of exposure to the COVID-19 virus in the general population is an essential strategy to slow community transmission. This paper shares the experiences and challenges of community engagement in COVID-19 prevention in the Kilimanjaro region, Northern Tanzania implemented by our team from the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College (KCMUCo) in collaboration with the COVID-19 response team in the Moshi Municipality. We conducted an education session with the COVID-19 response team and together brainstormed transmission hotspots and which interventions would be most feasible in their settings. The first hotspot identified was crowded local market spaces. Suggested interventions included targeted and mass public health education through the engagement of market opinion leaders, public announcements, and radio shows. We conducted participatory rural appraisal techniques to enable market vendors and clients to visualize two-meter distances and provided a prototype hand-washing facility that was foot operated. We found mass public health educational campaigns essential to inform and update the public about COVID-19 pandemic and to address rumors and misinformation, which hampers compliance with public health interventions. Coordinated efforts among stakeholders in the country are necessary to develop context-specific prevention and case management strategies following the national and international guidelines. Local ownership of recommended interventions is necessary to ensure compliance.

Participatory multi-criteria analysis methods: Comprehensive, inclusive, transparent and user-friendly? An application to the case of the London Gateway Port

The topic of how major transport projects should be assessed continues to generate disputes amongst academics, infrastructure specialists, investors and governments alike. Over the past decades, an increasing number of scholars have started to regard participatory multi-criteria analysis (MCA) as an approach capable of producing more comprehensive, transparent and democratic assessments than traditional appraisal techniques. However, whereas a number of participatory MCA methods have been devised, the large majority of them seem to have enjoyed limited practical application and there are very few studies examining their effectiveness. In order to assess the presumed benefits and the potential drawbacks of such methods, this paper considers the case of the London Gateway Port and compares the actual planning and decision-making process of this port development programme with the results of a multi-actor multi-criteria appraisal exercise, involving several project stakeholders and experts. As a result of this analysis, the paper contends that the contribution that participatory MCA procedures can potentially provide to the improvement of decision-making for large-scale transport infrastructure seems limited at best.

An Examination of Appraisal Techniques –Human Resource Management Use for Upgrading the Employees in Banking Sector in Nigeria

This research work is an assessment of performance appraisal management human resource managers’ use upgrading employees in the banking industry in Nigeria using selected banks. The study was designed to find out the extent Nigerian banks have embraced performance management and to assess the leadership commitment towards the effectiveness of performance management. The population of the study was 283 Staff of Ecobank, Diamond bank, and United Bank for Africa (UBA), Access bank, and First Bank Nigeria in Jimeta Metropolis, Adamawa State. A sample size of 166 was determined through the Taro Yamane formula. Primary data were collected by means of questionnaire which was administered on the managers, supervisors, senior and junior staff of the banks. The data collected were analyzed and interpreted using inferential and descriptive tools. Hypotheses were tested with single sample t-test and simple linear regression. Study discloses that Nigerian banks have embraced performance management significantly and that effective performance management reduces employee turnover and improves service quality. Again, there is a significant, positive relationship between leadership commitment and performance management effectiveness and significant positive relationship between communicating strategy to the staff and performance management. The study therefore recommends that Nigerian banks should invest on their employees and managers so as to drive and consolidate the gains of performance management to remain competitively relevant in the industry.

Exploring farmer perceptions of agroforestry via multi-objective optimisation: a test application in Eastern Panama

Understanding farmers’ perceptions of and preferences towards agroforestry is essential to identify systems with the greatest likelihood of adoption to inform successful rural development projects. In this study we offer a novel approach for evaluating agroforestry systems from the farmer perspective. The approach couples rapid rural appraisal and normative optimisation techniques to determine favourable land-use compositions for meeting various socio-economic and ecological goals, based on farmers’ empirical knowledge and preferences. We test our approach among smallholder farmers in Eastern Panama, obtaining data from household interviews and using hierarchical cluster analysis to identify farm groups with similar land-use and income characteristics. We found that moderate differences in farmers’ perceptions between these groups altered the type and share of agroforestry included in the optimised land-use portfolios that balance the achievement of 10 pre-selected socio-economic and ecological objectives. Such differences provide valuable information about potential acceptability of agroforestry within each group. For example, we found that farmers who derive most of their farm income from crops may be more willing to adopt silvopasture, whereas farmers who are more economically dependent on cattle may benefit from diversifying their land-use with alley cropping. We discuss the potential of this modelling approach for participatory land-use planning, especially when dealing with small sample sizes and uncertainty in datasets.

Ethnic Plants of Tharu Community of Eastern Nepal

Ethnobotany is the study of ethnic plants of particular people living in particular place. It accommodates list, details and description of all those studied plants regarding with their various uses. Tharu people belong to one of the indigenous communities especially in Terai region of Nepal. Tharu people have been using these plant resources since 18th century. This study aims to identify ethnic plants of Tharu community of eastern Nepal and their uses in their daily lives. Enumeration of useful plants from Tharu ethnic community was conducted in four villages of Ramdhuni municipality of Sunsari district. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and household sampling technique were used for data collection. Plant specimens were collected and information regarding it was obtained from local Dhamis, Jhankris, farmers and old age people. This study reported thirty-seven useful plant species under 25 families. In total 37 species, 25 were recorded as medicinal plant, used to treat pneumonia, menstrual disorder, stones, piles, skin disease etc. Other plant species were used for food, fodder, timber, fiber and ceremonial/ religious activities. Most plant species (78.3%) were having multiple use value, and kept under more than one use category and few species (21.7%) with single use category. Trees (27.02%) and herbs (27.02%), both were dominant over grass, shrubs, climbers and creepers. This study has revealed that many plants species are being used by Tharu community of Eastern Nepal as their ethnic plants for medicine, food, fodder, ornament, material etc which needs to be more explored.
 Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 8(2): 223-230

Optimizing Return on Assets through Investment in Property, Plant and Equipment: Evidence from Listed Nigerian Manufacturing Companies

This study examined the extent to which investment in property, plant & equipment (PPE) made by listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria relate with the return on assets (ROA). The non-usage of composite appraisal techniques, other than traditional budgeting techniques was seen as a major problem of investment decisions on PPE. The study adopted the quantitative panel methodology of the ex post facto and correlational research design. Secondary data were extracted from the fact books of the Nigerian Stock Exchange for the period, 2013 – 2018. The number of manufacturing companies listed in the Stock Exchange during this period was 83, which was also taken as the population of the study. The sample used in the study was 69. Three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Multiple and simple regression analyses were used on the data collected, to find the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The hypotheses tested indicated in the findings that property, plant and equipment had a significant relationship with return on assets of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria when there is a joint relationship between variables of property, plant & equipment (PPE) and return on asset (ROA). Based on the findings and conclusion, it was recommended that management of manufacturing companies should ensure a holistic use of all techniques, exploring the real and growth options analyses as well as portfolio management techniques involving productive non-current assets, to earn the benefit of return on assets invested.

Planning energy retrofit on historic building stocks: A score-driven decision support system

Among the policies and regulations aimed at reducing the energy use in building stocks, the retrofit of historic buildings is one of the hardest challenges both for research and practice, because it is necessary to combine the traditional energy/economy targets with safeguard programs and conservation theories.In this paper, a decision support system is developed in order to plan and manage energy retrofit campaigns tailored for cultural heritage. Costs and energy uses are assessed, as well as the compatibility of interventions and their impact on indoor environmental quality. The energy use is seen under an economic, environmental, human and cultural perspective, providing a decision-making procedure that could be very useful for asset holders, public or private investors as well as for portfolio managers or agencies. The most important achievements in this work are the assessment of a so-called restoration score as a way to include conservation aspects in the selection procedure, and the integration of different appraisal techniques such as multi-attribute analysis, life cycle costing and analytic hierarchy process.

Study on the Pipeline Fragility Appraisal Indicators Affected by landslide Based on Numerical Simulation

The completeness of pipelines is tremendous influenced by landslide in unfavorable geological conditions. The quantifying appraisal techniques is a valid means for risk management of pipelines affected by geological disasters. By using the finite element method to simulate going steadily downhill, mechanics characteristic of pipeline and pipe/soil interaction with changes in physical dimension consisted of the landslide area (LA), landslide thickness (LT), pipeline length in landslide (PLL), calibre (CA) and wall thickness (WT) of pipeline, the fragility appraisal system of pipeline affected by landslide can be constructed. The regular pattern of stress and strain variation of pipeline affected by landslide can be acquired with number analysis and computeration. The results show that the physical dimension of landslide and the PLL have strong effect on pipeline fragility, and the effect increases with increasing of the above indicators; the WT has a smaller role of pipeline fragility and the effect can be ignored. In the end, the weighting factors and marks of every fragility appraisal indicator can be given on the basis of the above conclusion.

Assessment of coral reef ecosystem status in the Pangkajene and Kepulauan Regency, Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia, using the rapid appraisal for fisheries and the analytic hierarchy process

Coral reefs in the world’s tropical and subtropical oceans have long been under considerable threat. The aims of this study were to identify the types of threat affecting coral reefs, to conduct a sensitivity analysis to assess the sustainability of coral reef ecosystems, and to suggest alternative strategies that should be deployed to improve the status of coral reef ecosystems in the Pangkajene and Kepulauan (PANGKEP) Regency, Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia. The data obtained were analyzed using the rapid appraisal technique for fisheries (RAPFISH) and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The RAPFISH analysis identified 41 types of threat to the status of coral reef ecosystems, based on five indices: economic (51.92), social (47.33), technological (47.26), legal and institutional (45.60), and ecological (37.65). The averaged cumulative index of coral reef ecosystem sustainability was 45.95, within a threshold denoting a “less sustainable” status. The AHP analysis suggested that several alternative strategies are needed to improve the status of coral reef ecosystems, with greater prioritization of socialization, campaigns, and education, followed by law enforcement, selectivity in the use of fishing gear, rehabilitation of coral reef ecosystems, and restocking of fish in coral reefs. The findings of this study can be used as points of reference when local policymakers begin to formulate appropriate strategies for the sustainable use of coral reef ecosystems.