Search results for: household debt

Authors: Haitham A. Haloush

Abstract:

Debtors' imprisonment in Jordan is a problematic issue since it impinges upon required financial guarantees that are presumably offered by debtors on the one hand, and infringes flagrantly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the other hand. Jordan lacks regulatory provisions in this respect and debtors' imprisonment is indirectly exercised in Jordan without giving a special legal attention to this concern. From this perspective, this research reviews the available regulations, standard laws and codes of conduct that might guide the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the Jordanian context. Furthermore, this article will examine the suitability of the Jordanian legal system in providing sufficient protection for debtors. The author argues that there are serious obstacles in this aspect.

Keywords: The Jordanian Civil Code, the Jordanian Execution Law, imprisonment for debt, good faith, the Jordanian Constitution, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

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Authors: Gulnara Moldasheva

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The research explores the relationship between management responsibility and corporate governance of listed companies in Kazakhstan. This research employs firm level data of selected listed non-financial firms and firm level data “operational” financial sector, consisted from banking sector, insurance companies and accumulated pension funds using multivariate regression analysis under fixed effect model approach. Ownership structure includes institutional ownership, managerial ownership and private investor’s ownership. Management responsibility of the firm is expressed by the decision of the firm on amount of leverage. Results of the cross sectional panel study for non-financial firms showed that only institutional shareholding is significantly negatively correlated with debt to equity ratio. Findings from “operational” financial sector show that leverage is significantly affected only by the CEO/Chair duality and the size of financial institutions, and insignificantly affected by ownership structure. Also, the findings show, that there is a significant negative relationship between profitability and the debt to equity ratio for non-financial firms, which is consistent with pecking order theory. Generally, the found results suggest that corporate governance and a management responsibility play important role in corporate performance of listed firms in Kazakhstan.

Keywords: Corporate governance, corporate performance, debt to equity ratio, ownership.

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Authors: Ahmed Al-Adaileh, Souheil Khaddaj

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Outcomes of exhaustion of natural resources started influencing each spirit on this planet. Energy is an essential factor in this aspect. To restore the circumstance to the appropriate track, all attempts must focus on two fundamental branches: producing electricity from clean and renewable reserves and decreasing the overall unnecessary consumption of energy. The focal point of this paper will be on lessening the power consumption in the household's segment. This paper is an attempt to give a clear understanding of a framework called Reduction of Energy Consumption in Household Sector (RECHS) and how it should help householders to reduce their power consumption by substituting their household appliances, turning-off the appliances when stand-by modus is detected, and scheduling their appliances operation periods. Technically, the framework depends on utilizing Z-Wave compatible plug-ins which will be connected to the usual house devices to gauge and control them remotely and semi-automatically. The suggested framework underpins numerous quality characteristics, for example, integrability, scalability, security and adaptability.

Keywords: Smart energy management systems, internet of things, wireless mesh networks, microservices, cloud computing, big data.

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Authors: Krushna Mahapatra, Atefeh Dadvar, Brijesh Mainali

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Alabastern, a multicultural rental housing area in the Växjö city of Sweden, was identified as poor at recycling household waste compared to other housing areas in the town. In this paper, a qualitative and quantitative analysis is conducted to understand the underlying causes of waste recycling behavior of the tenants. Results showed that majority of the studied participants perceived themselves to be environmentally friendly. They reported that they recycled household waste quite often, but it was the other tenants who did not sort their waste properly. The respondents identified the causes of the improper waste recycling as lack of attitude and awareness, limitation of communication, sense of insecurity, lack of means to transport bulky waste, limitation of the recycling room, and inadequate action by the housing company Växjöbostäder.

Keywords: Household behavior, multicultural, waste management, waste recycling.

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Authors: N. Talisa, K. Rungsarid, P. Chakrit

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The objectives of the research are to study the existing agricultural patterns, and to evaluate the sustainability of agricultural on economic, social and environmental aspects. The samplings were the representatives of the agriculturist group from Ban Paew district, Samut Sakorn province by purposive sampling method of 30 households. The tools being used were interview forms together with the Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) and the Participation Rural Appraisal (PRA). The information collected was analyzed with the principle of Content Analysis andusing Descriptive Statistics. After that all the information gotten was analyze the sustainability on the household level and village level. The research result can be concluded as follows: The agricultural Patterns: For most of the cultivation main crop was fruit trees planted and the supplement crop was around the patch or added other plants in the trenches. There were trenches for the cultivating water. The product distribution was by selling (97.5%) and the selling to middle man was the highest number (62.5%). Evaluating the sustainability of the agricultural by the indicators which were appropriate to the area: For the agricultural sustainability on the household level it was found that only one household had sustainable, others household had conditioned sustainable. For on the village level it was found that the sustainability on the issue of agricultural knowledge training had the lowest level (Sustainability index = 31.67%). Secondary was the acknowledging about soil information (Sustainability index = 35.0), and the household labors on agriculture, net return over cash cost (Sustainability index = 55.0%) respectively. Performance percentage is 48.81 %. It was brought to the conclusion that this area did not have the agricultural sustainability.

Keywords: Sustainability of agricultural, sustainability indicators, sustainability index.

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Authors: Jukka Heinonen

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Higher density reduces distances, private car dependency and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). As a result, increased density has been given a central role among urban development targets. However, it is not just travel behavior that changes along with density. Rather, the consumption patterns, or overall lifestyles, change along with changing urban structure, particularly with changing housing types and consumption opportunities. Furthermore, elevated consumption of services, more frequent flying and less intra-household sharing have been shown to potentially outweigh the gains from reduced driving in more dense urban settlements. In this study, the geography of carbon footprints (CFs) in California is analyzed paying close attention to the household size differences and the resulting economies-of-scale advantages and disadvantages. A hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) framework is employed together with consumer expenditure data to assess the CFs. According to the study, small urban households have the highest CFs in California. Their transport related emissions are significantly lower than those of the residents of less urbanized areas, but higher emissions from other consumption categories, together with the low degree of sharing of goods, overweigh the gains. Two functional units, per capita and per household, are used to analyze the CFs and to demonstrate the importance of household size. The lifestyle impacts visible through the consumption data are also discussed. The study suggests that there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the premises of low-carbon human settlements.

Keywords: Carbon footprint, life cycle assessment, consumption, lifestyle, household size, economies-of-scale.

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Authors: Ida Rosada, Nurliani

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Today, the number of women who seek additional income to help her husband is increasing. They do that in order to be able to express themselves in the midst of the family and society. Nonetheless, housewives are in charge of managing family’s income and prepare food for the family. The objective of this research is 1) to analyze the effect of the dual role of women to household income and 2) to analyze the effect of the dual role to consumption patterns. The study used a qualitative approach, data collection techniques are through observation, interviews, and documentation on farming households. The data was analysed qualitative descriptively. The results found that: 1) The revenue contribution of women who play double role in the informal sector amounted to 34.07% (less than 50%). 2) The main reason that the respondents worked in the informal sector is to be able to send their children to school (34%) and to improve household economy condition (28%). 3) After earning additional income, respondents said that they can contribute to increase the family’s income and to cover the family shortage (82%); 4) Respondents’ opinion to changes in food consumption after performing the dual role is the ability to purchase and provide the desired food (44%) and changing patterns of consumption per day (30%).

Keywords: Dual role, the informal sector, consumption patterns, household income.

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Authors: Phusit Phukamchanoad

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This research was to analyze personality’s activities based on sufficiency economy philosophy of people and community leaders in urban communities. The data were collected through questionnaires administered to 392 people and interviewed with community leaders. It was found that most people revealed that their lives depend on activities in accordance with the sufficiency economy philosophy in high level especially, being honest and aware on sufficiency, occupations, peacefulness in the community leaders’ side, they reported on extravagant reduction, planting home vegetable garden, having household accounting, expense planning by dividing into 3 categories; 1) saving for illness cover 2) saving for business cover, and 3) household daily expense. The samples were also adjusted their livings quite well with the rapid change of urbanization. Although those people have encountered with any hardships, their honesty in occupations and awareness on sufficiency remain to survive happily.

Keywords: Sufficiency Economy Philosophy, individual and household activities, urban community.

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Authors: C. C. Alamanjo, A. O. Adepoju, H. Martin, R. N. Baines

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Peri-urban agriculture in Jos Nigeria serves as a major means of livelihood for both urban and peri-urban poor, and constitutes huge commercial inclination with a target market that has spanned beyond Plateau State. Yet, the sustainability of this sector is threatened by intensive application of urban refuse ash contaminated with heavy metals, as a result of the highly heterogeneous materials used in ash production. Hence, this research aimed to understand the current fertilizer employed by farmers, their perception and acceptability in utilization of household sewage sludge for agricultural purposes and their capacity in mitigating risks associated with such practice. Mixed methods approach was adopted, and data collection tools used include survey questionnaire, focus group discussion with farmers, participants and field observation. The study identified that farmers maintain a complex mixture of organic and chemical fertilizers, with mixture composition that is dependent on fertilizer availability and affordability. Also, farmers have decreased the rate of utilization of urban refuse ash due to labor and increased logistic cost and are keen to utilize household sewage sludge for soil fertility improvement but are mainly constrained by accessibility of this waste product. Nevertheless, farmers near to sewage disposal points have commenced utilization of household sewage sludge for improving soil fertility. Farmers were knowledgeable on composting but find their strategic method of dewatering and sun drying more convenient. Irrigation farmers were not enthusiastic for treatment, as they desired both water and sludge. Secondly, household sewage sludge observed in the field is heterogeneous due to nearness between its disposal point and that of urban refuse, which raises concern for possible cross-contamination of pollutants and also portrays lack of extension guidance as regards to treatment and management of household sewage sludge for agricultural purposes. Hence, farmers concerns need to be addressed, particularly in providing extension advice and establishment of decentralized household sewage sludge collection centers, for continuous availability of liquid and concentrated sludge. Urgent need is also required for the Federal Government of Nigeria to increase commitment towards empowering her subsidiaries for efficient discharge of corporate responsibilities.

Keywords: Ash, farmers, household, peri-urban, refuse, sewage, sludge, urban.

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Authors: H. B. Nguendo Yongsi, Thora M. Herrmann, A. Lutumba Ntetu, Rémy Sietchiping, Christopher Bryant

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Health problems linked to urban growth are current major concerns of developing countries. In 2002 and 2005, an interdisciplinary program “Populations et Espaces ├á Risques SANitaires" (PERSAN) was set up under the patronage of the Development and Research Institute. Centered on health in Cameroon-s urban environment, the program mainly sought to (i) identify diarrhoea risk factors in Yaoundé, (ii) to measure their prevalence and apprehend their spatial distribution. The crosssectional epidemiological study that was carried out revealed a diarrheic prevalence of 14.4% (437 cases of diarrhoea on the 3,034 children examined). Also, among risk factors studied, household refuse management methods used by city dwellers were statistically associated to these diarrhoeas. Moreover, it happened that levels of diarrhoeal attacks varied consistently from one neighbourhood to another because of the discrepancy urbanization process of the Yaoundé metropolis.

Keywords: Diarrhea, health risk, household refuses handling, sanitation, Yaoundé.

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Authors: Timothée Bligny, Clément Codron, Antoine Estruch, Nicolas Girodet, Clément Ginet

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Collateralized Debt Obligations are not as widely used nowadays as they were before 2007 Subprime crisis. Nonetheless there remains an enthralling challenge to optimize cash flows associated with synthetic CDOs. A Gaussian-based model is used here in which default correlation and unconditional probabilities of default are highlighted. Then numerous simulations are performed based on this model for different scenarios in order to evaluate the associated cash flows given a specific number of defaults at different periods of time. Cash flows are not solely calculated on a single bought or sold tranche but rather on a combination of bought and sold tranches. With some assumptions, the simplex algorithm gives a way to find the maximum cash flow according to correlation of defaults and maturities. The used Gaussian model is not realistic in crisis situations. Besides present system does not handle buying or selling a portion of a tranche but only the whole tranche. However the work provides the investor with relevant elements on how to know what and when to buy and sell.

Keywords: Synthetic Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO), Credit Default Swap (CDS), Cash Flow Optimization, Probability of Default, Default Correlation, Strategies, Simulation, Simplex.

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Authors: Arati Siddharth Petkar, Joel E. M. Macwan

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Preferences for residential location are of a diverse nature. Primarily they are based on the socio-economic, socio-cultural, socio-demographic characteristics of the household. It also depends on character, and the growth potential of different areas in a city. In the present study, various criteria affecting residential location preferences from the Urban Dwellers’ perspective have been analyzed. The household survey has been conducted in two parts: Existing Buyers’ survey and Future Buyers’ survey. The analysis reveals that workplace location is the most governing criterion in deciding residential location from the majority of the urban dwellers perspective. For analyzing the importance of varied criteria, Analytical Hierarchy Process approach has been explored. The suggested approach will be helpful for urban planners, decision makers and developers, while designating a new residential area or redeveloping an existing one.

Keywords: Analytical hierarchy process, household, preferences, residential location preferences, residential land use, urban dwellers.

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Authors: Candice Moy, Damien Guirco, Thomas Boyle

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Intelligent technologies are increasingly facilitating sustainable water management strategies in Australia. While this innovation can present clear cost benefits to utilities through immediate leak detection and deference of capital costs, the impact of this technology on households is less distinct. By offering real-time engagement and detailed end-use consumption breakdowns, there is significant potential for demand reduction as a behavioural response to increased information. Despite this potential, passive implementation without well-planned residential engagement strategies is likely to result in a lost opportunity. This paper begins this research process by exploring the effect of smart water meters through the lens of three behaviour change theories. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), Belief Revision theory (BR) and Practice Theory emphasise different variables that can potentially influence and predict household water engagements. In acknowledging the strengths of each theory, the nuances and complexity of household water engagement can be recognised which can contribute to effective planning for residential smart meter engagement strategies.

Keywords: Behaviour, information, household, smart meters, water.

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Authors: G. H. B. Dilhari, A. A. D. T. Saparamadu

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Sri Lanka is one of the prominent countries for the coir production. The coir is one of the by-products of the coconut and the coir industry is considered to be one of the traditional industries in Sri Lanka. Because of the inherent nature of the coir industry, labourers play a significant role in the coir production process. The study has analyzed the determinants of the income of the household level coir yarn labourers. The study was conducted in the Kumarakanda Grama Niladhari division. Simple random sampling was used to generate a sample of 100 household level coir yarn labourers and structured questionnaire, personal interviews, and discussion were performed to gather the required data. The obtained data were statistically analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis test were performed for mean comparison. The findings revealed that the household level coir yarn industry is dominated by the female workers and it was identified that fewer numbers of workers have engaged in this industry as the main occupation. In addition to that, elderly participation in the industry is higher than the younger participation and most of them have engaged in the industry as a source of extra income. Level of education, the methods of engagement, satisfaction, engagement in the industry by the next generation, support from the government, method of government support, working hours per day, employed as a main job, number of completed units per day, suffering from job related diseases and type of the diseases were related with income level of household level coir yarn laboures. The recommendations as to flourish in future includes, technological transformation for coir yarn production, strengthening the raw material base and regulating the raw material supply, introduction of new technologies, markets and training programmes, the establishment of the labourers’ association, the initiation of micro credit schemes and better consideration about the job oriented diseases.

Keywords: Coir, Income, Sri Lanka.

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Authors: A. Kumar, V. Devadas

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Energy is the basic element for any country’s economic development. India is one of the most populated countries, and is dependent on fossil fuel and nuclear-based energy generation. The energy sector faces huge challenges and is dependent on the import of energy from neighboring countries to fulfill the gap in demand and supply. India has huge setbacks for efficient energy generation, distribution, and consumption, therefore they consume more quantity of energy to produce the same amount of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to the developed countries. Technology and technique use, availability, and affordability in the various sectors are varying according to their economic status. In this paper, an attempt is made to quantify the domestic electrical energy consumption in Jodhpur, India. Survey research methods have been employed and stratified sampling technique-based households were chosen for conducting the investigation. Pre-tested survey schedules are used to investigate the grassroots level study. The collected data are analyzed by employing statistical techniques. Thereafter, a multiple regression model is developed to understand the functions of total electricity consumption in the domestic sector corresponding to other independent variables including electrical appliances, age of the building, household size, education, etc. The study resulted in identifying the governing variable in energy consumption at the household level and their relationship with the efficiency of household-based electrical and energy appliances. The analysis is concluded with the recommendation for optimizing the gap in peak electrical demand and supply in the domestic sector.

Keywords: Appliance, consumption, electricity, households.

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Authors: U. Tumaini, J. Msuya

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Food insecurity is a worrying challenge worldwide with sub-Saharan Africa including Tanzania being the most affected. Although factors that influence household food access security status and ways of coping with such factors have been examined, little has been reported on how these coping strategies vary along the urban-rural continuum especially in medium-sized towns. The purpose of this study was to identify food insecurity coping strategies employed by households and assess whether they are similar along the urban-rural continuum. The study was cross-sectional in design whereby a random sample of 279 households was interviewed using structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20 software. It was revealed that the proportion of households relying on less preferred and quality foods, eating fewer meals per day, undertaking work for food or money, performing farm and off-farm activities, and selling fall back assets was higher in rural settings compared to urban and peri-urban areas. Similarly, more households in urban and peri-urban areas cope with food access insecurity by having strict food budgets compared to those in rural households (p ≤ 0.001). The study concludes that food insecurity coping strategies vary significantly from one spatial entity to another. It is thereby recommended that poor, particularly rural households should be supported to diversify their income-generating activities not only for food security purposes during times of food shortage but also as businesses aimed at increasing their household incomes.

Keywords: Food coping strategies, household food insecurity, medium-sized towns, urban-rural continuum.

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Authors: Soungwan Kim

Abstract:

This study identifies factors underlying the digital divide that is faced by the disabled. The results of its analysis showed that the digital divide in PC use is affected by age, number of years of education, employment status, and household income of more than KRW 3 million. The digital divide in smart device use is affected by sex, age, number of years of education, time when disability struck, and household income of more than KRW 3 million. Based on these results, this study proposes methods for bridging the digital divide faced by the disabled.

Keywords: Digital divide, digital divide for the disabled, information accessibility for pcs and smart devices.

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Authors: M. Benbouzid, Q. Bresson, A. Duclos, K. Longo, Q. Morel

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Currently, electricity suppliers must predict the consumption of their customers in order to deduce the power they need to produce. It is then important in a first step to optimize household consumptions to obtain more constant curves by limiting peaks in energy consumption. Here centralized real time scheduling is proposed to manage the equipments starting in parallel. The aim is not to exceed a certain limit while optimizing the power consumption across a habitat. The Raspberry Pi is used as a box; this scheduler interacts with the various sensors in 6LoWPAN. At the scale of a single dwelling, household consumption decreases, particularly at times corresponding to the peaks. However, it would be wiser to consider the use of a residential complex so that the result would be more significant. So the ceiling would no longer be fixed. The scheduling would be done on two scales, on the one hand per dwelling, and secondly, at the level of a residential complex.

Keywords: Smart grid, Energy box, Scheduling, Gang Model, Energy consumption, Energy management system, and Wireless Sensor Network.

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Authors: Fawehinmi Olabisi Alaba, Adeniyi O. R.

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Farming households faces lots of disaster which contribute to endemic poverty. Anticipated increases in extreme weather events will exacerbate this. Primary data was administered to farming household using multi-stage random sampling technique. The result of the analysis shows that majority of the respondents (69.9%) are male, have mean household size, years of formal education and age of 5±1.14, 6±3.41, and 51.06±10.43 respectively. The major (48.9%) type of disaster experienced is flooding. Major coping mechanism adopted is sourcing for support from family and friends. Age, education, experience, access to extension agent, and mitigation control method contribute significantly to vulnerability to disaster. The major adaptation method (62.3%) is construction of drainage.

The study revealed that the coping mechanisms employed may become less effective as increasingly fragile livelihood systems struggle to withstand disaster shocks. Thus there is need for training of the farmers on measures to adapt to mitigate the shock from disasters

Keywords: Adaptation, Disasters, Flooding, Vulnerability.

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Authors: C. Cole, M. Osmani, A. Wheatley, M. Quddus

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EU and UK Government targets for minimising and recycling household waste has led the responsible authorities to research the alternatives to landfill. In the work reported here the local waste collection authority (Charnwood Borough Council) has adopted the aspirational strategy of becoming a “Zero Waste Borough” to lead the drive for public participation. The work concludes that the separate collection of food waste would be needed to meet the two regulatory standards on recycling and biologically active wastes.

An analysis of a neighbouring Authority (Newcastle-Under-Lyne Borough Council (NBC), a similar sized local authority that has a successful weekly food waste collection service was undertaken. Results indicate that the main challenges for Charnwood Borough Council would be gaining householder co-operation, the extra costs of collection and organising alternative treatment. The analysis also demonstrated that there was potential offset value via anaerobic digestion for CBC to overcome these difficulties and improve its recycling performance.

Keywords: England, Food Waste Collections, Household Waste, Local Authority.

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Authors: Abdel Hamid Ajbar, Emad Ali

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Saudi Arabia is an arid country which depends on costly desalination plants to satisfy the growing residential water demand. Prediction of water demand is usually a challenging task because the forecast model should consider variations in economic progress, climate conditions and population growth. The task is further complicated knowing that Mecca city is visited regularly by large numbers during specific months in the year due to religious occasions. In this paper, a neural networks model is proposed to handle the prediction of the monthly and yearly water demand for Mecca city, Saudi Arabia. The proposed model will be developed based on historic records of water production and estimated visitors- distribution. The driving variables for the model include annuallyvarying variables such as household income, household density, and city population, and monthly-varying variables such as expected number of visitors each month and maximum monthly temperature.

Keywords: Water demand forecast; Neural Networks model; water resources management; Saudi Arabia.

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Authors: Lady Marianne E. Polinga, Candy C. Mercado, Camilo A. Polinga

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This study was an investigation on the suitability of Lahar/HDPE composite as a primary material for low-cost smallscale biogas digesters. While sources of raw materials for biogas are abundant in the Philippines, cost of the technology has made the widespread utilization of this resource an indefinite proposition. Aside from capital economics, another problem arises with space requirements of current digester designs. These problems may be simultaneously addressed by fabricating digesters on a smaller, household scale to reach a wider market, and to use materials that may accommodate optimization of overall design and fabrication cost without sacrificing operational efficiency. This study involved actual fabrication of the Lahar/HDPE composite at varying composition and geometry, subsequent mechanical and thermal characterization, and implementation of Statistical Analysis to find intrinsic relationships between variables. From the results, Lahar/HDPE composite was found to be feasible for use as digester material from both mechanical and economic standpoints. 

Keywords: Biogas digester, Composite, High density polyethylene, Lahar.

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Authors: Young-Hyun Seo, Hyunwoo Park, Dong-Kyu Kim, Seung-Young Kho

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The purpose of this study is providing an improved mode choice model considering parameters including age grouping of prime-aged and old age. In this study, 2010 Household Travel Survey data were used and improper samples were removed through the analysis. Chosen alternative, date of birth, mode, origin code, destination code, departure time, and arrival time are considered from Household Travel Survey. By preprocessing data, travel time, travel cost, mode, and ratio of people aged 45 to 55 years, 55 to 65 years and over 65 years were calculated. After the manipulation, the mode choice model was constructed using LIMDEP by maximum likelihood estimation. A significance test was conducted for nine parameters, three age groups for three modes. Then the test was conducted again for the mode choice model with significant parameters, travel cost variable and travel time variable. As a result of the model estimation, as the age increases, the preference for the car decreases and the preference for the bus increases. This study is meaningful in that the individual and households characteristics are applied to the aggregate model.

Keywords: Age grouping, aging, mode choice model, multinomial logit model.

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Authors: Birgül Şakar

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This study1 holds for the formation of international financial crisis and political factors for economic crisis in Turkey, are evaluated in chronological order. The international arena and relevant studies conducted in Turkey work in the literature are assessed. The main purpose of the study is to hold the linkage between the crises and political stability in Turkey in details, and to examine the position of Turkey in this regard. The introduction part follows the literature survey on the models explaining causes and results of the crises, the second part of the study. In the third part, the formations of the world financial crises are studied. The fourth part, financial crisis in Turkey in 1994, 2000, 2001 and 2008 are reviewed and their political reasons are analyzed. In the last part of the study the results and recommendations are held. Political administrations have laid the grounds for an economic crisis in Turkey. In this study, the emergence of an economic crisis in Turkey and the developments after the crisis are chronologically examined and an explanation is offered as to the cause and effect relationship between the political administration and economic equilibrium in the country. Economic crises can be characterized as follows: high prices of consumables, high interest rates, current account deficits, budget deficits, structural defects in government finance, rising inflation and fixed currency applications, rising government debt, declining savings rates and increased dependency on foreign capital stock. Entering into the conditions of crisis during a time when the exchange value of the country-s national currency was rising, speculative finance movements and shrinking of foreign currency reserves happened due to expectations for devaluation and because of foreign investors- resistance to financing national debt, and a financial risk occurs. During the February 2001 crisis and immediately following, devaluation and reduction of value occurred in Turkey-s stock market. While changing over to the system of floating exchange rates in the midst of this crisis, the effects of the crisis on the real economy are discussed in this study. Administered politics include financial reforms, such as the rearrangement of banking systems. These reforms followed with the provision of foreign financial support. There have been winners and losers in the imbalance of income distribution, which has recently become more evident in Turkey-s fragile economy.

Keywords: Economics, marketing crisis, financial reforms, political economy

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Authors: A. Majeed, P. Ali

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Before designing an electrical system, the estimation of load is necessary for unit sizing and demand-generation balancing. The system could be a stand-alone system for a village or grid connected or integrated renewable energy to grid connection, especially as there are non–electrified villages in developing countries. In the classical model, the energy demand was found by estimating the household appliances multiplied with the amount of their rating and the duration of their operation, but in this paper, information exists for electrified villages could be used to predict the demand, as villages almost have the same life style. This paper describes a method used to predict the average energy consumed in each two months for every consumer living in a village by Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The input data are collected using a regional survey for samples of consumers representing typical types of different living, household appliances and energy consumption by a list of information, and the output data are collected from administration office of Piramagrun for each corresponding consumer. The result of this study shows that the average demand for different consumers from four villages in different months throughout the year is approximately 12 kWh/day, this model estimates the average demand/day for every consumer with a mean absolute percent error of 11.8%, and MathWorks software package MATLAB version 7.6.0 that contains and facilitate Neural Network Toolbox was used.

Keywords: Artificial neural network, load estimation, regional survey, rural electrification.

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Authors: Md. Sayeed Akhter, Md. Akhtar Hossain Mazumder, Syeda Afreena Mamun

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Bangladesh is a patriarchal and male dominated country. Traditional, cultural, social, and religious values and practices have reinforced the lower status of women accorded to them in society and have limited their opportunities for education, technical and vocational training, and involvement with earning activities outside their households. After independence numbers of women are doing job outside their households. This study attempts to find out the reasons of engaging in earning activities outside households and difficulties faced by upper and lower class working women in Bangladesh. To explore the objectives and research questions of the study descriptive techniques had been used. Survey was conducted among the women who were working in Rajshahi city of Bangladesh and face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect data. Findings of the study illustrates that most of the upper class working women engaged into job because they wanted to utilized their education and to bring solvency in the family, and they spend their income for meeting the needs of all the members of the family. On the other hand, most of the lower class working women involved into earning activities outside their households because they want to bring solvency in their families and spend their income on household expenditure. Both classes became tensed for their children because they had to stay at their working place for long time. Therefore, day care center should be established besides their working place for their children.

Keywords: Working Women, Reasons for Doing Jobs, Working Environment, Difficulties Faced.

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Authors: B. Karakas, S. Lakestani, C. Guler, B. Guciz Dogan, S. Acar Vaizoglu, A. Taner, B. Sekerel, R. Tıpırdamaz, G. Gullu

Abstract:

Particulate matter (PM) in ambient air is responsible for adverse health effects in adults and children. Relatively little is known about the concentrations, sources and health effects of PM in indoor air. A monitoring study was conducted in Ankara by three campaigns in order to measure PM levels in indoor and outdoor environments to identify and quantify associations between sources and concentrations. Approximately 82 homes (1st campaign for 42, 2nd campaign for 12, and 3rd campaign for 28), three rooms (living room, baby-s room and living room used as a baby-s room) and outdoor ambient at each home were sampled with Grimm Environmental Dust Monitoring (EDM) 107, during different seasonal periods of 2011 and 2012. In this study, the relationship between indoor and outdoor PM levels for particulate matter less than 10 micrometer (.m) (PM10), particulate matter less than 2.5.m (PM2.5) and particulate matter less than 1.0.m (PM1) were investigated. The mean concentration of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1.0 at living room used as baby-s room is higher than living and baby-s room (or bedroom) for three sampling campaigns. It is concluded that the household activities and environmental conditions are very important for PM concentrations in the indoor environments during the sampling periods. The amount of smokers, being near a main street and/or construction activities increased the PM concentration. This study is based on the assessment the relationship between indoor and outdoor PM levels and the household activities and environmental conditions

Keywords: Indoor air quality, particulate matter (PM), PM10, PM2.5, PM1.0.

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Authors: Priya Bhakat

Abstract:

A son in every Hindu society pays his own father the debt and he owes him for his own life whereas a girl child is treated as a burden mainly in case of first child. Even today in India we have many societies which does not welcome girl child. Although there is an increase in overall sex ratio, there is a continuous decline in child sex ratio. This paper focuses on issues of sex selective abortion in Rajasthan based on secondary data. It is found that 90.0 percentages of women in Rajasthan wants at least one son. Around 34.3 percentages of women wants more sons than daughters and only 1.5 percentages of women wants more daughters than sons. It is very common among the rich and educated people.

Keywords: Rajasthan, Family Planning Program (FPP), Sex Selective Abortion (SSA), Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB).

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Authors: Paiboon Jeamponk, Tasanee Ponglaa, Patchapon Srisanguan

Abstract:

The aim of this research paper was based on an examination of sources of water supply and water quality for local consumption, conducted at eco- tourism villages of Suan Luang Sub- District Municipality of Amphawa District, Samut Songkram Province. The study incorporated both questionnaire and field work of water testing as the research tool and method. The sample size of 288 households was based on the population of the district, whereas the selected sample water sources were from 60 households: 30 samples were ground water and another 30 were surface water. Degree of heavy metal contamination in the water including copper, iron, manganese, zinc, cadmium and lead was investigated utilizing the Atomic Absorption- Direct Aspiration method. The findings unveiled that 96.0 percent of household water consumption was based on water supply, while the rest on canal, river and rain water. The household behavior of consumption revealed that 47.2 percent of people routinely consumed water without boiling or filtering prior to consumption. The investigation of water supply quality found that the degree of heavy metal contamination including metal, lead, iron, copper, manganese and cadmium met the standards of the Department of Health.

Keywords: Sources of water supply, water quality, water supply.

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Authors: N. Southiseng, J. Walsh

Abstract:

Prior to 1975, women in Laos suffered from having reduced levels of power over decision-making in their families and in their communities. This has had a negative impact on their ability to develop their own identities. Their roles were identified as being responsible for household activities and making preparations for their marriage. Many women lost opportunities to get educated and access the outdoor work that might have empowered them to improve their situations. So far, no accurate figures of either emigrants or return migrants have been compiled but it appears that most of them were women, and it was women who most and more frequently remitted money home. However, very few recent studies have addressed the relationship between remittances and the roles of women in Laos. This study, therefore, aims at redressing to some extent the deficiencies in knowledge. Qualitative techniques were used to gather data, including individual in-depth interviews and direct observation in combination with the content analysis method. Forty women in Vientiane Municipality and Savannakhet province were individually interviewed. It was found that the monetary remittance was typically used for family security and well-being; on fungible activities; on economic and business activities; and on community development, especially concerning hospitality and providing daily household necessities. Remittances played important roles in improving many respondents- livelihoods and positively changed their identities in families and communities. Women became empowered as they were able to start commercial businesses, rather than taking care of (just) housework, children and elders. Interviews indicated that 92.5% of the respondents their quality of lives improved, 90% felt happier in their families and 82.5% felt conflicts in their families were reduced.

Keywords: Laos, Monetary Remittances, Social Remittance, Women's Empowerment.

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