Search results for: inverse participation ratio

Authors: Godwin Chigozie Okpara, Eugene Iheanacho

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This paper examined the dynamic behavior of stock market development and the growth of Nigerian economy. The variables; market capitalization ratio, turnover ratio and liquidity proxies by the ratio of market capitalization to gross domestic product were sourced and computed from the Nigerian stock exchange fact books and the CBN statistical bulletin of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The variables were tested and found stationary and cointregrated using the augumented Dickey Fuller unit root test and the Johnson cointegration test respectively. The dynamic behavior of the stock market development model was verified using the error correction model. The result shows that about 0.4l percent of the short run deviation is corrected every year and also reveals that market capitalization ratio and market liquidity are positive and significant function of economic growth. In other words market capitalization ratio and liquidity positively and significantly impact economic growth. Market development variables such as turnover ratio and market restriction can exert positive but insignificant impact on the growth of the economy suggesting that securities transaction relative to the size of the securities market are not high enough to significantly engender economic growth in Nigeria. In the light of this, the researchers recommend that the regulatory body as well as the government, should provide a conducive environment capable of encouraging the growth and development of the stock market. This if well articulated will enhance the market turnover and the growth of the economy.

Keywords: market capitalization ratio, turnover ratio, liquidity, unit root test, cointegration

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Authors: Kalpana Jamdhade, Anita Chorey, Bharti Tijare, V. M. Bhale

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A field experiment was conducted during summer season of 2011 at Agronomy research farm, Dr. PDKV, Akola, to study the effect of irrigation regime and nitrogen levels on growth and productivity of summer sesame. The experiment was laid out in split plot Design in which three irrigation scheduling on the basis of IW/CPE ratio viz., irrigation at 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 IW/CPE ratios (I1, I2 and I3, respectively) and one irrigation scheduling based on critical growth stages of sesame (I4), in main plot and three nitrogen levels 0, 30 and 60 kg N ha-1 (N0, N1 and N2, respectively) in subplot. The result showed that plant height, number of leaves plant-1, leaf area and dry matter accumulation were maximum in irrigation scheduling at 1.0 IW/CPE ratio, which significantly superior over 0.6 IW/CPE ratio and irrigation at critical growth stages but were statistically at par with irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio. Nitrogen levels, application of 60 kg N ha-1 was recorded significantly superior all growth parameters over treatment 30 kg N ha-1 and 0 kg N ha-1. In case of yield attributes viz., No. of capsules plant-1, Test wt., grain yield and Stalk yield (qha-1) were maximum in irrigation scheduling at 1.0 IW/CPE ratio and were significantly superior over 0.8 IW/CPE ratio, 0.6 IW/CPE ratio and irrigation at critical growth stages. Application of 60 kg N ha-1 increased all yield attributing characters over application of 30 and 0 kg N ha-1. In case of economics of crop same trend was found and the highest B:C ration was obtained in irrigation scheduling at 1.0 IW/CPE ratio. Whereas, application of 30 kg N ha-1 was recorded highest B:C ration over application of 60 and 0 kg N ha-1. Interaction effect of irrigation and nitrogen levels were found to be non significant in summer season.

Keywords: irrigation regimes, nitrogen levels, summer sesame, agricultural technology

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Authors: Vincenzo Russo, Rosella Giacometti

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The paper aims to assess the insurance industry's resilience under Solvency II against adverse scenarios. Starting from the economic balance sheet available under Solvency II for insurance and reinsurance undertakings, we assume that assets and liabilities follow a bivariate geometric Brownian motion (GBM). Then, using the results available under Margrabe's formula, we establish an analytical solution to calibrate the volatility of the asset-liability ratio. In such a way, we can estimate the probability of default and the probability of breaching the undertaking's Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR). Furthermore, since estimating the volatility of the Solvency Ratio became crucial for insurers in light of the financial crises featured in the last decades, we introduce a novel measure that we call Resiliency Ratio. The Resiliency Ratio can be used, in addition to the Solvency Ratio, to evaluate the insurance industry's resilience in case of adverse scenarios. Finally, we introduce a simplified stress test tool to evaluate the economic balance sheet under stressed conditions. The model we propose is featured by analytical tractability and fast calibration procedure where only the disclosed data available under the Solvency II public reporting are needed for the calibration. Using the data published regularly by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) in an aggregated form by country, an empirical analysis has been performed to calibrate the model and provide the related results at the country level.

Keywords: Solvency II, solvency ratio, volatility of the asset-liability ratio, probability of default, probability to breach the SCR, resilience ratio, stress test

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Authors: M. Unis, S. Turky, A. Elalem, A. Meshrghi

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The Esterification kinetics of acetic acid with isopropnol in the presence of sulfuric acid as a homogenous catalyst was studied with isothermal batch experiments at 60,70 and 80°C and at a different molar ratio of isopropnol to acetic acid. Investigation of kinetics of the reaction indicated that the low of molar ratio is favored for esterification reaction, this is due to the reaction is catalyzed by acid. The maximum conversion, approximately 60.6% was obtained at 80°C for molar ratio of 1:3 acid : alcohol. It was found that increasing temperature of the reaction, increases the rate constant and conversion at a certain mole ratio, that is due to the esterification is exothermic. The homogenous reaction has been described with simple power-law model. The chemical equilibrium combustion calculated from the kinetic model in agreement with the measured chemical equilibrium.

Keywords: artificial flavors, esterification, chemical equilibria, isothermal

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Authors: Ayaz Ahmad

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In this work, we present the effect of noise on the solution of a partial differential equation (PDE) in three different setting. We shall first consider random initial condition for two nonlinear dispersive PDE the non linear Schrodinger equation and the Kortteweg –de vries equation and analyse their effect on some special solution , the soliton solutions.The second case considered a linear partial differential equation , the wave equation with random initial conditions allow to substantially decrease the computational and data storage costs of an algorithm to solve the inverse problem based on the boundary measurements of the solution of this equation. Finally, the third example considered is that of the linear transport equation with a singular drift term, when we shall show that the addition of a multiplicative noise term forbids the blow up of solutions under a very weak hypothesis for which we have finite time blow up of a solution in the deterministic case. Here we consider the problem of wave propagation, which is modelled by a nonlinear dispersive equation with noisy initial condition .As observed noise can also be introduced directly in the equations.

Keywords: drift term, finite time blow up, inverse problem, soliton solution

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Authors: Mona Maria Mombeck

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Social participation in heterogeneous classrooms is one of the main goals in inclusive education. Children with special educational needs (SEN) and children with learning difficulties, or behavioural problems not diagnosed as SEN, are more likely to be excluded by other children than others. It is proven that the presence of dogs, as well as contact with dogs, increases the likelihood of positive social behaviour between humans. Therefore, animal-assisted pedagogy may be presumed to be a constructive way of inclusive teaching and facing the challenges of social inclusion in school classes. This study investigates the presence of a friendly dog in heterogeneous groups of pupils in order to evaluate the influence of dogs on facets of social participation of children in school. 30 German pupils, aged from 10 to 14, in four classes were questioned about their social participation before and after they were educated for a year in school with animal-assisted-pedagogy, using the problem-concerned interview method. In addition, the post-interview includes some general questions about the putative differences or similarities of being educated with and without a dog. The interviews were analysed with the qualitative-content-analysis using QDA software. The results showed that a dog has a positive impact on the atmosphere, student relationships, and well-being in class. Regarding the atmosphere, the pupils mainly argued that the improvement was caused by taking into account the dog’s well-being, respecting the dog-related rules, and by emotional self-regulation. It can be supposed that children regard the rules concerning the dog as more relevant to them than rules, not concerning the dog even if they require the same behaviour and goal. Furthermore, a dog has a positive impact on emotional self-regulation and, therefore, on pupil’s behaviour in class and the atmosphere. In terms of the statements about relationships, the dog’s presence was mainly seen to provide both a unifying aim and a uniting topic to talk about. The improved well-being was described as a feeling of joy and peace of mind. Moreover, the teacher was evaluated as more friendly and trustworthy after animal-assisted teaching. Nevertheless, animal-assisted pedagogy can, rarely, cause problems as well, such as jealousy, distraction, or concerns about the well-being of the dog. The study could prove the relevance of animal-assisted pedagogy for facing the challenges of social participation in inclusive education.

Keywords: animal-assisted-pedagogy, inclusive education, human-animal-interactions, social participation

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Authors: G. Nitesh

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Stone column or granular pile is a proven technique to mitigate settlement in soft soil. Granular pile increases both rate of consolidation and stiffness of the ground. In this paper, a method to analyze further reduction in settlement of granular column reinforced with lime pile is presented treating the system as a unit cell and considering one-dimensional compression approach. The core of the granular pile is stiffened with a steel rod or lime column. Influence of a wide range of parameters such as area ratio of granular pile-soft soil, area ratio of lime pile-granular pile, modular ratio of granular pile and modular ratio of lime pile with respect to granular pile on settlement reduction factor, etc. are obtained and presented.

Keywords: lime pile, granular pile, soft soil, settlement

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Authors: Arash Mirabdolah Lavasani, Taher Maarefdoost

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Effect of blockage ratio on heat transfer from non-circular tube is studied experimentally. For doing this experiment a suction type low speed wind tunnel with test section dimension of 14×14×40 and velocity in rage of 7-20 m/s was designed. The blockage ratios varied between 1.5 to 7 and Reynolds number based on equivalent diameter varies in range of 7.5×103 to 17.5×103. The results show that by increasing blockage ratio from 1.5 to 7, drag coefficient of the cam shaped tube decreased about 55 percent. By increasing Reynolds number, Nusselt number of the cam shaped tube increases about 40 to 48 percent in all ranges of blockage ratios.

Keywords: wind tunnel, non-circular tube, blockage ratio, experimental heat transfer, cross-flow

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Authors: Abdulrahman Abdulrahman, Abir Abdulrahman

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Free over-fall is an instrument for measuring discharge in open channels by measuring end depth. A comprehensive researchers investigated theoretically and experimentally brink phenomenon with various approaches for different cross-sectional shapes. Anderson's method, based on Boussinq's approximation and energy approach was used to derive a pressure distribution factor at end depth. Applying the one-dimensional momentum equation and the principles of limit slope analysis, a relevant analytical solution may be derived for brink depth ratio (EDR) in prismatic rectangular channel. Also relationships between end depth ratio and slope ratio for a given non-dimensional normal or critical depth with upstream supercritical flow regime are presented. Simple indirect procedure is used to estimate the end depth discharge ratio (EDD) for subcritical and supercritical flow using measured end depth. The comparison of this analysis with all previous theoretical and experimental studies showed an excellent agreement.

Keywords: analytical solution, brink depth, end depth, flow measurement, free over fall, hydraulics, rectangular channel

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Authors: Syeda Salina Aziz, Tanvir Ahmed Mozumder

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Citizenship is an important concept of democracy which broadly defines the relationship between the state and its citizens; at the same time, it analyzes the rights and duties of a citizen. The universal citizenship principle demands that citizens should be aware of the political system, possess democratic attitudes, and join the political activity. Bangladesh presents an interesting case for democracy; the democratic practices in the country have been long introduced, have been interrupted several times, and the democratic values and practices have yet to be established in the country. These transitions have influenced citizens’ ideologies and participation in decision-making and also shaped their expectations differently. In this backdrop, this paper aims to understand and explain the citizenship behavior of Bangladeshi nationals. Based on nationally representative household survey data of 4000 respondents, this paper creates a composite citizenship index which is a combination of three separate indices, including participation index, knowledge and awareness index, and ideology index. The paper then tries to explain the factors that affect the citizenship index. Using fixed effect regression analysis, the paper intends to explore the association between citizenship and socio-demographic variables, including education, location, gender, and exposure to the media of respondents. Additionally, using national election polls, the paper creates a variable to measure long-term support towards the current ruling party and tests whether and how this affects the citizenship variables.

Keywords: citizenship, political participation, Bangladesh, stronghold

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Authors: Abdulwali H. Aldahmash, Naem M. Alamri

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The purpose of this study was to analyze Saudi Arabian science and mathematics teachers’ attitudes toward integrating STEM in teaching before and after they participated in a professional development workshop focused on STEM integration in a specific middle school science and mathematics unit. The participants were 48 Saudi Arabian science and mathematics teachers who participated in a three-day workshop held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The research method was a pretest-posttest group design. The primary data source was the instrument for teachers' attitudes toward teaching integrated STEM. The results indicate that Saudi Arabian science and mathematics teachers’ perceptions of difficulties decreased due to their participation in the professional development workshop on integrated STEM. Meanwhile, the teachers' self-efficacy improved following their participation in the STEM professional development (PD) workshop. However, no perceived effect was found for the teachers' perceptions of the relevance of or their anxiety about or enjoyment of integrated STEM teaching due to their participation in the three-day PD workshop.

Keywords: STEM integration, attitude toward STEM, STEM workshop, professional development

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Authors: Alhassan Dramani Yakubu

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The primary purpose of this study was to analyze effects that participating in sporting activities has on academic performance among students at Yaa Asantewaa Girls’ Senior High School. To dig out the main objective of the study, descriptive survey design was employed. The study used 45 respondents comprising of 25 student – athletes and 20 non-student – athletes. The purposive sampling and stratified random sampling technique were used to sample population of 455 students involved. The academic performance of sports participants is compared with those of non – participants in terms of their outcomes in the form of grades from mathematics. Data was obtained from the sample by the use of questionnaire which was self - administered. The questionnaire sought information on level of student’s participation in sports and importance of sports participation to students. Results revealed that participation in sporting activities is associated with higher grades among students. The analysis reinforces the idea that apart from their health benefits for participants, sporting activities lead to the attainment of the performance goals to which higher institutions aspire. The findings also implies that, mathematics teachers and other subject teachers should not fend off students from participating in sporting activities with the trepidation that participating in sports inflame academic performance. This study recommend that, educational programs about sports should be provided for students’ through the educational system to bring about positive academic performance.

Keywords: physical activity, physical education, intra mural, extra mural

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Authors: Wesam Hamed

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This paper contributes to the existing literature by investigating the impact of political risks on the capital adequacy ratio in the banking sector of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which is the first attempt for this nexus to the best of our knowledge. The dynamic panel data model (System‐GMM) showed that political risks significantly decrease the capital adequacy ratio in the banking sector. For this purpose, we used political risks, bank-specific, profitability, and macroeconomic variables that are utilized from the data stream database for the period 2005-2017. The results also actively support the “too big to fail” hypothesis. Finally, the robustness results confirm the conclusions derived from the baseline System‐GMM model.

Keywords: capital adequacy ratio, system GMM, GCC, political risks

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Authors: Yetunde M. Dairo, Johnny Collett, Helen Dawes

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Background and Aim: Engagement with physical activity (PA) research is poor among adults with intellectual disabilities (ID), particularly in those from residential homes. This study explored why, by asking managers of residential homes, adults with ID and their carers. Methods: Participants: A convenient sample of 23 individuals from two UK local authorities, including a group of ID residential home managers, adults with ID and their support staff. Procedures: A) Residential home managers (n=6) were asked questions about their willingness to allow their residents to participate in PA research; B) eleven adults with ID and their support workers (n=6) were asked questions about their willingness to accept 7-day accelerometer monitoring and/or the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-short version (IPAQ-s) as PA measures. The IPAQ-s was administered by the researcher and they were each provided with samples of accelerometers to try on. Results: A) Five out of six managers said that the burden of wearing the accelerometer for seven days would be too high for the people they support, the majority of whom might be unable to express their wishes. They also said they would be unwilling to act as proxy respondents for the same reason. Additionally, they cited time pressure, understaffing, and reluctance to spend time on the research paperwork as further reasons for non-participation. B) All 11 individuals with ID completed the IPAQ-s while only three accepted the accelerometer, one of whom was deemed inappropriate to wear it. Reasons for rejecting accelerometers included statements from participants of: ‘too expensive’, ‘too heavy’, ‘uncomfortable’, and two people said they would not want to wear it for more than one day. All adults with ID (11) and their support workers (6) provided information about their physical activity levels through the IPAQ-s. Conclusions: Care home managers are a barrier to research participation. However, adults with ID would be happy for the IPAQ-s as a PA measure, but less so for the 7-day accelerometer monitoring. In order to improve participation in this population, the choice of PA measure is considered important. Moreover, there is a need for studies exploring how best to engage ID residential home managers in PA research.

Keywords: intellectual disability, physical activity measurement, research engagement, research participation

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Authors: S. F. H. Tasfy, N. A. M. Zabidi, M. S. Shaharun

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Carbon dioxide is highly thermochemical stable molecules where it is very difficult to activate the molecule and achieve higher catalytic conversion into alcohols or other hydrocarbon compounds. In this paper, series of the bimetallic Cu/ZnO-based catalyst supported by SBA-15 were systematically prepared via impregnation technique with different Cu: Zn ratio for hydrogenation of CO₂ to methanol. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), temperature programmed desorption, reduction, oxidation and pulse chemisorption (TPDRO), and surface area determination was also performed. All catalysts were tested with respect to the hydrogenation of CO₂ to methanol in microactivity fixed-bed reactor at 250^oC, 2.25 MPa, and H₂/CO₂ ratio of 3. The results demonstrate that the catalytic structure, activity, and methanol selectivity was strongly affected by the ratio between Cu: Zn, Where higher catalytic activity of 14 % and methanol selectivity of 92 % was obtained over Cu/ZnO-SBA-15 catalyst with Cu:Zn ratio of 7:3 wt. %. Comparing with the single catalyst, the synergetic between Cu and Zn provides additional active sites to adsorb more H₂ and CO₂ and accelerate the CO₂ conversion, resulting in higher methanol production under mild reaction conditions.

Keywords: hydrogenation of carbon dioxide, methanol synthesis, Cu/ZnO-based catalyst, mesoporous silica (SBA-15), metal ratio

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Authors: Björn de Kruijf, Arjen Edzes, Sietske Waslander

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In an ever-quickly changing society, lifelong development is seen as a solution to labor market problems by politicians and policymakers. In this paper, we investigate how policy instruments are used to increase participation in lifelong development and on which behavioral principles policy is based. Digitization, automation, and an aging population change society and the labor market accordingly. Skills that were once most sought after in the workforce can become abundantly present. For people to remain relevant in the working population, they need to continue adapting new skills useful in the current labor market. Many reports have been written that focus on the role of lifelong development in this changing society and how lifelong development can help keep people adapt and stay relevant. Inspired by these reports, governments have implemented a broad range of policies to support participation in lifelong development. The question we ask ourselves is how government policies promote participation in lifelong development. This stems from a complex interplay of policy instruments and learning. Regulation, economic and soft instruments can be combined to promote lifelong development, and different types of education further complex policies on lifelong development. Literature suggests that different stages in people’s lives might warrant different methods of learning. Governments could anticipate this in their policies. In order to influence people’s behavior, the government can tap into a broad range of sociological, psychological, and (behavioral) economic principles. The traditional economic assumption that behavior is rational is known to be only partially true, and the government can use many biases in human behavior to stimulate participation in lifelong development. In this paper, we also try to find which biases the government taps into to promote participation if they tap into any of these biases. The goal of this paper is to analyze government policies intended to promote participation in lifelong development. To do this, we develop a framework to analyze the policies on lifelong development. We specifically incorporate the role of learning and the behavioral principles underlying policy instruments in the framework. We apply this framework to the case of the Netherlands, where we examine a set of policy documents. We single out the policies the government has put in place and how they are vertically and horizontally related. Afterward, we apply the framework and classify the individual policies by policy instrument and by type of learning. We find that the Dutch government focuses on formal and non-formal learning in their policy instruments. However, the literature suggests that learning at a later age is mainly done in an informal manner through experiences.

Keywords: learning, lifelong development, policy analysis, policy instruments

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Authors: Abisola Akinola, Akinsulere Femi

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The stock market has continually been a source of economic development in most developing countries. This study examined the relationship between investors’ ratio analysis and profitability of quoted companies in Nigeria using secondary data obtained from the annual reports of forty-two (42) companies. The study employed the multiple regression technique to analyze the relationship between investors’ ratio analysis (measured by dividend per share and earning per share) and profitability (measured by the return on equity). The results from the analysis show that investors’ ratio analysis, when measured by earnings per share, have a positive and significant impact on profitability. However, the study noted that investors’ ratio analysis, when measured by dividend per share, tend to have a positive impact on profitability but it is statistically insignificant. By implication, investors and other stakeholders that are interested in investing in stocks can predict the earning capacity of listed firms in the stock market.

Keywords: dividend per share, earnings per share, profitability, return on equity

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Authors: Wei-Chieh Yeh, Yung-Tang Shen

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The concept of community building started in 1994 in Taiwan. After years of development, it fostered the notion of active local resident participation in community issues as co-operators, instead of minions. Participatory design gives participants more control in the decision-making process, helps to reduce the friction caused by arguments and assists in bringing different parties to consensus. This results in an increase in the efficiency of projects run in the community. Therefore, the participation of local residents is key to the success of community building. This study applied participatory design to develop plans for the reuse of deserted spaces in the community from the first stage of brainstorming for design ideas, making creative models to be employed later, through to the final stage of construction. After conducting a series of participatory designed activities, it aimed to integrate the different opinions of residents, develop a sense of belonging and reach a consensus. Besides this, it also aimed at building the residents’ awareness of their responsibilities for the environment and related issues of sustainable development. By reviewing relevant literature and understanding the history of related studies, the study formulated a theory. It took the “2012-2014 Changhua County Community Planner Counseling Program” as a case study to investigate the implementation process of participatory design. Research data are collected by document analysis, participants’ observation and in-depth interviews. After examining the three elements of “Design Participation”, “Construction Participation”, and” Follow–up Maintenance Participation” in the case, the study emerged with a promising conclusion: Maintenance works were carried out better compared to common public works. Besides this, maintenance costs were lower. Moreover, the works that residents were involved in were more creative. Most importantly, the community characteristics could be easy be recognized.

Keywords: participatory design, deserted space, community building, reuse

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Authors: Parth Mehta, Vedasri Bai Khavala, Prabhu Rajagopal, Tiju Thomas

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There is an increasing need for alternative clean fuels, and hydrogen (H₂) has long been considered a promising solution with a high calorific value (142MJ/kg). However, the storage of H₂ and expensive processes for its generation have hindered its usage. Sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) can potentially be used as an economically viable means of H₂ storage. Thus far, there have been attempts to optimize the life of NaBH₄ (half-life) in aqueous media by stabilizing it with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for various pH values. Other reports have shown that H₂ yield and reaction kinetics remained constant for all ratios of H₂O to NaBH₄ > 30:1, without any acidic catalysts. Here we highlight the importance of pH and H₂O: NaBH₄ ratio (80:1, 40:1, 20:1 and 10:1 by weight), for NaBH₄ stabilization (half-life reaction time at room temperature) and corrosion minimization of H₂ reactor components. It is interesting to observe that at any particular pH>10 (e.g., pH = 10, 11 and 12), the H₂O: NaBH₄ ratio does not have the expected linear dependence with stability. On the contrary, high stability was observed at the ratio of 10:1 H₂O: NaBH₄ across all pH>10. When the H₂O: NaBH₄ ratio is increased from 10:1 to 20:1 and beyond (till 80:1), constant stability (% degradation) is observed with respect to time. For practical usage (consumption within 6 hours of making NaBH₄ solution), 15% degradation at pH 11 and NaBH₄: H₂O ratio of 10:1 is recommended. Increasing this ratio demands higher NaOH concentration at the same pH, thus requiring a higher concentration or volume of acid (e.g., HCl) for H₂ generation. The reactions are done with tap water to render the results useful from an industrial standpoint. The observed stability regimes are rationalized based on complexes associated with NaBH₄ when solvated in water, which depend sensitively on both pH and NaBH₄: H₂O ratio.

Keywords: hydrogen, sodium borohydride, stability optimization, H₂O:NaBH₄ ratio

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Authors: Isyaku Labaran Fagge

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This study investigated on appraisal of civil servants level of participation in recreational activities in North Western States of Nigeria. To achieve this purpose, a descriptive survey was employed for the designed questionnaire which were administered on 300 respondents, who served as subject for this study, in North Western States of Nigeria. Descriptive statistics of simple frequency count, percentage and Chi square (x2) statistical techniques at 0.05 alpha level were used for all statistical tests of significance. The findings of the study revealed that senior civil servants by (gender, status and location) do participate in recreational activities. On the knowledgeable personnels, all the recreational centres (by gender, status and location) had no knowledgeable personnels to handle the centres across North Western States. Many recreational centers should be create. Government should train and employ more knowledgeable personnel to handle the centres. Civil servants in urban areas do participate more than the civil servants in rural areas.

Keywords: recreation, civil servants, participation, recreational activities

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Authors: Ben Kwame Agyei-Mensah

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This study investigated the influence of firm-specific characteristics which include proportion of Non-Executive Directors, ownership concentration, firm size, profitability, debt equity ratio, liquidity and leverage on the extent and quality of financial ratios disclosed by firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. The research was conducted through detailed analysis of the 2012 financial statements of the listed firms. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined. This was followed by regression analysis which forms the main data analysis. The results of the extent of financial ratio disclosure level, mean of 62.78%, indicate that most of the firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange did not overwhelmingly disclose such ratios in their annual reports. The results of the low quality of financial ratio disclosure mean of 6.64% indicate that the disclosures failed woefully to meet the International Accounting Standards Board's qualitative characteristics of relevance, reliability, comparability and understandability. The results of the multiple regression analysis show that leverage (gearing ratio) and return on investment (dividend per share) are associated on a statistically significant level as far as the extent of financial ratio disclosure is concerned. Board ownership concentration and proportion of (independent) non-executive directors, on the other hand were found to be statistically associated with the quality of financial ratio disclosed. There is a significant negative relationship between ownership concentration and the quality of financial ratio disclosure. This means that under a higher level of ownership concentration less quality financial ratios are disclosed. The findings also show that there is a significant positive relationship between board composition (proportion of non-executive directors) and the quality of financial ratio disclosure.

Keywords: voluntary disclosure, firm-specific characteristics, financial reporting, financial ratio disclosure, Ghana stock exchange

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Authors: Shinhao Yang, Hsiao-Chien Huang, Chin-Hsiang Luo

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The leakage of protective clothing is an important issue in the occupational health field. There is no quantitative method for measuring the leakage of personal protective equipment. This work aims to measure the quantitative leakage of the personal protective equipment by using the fluorochrome aerosol tracer. The fluorescent aerosols were employed as airborne particulates in a controlled chamber with ultraviolet (UV) light-detectable stickers. After an exposure-and-leakage test, the protective equipment was removed and photographed with UV-scanning to evaluate areas, color depth ratio, and aerosol deposition and shielding effects of the areas where fluorescent aerosols had adhered to the body through the protective equipment. Thus, this work built a calculation software for quantitative leakage ratio of protective clothing based on fluorescent illumination depth/aerosol concentration ratio, illumination/Fa ratio, aerosol deposition and shielding effects, and the leakage area ratio on the segmentation. The results indicated that the two-repetition total leakage rate of the X, Y, and Z type protective clothing for subject T were about 3.05, 4.21, and 3.52 (mg/m2). For five-repetition, the leakage rate of T were about 4.12, 4.52, and 5.11 (mg/m2).

Keywords: fluorochrome, deposition, shielding effects, digital image processing, leakage ratio, personal protective equipment

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Authors: Jeremie Coullon, Robert J. Webber

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We introduce a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sam-pler for infinite-dimensional inverse problems. Our sam-pler is based on the affine invariant ensemble sampler, which uses interacting walkers to adapt to the covariance structure of the target distribution. We extend this ensem-ble sampler for the first time to infinite-dimensional func-tion spaces, yielding a highly efficient gradient-free MCMC algorithm. Because our ensemble sampler does not require gradients or posterior covariance estimates, it is simple to implement and broadly applicable. In many Bayes-ian inverse problems, Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) meth-ods are needed to approximate distributions on infinite-dimensional function spaces, for example, in groundwater flow, medical imaging, and traffic flow. Yet designing efficient MCMC methods for function spaces has proved challenging. Recent gradi-ent-based MCMC methods preconditioned MCMC methods, and SMC methods have improved the computational efficiency of functional random walk. However, these samplers require gradi-ents or posterior covariance estimates that may be challenging to obtain. Calculating gradients is difficult or impossible in many high-dimensional inverse problems involving a numerical integra-tor with a black-box code base. Additionally, accurately estimating posterior covariances can require a lengthy pilot run or adaptation period. These concerns raise the question: is there a functional sampler that outperforms functional random walk without requir-ing gradients or posterior covariance estimates? To address this question, we consider a gradient-free sampler that avoids explicit covariance estimation yet adapts naturally to the covariance struc-ture of the sampled distribution. This sampler works by consider-ing an ensemble of walkers and interpolating and extrapolating between walkers to make a proposal. This is called the affine in-variant ensemble sampler (AIES), which is easy to tune, easy to parallelize, and efficient at sampling spaces of moderate dimen-sionality (less than 20). The main contribution of this work is to propose a functional ensemble sampler (FES) that combines func-tional random walk and AIES. To apply this sampler, we first cal-culate the Karhunen–Loeve (KL) expansion for the Bayesian prior distribution, assumed to be Gaussian and trace-class. Then, we use AIES to sample the posterior distribution on the low-wavenumber KL components and use the functional random walk to sample the posterior distribution on the high-wavenumber KL components. Alternating between AIES and functional random walk updates, we obtain our functional ensemble sampler that is efficient and easy to use without requiring detailed knowledge of the target dis-tribution. In past work, several authors have proposed splitting the Bayesian posterior into low-wavenumber and high-wavenumber components and then applying enhanced sampling to the low-wavenumber components. Yet compared to these other samplers, FES is unique in its simplicity and broad applicability. FES does not require any derivatives, and the need for derivative-free sam-plers has previously been emphasized. FES also eliminates the requirement for posterior covariance estimates. Lastly, FES is more efficient than other gradient-free samplers in our tests. In two nu-merical examples, we apply FES to challenging inverse problems that involve estimating a functional parameter and one or more scalar parameters. We compare the performance of functional random walk, FES, and an alternative derivative-free sampler that explicitly estimates the posterior covariance matrix. We conclude that FES is the fastest available gradient-free sampler for these challenging and multimodal test problems.

Keywords: Bayesian inverse problems, Markov chain Monte Carlo, infinite-dimensional inverse problems, dimensionality reduction

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Authors: Thomas Jerome Yeboah

Abstract:

Inclusive school leadership is not a standalone project. It is spread across a broad array of individual leaders in the school. Successful inclusive education thrives on collaborative, shared, and participatory leadership. School prefects are generally not included in leadership discourses in respect of the implementation of inclusive education and the benefits inherent in it, yet they live at the closest proximity to the learners and wield much influence over them. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the participation of school prefects in inclusive school governance could be used as a strategy to prepare them to champion the course of individuals who live with disability and special needs in order to build a more inclusive society. The exploratory study employed a purposive sampling technique to select ten (10) school prefects from five (5) inclusive schools in Ghana. Semi-structured interview was used to glean information from the selected participants to answer the research questions raised in the study. Results from the study were thematically analysed. The study concluded that the school prefects could be agents of societal transformation who would be capable of creating an environment where those with disability and special needs would be accepted by society as ‘normal.’

Keywords: inclusive society, participation, inclusive school leadership, societal transformation, school prefects

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Authors: Sangbaek Park, Seungju Lee, Soo-Won Chae

Abstract:

Unstable shoes are known to strengthen lower extremity muscles and improve gait ability and to change the user’s gait pattern. The change in gait pattern affects human body enormously because the walking is repetitive and steady locomotion in daily life. It is possible to estimate the joint motion including joint moment, force and inertia effect using kinematic and kinetic analysis. However, the change of internal stress at the articular cartilage has not been possible to estimate. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the internal stress of human body during gait with unstable shoes. In this study, FE analysis was combined with motion capture experiment to obtain the boundary condition and loading condition during walking. Motion capture experiments were performed with a participant during walking with normal shoes and with unstable shoes. Inverse kinematics and inverse kinetic analysis was performed with OpenSim. The joint angle and muscle forces were estimated as results of inverse kinematics and kinetics analysis. A detailed finite element (FE) lower extremity model was constructed. The joint coordinate system was added to the FE model and the joint coordinate system was coincided with OpenSim model’s coordinate system. Finally, the joint angles at each phase of gait were used to transform the FE model’s posture according to actual posture from motion capture. The FE model was transformed into the postures of three major phases (1st peak of ground reaction force, mid stance and 2nd peak of ground reaction force). The direction and magnitude of muscle force were estimated by OpenSim and were applied to the FE model’s attachment point of each muscle. Then FE analysis was performed to compare the stress at knee cartilage during gait with normal shoes and unstable shoes.

Keywords: finite element analysis, gait analysis, human model, motion capture

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Authors: Virginia Dickson-Swift, Amanda Kenny, Jane Farmer, Sarah Larkins, Karen Carlisle, Helen Hickson

Abstract:

In this presentation, we will focus on the methods of Remote Services Futures (RSF), an evidence-based method of community participation that was developed in Scotland. Using oral health as the focus, we will discuss the ways that RSF can be used to achieve sustainable engagement with stakeholders from various parts of the community. We will describe our findings of using RSF methods to engage with rural communities, including the steps involved and what happened when we asked people about the oral health services that they thought were needed in their community. We found that most community members started by thinking that a public dental clinic was required in every community, which is not a sustainable health service delivery option. Through a series of facilitated workshops, communities were able to discuss and prioritise their needs and develop a costed plan for their community which will ensure sustainable service delivery into the future. Our study highlights the complexities of decision making in rural communities. It is important to ensure that when communities participate in health care planning that the outcomes are practical, feasible and sustainable.

Keywords: community participation, sustainable health planning, Remote Services Futures, rural communities

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Authors: S. Mousavian, A. Abedianpour, A. Khanmohammadi, S. Hematian, Gh. Eidi Veisi

Abstract:

Distillation is one of the most important and utilized separation methods in the industrial practice. There are different ways to design of distillation column. One of these ways is short cut method. In short cut method, material balance and equilibrium are employed to calculate number of tray in distillation column. There are different methods that are classified in short cut method. One of these methods is Fenske-Underwood-Gilliland method. In this method, minimum reflux ratio should be calculated by underwood equation. Underwood proposed an equation that is useful for simple distillation column with one feed and one top and bottom product. In this study, underwood method is developed to predict minimum reflux ratio for column with one side stream upper than feed. The result of this model compared with McCabe-Thiele method. The result shows that proposed method able to calculate minimum reflux ratio with very small error.

Keywords: minimum reflux ratio, side stream, distillation, Underwood’s method

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Authors: Mulak Moses Yokdi

Abstract:

Correct use of leisure time has suffered neglect in our society and the people ignorantly think that the trend does not matter. The researcher felt concerned about the issue and went on to find out why using FCE, Pankshin workers as a case study. Four hypotheses were used, considering such variables as leadership, traditional activities, stress due to work pressure and time constraint. The participants selected for the study were one hundred and ten members of FCE, Pankshin staff. A self-developed questionnaire was the instrument used. Chi-square (x2) was employed to test the hypotheses at P = 0.005; df = 3. The statistics of percentages was also used to describe the situation as implicated by the data. The results showed that all hypotheses were significant (P = 0.05). It was concluded that the four variables were impediments to effective participation in physically oriented leisure time activities among the FCE, Staff. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the FCE should get good leadership, create good awareness for people to understand why they should be effectively involved in physically oriented leisure time activities.

Keywords: barriers, effective participation, leisure time, physically oriented, work pressure, time constraint

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Authors: Jong Boonpracha

Abstract:

This paper studied the application of the design of local wisdom learning for providing creative activity for juveniles with exhibit media. The Suan-oui Youth Center has the objectives to design and develop exhibit media that encourage participation and learning of youths on local wisdom of Ratanakosin Island. The research was conducted in three stages: 1) to study the principle of local wisdom learning of cultural heritage at Ratanakosin Island 2) to study exhibit media that encouraged participation and creative activities of youth on local wisdom learning, and 3) to design a youth center that provide media exhibition for local wisdom learning. The research revealed the following: 34.6 percent of respondents wanted to apply local living wisdom in their career and for hobby. At least two kinds of exhibit media effectively provided creative activities for youths. A multi-purpose area, for example, with still pictures, visual symbols, and simulations would increase the level of youths’ interaction and participation.

Keywords: exhibit media, local wisdom, youth center, design

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Authors: John Gaber

Abstract:

Planners regularly use citizen input as empirical data to help them better understand community issues they know very little about. This type of community data is based on the lived experiences of local residents and is known as "emic" data. What is becoming more common practice for planners is their use of data from local experts and stakeholders (known as "etic" data or the outsider perspective) to help them fill in the gaps in their analysis of applied planning research projects. Utilizing international Health Impact Assessment (HIA) data, I look at who planners invite to their citizen input investigations. Research presented in this paper shows that planners access a wide range of emic and etic community perspectives in their search for the “community’s view.” The paper concludes with how planners can chart out a new empirical path in their execution of emic/etic citizen participation strategies in their applied planning research projects.

Keywords: citizen participation, emic data, etic data, Health Impact Assessment (HIA)

Procedia PDF Downloads 484