Income Of USD Research Articles

Tourists’ Satisfaction, Experience, and Revisit Intention for Wellness Tourism: E Word-of-Mouth as the Mediator

Wellness tourism has grown popular and augmented the global market due to increasing healthy lifestyles. Based on the expectancy disconfirmation theory, the study aims to determine the antecedents and significance of tourists’ revisit intention for wellness tourism. A quantitative method has been adopted. Data was collected from 361 tourists at wellness centres in Malaysia, and structural equation modelling was used to analyze the measurement and structural model. The majority of respondents are female, aged between 21 and 30, unmarried, with an average monthly income of USD 2,000. The study found that tourists’ satisfaction was influenced by perceived value from social and emotional perspectives, while their experience was shaped by their emotional and quality perception of value content. Rewards had a significant impact on both satisfaction and travel experience. Tourists were more likely to recommend a wellness vacation if they were satisfied, but it was their unique travel experience that triggered revisit intention. E-word-of-mouth played a mediating role and revealed a positive relationship between satisfaction, revisit intention, and word-of-mouth. This study demonstrated the importance of determining the underlying factors to create tourists’ revisit intention. The implications from theoretical and managerial viewpoints provide insights to scholars and practitioners to revitalize the tourism industry after COVID-19.

Factors associated with anxiety-related symptoms in children and adolescents during COVID-19 in Oman: a cross-sectional study.

Reports from different parts of the world suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown and social distancing measures have heralded unprecedented mental health challenges among children and adolescents. To date, there is a dearth of studies emerging from the Arabian Gulf, where the majority of its population are children and adolescents. The study aims to examine the prevalence of anxiety-related symptoms and their covariates among children and adolescents in an Arabian Gulf country, Oman. This is a cross-sectional analytic study carried out over two weeks (1st to 15th of August 2020) during the COVID-19 pandemic across Oman. Parents were asked to complete the online survey, which consisted of the parent version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) instrument and questions regarding basic socio-demographic information. Logistic regression was used to identify the contributing variables associated with anxiety-related symptoms. A total of 790 valid responses were received. Among the 790 children, 33.3% (n = 263) were diagnosed with anxiety-related symptoms by the SCARED instrument. Logistic regression analysis suggested that anxiety-related symptoms in children and adolescents were significantly associated with three demographic variables. The model shows that children with divorced or separated parents were 1.9 times more likely to have anxiety-related symptoms than children of married couples (OR = 1.93, p = 0.035). Children living in families with an income below USD 1000/month, were 1.8 times more likely to have anxiety-related symptoms than a family with an income of USD 4000/month (OR = 1.833, p = 0.018). Children in grades 3-6 were 1.8 times more likely to have anxiety-related symptoms than those in grades 1-2 (OR = 1.79, p = 0.024). Anxiety-related symptoms are common among Omani children and adolescents. They are more likely to be reported in middle scholastic grade levels and children from families with marital discord and low socioeconomic status. It is not clear whether the presently observed rates of anxiety exceed the prevalence that would have been observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. More studies are therefore warranted using children and adolescents' self-reported scales.

Comparison of Malnutrition Indicators and Associated Socio-Demographic Factors among Children in Rural and Urban Public Primary Schools in South Africa.

Most children in South Africa attending public schools are predisposed to malnutrition due to poor infrastructure and social inequality. This is despite the implementation of the National School Nutrition Programme to address barriers to learning associated with hunger and malnutrition and the National Development Plan to reduce child malnutrition through provision of social grants. In view of this, we compared malnutrition indicators and associated socio-demographic factors among children in rural Mpumalanga and urban Gauteng in South African public primary schools selected using a multistage cluster random sampling. A validated researcher-administered questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic data of caregivers, along with primary school children data collected on age, sex, learning grade, and anthropometric measures. Malnutrition indicators, which are stunting (low height-for-age z-scores), underweight (low weight-for-age z-scores), thinness (low body-mass-index-for-age z-scores), and overweight/obesity (high body mass index) were computed using WHO Anthro Plus 1.0.4 and data were analyzed using Stata 18. A total of 903 children (rural = 390 and urban = 513) with a mean age of 10 ± 2 years in the foundation phase (learning grades one to three) and the intermediate learning phase (learning grades four to seven) participated with their caregivers (mean age: 39 ± 8 years). Significant levels of poor socio-demographic status were observed among caregivers living in the rural setting compared to in the urban setting. Overall, thinness (18%), stunting (12%), underweight (10%), and overweight/obesity (24%) were observed among school children. Children in the rural schools had a significantly higher prevalence of stunting (20% vs. 3%; p < 0.0001), underweight (17% vs. 2%; p < 0.0001) and thinness (28% vs. 7%; p < 0.001) than their urban counterparts. In the urban, the odds of stunting, underweight and thinness were less among school children, while overweight/obesity was twice as likely in the urban setting. The multivariate final model showed lower odds of underweight [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.16; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.06-0.42] and stunting [AOR = 0.33; 95% CI: 0.13-0.87] in the urban compared to the rural schools. The association of stunting with sex [AOR =0.53; 95% CI: 0.30-0.94] and the intermediate learning phase [AOR = 7.87; 95% CI: 4.48-13.82] was observed in the rural setting, while thinness was associated with living in households with an income of USD 52.51 to USD 262.60/month [AOR = 2.89; 95% CI: 1.01-8.24] and receiving the child social grant [AOR = 2.49; 0.90-6.86] in the urban setting. Overweight/obesity was associated with living in a household with an income of USD 52.51 to USD 262.60/month [AOR = 1.80; 95% CI: 1.02-3.10]. The findings suggest nutritional intervention approaches that are accustomed to the context of settings to effectively tackle malnutrition.

Associated benefits of manatee watching in the Costa dos Corais Environmental Protection Area

Marine mammals provide diverse and interconnected ecosystem services. According to the literature, the use of these services is associated with human needs related to provision, ecosystem regulation, education, culture, spirituality, and recreation. Tourism with marine animals can provide psychological benefits, emotional connection, fun, and learning, in addition to generating high income in local communities. This study aimed to determine the willingness to pay of the community and visitors for the conservation of the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), identify the revenue from manatee watching, and evaluate well-being according to the participants of this attraction. The study was conducted from January 2020 to February 2021, in the Costa dos Corais Environmental Protection Area, Brazil. Data were collected using questionnaires and specific forms for the seven categories of social actors involved with manatee watching. The contingent valuation method was used to evaluate the willingness to pay of the respondents for the conservation of the manatee. The willingness of individuals to conduct voluntary work was also considered and subsequently converted into monetary values. Revenue from manatee watching was calculated through the direct costs of acquiring tour tickets and indirect expenditure on accommodation, food, transportation, and souvenirs. The feelings of the tourists who completed the trip were determined using a semi-structured question and their level of satisfaction was established using a five-point Likert scale. A total of 761 interviews were conducted. Most of the survey respondents were female, with a high level of education, and with a median monthly income of USD 1 800 dollars. The average mean value declared for willingness to pay was USD 3.6 dollars per month. The median hours devoted to volunteer work were 60 hours per year, which is the equivalent of USD 2.59 dollars per month. Direct revenue from this form of tourism was USD 125 595 dollars and total projected revenue was USD 15 392 225.45 dollars in the studied period. The vast majority of tourists managed to see the manatee and declared positive feelings after the trip. We believe that more elaborate promotion of manatee-watching would attract a higher number of tourists to the protected area.

Economic analysis of different pregnancy rates in dairy herds under intensive management

The pregnancy rate (PR) is nowadays the most informative reproductive parameter, as it encompasses the proportion of cows that become pregnant from the total number of cows eligible for insemination in each estrous cycle. In the international scientific literature, there are several analyses concerning PR change effects on the profitability of dairy herds. In this study, the economic consequences of PR changes in a dairy herd under intensive management was calculated. We developed a mathematical model, based on the Monte Carlo simulation model, to estimate herd performance and economic utility using different pregnancy rates (between 15 and 30). The simulation was done using a fixed conception percentage of 30, so the increment in pregnancy rate only depended on the efficiency of estrus detection (EED) increase. In the generated model scenarios, PR increase had a positive effect on the annual cow income per year; however, the extra income had a quadratic trend with a revenue decline, when PR reached 20 %. So for every percentage point, where PR was increased from 15 to 20 %, an additional cow income of USD 40.46 per year was generated. Furthermore, the additional income for every percentage point, when the PR was increased from 20 to 25 % was USD 21; and USD 6.88, when the increase was from 25 to 30 %. We can conclude that any changes in herd management to increase the EED and thereby the PR should have lower costs compared

Knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 among healthcare workers in Iraq

Background: In the absence of effective treatment, coronavirus disease (Covid-19) poses severe risks to public health. This study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers. Methods: An online approach was adopted to conduct a cross-sectional study from 1st to 31st October 2020 among Iraqi healthcare workers in Anbar Province, west of Iraq. A semi-structured and self-administered questionnaire was recruited to collect the data. The study tool contains four parts sociodemographic, knowledge, attitude, and practice assessment. Multiple Linear regression was performed to test the association between the dependent and the independent variables. SPSS version 16 was used to analyze the data, and the statistical significance level was considered at less than 0.05 p-values. Results: A total of 209 health workers were included in this study. Most of the respondents (54.5%) were Doctors (Physician, dentist, and pharmacist), males (60.8%), married (74.2%), aged less than 45 years (53.1%), urban region (64.6%), with a monthly income of USD 400 and above (61.7%) and 75.1% of them perceived their health good. The mean knowledge, attitude, and practice level of participants were 14.43 (± 2.01), 27.68 (± 2.74), and 4.33 (± 0.97), respectively. In the regression analysis, doctors (P-value = 0.000) aged 45 years and above (P-value=0.008) and urban residents (P-value=0.007) were significantly associated with upper knowledge scores. Female gender (P-value =0.022) was significantly related to positive attitude scores. While married (P-value = 0.038), those with experience of 10 years and above (P-value=0.041) showed better practice. Conclusion: The level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare workers in Anbar Province was adequate. However, with the expected new waves of pandemics, the policy of continuous training to update healthcare workers is inevitable to control and prevention of COVID-19.

The Excellence of Cocoa-Goat Integrated Farming in the Implementation of Zero Waste Concept

The problem for farmers in Suruh Village is having two types of farming which are cacao-goat integrated system farmer and cacao-goat non-integrated system farmer. Cacao-goat integrated system conducts cacao farming with goat livestock while for the cacao-goat non-integrated system does not conduct goat livestock. Farmer's interest is different in conducting cacao farming system. The aim of cacao-goat integration system is obtaining manure as organic fertilizer by the expectation to save fertilization cost so that farmer's income with the cacao-goat integrated farming system will be different with non-integrated one because seen from the maintenance cost because of manure. In this study, we dig pattern analysis information of the cacao-goat integrated farming system to find out cacao-goat integrated system and income difference of cacao-goat integrated and non-integrated systems so that it aims to find out the pattern difference of cacao-goat integration farming The research result shows that cacao-goat integrated system by the utilization of cacao waste (bark, leaf), intercropped plant (avocado, cassava, stink beans) as the animal feed of goat). Goat livestock produces feces that can be used as cacao compost fertilizer after 12 months of fermentation. The average income of the cocoa-goat non-integration farmer is USD 1,184.91/Ha/Year, while for the cocoa-goat non-integration farmer has the average income of USD 854,673/Ha/Year. There is a significant difference between cacao-goat integrated farming income and cacao-goat non-integrated farming income.

Suplementación alimenticia con promotores de crecimiento en pollos de engorde Cobb 500

The present investigation was carried out in the Andil enclosure belonging to the Jipijapa canton in Ecuador, with the objective of evaluating food supplementation with growth promoters in Cobb broilers 500 males and females. The exper-iment was implemented in a conditioned shed, under an experimental design of Fully Randomized Blocks (DBCA) with three repetitions, with 18 birds per treatment, where sex was considered independently. 216 chickens / 1-day-old sex (432 chickens) were used, distributed in four treatments: T1: oxytetracycline (control, 1mL / L), T2: probiotics plus enzymes (2.0 g / kg), T3: organic acid (1.0 mL / L) and T4: acetic acid (banana vinegar) (1.0 mL / L). The response variables were body weight (BW), food consumption (FC), weight gain (WG), feed conversion (FConv) and bird mortal-ity. For the analysis of variance, the GLM SAS proc was used. The results showed differentiated responses between males and females for BW, FC, WG and FConv. Acetic Acid had a better response to Organic Acid. In males, the antibi-otic, acetic acid and probiotic are the best treatments for weight gain compared to organic acid. The analysis of partial budgets, of the treatments evaluated, for males showed that the best profitability was for oxytetracycline (T1) in males. The use of the probiotic + enzymes (T4), had a benefit of USD 0.45, less USD 0.03 than oxytetracycline. The profitabil-ity of oxytetracycline was 45.18% at a production cost per lb of USD 0.59. Unlike the treatments with acetic acid (T3) and probiotic + enzyme (T4) that showed a margin of profitability of less than 21%. In contrast in females, the best economic income was treatment with probiotic + enzyme (T4), with 309 lb and a gross income of USD 265.74 and a net profit of USD $ 62.60, which gave a USD / B ratio $ 1.31.

Assessment of the Structure, Conduct, and Performance of the Philippine Telecommunications Industry

Assessment of the Structure, Conduct, and Performance of the Philippine Telecommunications Industry

Mapping Khat (Miraa) by Remote Sensing in Meru County, Kenya

Khat or miraa is a plant indigenous to Eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, whose leaves and stems are consumed privately and socially as a stimulant; it is highly valued by its cultivators for the high incomes it brings them. However, studies by the World Health Organization, amongst others, have found that miraa is a mild addictive drug whose continued heavy consumption can result in adverse physical and mental health effects, and therefore whose production and marketing should be discouraged. Few, if any, studies have been done to accurately quantify miraa production in areas where it grows, yet this is an important statistic for informed decision making on the crop. This paper describes a study that has mapped, using remote sensing and GIS techniques, the miraa plantations of the Igembe region of Meru County in Kenya, which is a major source of khat globally. Supervised classification of Landsat 8 imagery was carried out, with overall classification accuracy and kappa statistic of 78% and 0.72 respectively obtained. It was found that over 70,000 hectares of miraa are planted in this region, representing a regional potential per capita income of USD 2345, very high by Kenyan standards. The paper concludes that miraa is a widely grown crop of high economic significance in this region in terms of income and employment creation, and that the region’s economy would be adversely affected if the marketing of miraa were to cease.

A survey of the sociodemographic and educational characteristics of oral health technicians in public primary health care teams in Minas Gerais, Brazil

BackgroundTo describe some sociodemographic and educational characteristics of oral health technicians (OHTs) in public primary health care teams in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.MethodsA cross-sectional descriptive study was performed based on the telephone survey of a representative sample comprising 231 individuals. A pre-tested instrument was used for the data collection, including questions on gender, age in years, years of work as an OHT, years since graduation as an OHT, formal schooling, individual income in a month, and participation in continuing educational programmes. The descriptive statistic was developed and the formation of clusters, by the agglomerative hierarchy technique based on the furthest neighbour, was based on the age, years of work as an OHT, time since graduation as an OHT, formal schooling, individual income in a month, and participation in continuing educational programmes.ResultsMost interviewees (97.1%) were female. A monthly income of USD 300.00 to 600.00 was reported by 77.5% of the sample. Having educational qualifications in excess of their role was reported by approximately 20% of the participants. The median time since graduation was six years, and half of the sample had worked for four years as an OHT. Most interviewees (67.6%) reported having participated in professional continuing educational programmes. Two different clusters were identified based on the sociodemographic and educational characteristics of the sample.ConclusionsThe Brazilian OHTs in public primary health care teams in the state of Minas Gerais are mostly female who have had little time since graduation, working experience, and formal schooling sufficient for professional practice.

Innovation: Funding SPE Programs and Services

President's column In the next two months, I am going to deviate from the theme of my previous columns on innovation. As indicated above, this month I will share with you how SPE funds its programs and services and next month I will write about the work on strategy that your board has been working on. I am happy to report that our membership continues to grow. Total SPE membership (professional and student) exceeded 110,000 at the end of 2012. These members continually look to SPE for good programs and services, and our mission to disseminate technical information to all of them and to do so quickly, affordably, and in new ways, is increasingly challenged. SPE accomplishes this primarily through meetings, lectures, training courses, and publications. So, how does SPE fund all of these things? All of SPE’s major business segments (meetings, publications, membership, re-tail sales, SPE.org) contribute to the overall success of SPE, but as Fig. 1 illustrates, meetings are SPE’s largest source of revenue. Although SPE now conducts around 140 events worldwide each year, most of the revenues from meetings come from the financial success of a small number of conferences with large exhibitions, like the Offshore Technology Conference and Offshore Europe. Most other events are budgeted to break even or generate a small surplus. Your board recently considered and approved SPE’s budget for Fiscal Year 2014 (1 April 2013 through 31 March 2014). It has total operating revenues of USD 92.4 mil-lion and expenses of USD 84.4 million, resulting in a net income of USD 8 million. Here is the important thing to remember when you are considering these numbers. Unlike commercial organizations, our income goes back into benefits for our members. This helps us keep dues, meetings registrations, and publications prices reasonable, and helps us support programs that produce little or no revenue on their own, like scholarships, the very popular Distinguished Lecturer visits, and our peer-reviewed journals.

Shell: Leadership Built on Innovation and Technology

Company Profile Series - This is the latest in a series of profiles of leading operators, including key international and national oil companies, around the globe. The focus is on the company's strategic direction, relationship to its government, major upstream activity, and significant technology challenges and applications. Royal Dutch Shell stands among the very largest international oil and gas companies (IOCs) by any measure. The most recent Fortune Global 500 ranked Shell as the world’s largest energy and second largest publicly traded company by revenues. Figures and rankings fluctuate from year to year, but few corporate names, if any, are more widely known worldwide, and the company’s shell symbol—the pecten, as it is precisely called—is surely one of the most recognized logos around the globe. Shell has reserves of 12.4 billion BOE, consisting of 4 billion bbl of crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) and 49.1 Tscf of natural gas. Shell in 2009 produced nearly 1.6 million B/D of oil and NGLs and 8.5 Bscf/D of natural gas, along with 80,000 B/D of synthetic crude and 19,000 B/D of bitumen. The company reported income of USD 12.7 billion in 2009 on revenue of 278.2 billion. Shell has 101,000 employees and conducts business operations in more than 90 countries. Based in The Hague and incorporated in England and Wales, Shell has its roots in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Company Origins “Shell” Transport and Trading was founded in 1897 by merchant Marcus Samuel in London, an outgrowth of a successful export-import business started in 1832 by his father, also named Marcus Samuel. During a trip to the Caucasus and Japan in 1890, the younger Samuel first recognized the potential of trading lamp oil from Baku, Russia, to the Far East and while by the Black Sea saw a very primitive bulk tanker. Vessels that could carry oil in bulk tank-age, he reasoned, would be far more efficient than the oil tankers of that day, which carried barrels that took up extra hold space, added weight, and were prone to leak.

Nocturnal Enuresis in Turkey: Prevalence and Accompanying Factors in Different Socioeconomic Environments

Aim: To study the prevalence of nocturnal enuresis and the impact of associated familial factors in Turkish children with a different socioeconomic status. Methods: A specific questionnaire was distributed to 3,000 parents of primary school children (6–12 years old). Of these children, 1,500 attended primary schools in Umraniye, a suburban region of Istanbul (group 1), and the other 1,500 children visited schools in Suadiye, a well-developed part of Istanbul (group 2). The first part of the survey investigated the familial conditions of the children (financial status, family history of enuresis, and family size). The second part of the questionnaire surveyed the demographic and physical characteristics of the children. The last part was designed to investigate the opinions and beliefs of the parents about nocturnal enuresis and treatment modalities. The prevalence rates of nocturnal enuresis and associated familial factors of these children from two different regions of Istanbul were compared. Results: Of the 3,000 questionnaires distributed, 2,589 (86.3%) were returned and included in the final analysis. The mean age of group 1 and 2 children was 8.88 ± 1.4 and 8.9 ± 1.5 years, respectively (p > 0.05). The gender of the subjects was equally distributed (48.6% males and 51.4% females). Enuresis was present in 334 children (25.5%) of group 1 and in 205 children (16%) of group 2. Enuresis was significantly more common in group 1 (p < 0.01). The families consisted of 4.69 ± 1.4 and 4.1 ± 1.1 persons, respectively (p < 0.01). A yearly income of USD 7,000 was achieved in group 2 by 54%, in group 1 by only 0.7% (p < 0.01). Only 26 children of group 1 (7.8%) and 22 children of group 2 (10.8%) were noted to receive medical enuresis treatments, with no statistically significant difference between the groups (p > 0.01). The parents of the enuretic children from the suburban region of Istanbul were found to consider the condition a normal developmental entity. They believed that enuresis will resolve spontaneously and that no treatment is necessary. On the contrary, the parents of the enuretic children in the well-developed region of the city believed that enuresis is a psychological problem and that intensive psychological assistance is essential for the management. Conclusions: Our study indicates that the prevalence of nocturnal enuresis in Turkey is comparable to that reported in the literature. The parents consider that enuresis nocturna is not a fatal disorder, that the drugs used in the treatment may be harmful, and that no medical assistance is required. Trained health personnel and physicians should inform the parents about enuresis in order to prevent possible behavioral and self-esteem problems.