Capital Town Research Articles

FLOOD THREATS ON LAND USES AND POPULATION IN LOKOJA, KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

Flooding is a natural or man-made disaster that leads to voluntary or involuntary resettlement, which further causes population displacement and untold human misery. Lokoja, the capital town of Kogi State, Nigeria is prone to frequent flooding, posing significant threats to human settlements, infrastructure and economic activities. The study assesses the relationship between flood threat, land uses and population affected by flood in Lokoja metropolis. This research focused on flood occurrences of high to medium flood risk zones. Data were collected using both primary and secondary sources. 274 questionnaires were administered as sample sized to respondents across the strata of all the flood affected communities. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics (percentage distribution) and inferential statistics (Pearson’s moment correlation) in assessing the relationships between minimum water levels, land uses and population affected by flood. Findings from the analysis show that there is a strong positive correlation between minimum water level and farmland and open space with the greatest correlation coefficient of 0.986. Also, commercial land uses has a slightly stronger correlation (0.899) with minimum water levels.The study therefore conclude that flooding had a significant impact on residential, commercial, and particularly agriculture and open spaces, inflicting widespread property and infrastructure damage.This research serves as a critical tool for policy makers, urban planners and stakeholders to priotize on flood risk management and coordinated physica development in Lokoja metropolis.

Geostatistical evaluation of the impact of climate variability on malaria incidence In the South-West of Nigeria

Malaria remains a significant health concern in Nigeria, particularly in the South-West region. This study assesses the impact of temperature and rainfall on malaria incidence and prevalence in South-West Nigeria using remotely sensed and modelled data sourced from the Malaria Atlas Project and NASA's POWER database covering 2000 to 2020. The study adopts the Geographically Weighted Regression geostatistical model to establish the relationship between malaria and rainfall and temperature in the study area. The result shows a rising oscillating annual mean temperature trend of 0.0088oC/yr-1 from 2000 to 2020. The malaria incidence exceeds 8 million cases annually, peaking in 2020 at almost 10 million cases. The rising trend of malaria incidence highlights the inadequacy of the malaria intervention programmes to meet their goal of reducing malaria incidence by 40% by 2020. The study highlights the spatial variations, with high incidence in urban centres like Lagos and Ibadan metropolises, their satellite towns, as well as other prominent and capital towns including Oshogbo, Ilesa, Akure, Ijebu-Ode and Abeokuta. Contrary to this, the greater malaria prevalence was recorded in less densely populated areas of Oyo state, Imeko-Afon, Odeda, Yewa and Ijebu-Waterside areas in Ogun state as well as Ose and Idanre in Ondo state. The Geographically Weighted Regression equation model shows a strong positive correlation between malaria prevalence and temperature at a significance of 0.76 compared to rainfall which exhibits no association indicating the relevance of temperature as an explanatory indicator of malaria. With the continuous endemicity of malaria in the South-West, malaria management and control efforts should be focused on high-incidence areas in the South-West and Nigeria in general to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goal of Good health and well-being and the eradication of malaria by 2030.

Urban-rural inequalities in IV thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke: A nationwide study.

Rural residency has been associated with lower reperfusion treatment rates for acute ischemic stroke in many countries. We aimed to explore urban-rural differences in IV thrombolysis rates in a small country with universal health care, and short transport times to stroke units. In this nationwide cohort study, adult ischemic stroke patients registered in the Danish Stroke Registry (DSR) between 2015 and 2020 were included. The exposure was defined by residence rurality. Data from the DSR, Statistics Denmark, and the Danish Health Data Authority, were linked on the individual level using the Civil Registration Number. Adjusted treatment rates were calculated by balancing baseline characteristics using inverse probability of treatment weights. Among the included 56,175 patients, prehospital delays were shortest for patients residing in capital municipalities (median 4.7 h), and longest for large town residents (median 7.1 h). Large town residents were predominantly admitted directly to a comprehensive stroke center (98.5%), whereas 30.9% of capital residents were admitted to a hospital with no reperfusion therapy available (non-RT unit). Treatment rates were similar among all non-rural residents (18.5%-18.7%), but slightly lower among rural residents (17.2% [95% CI 16.5-17.8]). After adjusting for age, sex, immigrant status, and educational attainment, rural residents reached treatment rates comparable to capital and large town residents at 18.5% (95% CI 17.7-19.4). While treatment rates varied minimally by urban-rural residency, substantial differences in median prehospital delay and admission to non-RT units underscored marked urban-rural differences in potential obstacles to reperfusion therapies.

Problems of Educationally Deprived Children Living in Slums of Lucknow

Lucknow City, the capital town of Uttar Pradesh and Lucknow's district headquarters, is one of India's most well-known political council areas. The majority of the world's population resides in Lucknow City's slums. Poverty, crowded living conditions, and dangerous surroundings are the hallmarks of Lucknow's slums. The living conditions of the impoverished in this city are abhorrent, and the slum dwellers' lack of awareness harms their health, in addition to creating unique obstacles to the establishment of health surveys. There are slums in Nishatganj flyover, Nishatganj railway crossing, and Tedhipulia, among other places in Lucknow. Lucknow, the regional capital of Uttar Pradesh, defines slums and squatter communities as places. Once additional information has been obtained, the competent authority may declare an area to become a slum area by publishing a notice in the official gazette if it is satisfied that the majority of the buildings in the area pose a risk to the safety, health, or morals of the local population due to overcrowding, improper building arrangement, narrower or faulty street layouts, lack of ventilation, light, or sanitation facilities, or any combination of all three.

Impact of COVID-19 on Entrepreneurship and Consumer Behavior

Coronavirus gave the area a vital loss of existence toll and effect, which has no limits for geographical otherwise expected time to even as its property will die down. It has affected global places at some point of the globe, disrupting financial degrees similarly companies in every organization on the identical time as moreover changing human beings' regular lives. The momentum studies goals to examine coronavirus pandemic on enterprise character's commercial organization sports and their observations at the distinction in customer conduct at some stage in this time. Surprising, woman business commercial enterprise corporation visionaries do now not see a change in patron conduct in contrast to pre-COVID-19 instances. wherein almost no research has conveyed the kind of locating. For this purpose, it was accomplished with 445 responses from male and lady business enterprise visionaries within the capital town of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the usage of a truthful random pattern. Ultimate, these studies will help enterprise organization visionaries with gaining greater records and a more profound understanding of this new environment important to assignment nice measures and versatility in request to maintain their companies at some point of fantastic time.

AGRICULTURAL FOODS, FRUITS, ARTS ANDBUSINESS ROUTES: 14TH& 15TH CENTURY EASTERN INDIAN REGION(AN ANALYSIS)

Different varieties of fruits trading routs and agricultural foods are found in records, while shedding new lights on socio-economic and cultural activities of the people in eastern region specially Bengal and adjoining territories. Clear sketching about prosperity and flourishing trading business along with architecture and other artistic activities are drawn here with the help of travellers account and some other reference noted from contemporary historical chronicles and literatures. The centre of political gravity in 14th and 15th century Bengal, different name of towns like Gaur and Pandua rose one after another to be treated as capital town later on. Gaur became strategic town and commanded the routes that ran in different direction upward and downward the line of river Ganga leading to Chittagaon and other cities of this region. Even Pandua was also elevated and designed a well-planned and populated town, without any doubt, with all possible amenities of human life and centre of commercial activities with other parts of kingdom with rivers and land routes.

Malda: The Birth and Growth of a Small Town in Mughal-Period North Bengal

Bengal had a long tradition of emergence, growth and decline of towns from the earliest times to the present century. During the rule of the independent Sultans of Bengal, a list of capital towns appeared in the urban history of early medieval Bengal. The trend of urbanisation also continued in Bengal under Mughal rule. But the European companies’ trade with Bengal also contributed. How the factory of the English at Malda during the seventeenth century contributed to the growth of a manufacturing and trade centre is a key issue in this study.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION DALAM PEMBENTUKAN LAYANAN PENGELOLAAN SAMPAH DI KOTA BANDA ACEH

This study aims to address public participation in dealing with several environmental and other public issues in Aceh. One in every one of them is the excessive quantity of waste generated within the vicinity and the waste control system, which is predicated on traditional exercises which include open dumping. This observation proposes enhancing the contemporary waste management method based on the lively participation of residents and favoring neighborhood groups in handling their waste. The case have a look at is the city of Banda Aceh, that's positioned in the capital town of Aceh Province. The survey consequences had been evaluated based totally on quantitative and qualitative techniques, including descriptive statistical strategies, thematic analysis, and SWOT evaluation. The outcomes display that residents' employment fame is correlated with their pride in city control services. The Pearson correlation coefficient shows an immediate relationship between citizen participation and the fine for municipal solid waste control services. extra than fifty eight% of the respondents said that network participation in sorting waste at its supply changed into well below exceptional. despite the fact that extra than 98% of respondents have shown a superb mindset towards energetic participation in segregating waste from its assets at the same time as producing lower amounts of waste. The modified waste management process pattern includes three stages: waste that has been disposed of, its transportation, and final disposal. In addition, residents' active participation in the waste management process is of great concern. The proposed pattern can serve as a roadmap for local city managers to facilitate public participation in Banda Aceh City and other cities with similar socio-economic profiles.

Numbers and Severity of Natural Disaster in Ghana

Purpose: Ghana has suffered some disasters both natural and manmade. Several natural disasters have occurred from the days of biblical Noah until now. These natural disasters have taken various forms; floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruption tsunamis, tornadoes, landslides, hurricane, and among others. Within the past decades, natural disaster has become a global pandemic which hampers economic and social development. This global phenomenon has affected over 6 million people and cause economic damage of approximately $870,700,000 in Ghana .it is necessary or advisable to ascertain the causes of the natural disasters(floods) in Ghana and the propose an approach that disaster(floods) impacts and save lives and properties. My case study will be in Accra, the capital town of Ghana, which have been employed in my study since it recorded the highest natural disaster like (floods) and how best it can be managed using the statistical approach.
 Methodology: The study used Desktop literature approach.
 Findings: The study reveals that natural disasters are a great threat to humanity. Although they occurred long before the first human populated the planet, we likely contribute to an increase in natural disasters through our behavior. The number of natural disasters seems to be positively correlated to an increase in the earth’s temperature.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommended that countries should improve their emergency measures in order to save as many people as possible. They should also work together in order to mitigate the problem of natural disasters and ensure a livable future for future generations

Algal diversity on the granite monument in front of the Faculty of Biology of Sofia University

The paper presents the results on the species composition of aeroterrestrial algae that developed on a granite monument in the urban environment in the central part of the Bulgarian capital town Sofia, situated in front of the Faculty of Biology of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. After scraping the visible algal layers from both frontal (northern) and back (southern) side of the monument, samples were immediately processed by conventional light microscopy on non-permanent slides. The algal diversity comprised six species from the following four taxonomic phyla: Cyanoprokaryota, Chlorophyta, Streptophyta and Ochrophyta. The obtained samples are deposited in the Living Algal Collection of Sofia University (ACUS) for further proceeding and cultivation.

Failure mode and effects analysis of common effluent treatment plants of humid sub-tropical regions using fuzzy based MCDM methods

Common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) are used to collectively treat the effluents generated from different types of manufacturing industries of an industrial cluster before discharge so as to prevent the environment from the harmful effects of the effluents. There are several failure modes (FMs) that may lead to the failure of the CETP which may result in discontinuation of its operation. Thus, it is imperative to identify and estimate the criticality of the various FMs using failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) in order to minimize the risk of failure of the CETP. This study identifies 24 potential FMs of the CETP, installed in humid subtropical regions, with the help of consensus among 5 experts who are the managers of CETPs installed at five different industrial regions of Delhi, the capital town of India. Subsequently, it applies a combined fuzzy based multi criteria decision making (MCDM) methods i.e. fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) to derive rank of FMs. FAHP is applied to calculate the weights of three risk factors (RFs) i.e. occurrence (O) which refers to the chance of a failure cause occurring; severity (S) which measures the extent of effect of a failure cause on the system and the detection (D) which represents the chance of detecting the failure cause before the failure actually occurs. Then FTOPSIS is employed to determine rank of the FMs which signifies their criticality. The data required to implement FAHP and FTOPSIS are gathered from the experts in linguistic terms which are subsequently converted into equivalent triangular fuzzy numbers. Finally, sensitivity analysis is carried to ensure robustness of the ranking results produced by the combined FAHP and FTOPSIS method.

Quantitative Assessment and Spatial Analysis of Metals and Metalloids in Soil Using the Geo-Accumulation Index in the Capital Town of Romblon Province, Philippines.

The municipality of Romblon in the Philippines is an island known for its marble industry. The subsurface of the Philippines is known for its limestone. The production of marble into slab, tiles, and novelty items requires heavy equipment to cut rocks and boulders. The finishing of marble requires polishing to smoothen the surface. During the manufacturing process, massive amounts of particulates and slurry are produced, and with a lack of technology and human expertise, the environment can be adversely affected. Hence, this study assessed and monitored the environmental conditions in the municipality of Romblon, particularly the soils and sediments, which were affected due to uncontrolled discharges and particulates deposition. A total of fifty-six soil and twenty-three sediment samples were collected and used to estimate the metal and metalloid (MM) concentrations in the whole area using a neural network-particle swarm optimization inverse distance weighting model (NN-PSO). There were nine MMs; e.g., As, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cu, Ba, Mn, Zn and Fe, with significant concentrations detected in the area in both soils and sediments. The geo-accumulation index was computed to assess the level of contamination in the area, and only the soil exhibited contamination with zinc, while others were still on a safe level. Nemerow's pollution index (NPI) was calculated for the samples collected, and soil was evaluated and seen to have a light pollution level, while sediment was considered as "clean". Furthermore, the single ecological risk (Er) index for both soil and sediment samples was considered to be a low pollution risk because all values of Er were less than 40.

Capacity issues in primary health care implementation: examples from Ghana

PurposeResources as well as the capacity to employ them judiciously may well be the key to the attainment of the SDGs and other related health goals through primary health care (PHC). Within this PHC framework, however, the source of resources for PHC as well as the systems for managing these associated resources remain unclear, complex and lack substantive integration systems of implementing ministries, departments and agencies (both local and international) in Ghana. These issues are addressed by this study.Design/methodology/approachThe framework approach to thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data collected from key PHC managers in Ghana selected purposively from the national, regional and district levels. Data were collected through in-depth interviews specially designed in line with the study objectives. The study was also governed by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research which provided ethical clearance for the study.FindingsAs per Alma Ata's recommendation, PHC in its purest form is a resource dense activity with far-reaching implications on individuals and communities. Without adequate resources, PHC implementation remained merely on paper. Findings show that the key capacities required for PHC implementation were finance, human resource, technology and logistics. While significant cases of shortages and inadequacies were evident, management and maintenance of these capacities appeared to be another significant determinant of PHC implementation. Additionally, the poor allocation, distribution and sustainability of these capacities had a negative effect on PHC outcomes with more resources being concentrated in capital towns than in rural areas.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has significant implications on the way PHC is seen, implemented and assessed not in Ghana but in other developing countries. In addition to examining the nature and extent of capacities required for PHC implementation, it gives significant pathways on how limited resources, when properly managed, may catalyse the attainment of the PHC goals. Subsequently, PHC implementation will profit from stakeholder attention and further research into practical ways of ensuring efficiency in the allocation, distribution and management of resources especially considering the limited resources available and the budding constraints associated with the dependency on external stakeholders for PHC implementation.Originality/valueThis study is part of a series on PHC implementation in Ghana. Quite apart from putting core implementation issues into perspective, it presents first-hand information on Ghana's PHC implementation journey and is thus relevant for researchers, students, practitioners and the wider public.

The unexpected high prevalence of HBV subgenotype D4 in patients with chronic hepatitis B in Galicia, a northwestern Spanish region, reflects strong links with Latin America.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) comprises 9 genotypes and multiple subgenotypes that depict differences in geographic distribution, clinical outcome and response to antiviral therapy. However, the molecular epidemiology of HBV geno/subgenotypes is globally scarce. In Spain, HBV genotype D seems to be more prevalent in the northwestern regions compared to the rest of the country for unclear reasons. HBV genotyping was performed using geno2pheno on a S gene fragment amplified from plasma collected from all chronic hepatitis B individuals attended at one reference hospital in Santiago de Compostela, the Galicia's capital town. Phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses using a fragment of 345 bp were performed in all viremic specimens. To avoid misleading allocation as consequence of short fragment analysis, several bioinformatic controls were used. A total of 320 individuals with persistent serum HBsAg+ and detectable HBV-DNA were seen between 2000 and 2016 (male 68.4%; median age, 52 years-old; native Spaniards 83.8%). HBV genotype distribution was as follows: A 15.3%; B 1.6%; C 2.5%; D 71.6%; E 3.1%; F 2.2%; G 3.1%; and H 0.6%. HBV genotype D was mostly represented by D4 and D2 subgenotypes (33.4% and 15% of total, respectively). Compared to chronic hepatitis B patients with genotypes B, C, E and G, HBV-D4 carriers tended to be older (54.2% had >50 years-old) and HBeAg-negative (85%). Moreover, 43% were female, 4.7% had cirrhosis, 10.2% hepatitis C and 6.4% HIV coinfection. Phylogenetic analyses could be performed on 82 HBV-D4 specimens; and 79 were confirmed as HBV-D4 using PhyML. Phylogeography using FasTree suggested at least two distinct introductions of HBV-D4 in Galicia, one from the Caribbean and South America, and another from India. HBV subgenotype D4 is the most prevalent HBV variant in chronic hepatitis B patients living in the northwest of Spain, representing 33.4% (107/320) of all chronic hepatitis B infections. This rate of HBV-D4 is among the highest reported worldwide. Epidemiological and phylogenetic analyses suggest a strong association with historical migrant exchanges with Latin America, and especially with the Caribbean basin.

About One Debatable Question of Ukrainian History of the 14th Century

The major element of Mongolian epoch in the East Europe was obligation to pay a tribute — «vyhod». The historical consequences of the Koriatovych brothers’ rule from the end of the 40’s of the 14th century and the triumph of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the heading of the Lithuanian Prince Algirdas in the Syni Vody battle of the 1362 in Podolia have been examined. A conception has been argued according to which Podolian Principality at the time of the Koriatovych brothers’ rule was liberated from the Horde warriors. Based on the analysis of the documents, archaeological and numismatic sources a conception of the releasing on the great part of Podolian lands from the Golden Horde and stopping the tribute payment — «vyhod». Also, the terms «basqaq», «ataman», «toman», «gifts» and «commemoration» are discussed. The Koriatovych brothers’ rule on Podolian land and Syni Vody battle of the 1362 had led not only to the significant transformation of the tax-tribute system (Mongol tribute — «vyhod», «basqaqs» and etc.), but also had a great influence on the all processes in Central Ukraine and the Golden Horde in the second part of the 14th—15th centuries. Based on the analysis of the written and numismatic sources it is concluded that the equilateral heraldic shield with three beams on the first field and seven lilies on the second, on the Moldavian coins of Peter I Mușat (1375—1392) and Podolian coins of Koriatovych brothers’ of 1370—1380, there is a dynastic emblem of the Anjou family as a symbol of Hungarian kings of Louis the Hungarian (1342—1382) and Maria (1382—1387). However, these coins don’t have the Golden Horde symbols, as they were minted per sample of the European coins. The control of the trade routes in the Buh and Dnister rivers basins greatly reduced the economic resources of the Golden Horde and separate hordes of the Crimea, Western and Central Ukraine and Moldova. In the 14th century Kamianets and Smotrych were not only medieval capital towns of the Koriatovych brothers’, but also the most important centers on the international «tatar» trade route («Via Tatarica»). However, the most important routes functioned first of all between Galician and Podolian cites and also the Golden Horde centers in the Dnister and Southern Buh rivers basins.

Urbanization and Arable Land Use in Northern Ghana: A Case Study of the Sagnarigu Municipality in the Greater Tamale Area

We analyzed the effects of urbanization on the use of arable land in the Sagnarigu municipality in Greater Tamale Area of Ghana. The study involved a random survey of 300 farming households to establish their land-use patterns and valuation, and an analysis of satellite and remote sensing data for the years, 2000, 2010 and 2020 for land-use related land cover changes in the area. Out of 300 responding household heads, 88.3% were usufruct landowners; the remaining 11.7% were tenants. The hedonic pricing method was used to analyse arable land values. The value of arable land was negatively influenced by the distance to the nearest main road, district capital town, and Tamale Central Business District, and positively influenced by its closeness to State institutions. Urbanization, proxied by the population of the community where the land was located, positively influenced the value of the land. Based on the analysis of geographic information system data, we established that the built-up area in the district increased from 13.0 km2 in 2000 to 97.5 km2 in 2020, an increase of 650%. Built-up area accounted for 48.7% of the total land available in the district in 2020.

ПРІОРИТЕТНІ СОЦІАЛЬНІ ПРОБЛЕМИ НАСЕЛЕННЯ УКРАЇНИ В ПЕРІОД ВОЄННОГО СТАНУ

The article examines issues relevant to Ukraine regarding the specifics of providing social services to vulnerable categories of the population under martial law. The purpose of the article is to determine the priority of social problems of vulnerable categories of the population of Ukraine during the period of martial law and to develop measures to solve them under the conditions of the available resources and capabilities of the state. The article uses general scientific research methods, in particular, abstract-logical research methods to determine the main concepts of the article's issues; a sociological survey to investigate the priority of social needs of vulnerable categories of the population; synthesis and comparison to compare the priority of social needs of respondents from different categories of the population; generalization method for formulating research conclusions and proposals. The work carried out a sociological study of the priority of social needs of forcibly displaced persons, military personnel, war veterans and pensioners, on the basis of which it was concluded that social needs according to the level of priority are determined by the level of decline in the following order: provision of housing, quality medical care, food, work and quality social services. According to this gradation of social problems of vulnerable categories of the population, the work proposes to expand the list of social services provided online by introducing special chatbots and operators to advise and inform citizens; create conditions for the construction of temporary and capital modular towns; introduce mandatory medical diagnosis of vulnerable categories of the population; to involve citizens who are registered in employment centers to provide in kind assistance and assisted living services to war veterans and the elderly; local self-government bodies to expand cooperation with international humanitarian organizations and Ukrainian volunteers for the purpose of forming food kits for lowincome persons.

The Economic Impacts of Banana Export’s Decline in Marka District Somalia

The objective of this study is to find out the economic impacts of banana export’s decline in Marka district, Somalia. Banana and its business is the backbone of the Somali economy. It is the second primary factor of Somali economy next to livestock and their production. For many reasons including Somali civil war and lack of security banana business exportation stopped, which caused very serious economic impacts to Somali society. Method: The study area was Marka district, which is the capital town of lower Shabelle region in Somalia. This study was descriptive research particularly cross-sectional survey used with planned questionnaire distributed to target respondents. The target population of the research was 60 persons consisting banana experts, farmers, Economists, and other banana exportation stakeholders. After calculation researcher received 52 persons through the use Slovene’s formula as a sample size. The sample procedure that researcher used for the study was non probability methods, specifically purposive sampling. The data analyzed method researcher used was descriptive statistics analysis, with mean and standard deviation, with SPSS version 16 application. Results of section two tables: This section comprises five factors that caused banana export’s decline in Marka, Somalia. They are Lack of security, Poor marketing; Lack of Infrastructure, Without Government facilities, and Land disputation Problems. As the table indicates majority (69.2%) of the respondents answered lack of security caused banana export’s decline. Such like that 48.1% of the respondents Agreed that Poor Marketing caused banana export’s decline in Marka, Somalia. And also 36.5% of the respondents were agreed that lack of Infrastructure caused banana export’s decline, while 42.3% of respondents were strongly agreed that Without Government facilities caused banana export’s decline in Marka, Somalia. Finally, 30.8% of the respondents refused or strongly disagreed that land disputation problems caused banana export’s decline in Marka, Somalia. Recommendations: Researcher of this study proposed the following recommendations to Somali Government, Somali people in general, particularly to banana farmers, Agronomists, Economists, and all banana stockholders. First to improve general security to Somali country, particularly banana farms area, Second to renew and improve previous banana markets, and search new markets for banana exportation, third to encourage banana farmers, in order to increase local production, Fourth to give investments to banana farmers, and fifth to enhance general infrastructure of the country, particularly to improve banana farms accessibility, such as roads between banana farms and their markets.

Artificial intelligence (AI) for tourism: an European-based study on successful AI tourism start-ups

PurposeThe travel and tourism industry (TTI) could benefit the most from artificial intelligence (AI), which could reshape this industry. This study aims to explore the characteristics of tourism AI start-ups, the AI technological domains financed by Venture Capitalists (VCs), and the phases of the supply chain where the AI domains are in high demand.Design/methodology/approachThis study developed a database of the European AI start-ups operating in the TTI from the Crunchbase database (2005–2020). The authors used start-ups as the unit of analysis as they often foster radical change. The authors complemented quantitative and qualitative methods.FindingsAI start-ups have been mainly created by male Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics graduates between 2015 and 2017. The number of founders and previous study experience in non-start-up companies was positively related to securing a higher amount of funding. European AI start-ups are concentrated in the capital town of major tourism destinations (France, UK and Spain). The AI technological domains that received more funding from VCs were Learning, Communication and Services (i.e. big data, machine learning and natural language processing), indicating a strong interest in AI solutions enabling marketing automation, segmentation and customisation. Furthermore, VC-backed AI solutions focus on the pre-trip and post-trip.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study focussing on digital entrepreneurship, specifically VC-backed AI start-ups operating in the TTI. The authors apply, for the first time, a mixed-method approach in the study of tourism entrepreneurship.

Who lives in care homes in Greenland? A nationwide survey of demographics, functional level, medication use and comorbidities

BackgroundGreenland is facing an ageing population, and little is known about the characteristics of the elderly population in Greenland. This study offers both a comparison and a description of the demographics, causes of admission, comorbidities and medication of the residents in care homes in the capital, major and minor towns in four of the five administrative regions of Greenland.MethodsThe study was conducted from 2010 to 2016 as a descriptive questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. Data from eligible residents from eight care homes were collected from the regular care staff. Data were categorised into three groups based on town size for analysis.Results244 (100 %) of eligible residents participated in the study. Nearly 100 % were of Greenlandic ethnicity based on parents’ place of birth, and 62 % were women. The median age at admission/study was 69/71 years for men and 77/79 years for women (both p = 0.001). The median Body Mass Index was 25.6 kg/m2, more than half of the population were previous- or never-smokers and less than ten per cent consumed more than ten drinks of alcohol per week. The most common causes of admission were dementia (25.4 %), stroke (19.3 %) and social causes (11.1 %), while stroke (30.7 %), dementia (29.5 %) and musculoskeletal diseases (25.8 %) were the most common diagnoses at the time of the study. The Barthel Index was used to estimate the residents’ level of independence, and residents in smaller towns were found to have a higher level of independence than residents in the capital. The median number of prescribed medications was five, and more residents in the capital were prescribed more than ten medications than elsewhere in Greenland.ConclusionsThis study is the first to describe care home residents in Greenland. We found a population younger than residents in comparable Danish care homes and that women were older than men at admission. In addition, care home residents in the capital had a lower level of independence and a higher number of prescribed medications, which could relate to differences in morbidity, access to health care services and differences in social circumstances influencing the threshold for care home admission.