Search results for: variance inflation factor (VIF)

Authors: Camille Rault, Mark Bahr

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The aim of the present study was to develop a contemporaneous instrument measuring adolescent’s subjective well-being (SWB). The instrument development underwent a three-phase pilot study. Phase one (N = 31) used a qualitative approach to generate domains of SWB relevant to adolescents. During the second phase (N = 22), items were tested targeting these domains. Finally, the third phase (N = 22) assisted in addition, deletion and refinement according to the first two phases of the pilot. A total of 49 items were retained for the final version of the instrument. The Contemporary Adolescent Well-Being Scale (CAWBS) was administered to 1071 school children (599 girls) aged between ten to 18 years old (M = 14,70; SD = 1.45) from Queensland, Australia. Results confirmed the seven-factor construct hypothesized and explained 45% of the variance. The questionnaire pertained to seven domains of adolescent’s SWB, namely; Overall life satisfaction; Bullying; Body image; Social connectedness; Activities; Control appraisal; and Negative feelings. Reliability was shown to be acceptable with Cronbach’s alpha ranging from .58 to .89. Future research should refine the CAWBS and investigate the psychometric properties of this instrument.

Keywords: adolescence, construct validity, instrument, subjective well-being

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Authors: Gabriela Silva-Maceda, Silvia Romero-Contreras

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Spanish is a more transparent language than English given that it has more direct correspondences between sounds and letters. It has become important to understand how decoding and linguistic comprehension contribute to reading comprehension in the framework of the widely known Simple View Model. This study aimed to identify the level of prediction by these two components in a sample of 1st to 4th grade children attending two schools in central Mexico (one public and one private). Within each school, ten children were randomly selected in each grade level, and their parents were asked about reading habits and socioeconomic information. In total, 79 children completed three standardized tests measuring decoding (pseudo-word reading), linguistic comprehension (understanding of paragraphs) and reading comprehension using subtests from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Spanish, Fourth Edition, and the Test de Lectura y Escritura en Español (LEE). The data were analyzed using hierarchical regression, with decoding as a first step and linguistic comprehension as a second step. Results showed that decoding accounted for 19.2% of the variance in reading comprehension, while linguistic comprehension accounted for an additional 10%, adding up to 29.2% of variance explained: F (2, 75)= 15.45, p <.001. Socioeconomic status derived from parental questionnaires showed a statistically significant association with the type of school attended, X2 (3, N= 79) = 14.33, p =.002. Nonetheless when analyzing the Simple View components, only decoding differences were statistically significant (t = -6.92, df = 76.81, p < .001, two-tailed); reading comprehension differences were also significant (t = -3.44, df = 76, p = .001, two-tailed). When socioeconomic status was included in the model, it predicted a 5.9% unique variance, even when already accounting for Simple View components, adding to a 35.1% total variance explained. This three-predictor model was also significant: F (3, 72)= 12.99, p <.001. In addition, socioeconomic status was significantly correlated with the amount of non-textbook books parents reported to have at home for both adults (rho = .61, p<.001) and children (rho= .47, p<.001). Results converge with a large body of literature finding socioeconomic differences in reading comprehension; in addition this study suggests that these differences were also present in decoding skills. Although linguistic comprehension differences between schools were expected, it is argued that the test used to collect this variable was not sensitive to linguistic differences, since it came from a test to diagnose clinical language disabilities. Even with this caveat, results show that the components of the Simple View Model can predict less than a third of the variance in reading comprehension in Spanish. However, the results also suggest that a fuller model of reading comprehension is obtained when considering the family’s socioeconomic status, given the potential differences shown by the socioeconomic status association with books at home, factors that are particularly important in countries where inequality gaps are relatively large.

Keywords: decoding, linguistic comprehension, reading comprehension, simple view model, socioeconomic status, Spanish

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Authors: Omogoriola Hannah Omoloye

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Fish is a key ingredient on the global menu, a vital factor in the global environment and an important basis for livelihood worldwide1. The length – weight relationships (LWRs) is of great importance in fishery assessment2,3. Its importance is pronounced in estimated the average weight at a given length group4 and in assessing the relative well being of a fish population5. Length and weight measurement in conjunction with age data can give information on the stock composition, age at maturity, life span, mortality, growth and production4,5,6,7. In addition, the data on length and weight can also provides important clues to climatic and environmental changes and the change in human consumption practices8,9. However, the size attained by the individual fish may also vary because of variation in food supply, and these in turn may reflect variation in climatic parameters and in the supply of nutrient or in the degree of competition for food. Environment deterioration, for example, may reduce growth rates and will cause a decrease in the average age of the fish. The condition factor and the relative condition factor10 are the quantitative parameters of the well being state of the fish and reflect recent feeding condition of the fish. It is based on the hypothesis that heavier fish of a given length are in better condition11. This factor varies according to influences of physiological factors, fluctuating according to different stages of the development. Condition factor has been used as an index of growth and feeding intensity12. Condition factor decrease with increase in length 12,13 and also influences the reproductive cycle in fish14. The objective here is to determine the length-weight relationships and condition factor for direct use in fishery assessment and for future comparisons between populations of the same species at different locations. To provide quantitative information on the biology of marine fish species trawl from Nigeria coastal water.

Keywords: condition factor, growth pattern, marine fish species, Nigerian Coastal water

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Authors: Petr Květon, Martin Jelínek

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We try to identify the role of various aspects of parenting style in the phenomenon of videogame playing addiction. Relevant self-report questionnaires were part of a wider set of methods focused on the constructs related to videogame playing. The battery of methods was administered in school settings in paper and pencil form. The research sample consisted of 333 (166 males, 167 females) elementary and high school students at the age between 10 and 19 years (m=14.98, sd=1.77). Using stepwise regression analysis, we assessed the influence of demographic variables (gender and age) and parenting styles. Age and gender together explained 26.3% of game addiction variance (F(2,330)=58.81, p<.01). By adding four aspect of parenting styles (inconsistency, involvement, control, and warmth) another 10.2% of variance was explained (∆F(4,326)=13.09, p<.01). The significant predictor was gender of the respondent, where males scored higher on game addiction scale (B=0.70, p<.01), age (β=-0.18, p<.01), where younger children showed higher level of addiction, and parental inconsistency (β=0.30, p<.01), where the higher the inconsistency in upbringing, the more developed game playing addiction.

Keywords: gender, parenting styles, video games, addiction

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Authors: Handan Alan, Ulkü Baykal

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Personal characteristics help people understand and recognize both themselves and other people. They are also known to have direct effects on managerial behaviors. Managers’ personalities indicate how they think, perceive reality and relate to others, and affect their decision-making and problem-solving methods. This descriptive study aims to determine the personal characteristics of nurse managers and the personal and professional factors that affect them since sufficient data does not exist on personal characteristics despite the focus on the leadership and managerial characteristics in nursing. The study population consisted of nurses working in administrative positions at hospitals affiliated with the public hospitals union, research and practice hospitals affiliated with universities and private hospitals in cities in the Marmara Region. The study sample consisted of nurse managers working in the hospitals that permitted conducting the study (excluding private branch hospitals). The data were collected after obtaining the approval of the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (Approval date: 1.7.2015, Decision No: 2015-01) and written official permissions from the administrations of the hospitals included in the study. The data analysis was carried out using means and standard deviations (SD) as descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance for inter-group comparisons and the independent samples t-test for paired group comparisons. A significance threshold of p < 0.05 was used to evaluate the findings. The data were collected using the Five Factor Personality Inventory. The study included 900 nurse managers, who obtained the highest mean score on the conscientiousness dimension (X=4.22 ±0.35). This dimension was followed by their mean scores on the agreeableness (X=4.06±0.40), intelligence (X=4.05±0.37), extroversion (X=3.50±0.43), and emotional instability (X=2.07±0.53) dimensions. Statistically significant differences were found between the independent variables of age, gender, marital status, education level, work institution, professional experience, institutional experience, managerial experience, administrative position, work unit and managerial education when compared using the five factor personality inventory (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the nurse managers described themselves having high conscientiousness. Statistically significant differences were found between the five factor personality inventory mean scores and their personal and professional characteristics.

Keywords: nurse manager, personality, personal characteristics, professional characteristics

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Authors: Merve Begum Terzi, Orhan Arikan, Adnan Abaci, Mustafa Candemir

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Acute myocardial infarction is a major cause of death in the world. Therefore, its fast and reliable diagnosis is a major clinical need. ECG is the most important diagnostic methodology which is used to make decisions about the management of the cardiovascular diseases. In patients with acute myocardial ischemia, temporary chest pains together with changes in ST segment and T wave of ECG occur shortly before the start of myocardial infarction. In this study, a technique which detects changes in ST/T sections of ECG is developed for the early diagnosis of acute myocardial ischemia. For this purpose, a database of real ECG recordings that contains a set of records from 75 patients presenting symptoms of chest pain who underwent elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is constituted. 12-lead ECG’s of the patients were recorded before and during the PCI procedure. Two ECG epochs, which are the pre-inflation ECG which is acquired before any catheter insertion and the occlusion ECG which is acquired during balloon inflation, are analyzed for each patient. By using pre-inflation and occlusion recordings, ECG features that are critical in the detection of acute myocardial ischemia are identified and the most discriminative features for the detection of acute myocardial ischemia are extracted. A classification technique based on support vector machine (SVM) approach operating with linear and radial basis function (RBF) kernels to detect ischemic events by using ST-T derived joint features from non-ischemic and ischemic states of the patients is developed. The dataset is randomly divided into training and testing sets and the training set is used to optimize SVM hyperparameters by using grid-search method and 10fold cross-validation. SVMs are designed specifically for each patient by tuning the kernel parameters in order to obtain the optimal classification performance results. As a result of implementing the developed classification technique to real ECG recordings, it is shown that the proposed technique provides highly reliable detections of the anomalies in ECG signals. Furthermore, to develop a detection technique that can be used in the absence of ECG recording obtained during healthy stage, the detection of acute myocardial ischemia based on ECG recordings of the patients obtained during ischemia is also investigated. For this purpose, a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is used to represent the joint pdf of the most discriminating ECG features of myocardial ischemia. Then, a Neyman-Pearson type of approach is developed to provide detection of outliers that would correspond to acute myocardial ischemia. Neyman – Pearson decision strategy is used by computing the average log likelihood values of ECG segments and comparing them with a range of different threshold values. For different discrimination threshold values and number of ECG segments, probability of detection and probability of false alarm values are computed, and the corresponding ROC curves are obtained. The results indicate that increasing number of ECG segments provide higher performance for GMM based classification. Moreover, the comparison between the performances of SVM and GMM based classification showed that SVM provides higher classification performance results over ECG recordings of considerable number of patients.

Keywords: ECG classification, Gaussian mixture model, Neyman–Pearson approach, support vector machine

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Authors: F. Gökgöz, M. E. Atmaca

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Electricity plays an indispensable role in human life and the economy. It is a unique product or service that must be balanced instantaneously, as electricity is not stored, generation and consumption should be proportional. Effective and efficient use of electricity is very important not only for society, but also for the environment. A competitive electricity market is one of the best ways to provide a suitable platform for effective and efficient use of electricity. On the other hand, it carries some risks that should be carefully managed by the market players. Risk management is an essential part in market players’ decision making. In this paper, risk management through diversification is applied with the help of Markowitz’s Mean-variance, Down-side and Semi-variance methods for a case study. Performance of optimal electricity sale solutions are measured and evaluated via Sharpe-Ratio, and the optimal portfolio solutions are improved. Two years of historical weekdays’ price data of the Turkish Day Ahead Market are used to demonstrate the approach.

Keywords: electricity market, portfolio optimization, risk management in electricity market, sharpe ratio

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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: Chutikarn Sriwiboon

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The purposes of this paper were to study the production problems of basketry in the central region and to study the development of potential in skilled labourers in producing basketry in three provinces: Suphanburi, Ayuthaya, and Aungthong. A quota sampling was utilized to get 486 respondents from 243 basketry communities that were registered with OTOP project. A focus group was also used with a connoisseurship model to study knowledge and factors that related to the development of potential in skilled labourers in producing basketry. The findings revealed that the process getting service is the major problem for customers to get service. Also, there should be more of a variety of knowledge for customers. In terms of technology, the variety of information was rated as the most important problem. In terms staff's ability, the knowledge of staff was the most important problem. For the development of potential in high skilled labours for basketry, the findings revealed that having proper tools was considered the most important factor. In terms of economy, the findings revealed that the basketry job must provide sufficient income was considered the most important factor. In terms of using natural resources, efficiency is the most important factor. In terms of mentality, integrity is the most important factor. Finally, in terms of society and culture, help in the local activities is the most important factor.

Keywords: basketry, development, potential, skilled labours

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Authors: Yakup Sahin, Naim Suleyman Ting, Ismail Aksoy

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A 1 kW power factor correction boost converter with an active snubber cell is presented in this paper. In the converter, the main switch turns on under zero voltage transition (ZVT) and turns off under zero current transition (ZCT) without any additional voltage or current stress. The auxiliary switch turns on and off under zero current switching (ZCS). Besides, the main diode turns on under ZVS and turns off under ZCS. The output current and voltage are controlled by the PFC converter in wide line and load range. The simulation results of converter are obtained for 1 kW and 100 kHz. One of the most important feature of the given converter is that it has direct power transfer as well as excellent soft switching techniques. Also, the converter has 0.99 power factor with the sinusoidal input current shape.

Keywords: power factor correction, direct power transfer, zero-voltage transition, zero-current transition, soft switching

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Authors: Azizah Nurdin, Trika Irianta, Mardiah Tahir, Maisuri T. Chalid

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Background: Studies of anal incontinence in the general population are rare however its financial healthcare cost is significant. Women attended Hasanuddin University Teaching Hospital and its networking in Makassar, Indonesia was surveyed between February to April 2015 about their obstetrical and gynecological history. Aims: To establish obstetrical risk factor of anal incontinence among women in Makassar. Methods: In a cross sectional face to face interview study, 135 women aged 30 years or more were selected randomly. Participants were asked to complete an anal incontinence questionnaire. Results: From a total sample of 135 respondents, 42,2 % reported has flatulence incontinence. Parity, history of anal sphincter laceration, history of having large baby, history of assisted vaginal delivery were shown have no significant association with anal incontinence, while history of episiotomy was shown have a significant association with anal incontinence (p value < 0.05). The risk of flatulence incontinence was higher among women with history of episiotomy (OR : 2,85, 95 % CI = 1,58- 5,13) Conclusions: This study has confirmed that fecal incontinence is a fairly common symptom. Flatulence incontinence is the most frequent even. An obstetrical factor like episiotomy is one of risk factor that could be avoided in order to prevent anal incontinence.

Keywords: anal incontinence, flatulence incontinence, obstetrical risk factor, women

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Authors: Mohamed A. Morsy, Azza A. K. El-Sheikh, Abdulla Y. Al-Taher

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The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of resveratrol (RES) on methotrexate (MTX)-induced testicular damage. RES (10 mg/kg/day) was given for 8 days orally and MTX (20 mg/kg i.p.) was given at day 4 of experiment, with or without RES in rats. MTX decreased serum testosterone, induced histopathological testicular damage, increased testicular tumor necrosis factor-α level and expression of nuclear factor-κB and cyclooxygenase-2. In MTX/RES group, significant reversal of these parameters was noticed, compared to MTX group. Testicular expression of multidrug resistance protein (Mrp) 3 was three- and five-folds higher in RES- and MTX/RES-treated groups, respectively. In vitro, using prostate cancer cells, each of MTX and RES alone induced cytotoxicity with IC50 0.18 ± 0.08 and 20.5 ± 3.6 µM, respectively. RES also significantly enhanced cytotoxicity of MTX. In conclusion, RES appears to have dual beneficial effect, as it promotes MTX tumor cytotoxicity, while protecting the testes, probably via up-regulation of testicular Mrp3 as a novel mechanism.

Keywords: resveratrol, methotrexate, multidrug resistance protein 3, tumor necrosis factor-α, nuclear factor-κB, cyclooxygenase-2

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Authors: Mandeep Kumar, Hari Singh

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The effective optimization of machining process parameters affects dramatically the cost and production time of machined components as well as the quality of the final products. This paper presents the optimization aspects of a Wire Electrical Discharge Machining operation using Inconel X-750 as work material. The objective considered in this study is minimization of the dimensional deviation. Six input process parameters of WEDM namely spark gap voltage, pulse-on time, pulse-off time, wire feed rate, peak current and wire tension, were chosen as variables to study the process performance. Taguchi's design of experiments methodology has been used for planning and designing the experiments. The analysis of variance was carried out for raw data as well as for signal to noise ratio. Four input parameters and one two-factor interaction have been found to be statistically significant for their effects on the response of interest. The confirmation experiments were also performed for validating the predicted results.

Keywords: ANOVA, DOE, inconel, machining, optimization

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Authors: Seyyed Abolhasan Naeini, Ehsan Azini

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In this paper, we consider the stability of a slope of 10 meters in silty gravel soils with modeling in the Geostudio Software.  we intend to use the parameters of the volumetric water content and suction dependent permeability and provides relationships and graphs using the parameters obtained from gradation tests and Atterberg’s limits. Also, different conditions of the soil will be investigated, including: checking the factor of safety and deformation rates and pore water pressure in drained, non-drained and unsaturated conditions, as well as the effect of reducing the water level on other parameters. For this purpose, it is assumed that the groundwater level is at a depth of 2 meters from the ground.  Then, with decreasing water level, the safety factor of slope stability was investigated and it was observed that with decreasing water level, the safety factor increased.

Keywords: slope stability analysis, factor of safety, matric suction, unsaturated silty gravel soil

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Authors: P. Mendes, H. Stel, R. E. M. Morales

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This article presents a numerical and experimental study of turbulent flow in corrugated pipes with helically “d-type" grooves, for Reynolds numbers between 7500 and 100,000. The ANSYS-CFX software is used to solve the RANS equations with the BSL two equation turbulence model, through the element-based finite-volume method approach. Different groove widths and helix angles are considered. Numerical results are validated with experimental pressure drop measurements for the friction factor. A correlation for the friction factor is also proposed considering the geometric parameters and Reynolds numbers evaluated.

Keywords: turbulent flow, corrugated pipe, helical, numerical, experimental, friction factor, correlation

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Authors: Abdullah Pandang, Mantasiah Rivai, Nur Fadhilah Umar, Azam Arifyadi

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This study aims to measure the validity of the politeness behaviour scale and obtain a model that fits the scale. The researcher developed the Politeness Behavior on Communicating (PBC) scale. The research method uses descriptive quantitative by developing the PBC scale. The population in this study were students in three provinces, namely South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, and Central Sulawesi, recorded in the 2022/2023 academic year. The sampling technique used stratified random sampling by determining the number of samples using the Slovin formula. The sample of this research is 1200 students. This research instrument uses the PBC scale, which consists of 5 (five) indicators: self-regulation of compensation behaviour, self-efficacy of compensation behaviour, fulfilment of social expectations, positive feedback, and no strings attached. The PBC scale consists of 34 statement items. The data analysis technique is divided into two types: the validity test on the correlated item values and the item reliability test referring to Cronbach's and McDonald's alpha standards using the JASP application. Furthermore, the data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The results showed that the adaptation of the Politeness Behavior on Communicating (PBC) scale was on the Fit Index with a chi-square value (711,800/375), RMSEA (0.53), GFI (0.990), CFI (0.987), GFI (0.985).

Keywords: polite behavior in communicating, positive communication, exploration factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis

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Authors: Josip Arneric, Blanka Skrabic Peric

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Forecasting of volatility, i.e. returns fluctuations, has been a topic of interest to portfolio managers, option traders and market makers in order to get higher profits or less risky positions. Based on the fact that volatility is time varying in high frequency data and that periods of high volatility tend to cluster, the most common used models are GARCH type models. As standard GARCH models show high volatility persistence, i.e. integrated behaviour of the conditional variance, it is difficult the predict volatility using standard GARCH models. Due to practical limitations of these models different approaches have been proposed in the literature, based on Markov switching models. In such situations models in which the parameters are allowed to change over time are more appropriate because they allow some part of the model to depend on the state of the economy. The empirical analysis demonstrates that Markov switching GARCH model resolves the problem of excessive persistence and outperforms uni-regime GARCH models in forecasting volatility for selected emerging markets.

Keywords: emerging markets, Markov switching, GARCH model, transition probabilities

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Authors: Kiyanoush Ghalavand

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Aquaculture production is inherently a risky business, and farmers face a variety of weather, pest, disease, inptut supply, and market related risks. There are many factors out farmers control and unpredictable. Insurance has an important role in aquaculture production and is a tool to support farmers against threats. Investigation of factors affecting aquaculture farmers' adoption of aquaculture insurance strategy was the objective of this study. The purpose of this study was determining the related factors to adoption of insurance by aquaculture farmers in Khuzestan province, Iran. The research design was a descriptive and correlation surveying method. Aquaculture farmers in Khuzestan province were the target population for this study. A random sample of aquaculture selected (N=1830, n =139). The main result of the study reveled that exist correlation between the level of education, knowledge about purpose of insurance, participation in extension course, visit with insurance organization, and contact with extension agents to the adoption of insurance by aquaculture farmers were significantly positive. By using Bartlett's test and KMO test, determine whether research variables are appropriate for factor analysis (Sig = 0.000, Bartlett test = 0.9724, KMO = 0.74). The number of factors was determined using a split plot, eigenvalue, and percent of variance. An examination of the items and their factors loadings was used to understand the nature of the nine factors. To reduce subjectivity, items with factor loading equal to or greater than 0.5 were considered most important when factors were labeled. The nine factors were labeled (1) Extension and education activities, (2) Economical characteristics, (3) Governmental support, (4) communicational channel, (5) local leaders, (6) Facilitate in given damage (7) Motivation establishing, (8) Given damage in appropriate methods and (9) Appropriate activities by insurance organization. The results obtained from the factors analysis reveal that the nine factors explain percentage75 of the variation of the adoption of insurance of the adoption of insurance by aquaculture farmers in Khuzestan province.

Keywords: aquaculture farmers, insurance, factorial analysis, Khuzestan province, risks

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Authors: Seyed Mohammad Nasir Mousavi, Pasha Hejazi, Maryam Ebrahimian Dehkordi

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In order to study the Mutual effect of genotype × environment for the percent of oil index in sunflower items, an experiment was accomplished in form of complete random block designs in four iteration in four diverse researching station comprising Esfahan, Birjand, Sari, and Karaj. Complex variance analysis showed that there is an important diversity between the items under investigation. The results pertaining the coefficient variation of items Azargol and Vidoc has respectively allocated the minimum coefficient of variations. According to the results extrapolated from Shokla stability variance, the Items Brocar, Allison and Fabiola, are among the stable genotypes for oil percent respectively. in the biplot GGE, the location under investigations divided in two super-environment, first one comprised of locations naming Esfahan, Karaj, and Birjand, and second one were such a location as Sari. By this point of view, in the first super-environment, the Item Fabiola and in the second Almanzor item was among the best items and crops.

Keywords: sunflower, stability, GGE bipilot, super-environment

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Authors: Fekadu Gadissa, Kassahun Tesfaye, Kifle Dagne, Mulatu Geleta

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‘Ethiopian dinich’ also called ‘Ethiopian potato’ is one of the economically important ‘orphan’ edible tuber crops indigenous to Ethiopia. We evaluated the morphological and agronomic traits performances of 174 samples from Ethiopia at multiple locations using 12 qualitative and 16 quantitative traits, recorded at the correct growth stages. We observed several morphotypes and phenotypic variations for qualitative traits along with a wide range of mean performance values for all quantitative traits. Analysis of variance for each quantitative trait showed a highly significant (p<0.001) variation among the collections with eventually non-significant variation for environment-traits interaction for all but flower length. A comparatively high phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation was observed for plant height, days to flower initiation, days to 50% flowering and tuber number per hill. Moreover, the variability and coefficients of variation due to genotype-environment interaction was nearly zero for all the traits except flower length. High genotypic coefficients of variation coupled with a high estimate of broad sense heritability and high genetic advance as a percent of collection mean were obtained for tuber weight per hill, number of primary branches per plant, tuber number per hill and number of plants per hill. Association of tuber yield per hectare of land showed a large magnitude of positive phenotypic and genotypic correlation with those traits. Principal components analysis revealed 76% of the total variation for the first six principal axes with high factor loadings again from tuber number per hill, number of primary branches per plant and tuber weight. The collections were grouped into four clusters with the weak region (zone) of origin based pattern. In general, there is high genetic-based variability for ‘Ethiopian dinich’ improvement and conservation. DNA based markers are recommended for further genetic diversity estimation for use in breeding and conservation.

Keywords: agro-morphological traits, Ethiopian dinich, genetic diversity, variance components

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Authors: Semra Çoruh, Yusuf Tibet

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Dyes are widely used in industries such as textiles, paper, paints, leather, rubber, plastics, cosmetics, food, and drug etc, to color their products. Due to their chemical structures, dyes are resistant to fading on exposure to light, water and many chemicals and, therefore, are difficult to be decolorized once released into the aquatic environment. Many of the organic dyes are hazardous and may affect aquatic life and even the food chain. This study deals with the adsorption of malachite green dye onto fly ash and red mud. The effects of experimental factors (adsorbent dosage, initial concentration, pH and temperature) on the adsorption process were examined by using 24 full factorial design. The results were statistically analyzed by using the student’s t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and an F-test to define important experimental factors and their levels. A regression model that considers the significant main and interaction effects was suggested. The results showed that initial dye concentration an pH is the most significant factor that affects the removal of malachite green.

Keywords: malachite green, adsorption, red mud, fly ash, full factorial design

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Authors: Sukaesi Marianti

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This study aims to develop the Relational Mobility Scale for the Indonesian population and to investigate its psychometric properties. New items of the scale were created taking into account the Indonesian population which consists of two parallel forms (A and A’). This study uses 30 newly orchestrated items while keeping in mind the characteristics of the targeted population. The scale was administered to 433 public high school students in Malang, Indonesia. Construct validity of its factor structure was demonstrated using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The result exhibits that he model fits the data, and that the delayed alternate form method shows acceptable result. Results yielded that 21 items of the three-dimensional Relational Mobility Scale is suitable for measuring relational mobility in high school students of Indonesian population.

Keywords: confirmatory factor analysis, delayed alternate form, Indonesian population, relational mobility scale

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Authors: Mohammad J. Mortazavi, Arvin Najafi, Pejman Mansouri

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Hemophilia A is simply described as deficiency of factor VIII(FVIII) and patients with this disorder have bleeding complications in different organs. By using the recombinant factor VIII in these patients, elective orthopedic surgeries have been done approximately in 40 last years. About 10-30 % of these patients have bleeding complications in their surgeries even by using recombinant factor VIII because of their inhibitor against FVIII molecule. Preoperative haemostatic management in these patients is challenging. We treated a 28-year-old male patient with hemophilia A with FVIII inhibitor which had been detected when he was14 years old (with the titer 54 Bethesda unit(BU)) scheduled for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). We use 90 µg/kg rFVIIa just before the surgery and every 2 hours during surgery. The patient did not have any significant hemorrhage during the surgery and after that. For the 2 days after surgery, the rFVIIa repeated every 2 hours as the same as preoperative dosage(90 µg/kg) and for another 2 days of postoperative admission it continued every 4 hours. After 4th day, the rFVIIa continued every 6 hours with the same dosage until the sixth day from the surgery, and finally the patient were discharged about two weeks after surgery. Seven days after the discharge, he came back for the follow up visit. On the follow up examination, the site of the surgery had neither infection hemarthroses signs.

Keywords: hemophilia, factor VIII inhibitor, total knee replacement, rFVIIa

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Authors: Sania K. Rao, Feza T. Azmi

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The purpose of the present study is to explore the relationship between time management behaviour and job satisfaction of academicians of higher education institutes in India. The analyses of this study were carried out with AMOS (version 20.0); and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) were conducted. The factor analysis and findings show that perceived control of time serves as the partial mediating factor to have a significant and positive influence on job satisfaction. Further, at the end, a number of suggestions to improve one’s time management behaviour were provided.

Keywords: time management behaviour, job satisfaction, higher education, India, mediation analysis

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Authors: Janet Tolulope Olaseni

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Emotional well-being in adolescents is an important psychological factor that can enhance positive living, but if it is not well groomed, it can have adverse impacts on their development. Therefore, the present study examined the efficacy of psycho-education on the emotional well-being of adolescents who are visually impaired in Nigeria. A total of twenty-eight (28) participants, which comprisednineteen (19) males and nine (9) females (M=15.82, SD=2.23) from a Nigerian School for the Blind, participated in the quasi-experimental study. Randomized clinical trial designwas used to assigned the participants into three (Complete Psycho-education, Incomplete Psycho-education, and No Psycho-education) groups. Standardized scales were used to gather data from the respondents. The formulated hypotheses were tested using Dependent T-Test and Analysis of Co-Variance. The results showed that there was a significant effect of Psycho-education on the emotional well-being of the Visually Impaired Adolescents. Those who received complete Psycho-educationhad the highest level of emotional well-being compared to those in the other groups. In order to enhance the emotional well-being of the Visually Impaired Adolescents, the study recommended that complete Psycho-education programme should be incorporated into the school activities of the Visually Impaired Adolescents.

Keywords: emotional well-being, psycho-education, visually impaired adolescents, Nigeria

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Authors: Abderahman Efhialelbum

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The period since the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, and the collapse of the former Soviet Union in December 1985 has seen a major change in the economies and labour markets of Eastern Europe. The events also had reverberating effects across Asia and South America and parts of Africa, including Libya. This article examines the typologies and the models of transition economies. Also, it sheds light on the Libyan transition in particular and the impact of Qadhafi’s regime on the transition process. Finally, it illustrates how the Libyan transition process followed the trajectory of other countries using economic indicators such as free trade, property rights, and inflation.

Keywords: transition, economy, typology, model, Libya

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Authors: Petarpa Boonserm, Tritos Ngampitipan, Matt Visser

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A 'clean' black hole is a black hole in vacuum such as the Schwarzschild black hole. However in real physical systems, there are matter fields around a black hole. Such a black hole is called a 'dirty black hole'. In this paper, The effect of matter fields on the black hole and the greybody factor is investigated. The results show that matter fields make a black hole smaller. They can increase the potential energy to a black hole to obstruct Hawking radiation to propagate. This causes the greybody factor of a dirty black hole to be less than that of a clean black hole.

Keywords: dirty black hole, greybody factor, hawking radiation, matter fields.

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Authors: Lukasz Kurowski, Paweł Smaga

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We explore the procyclicality of monetary policy decisions towards the financial cycle in the 1995−2015 period on a sample of six central banks. Using interest rate paths and the credit-to-GDP gap to construct a monetary policy procyclicality ratio, we provide evidence that monetary policy procyclicality was high in BoE and CNB and low in Riksbank and ECB. The results support the need for coordination between macroprudential and monetary policies, for example, by including financial stability considerations to the inflation targeting strategy.

Keywords: central bank, financial stability, macroprudential policy, monetary policy

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Authors: Benjamin O. Ehigie, Aderemi Alarape, Nyitor Shenge, Sylvester A. Okhakhume, Timileyin Fashola, Fiyinfunjah Dosumu

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Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) is a construct in industrial and organisational behaviour that explains a person's voluntary commitment within an organisation, which is outside the scope of his or her contractual tasks. To attain organisational effectiveness the human factor of production is inevitable, hence the importance of employee behaviour. While the concept of organisational citizenship behavior is mostly discussed in the context of the workplace, it is reasoned that the idea could be reflective in relation to national commitment. Many developing countries in Africa, including Nigeria, suffer economic hardship today not necessarily due to poor resources but bad management of the resources. The mangers of their economies are not committed to the tenets of economic growth but engrossed in fraud, corruption, bribery, and other economic vices. It is this backdrop that necessitated the development and validation of the Ibadan-Nigeria Citizenship Behaviour (I-NCB) Scale. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey (online) research design, using 2404 postgraduate students in the Premier University of the country, with 99.2% being Nigerians and 0.8% non-Nigerians. Gender composition was 1,439 (60%) males and 965 (40%) females, 1201 (50%) were employed while 1203 50% unemployed, 74.2% of the employed were in public paid employment, 19.5% in private sector, and 6.3% were self-employed. Through literature review, 78 items were generated. Using 10 lecturers and 21 students, content and face validity were established respectively. Data collected were subjected to reliability and factor analytic statistics at p < .05 level of significance. Results of the content and face validity at 80% level of item acceptance resulted to 60 items; this was further reduced to 50 after item-total correlation using r=.30 criterion. Divergent validity of r= -.28 and convergent validity of r= .44 were obtained by correlating the I-NCB scale with standardized Counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) scale and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) scale among the workers. The reliability coefficients obtained were; Cronbach alpha of internal consistency (α = 0.941) and split-half reliability of r = 0.728. Factor analyses of the I-NCB scale with principal component and varimax rotation yielded five factors when Eigenvalue above 1 were extracted. The factors which accounted for larger proportions of the total variance were given factor names as; Altruistic, Attachment, Affective, Civic responsibility and Allegiance. As much as there are vast journals on citizenship behaviour in organisations, there exists no standardized tool to measure citizenship behaviour of a country. The Ibadan-Nigeria Citizenship Behaviour (I-NCB) scale was consequently developed. The scale could be used to select personnel into political positions and senior administrative positions among career workers in Nigeria, with the aim of determining national commitment to service.

Keywords: counterproductive work behaviour, CWB, Nigeria Citizenship Behaviour, organisational citizenship behaviour, OCB, Ibadan

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Authors: Pouneh Soleimaninejadian, Chengyu Yang

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In this paper, we use data on Household Income and Expenditure survey of Statistics Centre of Iran, conducted from 2005-2014, to calculate several inequality measures and to estimate the effects of Iran’s targeted subsidy reform act on consumption and income inequality. We first calculate Gini coefficients for income and consumption in order to study the relation between the two and also the effects of subsidy reform. Results show that consumption inequality has not been always mirroring changes in income inequality. However, both Gini coefficients indicate that subsidy reform caused improvement in inequality. Then we calculate Generalized Entropy Index based on consumption and income for years before and after the Subsidy Reform Act of 2010 in order to have a closer look into the changes in internal structure of inequality after subsidy reforms. We find that the improvement in income inequality is mostly caused by the decrease in inequality of lower income individuals. At the same time consumption inequality has been decreased as a result of more equal consumption in both lower and higher income groups. Moreover, the increase in Engle coefficient after the subsidy reform shows that a bigger portion of income is allocated to consumption on food which is a sign of lower living standard in general. This increase in Engle coefficient is due to rise in inflation rate and relative increase in price of food which partially is another consequence of subsidy reform. We have conducted some experiments on effect of subsidy payments and possible effects of change on distribution pattern and amount of cash subsidy payments on income inequality. Result of the effect of cash payments on income inequality shows that it leads to a definite decrease in income inequality and had a bigger share in improvement of rural areas compared to those of urban households. We also examine the possible effect of constant payments on the increasing income inequality for years after 2011. We conclude that reduction in value of payments as a result of inflation plays an important role regardless of the fact that there may be other reasons. We finally experiment with alternative allocations of transfers while keeping the total amount of cash transfers constant or make it smaller through eliminating three higher deciles from the cash payment program, the result shows that income equality would be improved significantly.

Keywords: consumption inequality, generalized entropy index, income inequality, Irans subsidy reform

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