Search results for: exploratory factor analysis

Authors: Esna B. Buğday, Niray Tunçel

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Spirituality has a motivational influence on consumers' psychological states, lifestyles, and behavioral intentions. Spirituality refers to the feeling that there is a divine power greater than ourselves and a connection among oneself, others, nature, and the sacred. In addition, spirituality concerns the human soul and spirit against the material and physical world and consists of three dimensions: self-discovery, relationships, and belief in a higher power. Of them, self-discovery is to explore the meaning and the purpose of life. Relationships refer to the awareness of the connection between human beings and nature as well as respect for them. In addition, higher power represents the transcendent aspect of spirituality, which means to believe in a holy power that creates all the systems in the universe. Furthermore, a voluntary simplicity lifestyle is (1) to adopt a simple lifestyle by minimizing the attachment to and the consumption of material things and possessions, (2) to have an ecological awareness respecting all living creatures, and (3) to express the desire for exploring and developing the inner life. Voluntary simplicity is a multi-dimensional construct that consists of a desire for a voluntarily simple life (e.g., avoiding excessive consumption), cautious attitudes in shopping (e.g., not buying unnecessary products), acceptance of self-sufficiency (e.g., being self-sufficient individual), and rejection of highly developed functions of products (e.g., preference for simple functioned products). One of the main reasons for living simply is to sustain a spiritual life, as voluntary simplicity provides the space for achieving psychological and spiritual growth, cultivating self-reliance since voluntary simplifier frees themselves from the overwhelming externals and takes control of their daily lives. From this point of view, it is expected that people with a strong sense of spirituality will be likely to adopt a simple lifestyle. In this respect, the study aims to examine the impact of spirituality on consumers' voluntary simple lifestyle tendencies. As consumers' consumption attitudes and behaviors depend on their lifestyles, exploring the factors that lead them to embrace voluntary simplicity significantly predicts their purchase behavior. In this respect, this study presents empirical research based on a data set collected from 478 Turkish consumers through an online survey. First, exploratory factor analysis is applied to the data to reveal the dimensions of spirituality and voluntary simplicity scales. Second, confirmatory factor analysis is conducted to assess the measurement model. Last, the hypotheses are analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results confirm that spirituality's self-discovery and relationships dimensions positively impact both cautious attitudes in shopping and acceptance of self-sufficiency dimensions of voluntary simplicity. In contrast, belief in a higher power does not significantly influence consumers' voluntary simplicity tendencies. Even though there has been theoretical support drawing a positive relationship between spirituality and voluntary simplicity, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this has not been empirically tested in the literature before. Hence, this study contributes to the current knowledge by analyzing the direct influence of spirituality on consumers' voluntary simplicity tendencies. Additionally, analyzing this impact on the consumers of an emerging market is another contribution to the literature.

Keywords: spirituality, voluntary simplicity, self-sufficiency, conscious shopping, Turkish consumers

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Authors: Bella Llego

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This study aims to investigate the motivating and de-motivating factors that affect the learning ability of students attending the English Learning Center in Thailand. The subjects of this research were 20 students from the Hana Semiconductor Co., Limited. The data were collected by using questionnaire and analyzed using the SPSS program for the percentage, mean and standard deviation. The research results show that the main motivating factor in learning English at Hana Semiconductor Co., Ltd. is that it would help the employees to communicate with foreign customers and managers. Other reasons include the need to read and write e-mails, and reports in English, as well as to increase overall general knowledge. The main de-motivating factor is that there is a lot of vocabulary to remember when learning English. Another de-motivating factor is that when homework is given, the students have no time to complete the tasks required of them at the end of the working day.

Keywords: de-motivating, English learning center, motivating, student communicate

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Authors: Peng Li, Chuanri Li, Tao Li

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Reliability allocation is quite important during early design and development stages for a system to apportion its specified reliability goal to subsystems. This paper improves the reliability fuzzy allocation method and gives concrete processes on determining the factor set, the factor weight set, judgment set, and multi-grade fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. To determine the weight of factor set, the modified trapezoidal numbers are proposed to reduce errors caused by subjective factors. To decrease the fuzziness in the fuzzy division, an approximation method based on linear programming is employed. To compute the explicit values of fuzzy numbers, centroid method of defuzzification is considered. An example is provided to illustrate the application of the proposed reliability allocation method based on fuzzy arithmetic.

Keywords: reliability allocation, fuzzy arithmetic, allocation weight, linear programming

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Authors: Youn-Sung Kim, Jin-Ho Jo, Mi-Sung Kim, Jae-Kun Lee

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Accelerated life cycle test is applied to various products or components in order to reduce the time of life cycle test in industry. It must be considered for many test conditions according to the product characteristics for the test and the selection of acceleration parameter is especially very important. We have carried out the general life cycle test and the accelerated life cycle test by applying the acceleration factor (AF) considering the characteristics of brushless DC (BLDC) motor for washing machine. The final purpose of this study is to verify the validity by analyzing the results of the general life cycle test and the accelerated life cycle test. It will make it possible to reduce the life test time through the reasonable accelerated life cycle test.

Keywords: accelerated life cycle test, reliability test, motor for washing machine, brushless dc motor test

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Authors: Abrar Al-Enzi

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Despite being frequently used everyday in the Arab World, Wasta, which is seen as a type of social capital, has received little attention from previous scholars, even in the Middle East. In simple words, Wasta basically means granting deserved or undeserved privileges to others through personal contacts. This paper suggests that Wasta is an important determinant of how some employees get recruited and turn to Wasta for privileges and favors in organizations. It is said, that Wasta accelerates career advancement and other work practices for employees, whether they deserve it or even are suitable for it or not. The overall goal of this paper is to see how Wasta influences human resource management practices by viewing the history of Wasta, the importance of using it, and how it affects employees as well as organizations in terms of recruitment and work practices. Accordingly, the question that will be addressed is: Does Wasta influence human resource management, knowledge sharing and innovation in Kuwait, which in turn affects employees’ commitment within organizations? Therefore, a mixed method sequential exploratory research design will be used to explore the research topic through initial exploratory interviews, paper-based and online surveys (Quantitative method) and semi-structured interviews (Qualitative method). The reason behind such a choice is because both qualitative and quantitative methods complement each other when combined by providing a clearer picture of the topic.

Keywords: human resource management practices, Kuwait, social capital, Wasta

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Authors: Wafa Unus

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Science journalism has been vanishing from America’s national newspapers for decades. Reportage on scientific topics is limited to only a handful of newspapers and of those, few employ dedicated science journalists to cover stories that require this specialized expertise. News organizations' lack of readiness to convey complex scientific concepts to a mass populace becomes particularly problematic when events like the Covid-19 pandemic occur. The lack of coverage of Covid-19 prior to its onset in the United States, suggests something more troubling - that the deprioritization of reporting on hard science as an educational tool in favor of political frames of coverage, places dangerous blinders on the American public. This research looks at the disparity between voices of health and science experts in news articles and the voices of political figures, in order to better understand the approach of American newspapers in conveying expert opinion on Covid-19. A content analysis of 300 articles on Covid-19 by major newspapers in the United States between January 1st, 2020 and April 30th, 2020 illuminates this investigation. The Boston Globe, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times are included in the content analysis. Initial findings reveal a significant disparity in the number of articles that mention Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute Allergy and Infectious Disease, and the number that make reference to political figures. Covid-related articles in the New York Times that focused on health topics (as opposed to economic or social issues) contained the voices of 54 different politicians who were mentioned a total of 608 times. Only five members of the scientific community were mentioned a total of 24 times (out of 674 articles). In the Boston Globe, 36 different politicians were mentioned a total of 147 times, and only two members of the scientific community, one being Anthony Fauci, were mentioned a total of nine times (out of 423 articles). In the Los Angeles Times, 52 different politicians were mentioned a total of 600 times, and only six members of the scientific community were included and were mentioned a total of 82 times with Fauci being mentioned 48 times (out of 851 articles). Results provide a better understanding of the frames in which American journalists in Covid hotspots conveyed information of expert analysis on Covid-19 during one of the most pressing news events of the century. Ultimately, the objective of this study is to utilize the exploratory data to evaluate the nature, extent and impact of Covid-19 reporting in the context of trustworthiness and scientific expertise. Secondarily, this data will illuminate the degree to which Covid-19 reporting focused on politics over science.

Keywords: science reporting, science journalism, covid, misinformation, news

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Authors: Sadia Arshad, Yifa Tang, Dumitru Baleanu

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A fractional order mathematical model is proposed that incorporate CD8+ cells, natural killer cells, cytokines and tumor cells. The tumor cells growth in the absence of an immune response is modeled by logistic law as it was the simplest form for which predictions also agreed with the experimental data. Natural Killer Cells are our first line of defense. NK cells directly kill tumor cells through several mechanisms, including the release of cytoplasmic granules containing perforin and granzyme, expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family members. The effect of the NK cells on the tumor cell population is expressed with the product term. Rational form is used to describe interaction between CD8+ cells and tumor cells. A number of cytokines are produced by NKs, including tumor necrosis factor TNF, IFN, and interleukin (IL-10). Source term for cytokines is modeled by Michaelis-Menten form to indicate the saturated effects of the immune response. Stability of the equilibrium points is discussed for biologically significant values of bifurcation parameters. We studied the treatment of fractional order system by investigating analytical conditions of tumor eradication. Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the analytical results.

Keywords: cancer model, fractional calculus, numerical simulations, stability analysis

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Authors: Trianasari, Gede Adi Yuniarta

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The tourism industry has been widely recognized as one of the world’s largest industries and is expected to have continuous growth. While it has positive impacts especially on the job markets and economic aspect, this industry also brings serious environmental impacts that may not be neglected. As such, the tourism industry is faced with increasing demands and challenges to deal with the environmental issues. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a way to show the firms’ concern on the societal and environmental aspects. In line with the increasing pressure on such responsibilities, a growing number of firms have involved in CSR activities. In Bali, the majority of both chained and locally owned hotels have shown their efforts on CSR practices. However, little is known about what and how they perform or implement such program especially within the environmental aspect. The importance of understanding what they focus on lays in the identification of areas that have received sufficient treatment and those that require more attention. Furthermore, also, it is especially essential considering that Bali is one of the worldly known destinations that have been facing numerous crucial issues on environment that may threaten the sustainability of the island and its people. This paper reports on the results of a study exploring the practices of CSR in hotels in Bali. Data were collected from 49 hotel managers and human resource managers in Bali across four major tourist areas, using semi structured interview method. The analysis was conducted qualitatively. The results showed that all hotels under study have implemented CSR activities in which environment was found to be the second key aspect, following the activities directly related to community aspect. Moreover, there were five major types of environmental action identified: beach cleaning, replantation, marine conservation, turtle conservation, mangrove, and garbage management. These findings suggest that hotels in Bali under study have shown their concern on the environment, however, less attention was given on attempt to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations. Mapping the types of environmental related CSR activities enhances the knowledge of and gives lights into the CSR literature especially from the perspective of Eastern practice.

Keywords: CSR, exploratory study, sustainable tourism, tourist object

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Authors: A. Pedro, T. Goldschmidt

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Dyspraxia affects approximately 5-6% of school aged children. Utilising an ecological framework, this study aimed to (1) explore the awareness and understanding of dyspraxia or similar disorders among preschool parents and (2) to explore what skills are required or sought after by parents of children presenting with dyspraxia. A qualitative methodological approach with an exploratory design was employed in this study. A total of 15 parents were purposively selected from urban mainstream preschools in the Cape Town metropole region. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically according to Braun and Clarke (2006). Participants were knowledgeable of their rights throughout the research process. The findings reveal that parents understanding of dyspraxia hinges on observable characteristics of their children’s abilities in comparison to typically developing children. Although parents are aware of ways to explore various avenues to better assist their child, they desire more social support and skills in terms of resources to inform them about their child’s difficulties as well as different techniques to better manage their child’s condition. Findings indicate that regular contact between preschool teachers and parents of children presenting with dyspraxia is an important factor in children’s academic success. The implications of the findings are related to the awareness of dyspraxia and similar learning disorders among both parents and teachers.

Keywords: awareness and understanding, dyspraxia, parents, preschool

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Authors: Prih Bukhari

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The purpose of the proposed paper is to determine if the perception of online advertisement formed due to attitude and belief vary among two different countries or not. Specifically, it seeks to find out how people from China and Pakistan perceive online advertisement. Public attitude and belief towards advertising have been a focus of attention to explore a path to a better strategy of advertising. The ‘belief’ factor was analyzed through 4 items, i.e., product information, entertainment, and increase in economy’ whereas, the ‘attitude’ factor was analyzed thorough questions based on 4 items, i.e. ‘overall, I consider online advertising a good thing’; 'overall, I like online advertising’; ‘'I consider online advertising very essential’; and 'I would describe my overall attitude toward online advertising very favorably’. As such, it provides theoretical basis to explain similarities and differences of beliefs and attitude towards advertising across the two countries. Given its mixed method approach, both quantitative and qualitative method is used to carry out research. A questionnaire-based survey and focus group interviews were conducted. The sample size was of 500 participants. For analysis survey copies were then collected from which 497 were received whereas focus group interviews were collected from both nations. The findings showed that the belief factor among both countries had no significant relation with the perception of online advertisement. However, the attitude had a significant relation with the perception about online advertisement. Also it was observed that despite of different backgrounds, perception about online advertisement based on beliefs and attitude were found largely to be similar. Implications and future studies are provided.

Keywords: attitude, belief, online advertisement, perception

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Authors: Sarah Potter, Michele Laliberte

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As eating disorders are associated with high levels of chronicity, impairment, and distress, it is paramount to evaluate factors that may improve treatment outcomes in this group. Individuals with eating disorders exhibit elevated levels of perfectionism and emotion dysregulation, as well as reduced self-compassion. These variables are related to eating disorder outcomes, including shape/weight concerns and psychosocial impairment. Thus, these factors may be tenable targets for treatment within eating disorder populations. However, the relative contributions of perfectionism, emotion dysregulation, and self-compassion to the severity of shape/weight concerns and psychosocial impairment remain largely unexplored. In the current study, mediation analyses were conducted to clarify how perfectionism, emotion dysregulation, and self-compassion are linked to shape/weight concerns and psychosocial impairment. The sample was comprised of 85 patients from an outpatient eating disorder clinic. The patients completed self-report measures of perfectionism, self-compassion, emotion dysregulation, eating disorder symptoms, and psychosocial impairment. Specifically, emotion dysregulation was assessed as a mediator in the relationships between (1) perfectionism and shape/weight concerns, (2) self-compassion and shape/weight concerns, (3) perfectionism and psychosocial impairment, and (4) self-compassion and psychosocial impairment. It was postulated that emotion dysregulation would significantly mediate relationships in the former two models. An a priori hypothesis was not constructed in reference to the latter models, as these analyses were preliminary and exploratory in nature. The PROCESS macro for SPSS was utilized to perform these analyses. Emotion dysregulation fully mediated the relationships between perfectionism and eating disorder outcomes. In the link between self-compassion and psychosocial impairment, emotion dysregulation partially mediated this relationship. Finally, emotion dysregulation did not significantly mediate the relationship between self-compassion and shape/weight concerns. The results suggest that emotion dysregulation and self-compassion may be suitable targets to decrease the severity of psychosocial impairment and shape/weight concerns in individuals with eating disorders. Further research is required to determine the stability of these models over time, between diagnostic groups, and in nonclinical samples.

Keywords: eating disorders, emotion dysregulation, perfectionism, self-compassion

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Authors: Haseen Siddiqui, Sanjay M. Mahajani

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Various important reactions in chemical and metallurgical industries fall in the category of gas-solid reactions. These reactions can be categorized as catalytic and non-catalytic gas-solid reactions. In gas-solid reaction systems, heat and mass transfer limitations put an appreciable influence on the rate of the reaction. The consequences can be unavoidable for overlooking such effects while collecting the reaction rate data for the design of the reactor. Pyrolysis reaction comes in this category that involves the production of gases due to the interaction of heat and solid substance. Pyrolysis is also an important step in the gasification process and therefore, the gasification reactivity majorly influenced by the pyrolysis process that produces the char, as a feed for the gasification process. Therefore, in the present study, a non-isothermal transient 1-D model is developed for a single biomass pellet to investigate the effect of heat and mass transfer limitations on the rate of pyrolysis reaction. The obtained set of partial differential equations are firstly discretized using the concept of ‘method of lines’ to obtain a set of ordinary differential equation with respect to time. These equations are solved, then, using MATLAB ode solver ode15s. The model is capable of incorporating structural changes, porosity variation, variation in various thermal properties and various pellet shapes. The model is used to analyze the effectiveness factor for different values of Lewis number and heat of reaction (G factor). Lewis number includes the effect of thermal conductivity of the solid pellet. Higher the Lewis number, the higher will be the thermal conductivity of the solid. The effectiveness factor was found to be decreasing with decreasing Lewis number due to the fact that smaller Lewis numbers retard the rate of heat transfer inside the pellet owing to a lower rate of pyrolysis reaction. G factor includes the effect of the heat of reaction. Since the pyrolysis reaction is endothermic in nature, the G factor takes negative values. The more the negative value higher will be endothermic nature of the pyrolysis reaction. The effectiveness factor was found to be decreasing with more negative values of the G factor. This behavior can be attributed to the fact that more negative value of G factor would result in more energy consumption by the reaction owing to a larger temperature gradient inside the pellet. Further, the analytical expressions are also derived for gas and solid concentrations and effectiveness factor for two limiting cases of the general model developed. The two limiting cases of the model are categorized as the homogeneous model and unreacted shrinking core model.

Keywords: effectiveness factor, G-factor, homogeneous model, lewis number, non-catalytic, shrinking core model

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Authors: Einat Waizbard, Emilio Ferrer, Meghan Miller, Brianna Heath, Derek S. Andrews, Sally J. Rogers, Christine Wu Nordahl, Marjorie Solomon, David G. Amaral

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Background: Autism symptoms are comprised of social-communication deficits and restricted/repetitive behaviors (RRB). The severity of these symptoms can change during childhood, with differences between boys and girls. From the literature, it was found that young autistic girls show a stronger tendency to decrease and a weaker tendency to increase their overall autism symptom severity levels compared to young autistic boys. It is not clear, however, which symptoms are driving these sex differences across childhood. In the current study, we evaluated the trajectories of independent autism symptoms across childhood and compared the patterns of change in such symptoms between boys and girls. Method: The study included 183 children diagnosed with autism (55 girls) evaluated three times across childhood, at ages 3, 6 and 11. We analyzed 22 independent items from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scheudule-2 (ADOS-2), the gold-standard assessment tool for autism symptoms, each item representing a specific autism symptom. First, we used latent growth curve models to estimate the trajectories for the 22 ADOS-2 items for each child in the study. Second, we extracted the factor scores representing the individual slopes for each ADOS-2 item (i.e., slope representing that child’s change in that specific item). Third, we used factor analysis to identify common patterns of change among the ADOS-2 items, separately for boys and girls, i.e., which autism symptoms tend to change together and which change independently across childhood. Results: The best-emerging patterns for both boys and girls identified four common factors: three factors representative of changes in social-communication symptoms and one factor describing changes in RRB. Boys and girls showed the same pattern of change in RRB, with four items (e.g., speech abnormalities) changing together across childhood and three items (e.g., mannerisms) changing independently of other items. For social-communication deficits in boys, three factors were identified: the first factor included six items representing initiating and engaging in social-communication (e.g., quality of social overtures, conversation), the second factor included five items describing responsive social-communication (e.g., response to name) and the third factor included three items related to different aspects of social-communication (e.g., level of language). Girls’ social-communications deficits also loaded onto three factors: the first factor included five items (e.g., unusual eye contact), the second factor included six items (e.g., quality of social response), and the third factor included four items (e.g., showing). Some items showed similar patterns of change for both sexes (e.g., responsive joint attention), while other items showed differences (e.g., shared enjoyment). Conclusions: Girls and boys had different patterns of change in autism symptom severity across childhood. For RRB, both sexes showed similar patterns. For social-communication symptoms, however, there were both similarities and differences between boys and girls in the way symptoms changed over time. The strongest patterns of change were identified for initiating and engaging in social communication for boys and responsive social communication for girls.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, autism symptom severity, symptom trajectories, sex differences

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Authors: Bander Mohayya Alotaibi

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The valuable partnerships between parents and teachers may develop positive and effective interactions between home and school. This will help these stakeholders share information and resources regarding student academics during ongoing interactions. Thus, partnerships will build a solid foundation for both families and schools to help children succeed in school. Parental involvement can be seen as an effective tool that can change homes and communities and not just schools’ systems. Seeking parents and stakeholders’ attitudes toward learning and learners can help schools design a curriculum. Subsequently, this information can be used to find ways to help improve the academic performance of students, especially in low performing schools. There may be some conflicts when designing curriculum. In addition, designing curriculum might bring more educational expectations to all the sides. There is a lack of research that targets the specific attitude of parents toward specific concepts on curriculum contents. More research is needed to study the perspective that parents of children with learning disabilities (LD) have regarding early reading curriculum. Parents and stakeholders’ perspectives on early reading intervention implemented as a curriculum for children with LD was studied through an advanced quantitative research. The purpose of this study seeks to understand stakeholders and parents’ perspectives of key concepts and essential early reading skills that impact the design of curriculum that will serve as an intervention for early struggler readers who have LD. Those concepts or stages include phonics, phonological awareness, and reading fluency as well as strategies used in house by parents. A survey instrument was used to gather the data. Participants were recruited through 29 schools and districts of the metropolitan area of the northern part of Saudi Arabia. Participants were stakeholders including parents of children with learning disability. Data were collected using distribution of paper and pen survey to schools. Psychometric properties of the instrument were evaluated for the validity and reliability of the survey; face validity, content validity, and construct validity including an Exploratory Factor Analysis were used to shape and reevaluate the structure of the instrument. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) used to find differences between the variables. The study reported the results of the perspectives of stakeholders toward reading strategies, phonics, phonological awareness, and reading fluency. Also, suggestions and limitations are discussed.

Keywords: stakeholders, learning disability, early reading, perspectives, parents, intervention, curriculum

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Authors: Sari F. Alkhatib, Chang Je Park, Gyuhong Roh, Daeseong Jo

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The iterative scheme which is used to treat buildup factors for stratified shields of three-layers or more is being investigated here using the layer-splitting technique. The second layer in a double-layer shield was split into two equivalent layers and the scheme was implemented on the new 'three-layer' shield configuration. The results of such manipulation for water-lead and water-iron shields combinations are presented here for 1 MeV photons. It was found that splitting the second layer introduces some deviation on the overall buildup factor. This expected deviation appeared to be higher in the case of low Z layer followed by high Z. However, the iterative scheme showed a great consistency and strong coherence with the introduced changes.

Keywords: build-up factor, iterative scheme, stratified shields, radiation protection

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Authors: Paola Comella, Vincenzo Francani, Paola Gattinoni

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This paper presents the Colzate-Vertova landslide, a Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformation (DSGSD) located in the Seriana Valley, Northern Italy. The paper aims at describing the development as well as evaluating the factors that influence the evolution of the landslide. After defining the conceptual model of the landslide, numerical simulations were developed using a finite element numerical model, first with a two-dimensional domain, and later with a three-dimensional one. The results of the 2-D model showed a displacement field typical of a sackung, as a consequence of the erosion along the Seriana Valley. The analysis also showed that the groundwater flow could locally affect the slope stability, bringing about a reduction in the safety factor, but without reaching failure conditions. The sensitivity analysis carried out on the strength parameters pointed out that slope failures could be reached only for relevant reduction of the geotechnical characteristics. Such a result does not fit the real conditions observed on site, where a number of small failures often develop all along the hillslope. The 3-D model gave a more comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the DSGSD, also considering the border effects. The results showed that the convex profile of the slope favors the development of displacements along the lateral valley, with a relevant reduction in the safety factor, justifying the existing landslides.

Keywords: deep seated gravitational slope deformation, Italy, landslide, numerical modeling

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Authors: Yeşim Özer Özkan, Fatma Büşra Fincan

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Biased sample is a regression of an observation, design process and all of the specifications lead to tendency of a side or the situation of leaving from the objectivity. It is expected that, test items are answered by the students who come from different social groups and the same ability not to be different from each other. The importance of the expectation increases especially during student selection and placement examinations. For example, all of the test items should not be beneficial for just a male or female group. The aim of the research is an investigation of item bias whether or not the exam included in 2014 free boarding and scholarship examination in terms of gender variable. Data which belong to 5th, 6th, and 7th grade the secondary education students were obtained by the General Directorate of Measurement, Evaluation and Examination Services in Turkey. 20% students were selected randomly within 192090 students. Based on 38418 students’ exam paper were examined for determination item bias. Winsteps 3.8.1 package program was used to determine bias in analysis of data, according to Rasch Model in respect to gender variable. Mathematics items tests were examined in terms of gender bias. Firstly, confirmatory factor analysis was applied twenty-five math questions. After that, NFI, TLI, CFI, IFI, RFI, GFI, RMSEA, and SRMR were examined in order to be validity and values of goodness of fit. Modification index values of confirmatory factor analysis were examined and then some of the items were omitted because these items gave an error in terms of model conformity and conceptual. The analysis shows that in 2014 free boarding and scholarship examination exam does not include bias. This is an indication of the gender of the examination to be made in favor of or against different groups of students.

Keywords: gender, item bias, placement test, Rasch model

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Authors: Puttharapong Sakulwaropas, Uraiwan Jaroengeratikun

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Casualty insurance business, the optimal premium pricing and adequate cost for an insurance company are important in risk management. Normally, the insurance pure premium can be determined by multiplying the claim frequency with the claim cost. The aim of this research was to study in the application of generalized linear models to select the risk factor for model of claim frequency and claim cost for estimating a pure premium. In this study, the data set was the claim of comprehensive motor insurance, which was provided by one of the insurance company in Thailand. The results of this study found that the risk factors significantly related to pure premium at the 0.05 level consisted of no claim bonus (NCB) and used of the car (Car code).

Keywords: generalized linear models, risk factor, pure premium, regression model

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Authors: Festus Epetimehin

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Agriculture remains the dominant sector in the rural areas where over 70% of Nigerian reside and it’s still the backbone of our economy. The observed poor performance of farmers in agricultural productivity is due to the nature of risks and uncertainties in agriculture.Agricultural insurance is one of the mechanisms by which farmers can stabilize farm income and investment. The study examined the relationship between agricultural insurance scheme (AIS) and performance of agribusiness in Nigeria. The study adopted exploratory research design which is an ex-ante research approach. One hundred copies of structured questionnaire were administered for the purpose of the study. Correlation analysis and regression analysis were employed for the study. The correlation analysis of the finding revealed that the independent variable; agricultural insurance scheme (AIS) is positively and significantly correlated with the set of dependent variables; where turnover (ABT)=0.582**, profitability (ABP)=0.321**, solvency (ABS)=0.418**and cost of production (ABC)=0.23** respectively. The regression analysis result also revealed the degree of relationship between the independent variable (AIS) and set of dependent variables where one(1%) percent increase in independent variable will lead to 33.9% (ABT), 9.7% (ABP), 17.5%(ABS) and 1.5%(ABC).The study recommended that the Federal Government in collaboration with the participating Agricultural insurers embark on awareness campaign through to the length and breadth of Nigeria on government support and insurance scheme for farmers. Government should also ensure that the loan and insurance scheme should extend beyond the mechanized farmers and include the intensive subsistence farmers in view of the fact that they are the dominants in most of the farm produce markets.

Keywords: agribusiness, agricultural insurance, performance, turnover, solvency, agricultural risks

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Authors: Sarmistha Singh

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An analysis of trend of urbanization and urban poverty in recent decades is showing that a distinctly reducing rural poverty and increasing in urban areas. It can be argued that the higher the urbanization fuelled by the urban migration to city, which is picking up people from less skilled, education so they faced obstacle to enter into the mainstream economy of city. The share of workforce in economy is higher; in contrast it remains as negligence. At the same time, less wages, absence of social security, social dialogue make them insecure. The vulnerability in their livelihood found. So the paper explores the relation of urbanization and urban poverty in the city, in other words how the urbanization process affecting the urban space in creating the number of poor people in the city. The central focus is the mobility of people with less education and skilled with motive of job search and better livelihood. In many studies found the higher the urbanization and higher the urban poverty in city. In other words, poverty is the impact of urbanization. The strategy of urban inequality through ‘dispersal of concentration’ by the World Bank and others, need to be examined.

Keywords: urbanization, mobility, urban poverty, informal settlements, informal worker

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Authors: Fares Elturki, Shaban Ismael Albrka Ali Zangena, H. A. M. Yahia

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Safety is an important consideration in the design and operation of streets and highways. Traffic and highway engineers working with law enforcement officials are constantly seeking for better methods to ensure safety for motorists and pedestrians. Also, a highway safety improvement process involves planning, implementation, and evaluation. The planning process requires that engineers collect and maintain traffic safety data, identify the hazards location, conduct studies and establish project priorities. Unfortunately, in Libya, the increase in demand for private transportation in recent years, due to poor or lack of public transportation led to some traffic problems especially in the capital (Tripoli). Also, the growth of private transportation has significant influences on the society regarding road traffic accidents (RTAs). This study investigates the most critical factors affect RTAs in Tripoli the capital city of Libya. Four main classifications were chosen to build the questionnaire, namely; human factors, road factors, vehicle factors and environmental factors. Moreover, a quantitative method was used to collect the data from the field, the targeted sample size 400 respondents include; drivers, pedestrian and passengers and relative importance index (RII) were used to rank the factors of one group and between all groups. The results show that the human factors have the most significant impacts compared with other factors. Also, 84% of respondents considered the over speeding as the most significant factor cusses of RTAs while 81% considered the disobedience to driving regulations as the second most influential factor in human factors. Also, the results showed that poor brakes or brake failure factor a great impact on the RTAs among the vehicle factors with nearly 74%, while 79% categorized poor or no street lighting factor as one of the most effective factors on RTAs in road factors and third effecting factor concerning all factors. The environmental factors have the slights influences compared with other factors.

Keywords: road traffic accidents, Libya, vehicle factors, human factors, relative importance index

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Authors: Mohd Rashid bin Ab Hamid, Noor Azura binti Omar, Zainol Bin Mustafa

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Purpose: The aim of this paper is to study the encouraging factors for scholarly works contribution towards among academicians at Malaysian university. Methods: This paper uses questionnaire for data collection on the respondents’ perceptional level on the institutional repository efforts in one of the university under study. Several encouraging factors have been identified and to be measured using descriptive statistics. The factors are related to content contribution, i.e. personal factor, professional factor, organizational factor and technological factor. Findings: The study found that all these four encouraging factors did have a relation to the contribution of scholarly works in the university by the academician. Research Limitations: This study used a case study and generalization to all Malaysian universities should be well taken care of. Practical implications: The library at the university should look into these four encouraging factors in order to enhance the contribution from academician towards the repository. Originality/value: This research paper provides basic information for the knowledge management officers in the university by endeavouring more efforts in order to attract more contributions.

Keywords: institutional repository, information retrieval, information storage and retrieval

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Authors: Prakash Singh

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In this exploratory qualitative case study, the voices of female teachers are captured that describe their fear of failure in coping with their daily anxieties, stresses, and tensions in their classrooms. When teachers are usually appointed, the curriculum forms the heart of all their professional obligations. The policy of quality and equality of education for all learners is a must as part of these deliberations, otherwise it would spell the inevitable failure for teachers. Yet, how often have teachers been asked whether they are happy during their professional tenure. Research affirms that this question is not a priority, seeing that the happiness of learners and the educational administrators enjoy precedence. Teachers are often subject to undue pressures and tensions because of environmental factors that extends beyond the curriculum. School violence, bullying, drug abuse, and gangsters are not uncommon to the school milieu, no matter where such schools can be located. In this case study, the voices of female teachers find space concerning their experiences of tobephobia (TBP). The questions that inevitably arise are: Are the educational authorities aware of the effects of TBP in education? What can be done to arrest and eliminate the debilitating effects of TBP? This exploratory study contributes to the growing concerns of TBP in education. It is therefore imperative that the effects of TBP on human resources in education must be accentuated so that meaningful solutions can be found to address challenging educational issues such as school violence, bullying, and drug abuse amongst learners.

Keywords: curriculum, female teachers, school violence, tobephobia

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Authors: Meera Shanker

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Excellent education and financial need have encouraged Indian women to go out and work in well-paid and high-status occupations. In the era of cutthroat competition, women are expected to work hard to produce the desired result; hence, workload and expectations haveincreased. At home, they are anticipated to take care of family members, children, and household work. Women are stretching themselves mechanically to remain in the job competition and try to give their best at home. Consequentially, they are under tremendous pressure, stressed, and having issues related to physical-mental wellness. Mental healthcare is often ignored and not accepted due to a lack of awareness and cultural barriers. These further compounds the problem, resulting in decreased productivity in economic terms and an increase in stress-related physical-mental ailments. The main objective of the study was to find out the impact of stress on the physical-mental wellbeing of working women in India, along with their awareness and acceptability related to mental health. Six hundred and one woman working at various levels took part in this study, responding to the items related to stress and physical-mental illness. Finally, 21 items were retained under four meaningful factors measuring stress dimensions along with 17 items with three factors measuring physical-mental wellbeing. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), path analysis, in Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), was used to get a relationship, validity of the instruments. The psychometric properties of items and Cronbach’s Alpha reliabilities calculated for the subscales were relatively acceptable. The subscale correlations, regression, and path analysis of stress dimensions with physical-mental illness were found to be positive, indicating the growing stress among working women in India, which is impacting their physical-mental health. Single item analysis revealed that 77 percent of women have never visited psychologists. However, 70 percent of working women were not ready to seek the help of a psychologist.

Keywords: working women, stress, physical-mental well-being, confirmatory factor analysis

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Authors: Shazia Almas, Jaffar Iqbal, Nazia Almas

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In most of the South Asian countries like Pakistan medical profession is one the most valued and respectful professions yet being a medical professional requires an enormous amount of responsibilities and work overload at the same time which possibly can be in contrast with family role of a doctor. Job and family are two primary spheres of a person's life no matter whatever the profession one adopts and the type of family one is running. There is a bi-directional relationship between job and family. The type and nature of work, time schedules, working shifts in medical profession are very demanding in the countries like Pakistan where number of patients is far more higher than the number of doctors available. The work life also have significant impact on family life and vice versa. Because of the sensitivity and interdependency of these relations, today’s overarching and competing demands remain dissatisfactory. The main objective of the current research is to investigate how interpersonal relationships affect work and work affects interpersonal relationships of medical professionals. In line with identifying these facts, the current study aimed to examine the predictive role of psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience), in organizational outcome (job satisfaction) and personal outcome (family satisfaction) amongst male and medical professionals. A total of 350 participants from public and private sector hospitals of Pakistan were recruited through simple random and stratified sampling techniques, with age ranges from 26-50 years. The questionnaire including established and certified self-report measures of Psychological Capital Questionnaire, Job Satisfaction, and Family Satisfaction were adopted to collect the data. The reliability and validity of mentioned instruments were established through Cronbach’s alpha and factor analyses (exploratory and confirmatory) respectively using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by AMOS. The proposed hypotheses were tested using Pearson’s Correlation and Regression analyses for predicting effect whereas, t-Test was deployed to verify the difference between male and female health professionals. The results revealed that self-efficacy and optimism predicted job satisfaction while, self-efficacy, hope, and resilience predicted family satisfaction. Moreover, the results depicted significant gender differences in job satisfaction where females were higher on job satisfaction as compared to male medical professionals but no significant differences were observed in levels of family satisfaction between both genders. The study has implications for social, organizational and work policy designers. The study also paves for more researches with positive psychological approach to promote work-family harmony.

Keywords: family satisfaction, job satisfaction, medical professionals, psychological capital

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Authors: Zahra Ali Lawan, Ali Abdulhakim

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The stomach contents of 100 Oreochromis niloticus, sampled between April and August, 2011 in Alau Lake, northeastern Nigeria, were examined. Herbs and algae were the main contents representing 40.15%, 23.36% followed by some mud / sand components, insect parts and fish remains representing 14.60%, 13.87% and 8.03% respectively. Oreochromis niloticus was affirmed as an herbivore and a benthic feeder due to the presence of both herbs and mud/sand among its stomach content. The mean stomach fullness percentage was 70.94% and stomach emptiness was 29.06%. The average condition factor of the fishes was 1.69 with the best conditions recorded in the dry months of April and May at 1.74 and 1.94 respectively. The general trend in the condition factor for this species in this study is that relatively higher condition factors were recorded for relatively higher lengths.

Keywords: stomach contents, oreochromis niloticus, herbivores, Lake Alau

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Authors: Saleem Rao, Mohammed Al-Ghadeer, Archan Banerjee, Hossein Fariborzi

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Materials imperfection, particularly two-level-system (TLS) defects in planer superconducting quantum circuits, contributes significantly to decoherence, ultimately limiting the performance of quantum computation and sensing. Oxides at air interfaces are among the host of TLS, and different material has been used to reduce TLS losses. Passivation with an inorganic layer is not an option to reduce these interface oxides; however, they can be etched away, but their regrowth remains a problem. Here, we report the chemisorption of molecular self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) at air interfaces of superconducting co-planer waveguide (CPW) resonators that suppress the regrowth of oxides and also modify the dielectric constant of the interface. With SAMs, we observed sustained order of magnitude improvement in quality factor -better than oxide etched interfaces. Quality factor measurements at millikelvin temperature and at single photon, XPS data, and TEM images of SAM passivated air interface sustenance our claim. Compatibility of SAM with micro-/nano-fabrication processes opens new ways to improve the coherence time in cQED.

Keywords: superconducting circuits, quality-factor, self-assembled monolayer, coherence

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Authors: Lizbeth Puerta, Enselmina Marín

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The purpose of this research is to present a survey to be applied to professors of public universities, to identify the factors that benefit or hinder the university-industry relation. Hence, this research studies some elements that integrate the variables: Knowledge management, technology management, and technology transfer; to define the existence of a relation between these variables and the industry necessities of innovation. This study is exploratory, descriptive and non-experimental. The research question is: What is the impact of the knowledge management, the technology management, and the technology transfer, made by administrative support areas of the public universities, in the industries innovation? Thus, literature review was made to identify some elements that should be considered to design a survey that allows to obtain valid information to the study variables. After this, the survey was developed, and the Content Validity Analysis was made through the Lawshe Model. The analysis indicated that the Content Validity Index (CVI) was 0.80. Hence, it was determined that this survey presents acceptable psychometric properties to be used as an evaluation tool.

Keywords: innovation, knowledge management, technology management, technology transfer

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Authors: Olena Kovalchuk

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How to define the understanding of social responsibility issues by Ukrainian companies is a contravention question. Thus, one of the practical uses of social responsibility is a diagnostic tool development for educational, business or scientific purposes. So the purpose of this research is to develop a tool for measurement of social responsibility in organization. Methodology: A 21-item questionnaire “Organization Social Responsibility Scale” was developed. This tool was adapted for the Ukrainian sample and based on the questionnaire “Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility” which connects ethical and socially responsible behavior to different aspects of the organizational effectiveness. After surveying the respondents, the factor analysis was made by the method of main compounds with orthogonal rotation VARIMAX. On the basis of the obtained results the 21-item questionnaire was developed (Cronbach’s alpha – 0,768; Inter-Item Correlations – 0,34). Participants: 121 managers at all levels of Ukrainian organizations (57 males; 65 females) took part in the research. Results: Factor analysis showed five ethical dilemmas concerning the social responsibility and profit compatibility in Ukrainian organizations. Below we made an attempt to interpret them: — Social responsibility vs profit. Corporate social responsibility can be a way to reduce operational costs. A firm’s first priority is employees’ morale. Being ethical and socially responsible is the priority of the organization. The most loaded question is "Corporate social responsibility can reduce operational costs". Significant effect of this factor is 0.768. — Profit vs social responsibility. Efficiency is much more important to a firm than ethics or social responsibility. Making the profit is the most important concern for a firm. The dominant question is "Efficiency is much more important to a firm than whether or not the firm is seen as ethical or socially responsible". Significant effect of this factor is 0.793. — A balanced combination of social responsibility and profit. Organization with social responsibility policy is more attractive for its stakeholders. The most loaded question is "Social responsibility and profitability can be compatible". Significant effect of this factor is 0.802. — Role of Social Responsibility in the successful organizational performance. Understanding the value of social responsibility and business ethics. Well-being and welfare of the society. The dominant question is "Good ethics is often good business". Significant effect of this factor is 0.727. — Global vision of social responsibility. Issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability. Innovative approaches to poverty reduction. Awareness of climate change problems. Global vision for successful business. The dominant question is "The overall effectiveness of a business can be determined to a great extent by the degree to which it is ethical and socially responsible". Significant effect of this factor is 0.842. The theoretical contribution. The perspective of the study is to develop a tool for measurement social responsibility in organizations and to test questionnaire’s adequacy for social and cultural context. Practical implications. The research results can be applied for designing a training programme for business school students to form their global vision for successful business as well as the ability to solve ethical dilemmas in managerial practice. Researchers interested in social responsibility issues are welcome to join the project.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, Cronbach’s alpha, ethical behaviour, psychodiagnostic tool

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Authors: Fadzayi M.Maruza

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The conversation about diversity in the African academy focuses on the need for an international and ethnically diverse population of scholars and students. Operationalising the concept of cognitive diversity offers us an opportunity to broaden our conception of who can know and who can proclaim knowledge by availing new understandings of what knowledge is and how it is made. Limited attention is paid to the value of diversity generated by cognitive disabilities in the African academy. The inclusion of persons with minds labelled disabled in African academia requires an epistemology of disability to reform the still dominant notion of the expert and scholar as an able-bodied and hyper-rational in African academia. This review wants to explore how cognitive disabilities have been represented in higher education research in Africa or has the African academy reinforced ignorance by promoting an able-bodied academia. The review aims to tackle its exploratory objective by using Malcom Tights framework. The main questions this paper would focus on are: (I)What are the major disability themes and concerns discussed in the disability-related articles? (II)What are the major methods or methodologies used to address the topic in the papers? (III)What are the levels of analysis the papers focus on? (IV)How do higher education researchers define and represent cognitive disabilities in higher education research in Africa? To answer the exploratory questions that are aimed at mapping the disability-related higher education research landscape, Malcolm Tights’ framework is seen as most appropriate. In addition to a thematic categorization, that shall be made after reviewing of published empirical studies on disability in African higher education from the period 2010 – 2017. A synthesis of the findings and implications of African disability studies relating to students with cognitive disabilities in the African Academy will be provided using the categories suggested by Tight as a benchmark. Data for the proposed work shall be taken from well-reputed higher education journals between 2010 and 2017.Using the keyword ‘Disability’ in the titles, abstracts and keywords section of journal articles, a selection of disability-focused higher education articles shall be compiled for analysis regarding cognitive disability. It has to be noted as a limitation that the word Disability might not be sufficient to investigate the topic for there can be many more specific disabilities concerns the researchers would discuss. Therefore, the paper is only intended to give a bird’s eye view of cognitive disability in higher education research and therefore is not comprehensive. The paper is expected to shed some light for me, as a beginning researcher, and other researchers like myself as to what has been the focus of higher education researchers about cognitive disability in the African academy. Keywords: Cognitive diversity, cognitive disability, disability, higher education.

Keywords: cognitive disability, cognitive diversity, disability, higher education

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