Search results for: statistical evidence

Authors: Belkacem Laimouche

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With the field of artificial intelligence (AI) experiencing exponential growth, fueled by technological advancements that pave the way for increasingly innovative and promising applications, there is an escalating need to develop rigorous methods for assessing their performance in pursuit of transparency and equity. This article proposes a metrology-inspired statistical framework for evaluating bias and explainability in AI systems. Drawing from the principles of metrology, we propose a pioneering approach, using a concrete example, to evaluate the accuracy and precision of AI models, as well as to quantify the sources of measurement uncertainty that can lead to bias in their predictions. Furthermore, we explore a statistical approach for evaluating the explainability of AI systems based on their ability to provide interpretable and transparent explanations of their predictions.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, metrology, measurement uncertainty, prediction error, bias, machine learning algorithms, probabilistic models, interlaboratory comparison, data analysis, data reliability, measurement of bias impact on predictions, improvement of model accuracy and reliability

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Authors: Asma Bettahar, Imed Eddine Nezli, Sameh Habes

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Groundwater resources in the Oued Righ valley are represented like the parts of the eastern basin of the Algerian Sahara, superposed by two major aquifers: the Intercalary Continental (IC) and the Terminal Complex (TC). From a qualitative point of view, various studies have highlighted that the waters of this region showed excessive mineralization, including the waters of the terminal complex (EC Avg equal 5854.61 S/cm) .The present article is a statistical approach by two multi methods various complementary (ACP, CAH), applied to the analytical data of multilayered aquifer waters Terminal Complex of the Oued Righ valley. The approach is to establish a correlation between the chemical composition of water and the lithological nature of different aquifer levels formations, and predict possible connection between groundwater’s layers. The results show that the mineralization of water is from geological origin. They concern the composition of the layers that make up the complex terminal.

Keywords: complex terminal, mineralization, oued righ, statistical approach

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Authors: Shujie Liu

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This study aimed to investigate the relationship between teachers’ perceived transformational leadership behaviors and their job satisfaction in China after controlling for teacher self-efficacy. Hierarchical regression analysis (HRA) technique was employed to examine factors’ contributions to teacher job satisfaction with a sample of Chinese high school teachers. The finding of this study provided evidence that teachers’ perceived transformational leadership behaviors accounted for a large percentage (44.9%) of the variance in Chinese teachers’ job satisfaction. Uniquely, school principals’ sense of power was a negative significant predictor of teacher job satisfaction, meaning that the more teachers perceived their principals’ sense of power, the lower of their job satisfaction. Furthermore, this study provided evidence that teacher self-efficacy significantly contributes to teacher job satisfaction. Specifically, teachers’ self-efficacy on student engagement was found to be a significant predictor of teacher job satisfaction. The conclusions were discussed in terms of Chinese cultures. The authors pointed out that how to make teachers involved in school policy making is a challenge for China and that more shared leadership is needed in Chinese schools.

Keywords: Chinese teachers, teacher job satisfaction, teacher self-efficacy, transformational leadership

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Authors: Tesfaye Dagne, Dagmawit Solomon, Firmaye Bogale, Yosef Gebreyohannes, Samson Mideksa, Mamuye Hadis, Desalegn Ararso, Ermias Woldie, Tsegaye Getachew, Sabit Ababor, Zelalem Kebede

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Globally, road traffic accident (RTA) is causing millions of deaths and injuries every year. It is one of the leading causes of death among people of all age groups and the problem is worse among young reproductive age group. Moreover the problem is increasing with an increasing number of vehicles. The majority of the problem happen in low and middle income countries (LMIC), even if the number of vehicles in these countries is low compared to their population. So, the objective of this paper is to summarize the best available evidence on interventions that can reduce road traffic accidents in low and middle income countries (LMIC). Method: A rapid evidence synthesis approach adapted from the SURE Rapid Response Service was applied to search, appraise and summarize the best available evidence on effective intervention in reducing road traffic injury. To answer the question under review, we searched for relevant studies from databases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, TRANSPORT, Health system evidence, Epistemonikos, and SUPPORT summary. The following key terms were used for searching: Road traffic accident, RTA, Injury, Reduc*, Prevent*, Minimiz*, “Low and middle-income country”, LMIC. We found 18 articles through a search of different databases mentioned above. After screening for the titles and abstracts of the articles, four of them which satisfy the inclusion criteria were included in the final review. Then we appraised and graded the methodological quality of systematic reviews that are deemed to be highly relevant using AMSTAR. Finding: The identified interventions to reduce road traffic accidents were legislation and enforcement, public awareness/education, speed control/ rumble strips, road improvement, mandatory motorcycle helmet, graduated driver license, street lighting. Legislation and Enforcement: Legislation focusing on mandatory motorcycle helmet usage, banning cellular phone usage when driving, seat belt laws, decreasing the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) level from 0.06 g/L to 0.02 g/L bring the best result where enforcement is there. Public Awareness/Education: focusing on seat belt use, child restraint use, educational training in health centers and schools/universities, and public awareness with media through the distribution of videos, posters/souvenirs, and pamphlets are effective in the short run. Speed Control: through traffic calming bumps, or speed bumps, rumbled strips are effective in reducing accidents and fatality. Mandatory Motorcycle Helmet: is associated with reduction in mortality. Graduated driver’s license (GDL): reduce road traffic injury by 19%. Street lighting: is a low-cost intervention which may reduce road traffic accidents.

Keywords: evidence synthesis, injury, rapid review, reducing, road traffic accident

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Authors: Shraddha Digole, Swarali Hingse, Uday Annapure

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Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is an immunosuppressant; produced by Penicillium Sp. Box-Behnken statistical experimental design was employed to optimize the condition of Penicillium brevicompactum NRRL 2011 for mycophenolic acid (MPA) production. Initially optimization of various physicochemical parameters and media components was carried out using one factor at a time approach and significant factors were screened by Taguchi L-16 orthogonal array design. Taguchi design indicated that glucose, KH2PO4 and MgSO4 had significant effect on MPA production. These variables were selected for further optimization studies using Box-Behnken design. Optimised fermentation condition, glucose (60 g/L), glycine (28 g/L), L-leucine (1.5g/L), KH2PO4 (3g/L), MgSO4.7H2O (1.5g/L), increased the production of MPA from 170 mg/L to 1032.54 mg/L. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a high value of coefficient of determination R2 (0.9965), indicating a good agreement between experimental and predicted values and proves validity of the statistical model.

Keywords: Box-Behnken design, fermentation, mycophenolic acid, Penicillium brevicompactum

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Authors: Jason T. Hilton

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The ‘post-truth era’ is marked by a shift toward a period in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. Applying narrative analysis techniques to current public discourses in education that run counter to scientific findings, it becomes possible to identify weakness in modern pedagogy and suggest ways to counter false narratives in the classroom. Results of this study indicate that a failure to engage with popular narratives lessens teachers’ ability to be convincing in the classroom, even when presenting information supported by scientific evidence. This study seeks to empower teachers by illustrating the influence of story within the post-truth era and the ways in which narrative and rhetorical elements take hold in social media contexts. Equipped with this knowledge, teachers can create a shift in pedagogy, away from transmission of knowledge toward the crafting of powerful narratives, built upon evidence, and connected to the lives of modern learners.

Keywords: 21st century learner, critical pedagogy, culture, narrative, post-truth era, social media

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Authors: Siddharth Satishchandran, Brian Khumalo

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Humans are able to derive semantic content from syntactic and pragmatic sources. Multimodal evidence from signaling theory, which examines communication between individuals within and across species, suggests that non-human primates possess similar syntactic and pragmatic capabilities. However, the extent remains unknown because primate pragmatics are relatively under-examined. Our paper reviews research within communication theory amongst non-human primates to understand current theoretical trends. We examine evidence for primate pragmatic capacities through observational, experimental, and theoretical work on gestures. Given fragmented theoretical perspectives, we provide a unified framework of communication for future research that contextualizes the available research under code biology. To achieve this, we rely on biological semiotics (biosemiotics), the philosophy of biology investigating prelinguistic meaning-making as a function of signs and codes. We close by discussing areas of potential research for studying gestural pragmatics amongst non-human primates, particularly chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana), and other potential candidates.

Keywords: pragmatics, non-human primates, gestural communication, biological semiotics

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Authors: Shweta K. Vyas, Rakesh Musale, Sanjeev R. Shukla

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Eri silk is a non mulberry silk which is obtained without killing the silkworms and hence it is also known as Ahmisa silk. In the present study, the results on degumming of eri silk with alkaline peroxide have been compared with those obtained by using ionic liquid (IL) 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride [BMIM]Cl. Experiments were designed to find out the optimum processing parameters for degumming of eri silk by response surface methodology. The statistical software, Design-Expert 6.0 was used for regression analysis and graphical analysis of the responses obtained by running the set of designed experiments. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to estimate the statistical parameters. The polynomial equation of quadratic order was employed to fit the experimental data. The quality and model terms were evaluated by F-test. Three dimensional surface plots were prepared to study the effect of variables on different responses. The optimum conditions for IL treatment were selected from predicted combinations and the experiments were repeated under these conditions to determine the reproducibility.

Keywords: silk degumming, ionic liquid, response surface methodology, ANOVA

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Authors: H. Imad, Q. Cheah, J. Mohammad, O. Aamera

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The aim of this study is twofold. One is to determine the genetic structure of Iraq population and the second objective of the study was to evaluate the importance of these loci for forensic genetic purposes. FTA® Technology (FTA™ paper DNA extraction) utilized to extract DNA. Twenty STR loci and Amelogenin including D3S1358, D13S317, PentaE, D16S539, D18S51, D2S1338, CSF1PO, Penta D, THO1, vWA, D21S11, D7S820, TPOX, D8S1179, FGA, D2S1338, D5S818, D6S1043, D12S391, D19S433, and Amelogenin amplified by using power plex21® kit. PCR products detected by genetic analyzer 3730xL then data analyzed by PowerStatsV1.2. Based on the allelic frequencies, several statistical parameters of genetic and forensic efficiency have been estimated. This includes the homozygosity and heterozygosity, effective number of alleles (n), the polymorphism information content (PIC), the power of discrimination (DP), and the power of exclusion (PE). The power of discrimination values for all tested loci was from 75% to 96% therefore, those loci can be safely used to establish a DNA-based database for Iraq population.

Keywords: autosomal STR, genetic variation, Middle and South of Iraq, statistical parameters

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Authors: Tami Peterson

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Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been hypothesized as an effective treatment for increasing verbal language skills in individuals on the autism spectrum. A child’s ability to effectively communicate with peers, parents, and caregivers impacts their level of independence and quality of personal relationships. This retrospective study will compare the speech development of participants aged 2-17 years that received 40 sessions of HBOT at 2.0 ATA to those who had not. Both groups will have a verbal assessment every six months. There were 31 subjects in the HBO group and 32 subjects in the non-HBO group. The statistical analysis will focus on whether hyperbaric oxygen therapy made a significant difference in Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) or Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS) results. The evidence demonstrates a strong correlation between HBOT and an increased change from baseline verbal scores compared to the control group, even in difficult to grasp areas such as spontaneous vocalization. We suggest this is due to the anti-inflammatory effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Neuroinflammation causes hypoperfusion of critical central nervous system areas responsible for the symptoms described within the autism spectrum, such as problems with thought processing, memory, and speech. Decreasing the inflammation allows the brain to function properly, which results in improved verbal scores for the participants that underwent HBOT.

Keywords: assessment of basic language and learning skills, autism spectrum disorder, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, verbal behavior milestones assessment and placement program

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Authors: Shahbaz G. Hassan

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Water quality models are very important to predict the changes in surface water quality for environmental management. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the water qualities, and to provide directions for selecting models in specific situation. Water quality models include one kind of model based on a mechanistic approach, while other models simulate water quality without considering a mechanism. Mechanistic models can be widely applied and have capabilities for long-time simulation, with highly complexity. Therefore, more spaces are provided to explain the principle and application experience of mechanistic models. Mechanism models have certain assumptions on rivers, lakes and estuaries, which limits the application range of the model, this paper introduces the principles and applications of water quality model based on the above three scenarios. On the other hand, mechanistic models are more easily to compute, and with no limit to the geographical conditions, but they cannot be used with confidence to simulate long term changes. This paper divides the empirical models into two broad categories according to the difference of mathematical algorithm, models based on artificial intelligence and models based on statistical methods.

Keywords: empirical models, mathematical, statistical, water quality

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Authors: Mohammed Althobiti, Patrick Booms, Dorota Fiszer, Philip Hopkins

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Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a pharmacogenetic disorder of skeletal muscle. MH results from anaesthetics induced breakdown of calcium homeostasis. RYR1 and CACN1AS mutations represent the aetiology in ~70% of the MH population. Previous studies indicate that up to 25% of MH patients carry no variants in these genes. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between MH susceptibility and genes encoding skeletal muscle Ca2+ channels as well as accessory proteins. The JSRP, encoding JP-45, was previously sequenced and novel genetic variants were identified. The variant p.P108L (c.323C > T) was identified in exon 4 and encodes a change from a proline at amino acid 108 to leucine residue. The variant P108L was detected in two patients out of 50 with 4% frequency in the sample population. The alignment of DNA sequences in different species indicates highly conserved proline sequences involved in the substitution of the P108L variant. In this study, the variant P108L co-segregates with the SNP p.V92A (c.275T > C) at the same exon, both variants being inherited in the same two patients only. This indicates that the two variants may represent a haplotype. Therefore, a set of single nucleotide polymorphisms and statistical analysis will be used to investigate the effects of haplotypes on MH susceptibility. Furthermore, investigating the effect of the P108L variant in combination with RYR1 mutations or other genetic variants in other genes as a combination of two or more genetic variants, haplotypes may then provide stronger genetic evidence indicating that JSRP1 is associated with MH susceptibility. In conclusion, these preliminary results lend a potential modifier role of the variant P108L in JSRP1 in MH susceptibility and further investigations are suggested to confirm these results.

Keywords: JSRP1, malignant hyperthermia, RyR1, skeletal muscle

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Authors: K. D. Sharma, M. Parida, S. S. Jain, Anju Saini, V. K. Katiyar

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Air quality models form one of the most important components of an urban air quality management plan. Various statistical modeling techniques (regression, multiple regression and time series analysis) have been used to predict air pollution concentrations in the urban environment. These models calculate pollution concentrations due to observed traffic, meteorological and pollution data after an appropriate relationship has been obtained empirically between these parameters. Artificial neural network (ANN) is increasingly used as an alternative tool for modeling the pollutants from vehicular traffic particularly in urban areas. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to model traffic air pollution, specifically CO concentration using neural networks. In case of CO concentration, two scenarios were considered. First, with only classified traffic volume input and the second with both classified traffic volume and meteorological variables. The results showed that CO concentration can be predicted with good accuracy using artificial neural network (ANN).

Keywords: air quality management, artificial neural network, meteorological variables, statistical modeling

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Authors: Myonghwa Park, Eun Jeong Choi

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Persons with dementia living at home have complex caregiving demands, which can be significant sources of stress for the family caregivers. Thus, the dementia family support program facilitators struggle to provide various health and social services, facing diverse challenges. The purpose of this study was to research the effects of training program for the dementia family support program facilitators on self-efficacy, competence, and target complaints concerning operating their program. We created a training program with systematic contents, which was composed of 10 sessions and we provided the program for the facilitators. The participants were 32 people at 28 community dementia support centers who manage dementia family support programs and they completed quantitative and qualitative self-report questionnaire before and after participating in the training program. For analyzing the data, descriptive statistics were used and with a paired t-test, pretest and posttest scores of self-efficacy, competence, and target complaints were analyzed. We used Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) statistics (Version 21) to analyze the data. The average age of the participants was 39.6 years old and the 84.4% of participants were nurses. There were statistically meaningful increases in facilitators’ self-efficacy scores (t = -4.45, p < .001) and competence scores (t = -2.133, p = 0.041) after participating in training program and operating their own dementia family support program. Also, the facilitators’ difficulties in conducting their dementia family support program were decreased which was assessed with target complaints. Especially, the facilitators’ lack of dementia expertise and experience was decreased statistically significantly (t = 3.520, p = 0.002). Findings provided evidence of the benefits of the training program for facilitators to enhance managing dementia family support program by improving the facilitators’ self-efficacy and competence and decreasing their difficulties regarding operating their program.

Keywords: competence, dementia, facilitator, family, self-efficacy, training

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Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho

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It is quite important to utilize right time and intelligent production monitoring and diagnosis of industrial processes in terms of quality and safety issues. When compared with monitoring task, fault diagnosis represents the task of finding process variables responsible causing a specific fault in the process. It can be helpful to process operators who should investigate and eliminate root causes more effectively and efficiently. This work focused on the active use of combining a nonlinear statistical technique with a preprocessing method in order to implement practical real-time fault identification schemes for data-rich cases. To compare its performance to existing identification schemes, a case study on a benchmark process was performed in several scenarios. The results showed that the proposed fault identification scheme produced more reliable diagnosis results than linear methods. In addition, the use of the filtering step improved the identification results for the complicated processes with massive data sets.

Keywords: diagnosis, filtering, nonlinear statistical techniques, process monitoring

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Authors: Lindrianasari Stefanie, Aminah Khairudin

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This study aims to provide empirical evidence regarding the ability of Price to Earnings Ratio and PEG Ratio in predicting future stock returns issuers. The samples used in this study are stocks that go into LQ45. The main contribution is to assign empirical evidence if the PEG Ratio can provide optimum return compared to Price to Earnings Ratio. This study used a sample of the entire company into the group LQ45 with the period of observation. The data used is limited to the financial statements of a company incorporated in LQ45 period July 2013-July 2014, using the financial statements and the position of the company's closing stock price at the end of 2010 as a reference benchmark for the growth of the company's stock price compared to the closing price of 2013. This study found that the method of PEG Ratio can outperform the method of PE ratio in predicting future returns on the stock portfolio of LQ45.

Keywords: price to earnings growth, price to earnings ratio, future returns, stock price

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Authors: Siti Hajar Muhamad Rosli, Xin Yi Lim, Terence Yew Chin Tan, Muhammad nor Farhan Sa’At, Syazwani Sirdar Ali, Ami Fazlin Syed Mohamed

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A growing interest on therapeutic benefits of hemp (Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa) is evident in the pharmaceutical market, attributed to its lower levels of psychoactive constituent delta-9-tetrahydronannabidiol (THC). Deemed as a legal and safer alternative to its counterpart marijuana, the use of medicinal hemp is highly debatable as current scientific evidence on the efficacy for clinical use is yet to be established This study was aimed to provide an overview of the current landscape of hemp research, through recent clinical findings specific to the pharmacological properties of the hemp plant and its derived compounds. A systematic search was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis-ScR (PRISMA) checklist on electronic databases (MEDLINE, OVID, Cochrane Library Central, and Clinicaltrials.gov) for articles published from 2009 to 2019. With predetermined inclusion criteria, all human trials with hemp intervention were included. A total of 18 human trials were identified, investigating therapeutic effects on the neuronal, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal and immune system, with sample sizes ranging from one to 194 subjects. Three randomised controlled trials showed hempseed pills (in Traditional Chinese Medicine formulation MaZiRenWan) consumption significantly improved spontaneous bowel movement in functional constipation. The use of commercial cannabidiol (CBD) sourced from hemp suggested benefits in cannabis dependence, epilepsy, and anxiety disorders. However, there was insufficient evidence to suggest analgesic or anxiolytics effects of hemp being equivalent to marijuana. All clinical trials reviewed varied in terms of test item formulation and standardisation, which made it challenging to confirm overall efficacy for a specific disease or condition. Published efficacy data on hemp are still at a preliminary level, with limited high quality clinical evidence for any specific therapeutic indication. With multiple variants of this plant having different phytochemical and bioactive compounds, future empirical research should focus on uniformity in experimental designs to further strengthen the notion of using medicinal hemp.

Keywords: cannabis, complementary medicine, hemp, herbal medicine.

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Authors: Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, Anu Rani Sharma, Kamna Sachdeva

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Every year, fog formation over the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGPs) of Indian region during the winter months of December and January is believed to create numerous hazards, inconvenience, and economic loss to the inhabitants of this densely populated region of Indian subcontinent. The aim of the paper is to analyze the spatial and temporal variability of winter fog over IGPs. Long term ground observations of visibility and other meteorological parameters (1971-2010) have been analyzed to understand the formation of fog phenomena and its relevance during the peak winter months of January and December over IGP of India. In order to examine the temporal variability, time series and trend analysis were carried out by using the Mann-Kendall Statistical test. Trend analysis performed by using the Mann-Kendall test, accepts the alternate hypothesis with 95% confidence level indicating that there exists a trend. Kendall tau’s statistics showed that there exists a positive correlation between time series and fog frequency. Further, the Theil and Sen’s median slope estimate showed that the magnitude of trend is positive. Magnitude is higher during January compared to December for the entire IGP except in December when it is high over the western IGP. Decade wise time series analysis revealed that there has been continuous increase in fog days. The net overall increase of 99 % was observed over IGP in last four decades. Diurnal variability and average daily persistence were computed by using descriptive statistical techniques. Geo-statistical analysis of fog was carried out to understand the spatial variability of fog. Geo-statistical analysis of fog revealed that IGP is a high fog prone zone with fog occurrence frequency of more than 66% days during the study period. Diurnal variability indicates the peak occurrence of fog is between 06:00 and 10:00 local time and average daily fog persistence extends to 5 to 7 hours during the peak winter season. The results would offer a new perspective to take proactive measures in reducing the irreparable damage that could be caused due to changing trends of fog.

Keywords: fog, climatology, Mann-Kendall test, trend analysis, spatial variability, temporal variability, visibility

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Authors: M. Ahmed, Javed Mallick, Mohammad Abul Hasan

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The flexural tensile strength of concrete is an important parameter for determining cracking behavior of concrete structure and to compute deflection under flexure. Many factors have been shown to influence the flexural tensile strength, particularly the level of concrete strength, size of member, age of concrete and confinement to flexure member etc. Empirical equations have been suggested to relate the flexural tensile strength and compressive strength. Limited literature is available for relationship between flexural tensile strength and compressive strength giving consideration to the factors affecting the flexural tensile strength specially the concrete confinement factor. The concrete member such as slabs, beams and columns critical locations are under confinement effects. The paper presents the experimental study to predict the flexural tensile strength and compressive strength empirical relations using statistical procedures considering the effect of confinement and age of concrete for wide range of concrete strength (from 35 to about 100 MPa). It is concluded from study that due consideration of confinement should be given in deriving the flexural tensile strength and compressive strength proportionality equations.

Keywords: compressive strength, flexural tensile strength, modulus of rupture, statistical procedures, concrete confinement

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Authors: Nkereke Essien

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The study seeks to analyze tone in the Educated Nigerian accent of English (ENAE) using the three tones: Low (L), High (H) and Low-High (LH). The aim is to find out whether there are any differences or similarities in the performance of the experimental group and the control. To achieve this, twenty educated Nigerian speakers of English who are educated in the language were selected by a Stratified Random Sampling (SRS) technique from two federal universities in Nigeria. They were given a passage to read and their intonation patterns were compared with that of a native speaker (control). The data were analyzed using Pierrehumbert’s (1980) intonation system of analysis. Three different approaches were employed in the analysis of the intonation Phrase (IP) as used by Pierrehumbert: perceptual, statistical and acoustic. We first analyzed our data from the passage and utterances using Willcoxon Matched Pairs Signs Ranks Test to establish the differences between the performance of the experimental group and the control. Then, the one-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical and Tukey-Krammar Post Hoc Tests were used to test for any significant difference in the performances of the twenty subjects. The acoustic data were presented to corroborate both the perceptual and statistical findings. Finally, the tonal patterns of the selected subjects in the three categories - A, B, C, were compared with those of the control. Our findings revealed that the tonal pattern of the Educated Nigerian Accent of English (ENAE) is significantly different from the tonal pattern of the Standard British Accent of English (SBAE) as represented by the control. A high preference for unidirectional tones, especially, the high tones was observed in the performance of the experimental group. Also, high tones do not necessarily correspond to stressed syllables and low tones to unstressed syllables.

Keywords: accent, intonation phrase (IP), tonal patterns, tone

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Authors: Asif Ali, Daud Salim Faruquie

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With the advancement of knowledge about the utility and impact of sustainability, its feasibility has been explored into different walks of life. Scientists, however; have established their knowledge in four areas viz environmental, economic, social and cultural, popularly termed as four pillars of sustainability. Aspects of environmental and economic sustainability have been rigorously researched and practiced and huge volume of strong evidence of effectiveness has been founded for these two sub-areas. For the social and cultural aspects of sustainability, dependable evidence of effectiveness is still to be instituted as the researchers and practitioners are developing and experimenting methods across the globe. Therefore, the present research aimed to identify globally used practices of social and cultural sustainability and through evidence synthesis assess their outcomes to determine the effectiveness of those practices. A PICO format steered the methodology which included all populations, popular sustainability practices including walkability/cycle tracks, social/recreational spaces, privacy, health & human services and barrier free built environment, comparators included ‘Before’ and ‘After’, ‘With’ and ‘Without’, ‘More’ and ‘Less’ and outcomes included Social well-being, cultural co-existence, quality of life, ethics and morality, social capital, sense of place, education, health, recreation and leisure, and holistic development. Search of literature included major electronic databases, search websites, organizational resources, directory of open access journals and subscribed journals. Grey literature, however, was not included. Inclusion criteria filtered studies on the basis of research designs such as total randomization, quasi-randomization, cluster randomization, observational or single studies and certain types of analysis. Studies with combined outcomes were considered but studies focusing only on environmental and/or economic outcomes were rejected. Data extraction, critical appraisal and evidence synthesis was carried out using customized tabulation, reference manager and CASP tool. Partial meta-analysis was carried out and calculation of pooled effects and forest plotting were done. As many as 13 studies finally included for final synthesis explained the impact of targeted practices on health, behavioural and social dimensions. Objectivity in the measurement of health outcomes facilitated quantitative synthesis of studies which highlighted the impact of sustainability methods on physical activity, Body Mass Index, perinatal outcomes and child health. Studies synthesized qualitatively (and also quantitatively) showed outcomes such as routines, family relations, citizenship, trust in relationships, social inclusion, neighbourhood social capital, wellbeing, habitability and family’s social processes. The synthesized evidence indicates slight effectiveness and efficacy of social and cultural sustainability on the targeted outcomes. Further synthesis revealed that such results of this study are due weak research designs and disintegrated implementations. If architects and other practitioners deliver their interventions in collaboration with research bodies and policy makers, a stronger evidence-base in this area could be generated.

Keywords: built environment, cultural sustainability, social sustainability, sustainable architecture

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Authors: Pisit Potjanajaruwit

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The objectives of the study were to determine the marketing mix factors that influencing tourist’s destination decision making for cultural tourism in the Chonburi province. Both quantitative and qualitative data were applied in this study. The samples of 400 cases for quantitative analysis were tourists (both Thai and foreign) who were interested in cultural tourism in the Chonburi province, and traveled to cultural sites in Chonburi and 14 representatives from provincial tourism committee of Chonburi and local tourism experts. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The study found that Thai and foreign tourists are influenced by different important marketing mix factors. The important factors for Thai respondents were physical evidence, price, people, and place at high importance level. For foreign respondents, physical evidence, price, people, and process were high importance level, whereas, product, place, and promotion were moderate importance level.

Keywords: Chonburi Province, decision making, cultural tourism, marketing mixed

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Authors: Maryam Akbarzadeh, F. Esmaeilzadeh, A. Poostvar, M. Manuchehri

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Preparation of regional input-output tables requires statistical methods combined with high costs and too much time. Obtained estimates by non-statistical methods have low confidence coefficient. Therefore, integrated methods for this purpose are suggested by recent input–output studies. In this study, first GRIT method is introduced as an appropriate integrated method for preparation of input-output table of Fars province. Next, input-output table is prepared for Fars province using this method. Therefore, this study is based on input-output table of national economy in 2001. Necessary modifications performed in the field of changes at level of prices and differences of regional trade compared with other areas at national level. Moreover, up to date statistics and information and technical experts view on the various economic sectors along with input-output table 33 was used in 2011 followed by investigation of general structure of the province economy based on the amounts of added value obtained from this table.

Keywords: grit, input-output, table, regional

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Authors: Ekin Ece Gürer, Tarık Onur Tiryaki, Sevgi Kalayoğlu Beşışık, Fatma Savran Oğuz, Uğur Sezerman, Fatma Erdem, Gülşen Günel, Dürdane Serap Kuruca, Zerrin Aktaş, Oral Öncül

Abstract:

Aim: Chemotherapytreatment in HodgkinLymphomaandNon-HodgkinLymphoma (NHL) diseasescausesgastrointestinalepithelialdamage, disruptstheintestinalmicrobiotabalanceandcausesdysbiosis. Inourstudy, it wasaimedtoshowtheeffect of thedamagecausedbychemotherapy on themicrobiotaandtheeffect of thechangingmicrobiota flora on thecourse of thedisease. Materials And Methods: Seven adult HL and seven adult HL patients to be treatedwithchemotherapywereincluded in the study. Stoolsamplesweretakentwice, beforechemotherapytreatmentandafterthe 3th course of treatment. SamplesweresequencedusingNextGenerationSequencing (NGS) methodafternucleicacidisolation. OTU tableswerepreparedusing NCBI blastnversion 2.0.12 accordingtothe NCBI general 16S bacterialtaxonomyreferencedated 10.08.2021. Thegenerated OTU tableswerecalculatedwith R Statistical Computer Language version 4.04 (readr, phyloseq, microbiome, vegan, descrand ggplot2 packages) to calculate Alpha diversityandtheirgraphicswerecreated. Statistical analyzeswerealsoperformedusing R Statistical Computer Language version 4.0.4 and studio IDE 1.4 (tidyverse, readr, xlsxand ggplot2 packages). Expression of IL-12 and IL-17 cytokineswasperformedbyrtPCRtwice, beforeandaftertreatment. Results: InHL patients, a significantdecreasewasobserved in themicrobiota flora of Ruminococcaceae_UCG-014 genus (p:0.036) andUndefined Ruminococcaceae_UCG-014 species (p:0.036) comparedtopre-treatment. When the post-treatment of HL patientswerecomparedwithhealthycontrols, a significantdecreasewasfound in themicrobiota of Prevotella_7 genus (p:0.049) andButyricimonas (p:0.006) in the post-treatmentmicrobiota of HL patients. InNHL patients, a significantdecreasewasobserved in themicrobiota flora of Coprococccus_3 genus (p:0.015) andUndefined Ruminoclostridium_5 (p:0.046) speciescomparedtopre-treatment. When post-treatment of NHL patientswerecomparedwithhealthycontrols, a significantabundance in theBacilliclass (p:0.029) and a significantdecrease in theUndefinedAlistipesspecies (p:0.047) wereobserved in the post-treatmentmicrobiota of NHL patients. While a decreasewasobserved in IL-12 cytokineexpressionuntilbeforetreatment, an increase in IL-17 cytokineexpressionwasdetected. Discussion: Intestinal flora monitoringafterchemotherapytreatmentshowsthat it can be a guide in thetreatment of thedisease. It is thoughtthatincreasingthediversity of commensalbacteria can alsopositivelyaffecttheprognosis of thedisease.

Keywords: hodgkin lymphoma, non-hodgkin, microbiota, cytokines

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Authors: Elena Antonova Unlu, Cigdem Sagin Simsek

Abstract:

The research presents two studies examining the impact of formal interpreting training (FIT) on Working Memory Capacity (WMC) of student-interpreters. In Study 1, the storage and processing capacities of the working memory (WM) of last-year student-interpreters were compared with those of last-year Foreign Language Education (FLE) students. In Study 2, the impact of FIT on the WMC of student-interpreters was examined via comparing their results on WM tasks at the beginning and the end of their FIT. In both studies, Digit Span Task (DST) and Reading Span Task (RST) were utilized for testing storage and processing capacities of WM. The results of Study 1 revealed that the last-year student-interpreters outperformed the control groups on the RST but not on the DST. The findings of Study 2 were consistent with Study 1 showing that after FIT, the student-interpreters performed better on the RST but not on the DST. Our findings can be considered as evidence supporting the view that FIT has a beneficial effect not only on the interpreting skills of student-interpreters but also on the central executive and processing capacity of their WM.

Keywords: working memory capacity, formal interpreting training, student-interpreters, cross-sectional and longitudinal data

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Authors: Rohollah Asadian Kohestani, Mustafa Hashemzadeh

Abstract:

The present paper is the outcome of a field research that was conducted with the study objective of influencing factor's effect on the behavior of customers switching in the Saipa Emdad Khodro Company. To achieve this goal, six factors of service quality, service cost, waiting time to receive services, reputation of organization, costs of switching and the way to respond the needs of customers as the independent variables of research and their effect on the customer switching was studied as the variable related to the research. The statistical society of this research included all customers of the Saipa Emdad Khodro company that possess the vehicles of automobile manufacturing group of Saipa throughout the country and the statistical sample included 150 persons of such customers. The results of this research indicated that all under study factors excluding the reputation factor effect on the behavior of customer switching.

Keywords: customer services, switching cost, service price, customer switching behavior

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Authors: Racha Khairallah, Lamia Ben Hamida

Abstract:

Our paper attempts to examine how Swiss manufacturing firms manage to learn from patent citations to improve their innovation performance. We argue that the assessment of these effects needs a detailed analysis of spillovers according to the source of knowledge with respect to formal and informal patent citations made in European and internal search, the horizontal and vertical mechanisms by which knowledge spillovers take place, and the technological characteristics of innovative firms that able them to absorb external knowledge and integrate it in their existing innovation process. We use OECD data and find evidence that knowledge spillovers occur only from horizontal and backward linkages. The importance of these effects depends on the type of citation, in which the references to non-patent literature (informal citations made in European and international searches) have a greater impact. In addition, only firms with high technological capacities benefit from knowledge spillovers from formal and informal citations. Low-technology firms fail to catch up and efficiently learn external knowledge from patent citations.

Keywords: innovation performance, patent citation, absorptive capacity, knowledge spillover mechanisms

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Authors: Sana Masmoudi, Yosra Makni

Abstract:

Regulators highlight the importance of the Audit Committee (AC) as a key internal corporate governance mechanism. One of the most important roles of this committee is to oversee the financial reporting process. The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between the characteristics of an audit committee and the financial reporting quality by investigating whether the formation of audit committees and their characteristics are associated with improved financial reporting quality. This study provides empirical evidence of the association between audit committee independence, financial expertise, gender diversity, and meetings and Real Earnings Management (REM) as a proxy of financial reporting quality. Using data from, with a sample of 80 companies listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange during 2010-2017, the study finds that independence and AC Gender diversity are strongly related to financial reporting quality. In fact, these two characteristics constrain REM. The results also suggest that AC-financial expertise reduces to some extent, the likelihood of engaging in REM. These conclusions provide support then to the audit committee requirement under the Dutch Corporate Governance Code rules regarding gender diversity and AC meetings.

Keywords: audit committee, financial expertise, independence, real earnings management

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Authors: Tin Thongthammachart, Wanida Jinsart

Abstract:

Atmospheric particulate matter particles with a diameter less than 10 microns (PM₁₀) and less than 2.5 microns (PM₂.₅) have adverse health effect. The impact from PM was studied from both health and regulatory perspective. Ambient PM data was collected over ten years in Bangkok and vicinity areas of Thailand from 2007 to 2017. Statistical models were used to forecast PM concentrations from 2018 to 2020. Monitoring monthly data averaged concentration of PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅ were used as input to forecast the monthly average concentration of PM. The forecasting results were validated by root means square error (RMSE). The predicted results were used to determine hazard risk for the carcinogenic disease. The health risk values were interpolated with GIS with ordinary kriging technique to create hazard maps in Bangkok and vicinity area. GIS-based maps illustrated the variability of PM distribution and high-risk locations. These evaluated results could support national policy for the sake of human health.

Keywords: PM₁₀, PM₂.₅, statistical models, atmospheric particulate matter

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Authors: Ingrid van der Heijden, Kristen Dunkle, Rachel Jewkes

Abstract:

Background: Emerging literature on prevalence shows that men with disabilities are four more times likely than men without disabilities to experience sexual violence during their lifetime. However, compared to women with disabilities, men with disabilities still have lesser experiences of violence. While empirical evidence on the prevalence of victimization of men with disabilities is emerging, there is scarcer evidence highlighting disabled men’s perpetration of different forms of violence, particularly intimate partner violence. We can assume that men are likely to be both perpetrators and victims of violence, making more complex the causes and risks of violence. Gender norms and disability stigma play important roles in men’s experiences of violence. Men may be stigmatized because of their inability to attain hegemonic masculine ideals of strength, control over women and sexual conquest, which makes them more susceptible to emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Little to no evidence exists of men with disabilities’ experiences of perpetration of intimate partner violence, family violence or community violence. So far studies on male victimization do not succeed to offer contextual evidence that would highlight why and how men with disabilities perpetrate and/or are victims of sexual or other forms of violence. Objective: The overall aim to highlight men with disabilities’ experiences of both victimization and perpetration, and how living up to normative and hegemonic ideals of masculinity and ‘ability’ shape their experiences. It will include: identifying how gender and impairments intersect and shape their experiences of violence; identifying the contexts of and risks for violence; identifying the impacts and consequences of violence on their lives (including mental health impacts), and identifying obstacles and enablers to support and interventions to prevent violence. Methodology: In-depth qualitative interviews with 20 men with disabilities participating in interventions conducted by the What Works Global Programme for violence prevention (DIFD) in Africa and Asia. Men with a range of disabilities will be invited to share their lifetime experiences of violence. Implications for Practice: The data from this study will be used to start thinking about strategies to include men with disabilities in violence prevention strategies for both men and women. Limitations: Because men will be participating in interventions, it is assumed that they will not have severe impairments that hamper their cognitive or physical ability to participate in the intervention activities - and therefore will be able to participate in the in-depth interviews. Of course, this is a limitation of the study as it does not include those men with severe disabilities – measured by the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning - who may be more vulnerable and at higher risk of experiencing violence, and who are less likely to be able to access services and interventions.

Keywords: gender, men with disabilities, perpetration of violence, victimization

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