Search results for: habitat variables

Authors: Najmin Sultana, Maneesha Pahlani

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A hospital is one of the most suitable places for acquiring an infection because it harbors a high population of virulent strains of microorganisms that may be resistant to antibiotics, especially the prevalence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infections. The hospital-acquired infection has become a global challenge. In developed countries, healthcare-associated infections occur in 5-15% of hospitalized clients, affecting 9-37% of those admitted to intensive care units (ICU). A non-experimental descriptive study was conducted among 50 nursing officers working in a selected hospital in bengaluru to assess the nursing officers’ level of knowledge regarding the prevention and management of MRSA infections and to associate the pre-test knowledge mean scores of nursing officers with selected socio-demographic variables. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic data and a structured questionnaire on knowledge regarding the prevention and management of MRSA infections. The data was analyzed in terms of frequencies and percentages for the analysis of demographic variables and computing chi-square to determine the association between knowledge means scores and selected demographic variables. The study findings revealed that the nursing officer had an overall good level of knowledge (63.05%) regarding the prevention and management of MRSA infections, and there is no significant association found between the level of knowledge mean scores for prevention and management of MRSA infection with the selected socio-demographic variables. However, the categorization of knowledge items showed that the nursing officer must thoroughly receive education on correct guidance and information regarding MRSA infection control policy, including measures and practices on hygiene precautions and information regarding antibiotic resistance for effective nursing care to patients with MRSA infections. The conclusions drawn from the study findings showed that it is necessary that the nursing officer thoroughly receive education on correct guidance and information regarding MRSA infection control policy, including measures and practices on hygiene precautions and information regarding antibiotic resistance to provide effective nursing care to patients with MRSA infection as they constantly care for the patient who can be at risk for multi-drug resistance organisms to reduce the risk of MRSA infection in hospital care settings as well community settings.

Keywords: MRSA, knowledge, nursing officers', prevention and management

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Authors: Cüneyit Akar, Mustafa Başaran, Ufuk Uluçınar

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The purpose of this research is to examine the critical thinking dispositions of pre-service teachers in terms of several variables. In the line of this aim, we have investigated what their levels of critical thinking dispositions and whether there is any significant different in their critical thinking dispositions. Also, we have examined the relations between their critical thinking dispositions and their parents’ education statues, the number of their siblings, family income levels, and their religiosity level. 202 pre-service teachers who are studying at different departments at faculty of education at Uşak University participated in this research. In study, critical thinking dispositions scale by one of researchers was utilized and its validity and reliability was performed. The findings indicate that the level of their critical thinking dispositions was found to be .376 (arithmetic mean). On the other hand, we found that there is no significant difference in terms of their gender and the department at which they are studying. Furthermore, although there aren’t significant relationships between critical thinking dispositions and their mother education statues, their income levels, their religiosity levels and the number of their siblings; there is any significant positively at low level the relation between thinking dispositions and father educational statues. The findings obtained will be discussed together with literature and other research’ results.

Keywords: preservice teachers, critical thinking dispositions, pedagogy, education

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Authors: Mahshid Hatamzad, Geanette Polanco

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Improving the performance of Winter Road Maintenance (WRM) can increase the traffic safety and reduce the cost as well as environmental impacts. This study evaluates the efficiency of WRM technique, named salting, in the Arctic area by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is a non-parametric linear method to measure the efficiencies of decision-making units (DMUs) based on handling multiple inputs and multiple outputs at the same time that their associated weights are not known. Here, roads are considered as DMUs for which the efficiency must be determined. The three input variables considered are traffic flow, road area and WRM cost. In addition, the two output variables included are level of safety in the roads and environment impacts resulted from WRM, which is also considered as an uncontrollable factor in the second scenario. The results show the performance of DMUs from the most efficient WRM to the inefficient/least efficient one and this information provides decision makers with technical support and the required suggested improvements for inefficient WRM, in order to achieve a cost-effective WRM and a safe road transportation during wintertime in the Arctic areas.

Keywords: environmental impacts, DEA, risk and safety, WRM

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Authors: Jia Guo, Qinyuan Huang, Qinyi Zhong, Yanjing Zeng, Yimeng Li, James Wiley, Kin Cheung, Jyu-Lin Chen

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Context: Mothers with abdominal obesity, particularly in China, face challenges in managing their health due to family responsibilities. Existing diabetes prevention programs do not cater specifically to this demographic. Research Aim: To assess the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of an mHealth-based diabetes prevention program tailored for Chinese mothers with abdominal obesity in reducing weight-related variables and diabetes risk. Methodology: A randomized controlled trial was conducted in Changsha, China, where the mHealth group received personalized modules and health messages, while the control group received general health education. Data were collected at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Findings: The mHealth intervention significantly improved waist circumference, modifiable diabetes risk scores, daily steps, self-efficacy for physical activity, social support for physical activity, and physical health satisfaction compared to the control group. However, no differences were found in BMI and certain other variables. Theoretical Importance: The study demonstrates the feasibility and efficacy of a tailored mHealth intervention for Chinese mothers with abdominal obesity, emphasizing the potential for such programs to improve health outcomes in this population. Data Collection: Data on various variables including weight-related measures, diabetes risk scores, behavioral and psychological factors were collected at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months from participants in the mHealth and control groups. Analysis Procedures: Generalized estimating equations were used to analyze the data collected from the mHealth and control groups at different time points during the study period. Question Addressed: The study addressed the effectiveness of an mHealth-based diabetes prevention program tailored for Chinese mothers with abdominal obesity in improving various health outcomes compared to traditional general health education approaches. Conclusion: The tailored mHealth intervention proved to be feasible and effective in improving weight-related variables, physical activity, and physical health satisfaction among Chinese mothers with abdominal obesity, highlighting its potential for delivering diabetes prevention programs to this population.

Keywords: type 2 diabetes, mHealth, obesity, prevention, mothers

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Authors: Hamid Goharnejad, Amir Hossein Eghbali

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Recent investigations have demonstrated the global sea level rise due to climate change impacts. In this study climate changes study the effects of increasing water level in the strait of Hormuz. The probable changes of sea level rise should be investigated to employ the adaption strategies. The climatic output data of a GCM (General Circulation Model) named CGCM3 under climate change scenario of A1b and A2 were used. Among different variables simulated by this model, those of maximum correlation with sea level changes in the study region and least redundancy among themselves were selected for sea level rise prediction by using stepwise regression. One models of Discrete Wavelet artificial Neural Network (DWNN) was developed to explore the relationship between climatic variables and sea level changes. In these models, wavelet was used to disaggregate the time series of input and output data into different components and then ANN was used to relate the disaggregated components of predictors and predictands to each other. The results showed in the Shahid Rajae Station for scenario A1B sea level rise is among 64 to 75 cm and for the A2 Scenario sea level rise is among 90 to 105 cm. Furthermore the result showed a significant increase of sea level at the study region under climate change impacts, which should be incorporated in coastal areas management.

Keywords: climate change scenarios, sea-level rise, strait of Hormuz, forecasting

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Authors: Noah Erskine, Jaime Barratt, John Cairney

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The current study aims to provide an in-depth analysis and extension of the Environmental Stress Hypothesis (ESH) framework, focusing on the complex interplay between poor motor skills and internalising problems like anxiety and depression. Using an integrative research review methodology, this study synthesizes findings from 38 articles, both empirical and theoretical, building upon the foundational work of the model. The hypothesis posits that poor motor skills serve as a primary stressor, leading to internalising problems through various secondary stressors. A rigorous comparison of data was conducted, considering study design, findings, and methodologies - while giving special attention to variables such as age, sex, and comorbidities. The study also enhances the ESH framework by introducing resource buffers, including optimism and familial support, as additional influencing factors. This multi-level approach yields a more nuanced and comprehensive ESH framework, highlighting the need for future studies to consider intersectional variables and how they may vary across various life stages.

Keywords: motor coordination, mental health, developmental coordination disorders, paediatric comorbidities, obesity, peer problems

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Authors: Alireza Vafaei Sadr, Vida Abedi, Jiang Li, Ramin Zand

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Missing data is a common challenge in medical research and can lead to biased or incomplete results. When the data bias leaks into models, it further exacerbates health disparities; biased algorithms can lead to misclassification and reduced resource allocation and monitoring as part of prevention strategies for certain minorities and vulnerable segments of patient populations, which in turn further reduce data footprint from the same population – thus, a vicious cycle. This study compares the performance of six imputation techniques grouped into Linear and Non-Linear models on two different realworld electronic health records (EHRs) datasets, representing 17864 patient records. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean squared error (RMSE) are used as performance metrics, and the results show that the Linear models outperformed the Non-Linear models in terms of both metrics. These results suggest that sometimes Linear models might be an optimal choice for imputation in laboratory variables in terms of imputation efficiency and uncertainty of predicted values.

Keywords: EHR, machine learning, imputation, laboratory variables, algorithmic bias

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Authors: Kathrin Endres, Daniela Greven

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Although chatbots are a widely known and established communication instrument in B2C customer services, B2B industries still hesitate to implement chatbots due to the incertitude of customer acceptance. While many studies examine the chatbot acceptance of B2C consumers, few studies are focusing on the B2B sector, where the customer is represented by a buying center consisting of several stakeholders. This study investigates the challenges of chatbot acceptance in B2B industries compared to challenges of chatbot acceptance from current B2C literature by interviewing experts from German chatbot vendors. The results show many similarities between the customer requirements of B2B customers and B2C consumers. Still, due to several stakeholders involved in the buying center, the features of the chatbot users are more diverse but obfuscated at the same time. Using a factorial survey, this study further examines the customer acceptance of varying situations of B2B chatbot designs based on the chatbot variables transparency, fault tolerance, complexity of products, value of products, as well as transfer to live chat service employees. The findings show that all variables influence the propensity to use the chatbot. The results contribute to a better understanding of how firms in B2B industries can design chatbots to advance their customer service and enhance customer satisfaction.

Keywords: chatbots, technology acceptance, B2B customer service, customer satisfaction

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Authors: Abdolrasoul Daneshjoo

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The aim of this study was studying the effect of acute creatine supplementation on physiological variables of continuous and intermittent soccer activities of men soccer players. 32 soccer players from Tarbiat Moalem University aged (22/3+-1/6) volunteered for this research and were divided into two groups randomly. Both experimental and control groups after 6 days taking supplementation were tested. For measuring height and weight meter and balance were used. Questionnaire for health background, lactate electro, heart beat measuring polar electro, continuous and intermittent training program and time recorder were used for data collection. For data analysis descriptive statistical techniques, two-way ANOVA and F test were used. The result of this study showed increased significantly in heart rate in control group. For control group heart beat was (71/6 +- 3/5) and for experimental group it was (75/3 +- 4/9). No significant differences were observed in players weight after taking creatine.

Keywords: heartbeat, lactate Blood, creatine, soccer players of Tarbiat Moalem University

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Authors: Mariela Gonzalez, Zoraide Lugli, Eleonora Vivas, Rosana Guzmán

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The objective was to determine the predictive capacity of self-efficacy perceived for weight control, locus of weight control and skills of weight self-management in the dissatisfaction of the body image in obese people who attend treatment. Sectional study conducted in the city of Maracay, Venezuela, with 243 obese who attend to treatment, 173 of the feminine gender and 70 of the male, with ages ranging between 18 and 57 years old. The sample body mass index ranged between 29.39 and 44.14. The following instruments were used: The Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), the inventory of body weight self-regulation, The Inventory of self-efficacy in the regulation of body weight and the Inventory of the Locus of weight control. Calculating the descriptive statistics and of central tendency, coefficients of correlation and multiple regression; it was found that a low ‘perceived Self-efficacy in the weight control’ and a high ‘Locus of external control’, predict the dissatisfaction with body image in obese who attend treatment. The findings are a first approximation to give an account of the importance of the personal control variables in the study of the psychological grief on the overweight individual.

Keywords: dissatisfaction with body image, obese people, personal control, psychological variables

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Authors: Marref Cherine, Bezzala Adel, Houhamdimoussa

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Wetlands represent ecosystems of great importance through their ecological and socio-economic functions and biological diversity, even if they are most threatened by anthropization. This study aimed to contribute to the creation of an inventory of bird species in the Gadaïne eco-complex (Batna, Algeria) from 2019 to 2021. Counts were carried out from 8:00 to 19:00 using a telescope (20 × 60) and a pair of binoculars (10 × 50) and by employing absolute and relative methods. Birds were categorized by phenology, habitat, biogeography, and diet. A total of 80 species in 58 genera and 19 families were observed. Migratory birds were dominant (38%) phenologically, and the birds of Palearctic origin dominated (26.25%) biogeographically. Invertivorous and carnivorous species were the most common (35%). Ecologically, the majority of species were waterbirds (73.75%), which are protected in Algeria. This study highlights the need for the preservation of ecosystem components and the enhancement of biological resources of protected, rare, and key species. We observed 43797 individuals of Marmaronetta angustirostris during our study and reported the nesting of Podiceps nigricollis, Porphyrio porphyrio, and Tadorna ferruginea. For this reason, it is recommended to propose the area as a Ramsar site.

Keywords: biodiversity, avifauna, ecological status, wetlands

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Authors: Hamideh S. Shahidi

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This research examines destination image and its impact on tourist revisit intention. Destination images can evolve over time, depending on a number of factors. Due to the multidimensional nature of destination image, the full extent of what might influence that change is not yet fully understood. As a result, the destination image should be measured with a heavy consideration of the variables used. Depending on the time and circumstances, these variables should be adjusted based on the research’s objectives. The aim of this research is to evaluate the image of destinations that may be perceived as risky, such as Iran, from the perspective of European cultural travellers. Further to the goal of understanding the effects of an image on tourists’ decision-making, the research will assess the impact of destination image on the revisit intention using push and pull factors and perceived risks with the potential moderating effect of cultural contact (the direct interaction between the host and the tourists with different culture). In addition, the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance on revisit intention after Iran’s crisis in 2022 will be measured. Furthermore, the level of uncertainty avoidance between gender and age will be compared.

Keywords: destination image, Iran’s 2022 crisis, revisit intention, uncertainty avoidance

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Authors: Frista Dearetha Marasabessy, Usep Suhud, Mohammad Rizan

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The study objective was to compare influencing factors on customer retention of two brands – SimPATI and IM3 – of telecommunication services owned by Telkomsel and Indosat, two giant mobile telecommunication providers in Indonesia. The authors applied predictor variables including perceived tariff, perceived quality, switching barriers, and customer satisfaction. These variables were used after reviewing literature in quantitative studies on consumer behaviour relating to telecommunication services. This study used indicators adopted and adapted from literature. The quantitative data were gathered in Jakarta, involving 205 subscribers of SimPATI and 202 subscribers of IM3. The authors selected respondents purposively. Data were analysed using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Two fitted models were developed confirming factors that were involved in customer retention as stated on the proposed model: perceived tariff, perceived quality, switching barriers, and customer satisfaction. However, parts of the hypotheses were rejected.

Keywords: customer retention, switching barriers, telecommunication providers, structural equation model, SimPATI, IM3, Indonesia

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Authors: Javier Ascanio Villabona, Brayan Eduardo Tarazona Romero, Camilo Leonardo Sandoval Rodriguez, Arly Dario Rincon, Omar Lengerke Perez

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Efficient energy consumption in the housing sector in relation to refrigeration is a concern in the construction and rehabilitation of houses in tropical areas. Thermal comfort is aggravated by heat gain on the roof surface by heat gains. Thus, in the group of passive cooling techniques, one of the practices and technologies in solar control that provide improvements in comfortable conditions are thermal insulation or geometric changes of the roofs. On the other hand, methods with reflection and radiation are the methods used to decrease heat gain by facilitating the removal of excess heat inside a building to maintain a comfortable environment. Since the potential of these techniques varies in different climatic zones, their application in different zones should be examined. This research is based on the experimental study of a prototype of a roof radiator as a method of passive cooling in homes, which was developed through an experimental research methodology making measurements in a prototype built by means of the paradigm of appropriate technology, with the aim of establishing an initial behavior of the internal temperature resulting from the climate of the external environment. As a starting point, a selection matrix was made to identify the typologies of passive cooling systems to model the system and its subsequent implementation, establishing its constructive characteristics. Step followed by the measurement of the climatic variables (outside the prototype) and microclimatic variables (inside the prototype) to obtain a database to be analyzed. As a final result, the decrease in temperature that occurs inside the chamber with respect to the outside temperature was evidenced. likewise, a linearity in its behavior in relation to the variations of the climatic variables.

Keywords: appropriate technology, enveloping, energy efficiency, passive cooling

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Authors: Emmanuel Abayomi Rotimi

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Context: Rabbits production plays important role in increasing animal protein supply in Nigeria. Rabbit production provides a cheap, affordable, and healthy source of meat. The growth of animals involves an increase in body weight, which can change the conformation of various parts of the body. Live weight and linear measurements are indicators of growth rate in rabbits and other farm animals. Aims: This study aimed to define the body dimensions of New Zealand rabbits and also to investigate the morphometric traits variables that contribute to body conformation by the use of principal component analysis (PCA). Methods: Data were obtained from 80 New Zealand rabbits (40 bucks and 40 does) raised in Livestock Teaching and Research Farm, Federal University Dutsinma. Data were taken on body weight (BWT), body length (BL), ear length (EL), tail length (TL), heart girth (HG) and abdominal circumference (AC). Data collected were subjected to multivariate analysis using SPSS 20.0 statistical package. Key results: The descriptive statistics showed that the mean BWT, BL, EL, TL, HG, and AC were 0.91kg, 27.34cm, 10.24cm, 8.35cm, 19.55cm and 21.30cm respectively. Sex showed significant (P<0.05) effect on all the variables examined, with higher values recorded for does. The phenotypic correlation coefficient values (r) between the morphometric traits were all positive and ranged from r = 0.406 (between EL and BL) to r = 0.909 (between AC and HG). HG is the most correlated with BWT (r = 0.786). The principal component analysis with variance maximizing orthogonal rotation was used to extract the components. Two principal components (PCs) from the factor analysis of morphometric traits explained about 80.42% of the total variance. PC1 accounted for 64.46% while PC2 accounted for 15.97% of the total variances. Three variables, representing body conformation, loaded highest in PC1. PC1 had the highest contribution (64.46%) to the total variance, and it is regarded as body conformation traits. Conclusions: This component could be used as selection criteria for improving body weight of rabbits.

Keywords: conformation, multicollinearity, multivariate, rabbits and principal component analysis

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Authors: Dagnija Blumberga, Toms Prodanuks, Ivars Veidenbergs, Andra Blumberga

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Gas condensing units with inner tubes heat exchangers represent third generation technology and differ from second generation heat and mass transfer units, which are fulfilled by passive filling material layer. The first one improves heat and mass transfer by increasing cooled contact surface of gas and condensate drops and film formed in inner tubes heat exchanger. This paper presents a selection of significant factors which influence the heat and mass transfer. Experimental planning is based on the research and analysis of main three independent variables; velocity of water and gas as well as density of spraying. Empirical mathematical models show that the coefficient of heat transfer is used as dependent parameter which depends on two independent variables; water and gas velocity. Empirical model is proved by the use of experimental data of two independent gas condensing units in Lithuania and Russia. Experimental data are processed by the use of heat transfer criteria-Kirpichov number. Results allow drawing the graphical nomogram for the calculation of heat and mass transfer conditions in the innovative and energy efficient gas cooling unit.

Keywords: gas condensing unit, filling, inner heat exchanger, package, spraying, tunes

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Authors: Essardi Omar, Razzouk Redouane

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The concept of freedom requires notice of countries all over the world to consider welfare and the quality of life. Despite, many economics efforts in the field of development literature, they have often failed to incorporate the ideas of freedom and rights into their theoretical and empirical work. However, with Amartya Sen’s approach of capability and researches, we can provide a basis for moving forward in theory and measure of development. Indeed, with an approach based on the correlation and the analysis of data, particularly on the tool of principle component analysis, we are going to study assessments of World Bank, Freedom House, Fraster institute, and MINEFE experts. Our empirical objective is to reveal the existence of the institutional and freedom characteristics related to the development of the emergent countries. In order to help us to explain the recent performance reached by Central and Eastern Europe and Latine America in compared with the case of countries of North Africa. To do this, first we will try to build indicators based on dilemma liberties /institutions. Second we will introduce institutional variables and freedom variables to make comparisons in freedom, quality of institutions and development in the countries observed.

Keywords: freedoms, institutions, development, approach of capability, principle component analysis

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Authors: Chethana V. Casiker, Jagadishakumara B., Sunil G. M., Chaithra K., M. Soubadra Devy

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A majority of the world’s food crops depends on insects for pollination, among which bees are the most dominant taxon. Bees pollinate vegetables, fruits and oilseeds which are rich in essential micronutrients. Besides being a prerequisite for a nutritionally secure diet, agrarian economies such as India depend heavily on pollination for good yield and quality of the product. As cities all over the world expand rapidly, large tracts of green spaces are being built up. This, along with high usage of agricultural chemicals has reduced floral diversity and shrunk bee habitats. Indeed, pollinator decline is being reported from various parts of the world. Further, the FAO has reported a huge increase in the area of land under cultivation of pollinator-dependent crops. In the light of increasing demand for pollination and disappearing natural habitats, it is critical to understand whether and how urban spaces can support pollinators. To this end, this study investigates the influence of landscape and local habitat quality on bee community dynamics. To capture the dynamics of expanding cityscapes, the study employs a space for time substitution, wherein a transect along the gradient of urbanization substitutes a timeframe of increasing urbanization. This will help understand how pollinators would respond to changes induced by increasing intensity of urbanization in the future. Bengaluru, one of the fastest growing cities of Southern India, is an excellent site to study impacts associated with urbanization. With sites moving away from the Bengaluru’s centre and towards its peripheries, this study captures the changes in bee species diversity and richness along a gradient of urbanization. Bees were sampled under different land use types as well as in different types of vegetation, including plantations, croplands, fallow land, parks, lake embankments, and private gardens. The relationship between bee community metrics and key drivers such as a percentage of built-up area, land use practices, and floral resources was examined. Additionally, data collected using questionnaire interviews were used to understand people’s perceptions towards and level of dependence on pollinators. Our results showed that urban areas are capable of supporting bees. In fact, a greater diversity of bees was recorded in urban sites compared to adjoining rural areas. This suggests that bees are able to seek out patchy resources and survive in small fragments of habitat. Bee abundance and species richness correlated positively with floral abundance and richness, indicating the role of vegetation in providing forage and nesting sites which are crucial to their survival. Bee numbers were seen to decrease with increase in built-up area demonstrating that impervious surfaces could act as deterrents. Findings from this study challenge the popular notion of cities being biodiversity-bare spaces. There is indeed scope for conserving bees in urban landscapes, provided that there are city-scale planning and local initiative. Bee conservation can go hand in hand with efforts such as urban gardening and terrace farming that could help cities urbanize sustainably.

Keywords: bee, landscape ecology, urbanization, urban pollination

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Authors: Briony Gray, Glenn Simpson, Hajira Dambha-Miller, Andrew Farmer

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Multimorbidity may be strongly affected by a variety of conditions, factors, and variables requiring higher demands on health and social care services, infrastructure, and expenses. Holding one or more conditions increases one’s risk for development of future conditions; with patients over 65 years old at highest risk. Psychosocial factors such as anxiety and depression are rising exponentially globally, which has been amplified by the COVID19 pandemic. These are highly correlated and predict poorer outcomes when held in coexistence and increase the likelihood of comorbid physical health conditions. While possible future reform of social and healthcare systems may help to alleviate some of these mounting pressures, there remains an urgent need to better understand the potential role health behaviours and psychosocial conditions - such as anxiety and depression – may have on aging populations. Using the UK healthcare scene as a lens for analysis, this study uses big data collected in the UK Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA) to examine the role of anxiety and depression in ageing populations (65yrs+). Using logistic regression modelling, results identify the 10 most significant variables correlated with both anxiety and depression from data categorised into the areas of health behaviour, psychosocial, socioeconomic, and life satisfaction (each demonstrated through literature review to be of significance). These are compared with wider global research findings with the aim of better understanding the areas in which social and healthcare reform can support multimorbidity interventions, making suggestions for improved patient-centred care. Scope of future research is outlined, which includes analysis of 59 total multimorbidity variables from the ELSA dataset, going beyond anxiety and depression.

Keywords: multimorbidity, health behaviours, patient centred care, psychosocial factors

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Authors: Simon Bullem, Ukkpata Mathias Oko

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The trust of this study will investigate the psychological indices and sporting performance among elite athletes in football in 32 teams in the south-south region, of Nigeria. To achieve the aim of the study, five research questions and five hypotheses shall be tested at a 0.05 level of significance that will guide the study. Literature shall be reviewed in line with the sub-independent variables of sporting psychological indices and the dependent variables of elite athlete achievement reactions towards the psychological indices. The ex.post facto survey designed shall be adapted for the study. The population of the study shall be 768 elite athletes from 32 clubs across the south-south region in Nigeria. A sample of 300 elite athletes shall be sampled using a simple random and stratified sampling technique. The questionnaire titled Psychological Indices and Sporting Performance among Elite Athletes in Football (PISPAEAF) will be the mean instrument for data collection. The research question shall be analyzed using the main and standard deviation statistics while the hypotheses shall use the person product moment correlation analysis at 0.5 level of significance finding for implications in sporting psychological indices and elite athletes' performance, which will emanate from the study. Based on the findings, recommendations shall be made.

Keywords: psychological indices, performance, elite athletes, sports, football

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Authors: Susana Marques, Cleide Abreu

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Presently, more than ever, men’s grooming is seen as a broad category. The problem comes when the previous research about male consumer behavior have neglected some aspects in this subject. The purpose of this investigation is to examine the role of celebrity endorsement in men’s grooming communication to Generation Y. After identifying some gaps in the literature, with regard to this contemporary subject, the most important variables were defined in order to develop the investigation and draw conclusions through statistical analysis and validation, about the role celebrity endorsement as source of credibility in men’s grooming communication. According to the design and methodology, this research was sustained through in depth marketing analysis (secondary data), and primary data collection via online questionnaire, whereby 168 male respondents, from Brazil and Portugal, were exposed to some advertisement pieces in order to express their opinion and feelings. The findings reveal all the relationships among the variables, suggested by the literature, have occurred, presenting a significant relationship in terms of Source Credibility scale dimensions – attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. This paper aims to contribute to the existing literature with important conclusions about the role of celebrity endorsement and its credibility in men’s grooming advertisement.

Keywords: communication, celebrity endorsement, men’s grooming, consumer behavior

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Authors: Nurten Akgun, Dilum Dissanayake, Neil Thorpe, Margaret C. Bell

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Cycling has gained a great attention with comparable speeds, low cost, health benefits and reducing the impact on the environment. The main challenge associated with cycling is the provision of safety for the people choosing to cycle as their main means of transport. From the road safety point of view, cyclists are considered as vulnerable road users because they are at higher risk of serious casualty in the urban network but more specifically at roundabouts. This research addresses the development of an enhanced mathematical model by including a broad spectrum of casualty related variables. These variables were geometric design measures (approach number of lanes and entry path radius), speed limit, meteorological condition variables (light, weather, road surface) and socio-demographic characteristics (age and gender), as well as contributory factors. Contributory factors included driver’s behavior related variables such as failed to look properly, sudden braking, a vehicle passing too close to a cyclist, junction overshot, failed to judge other person’s path, restart moving off at the junction, poor turn or manoeuvre and disobeyed give-way. Tyne and Wear in the UK were selected as a case study area. The cyclist casualty data was obtained from UK STATS19 National dataset. The reference categories for the regression model were set to slight and serious cyclist casualties. Therefore, binary logistic regression was applied. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that approach number of lanes was statistically significant at the 95% level of confidence. A higher number of approach lanes increased the probability of severity of cyclist casualty occurrence. In addition, sudden braking statistically significantly increased the cyclist casualty severity at the 95% level of confidence. The result concluded that cyclist casualty severity was highly related to approach a number of lanes and sudden braking. Further research should be carried out an in-depth analysis to explore connectivity of sudden braking and approach number of lanes in order to investigate the driver’s behavior at approach locations. The output of this research will inform investment in measure to improve the safety of cyclists at roundabouts.

Keywords: binary logistic regression, casualty severity, cyclist safety, roundabout

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Authors: Saradiya Mukherjee

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Background: Indian Muslims, compared to their counterparts in other religions, generally do not fare well on many yardsticks related to socio-economic progress and the same is true with maternal health care utilization. Due to low age at marriage a major percentage of child birth is ascribed to young (15-24 years) Muslim mothers in, which pose serious concerns on the maternal health care of Young Married Muslim women (YMMW). A thorough search of past literature on Muslim women’s health and health care reveals that studies in India have mainly focused on religious differences in fertility levels and contraceptive use while the research on the determinants of maternal health care utilization among Muslim women are lacking in India. Data and Methods: Retrieving data from the National Family Health Survey -3 (2005-06) this study attempts to assess the level of utilization and factors effecting three key maternal health indicators (full ANC, safe delivery and PNC) among YMMW (15-24 years) in India. The key socio-economic and demographic variables taken as independent or predictor variables in the study was guided by existing literature particularly for India. Bi-variate analysis and chi square test was applied and variables which were found to be significant were further included in binary logistic regression. Results: The findings of the study reveal abysmally low levels of utilization for all three indicators i.e. full ANC, safe delivery and PNC of maternal health care included in the study. Mother’s education, mass media exposure, women’s autonomy, birth order, economic status wanted status of child and region of residence were found to be significant variables effecting maternal health care utilization among YMMW. Multivariate analysis reveals that no mass media exposure, lower autonomy, education, poor economic background, higher birth order and unintended pregnancy are some of the reasons behind low maternal health care utilization. Conclusion: Considering the low level of safe maternal health care utilization and its proximate determinants among YMMW the study suggests educating Muslim girls, promoting family planning use, involving media and collaboration between religious leader and health care system could be some important policy level interventions to address the unmet need of maternity services among YMMW.

Keywords: young Muslim women, religion, socio-economic condition, antenatal care, delivery, post natal care

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Authors: Byomakesh Debata, Jitendra Mahakud

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The recent financial crisis has been characterized by massive monetary policy interventions by the Central bank, and it has amplified the importance of liquidity for the stability of the stock market. This paper empirically elucidates the actual impact of monetary policy interventions on stock market liquidity covering all National Stock Exchange (NSE) Stocks, which have been traded continuously from 2002 to 2015. The present study employs a multivariate VAR model along with VAR-granger causality test, impulse response functions, block exogeneity test, and variance decomposition to analyze the direction as well as the magnitude of the relationship between monetary policy and market liquidity. Our analysis posits a unidirectional relationship between monetary policy (call money rate, base money growth rate) and aggregate market liquidity (traded value, turnover ratio, Amihud illiquidity ratio, turnover price impact, high-low spread). The impulse response function analysis clearly depicts the influence of monetary policy on stock liquidity for every unit innovation in monetary policy variables. Our results suggest that an expansionary monetary policy increases aggregate stock market liquidity and the reverse is documented during the tightening of monetary policy. To ascertain whether our findings are consistent across all periods, we divided the period of study as pre-crisis (2002 to 2007) and post-crisis period (2007-2015) and ran the same set of models. Interestingly, all liquidity variables are highly significant in the post-crisis period. However, the pre-crisis period has witnessed a moderate predictability of monetary policy. To check the robustness of our results we ran the same set of VAR models with different monetary policy variables and found the similar results. Unlike previous studies, we found most of the liquidity variables are significant throughout the sample period. This reveals the predictability of monetary policy on aggregate market liquidity. This study contributes to the existing body of literature by documenting a strong predictability of monetary policy on stock liquidity in an emerging economy with an order driven market making system like India. Most of the previous studies have been carried out in developing economies with quote driven or hybrid market making system and their results are ambiguous across different periods. From an eclectic sense, this study may be considered as a baseline study to further find out the macroeconomic determinants of liquidity of stocks at individual as well as aggregate level.

Keywords: market liquidity, monetary policy, order driven market, VAR, vector autoregressive model

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Authors: Apra Sinha

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The inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) demonstrates(pollution-income relationship)that initially the pollution and environmental degradation surpass the level of income per capita; however this trend reverses since at the higher income levels, economic growth initiates environmental upgrading. However, what effect does increased environmental degradation has on growth is the missing feedback link which has not been addressed in the EKC hypothesis. This paper examines the missing feedback link in EKC hypothesis in Indian context by examining the casual association between fossil fuel consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth for India. Fossil fuel consumption here has been taken as a proxy of driver of economic growth. The casual association between the aforementioned variables has been analyzed using five interventions namely 1) urban development for which urbanization has been taken proxy 2) industrial development for which industrial value added has been taken proxy 3) trade liberalization for which sum of exports and imports as a share of GDP has been taken as proxy 4)financial development for which a)domestic credit to private sector and b)net foreign assets has been taken as proxies. The choice of interventions for this study has been done keeping in view the economic liberalization perspective of India. The main aim of the paper is to investigate the missing feedback link for Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis before and after incorporating the intervening variables. The period of study is from 1971 to 2011 as it covers pre and post liberalization era in India. All the data has been taken from World Bank country level indicators. The Johansen and Juselius cointegration testing methodology and Error Correction based Granger causality have been applied on all the variables. The results clearly show that out of five interventions, only in two interventions the missing feedback link is being addressed. This paper can put forward significant policy implications for environment protection and sustainable development.

Keywords: environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis, fossil fuel consumption, industrialization, trade liberalization, urbanization

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Authors: Sunil M. Gaikwad, Yogesh J. Koli, Gopal A. Raut, Ganesh P. Bhawane

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The present investigation was directed to study the diversity of short-horned grasshoppers from a forested area of Kolhapur district, Maharashtra, India, which is spread along the hilly terrain of the Northern Western Ghats. The collection was made during 2013 to 2015, and identified with the help of a reference collection of ZSI, Kolkata, and recent literature and dry preserved. The study resulted in the enumeration of 40 species of short-horned grasshoppers belonging to four families of suborder: Caelifera. The family Acrididae was dominant (27 species) followed by Tetrigidae (eight species), Pyrgomorphidae (four species) and Chorotypidae (one species). The report of 40 species from the forest habitat of the study region highlights the significance of the Western Ghats. Ecologically, short-horned grasshoppers are integral to food chains, being consumed by a wide variety of animals. The observations of the present investigation may prove useful for conservation of the Diversity in Northern Western Ghats.

Keywords: diversity, Kolhapur, northern western Ghats, short-horned grasshoppers

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Authors: Gayathri P. Nair

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The focus of this study is to identify whether the board structure has any significant impact on the firm performance and finding out any evidence of being listed in the Fortune 500 list compiled and published by the American business magazine, Fortune and published globally by Time Inc., as the world’s wealthiest companies. The list has been released based on the ranking obtained for the total revenues for the respective fiscal year which has ended on or before March 31st. The study has been conducted on the Indian companies that were listed in the Fortune 500 list for the past 10 years. This study employs a logical regression between the variables, firm performance and board composition as mentioned in the clause 49 of companies act 1956 and 2013. For getting the firm performance, ROA has selected as the key performance metric, as it focuses the management attention on the assets required to run the business. The highlight of the study is that the tools had been applied between public and private sector firms so that, it reveals whether the board composition is helping out to maintain the position in the list. In addition, the findings reveal that apart from independent directors, all other variables have significant impact on firm performance.

Keywords: board structure, Fortune 500 company, firm performance, India

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Authors: Adriano Z. Zambom, Preethi Ravikumar

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One of the biggest challenges in nonparametric regression is the curse of dimensionality. Additive models are known to overcome this problem by estimating only the individual additive effects of each covariate. However, if the model is misspecified, the accuracy of the estimator compared to the fully nonparametric one is unknown. In this work the efficiency of completely nonparametric regression estimators such as the Loess is compared to the estimators that assume additivity in several situations, including additive and non-additive regression scenarios. The comparison is done by computing the oracle mean square error of the estimators with regards to the true nonparametric regression function. Then, a backward elimination selection procedure based on the Akaike Information Criteria is proposed, which is computed from either the additive or the nonparametric model. Simulations show that if the additive model is misspecified, the percentage of time it fails to select important variables can be higher than that of the fully nonparametric approach. A dimension reduction step is included when nonparametric estimator cannot be computed due to the curse of dimensionality. Finally, the Boston housing dataset is analyzed using the proposed backward elimination procedure and the selected variables are identified.

Keywords: additive model, nonparametric regression, variable selection, Akaike Information Criteria

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Authors: Liang-Hsuan Chen, Sheng-Shing Nien

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This study aims to develop approaches to formulate intuitionistic fuzzy regression (IFR) models for many decision-making applications in the fuzzy environments using intuitionistic fuzzy observations. Intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IFNs) are used to characterize the fuzzy input and output variables in the IFR formulation processes. A mathematical programming problem (MPP) is built up to optimally determine the IFR parameters. Each parameter in the MPP is defined as a couple of alternative numerical variables with opposite signs, and an intuitionistic fuzzy error term is added to the MPP to characterize the uncertainty of the model. The IFR model is formulated based on the distance measure to minimize the total distance errors between estimated and observed intuitionistic fuzzy responses in the MPP resolution processes. The proposed approaches are simple/efficient in the formulation/resolution processes, in which the sign of parameters can be determined so that the problem to predetermine the sign of parameters is avoided. Furthermore, the proposed approach has the advantage that the spread of the predicted IFN response will not be over-increased, since the parameters in the established IFR model are crisp. The performance of the obtained models is evaluated and compared with the existing approaches.

Keywords: fuzzy sets, intuitionistic fuzzy number, intuitionistic fuzzy regression, mathematical programming method

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Authors: Paolo Russu

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This paper investigates the economic and ecological dynamics that emerge in Protected Areas (PAs) due to interactions between visitors and the animals that live there. The PAs contain two species whose interactions are determined by the Lotka-Volterra equations system. Visitors' decisions to visit PAs are influenced by the entrance cost required to enter the park and the chance of witnessing the species living there. Visitors have contradictory effects on the species and thus on the sustainability of the protected areas: on the one hand, an increase in the number of tourists damages the natural habitat of the regions and thus the species living there; on the other hand, it increases the total amount of entrance fees that the managing body of the PAs can use to perform defensive expenditures that protect the species from extinction. For a given set of parameter values, saddle-node bifurcation, Hopf bifurcation, homoclinic orbits, and a Bogdanov–Takens bifurcation of codimension two has been investigated. The system displays periodic doubling and chaotic solutions, as numerical examples demonstrate. Pontryagin's Maximum Principle was utilised to develop an optimal admission charge policy that maximised social gain and ecosystem conservation.

Keywords: chaos, bifurcation points, dynamical model, optimal control

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