Constancies and illusions in visual perception

The present study deals with male’s attitude towards contraceptive use behavior and fatalism in Peshawar city, Pakistan. Pakhtoon mostly inhabitsPeshawar city, which has its own culture, highly strict in terms of women emancipation and considered women freedom as a sin and culturallyasking for severe punishment even in some cases death for the offenders. A sample size of 613 married male respondents (15-49 years old) wasinterviewed through cluster sampling procedure from five randomly selected bazaars out of total fifteen. Likert and Semantic Differential Scales were used in devising independent and dependent variables while constructing interview schedule. At first stage univariate analysis and then bivariate analysis were carried out to reach into logical outcome. Both dependent variable (Contraceptive Use Behavior) and independent variable (Fatalism) were indexed and reliability analysis was carriedout through Cronbach’s alpha test. The reliability coefficients were found lying between .7 to .8. Both dependent and independent variables were indexed and cross-tabulated for conducting bi-variate analysis. Gamma, Chi-square and Fisher Exact Test was used to determine the strength, direction and level of association between dependent and independent variables. Majority of the respondents had a clear vision of family planning and found to be moderately consistent of contraceptive use behavior. Moreover, respondents negated that fate prescribes the final number of children, a childless woman is a handicapped person, a sonless womanis a sign of misfortune, more children ensure perpetuation of family; bring husband and wife closer and sign of prestige. Results based onindexation of variables showed a low intensity of fatalistic behavior amongst the respondents of the study area. Efforts are needed on part of the policy makers to properly portray the complexities involved in the bareness of a woman by recognizing more rights for women than just producing children. Moreover, Peshawar city needs to be declared as model to other parts of the country, which is still in the grip of fatalism.

Traditional theoretical calculations, field measurements, and finite element methods sometimes fail to realize life cycle simulations of the temperature field and temperature effect of steel–concrete composite bridge deck systems. In this paper, a simulation method based on a back propagation–long short-term memory (BP-LSTM) network correlation model is proposed to predict the temperature field and temperature effect in a low-cost and highly efficient manner. A bridge was used as the engineering background according to a health monitoring system, and the finite element method based on the principle of heat transfer was used to expand the data sets. Data sets with structural, time, and environmental characteristics as the independent variables and temperature and the temperature effect as the dependent variables were formed. The correlation between the dependent and independent variables was verified using the maximal information coefficient. Thus, the BP-LSTM model was established, and the mean squared error loss function considering the time weight was designed. The data set was read in for training, verification, and testing, and a correlation model representing the relationship between the set’s independent and dependent variables was obtained with relatively high accuracy. Finally, combined with the bridge’s historical meteorological data, the established correlation model was used to simulate the bridge’s temperature field and temperature effect. The results indicated that the finite element calculation results of the structure’s temperature field based on the heat transfer principle were basically consistent with the measured results. The independent variables in the data set were non-linearly related to the dependent variables. The BP-LSTM’s prediction accuracy of the temperature field and temperature effect was above 98.8% and 94.5%, respectively, in good agreement with the target value. The variation law of the temperature field and temperature effect of the steel–concrete composite bridge deck system simulated by combining the historical meteorological statistics was in accordance with reality.

The covariation of independent and dependant variables in neurofeedback: a proposal framework to identify cognitive processes and brain activity variables.

A continuous symmetry of a system of partial differential equations (PDEs) is a transformation that leaves invariant the solution manifold of the system, i.e, it maps (deforms) any solution of the system into a solution of the same system. This definition is topological in nature. However, in practice, the direct calculation of the continuous symmetries of a given system of PDEs restricts one to consider symmetries that are local transformations acting on its space of independent variables, dependent variables and their derivatives. Lie’s algorithm to determine Lie groups of point transformations (point symmetries) of differential equations was presented in Bluman & Anco (2002) [see also Ovsiannikov [(1962), (1982)]; Bluman & Cole (1974); Olver (1986); Bluman & Kumei (1989); Stephani (1989); Hydon (2000); Cantwell (2002)]. Point symmetries arise from solutions of linear systems of determining equations for components of infinitesimal generators for the independent and dependent variables of a given PDE system, where these components themselves depend only on the given PDE system’s independent and dependent variables. Point transformations acting on the space of the given independent and dependent variables of a given PDE system can be extended (prolonged) to point transformations acting on the space of the given independent variables, dependent variables, and their derivatives to any finite order.

Evidence for HIV transmission across key populations: a longitudinal analysis of HIV and AIDS rates among Black people who inject drugs and Black heterosexuals in 84 large U.S. metropolitan areas, 2008–2016

For people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) positive social support networks (SSNs) can help improve quality of life, overall well-being, coping, and decrease mood disturbance, morbidity, mortality, sexual and substance associated...

This research mainly aimed at studying the extension needs of caraway farmers in El-Mesery Agricultural Cooperative-El Amereia - Alexandria Governorate. This necessitated the achievement of the following sub-objectives: (1) Identify some of the respondents 'characteristics, (2) Identify the cognitive level of the respondents, (3) Identify the related and influencing variables on the cognitive level of the respondents, (4) Identify the respondents' trends towards caraway cultivation, ( 5) Identifying the related and influencing variables in the respondents ’attitudes towards caraway cultivation, (6) Identifying the most important problems they face in cultivating and marketing the caraway crop. The personal interview questionnaire form was used to complete the field data from a random sample of 200 respondents, and the percentages, range, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, frequency tables and simple correlation coefficient of Pearson were used in the presentation, discussion and analysis of the results. statistical analysis.The study concluded many research results, the most prominent of which are the following: 1-With regard to the characteristics of the studied caraway farmers, the research results indicated that 66%Of the total respondents, their ages are less than 40-53 years, and that (32.5%) of the respondents are illiterate, and that the farmers studied have all previously cultivated medicinal and aromatic plants, and the percentage of those with moderate experience reached 42.5%, of the total respondents 2-The low cognitive level in caraway cultivation is 15%, the average cognitive level is 69%, and the high cognitive level is 16%, and the results showed a positive and significant correlation at the probability level 0.01 Between the cognitive level of the surveyed farmers and each of the following independent variables: full-time agricultural work, the number of years of experience cultivating medicinal and aromatic plants, media openness, agricultural information sources, membership of organizations, opinion leadership, readiness for change, living satisfaction, level of ambition and direction towards agricultural extension. While that correlation was positive and significant at the probability level 0.05 with both age and educational level, while that relationship was negative and significant at the probability level 0.05 with the variable of agricultural land tenure, It was not clear that there was a significant correlation relationship between the dependent variable and only two independent variables: the number of family members and community participation. The subsistence variable, devotion to agricultural work, and that these four independent variables collectively affect the dependent variable by 74.1% and that the organizational membership variable is more influential in the dependent variable as it helps explain 61% of the possible variation in the dependent variable. 3- The percentage of those with positive trends towards caraway cultivation was 25.5%, neutral trends 54.5%, and negative trends 20% of the total number of farmers surveyed, and it was found that there was a positive and significant correlation at the probability level 0.01 between the trends of the surveyed caraway farmers and each of the independent variables The following: exposure to the media, community participation, membership of organizations, opinion leadership, willingness to change, living satisfaction, and level of ambition. While that correlation was positive and significant at the probability level 0,05 with the variable of agricultural work, while that relationship was negative and significant at the probability level 0,01 with a variable Only one is the educational level, and the research results showed that there is no significant relationship between the dependent variable and each of the following independent variables: age, number of family members, agricultural land tenure, number of years of experience in growing medicinal and aromatic plants, and sources of agricultural information. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicated that There are only two independent variables that collectively affect the attitudes of caraway growers of the respondents towards cultivating medicinal and aromatic plants as a dependent variable, namely the level of ambition and community participation. It contributes to explaining 29.7% of the possible variance in the dependent variable 4- The research results indicated that the surveyed caraway growers face many problems related to the cultivation and marketing of the caraway crop, the most important of which are: the prevalence of nematodes and grass weeds 78%, the absence of agricultural extension 18.5%, the difficulty of obtaining fertilizers, 5.5%, and that the problems of marketing the caraway crop are The problem of low sales price 78,5%, lack of opportunities to contract with agencies to market the crop 50%, lack of sawmills 15%, absence of marketing guidance 13%, unavailability of packing packages 10%, and high transport costs 1.5% of the total number of farmers surveyed .

It is difficult to study the brain "at rest" with an approach generally pursued in science when external manipulation (independent variable) is used to obtain informative measurements (dependent variable) about the object of interest. External manipulation in its classic sense may suspend the resting state, and hence the object of interest will evade. Naturally, unless in a final and irreversible state, biological rest will always be an endogenously dynamic process. Combining two modalities, electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to simultaneously measure the brain's activity from two angles, one can be chosen to be interpreted as the independent variable and the other as the dependent variable, and without external manipulation the brain's spontaneous dynamics can be studied. The EEG, for example, observes endogenous modulations of vigilance and detects spontaneous events such as sleep spindles or epileptic discharges and can be used as the independent variable, i.e., to form a regressor to interrogate the fMRI data (dependent variable). The opposite is possible as well, and data fusion attempts try using all data both as dependent and independent variables at the same time. This review limits itself to an exemplary discussion of simultaneous EEG/fMRI studies in humans, and among a variety of proposed resting state networks only discusses a few, especially those for which non-resting state literature has proposed a functional meaning: the "default mode" network and an attentional network. It will be shown that one EEG feature can correlate with different fMRI activation maps and that a single resting state network may be associated with a variety of EEG patterns giving insight into the function of different resting states and the relationship between the two modalities in themselves.

Human development is one of the indicators of the success of economic growth. The good quality of human resources goes hand in hand with economic growth, this is because resources as part of the factor of production are the most valuable assets in the economic activities of a country. This study aims to determine and analyze the causality of economic growth towards the quality of human resources. The method used in this study was using the Granger Causality method. Granger Causality Approach is used to measure the strength of the relationship between two or more variables, or it can also be used as a tool to see the direction of the relationship between independent variables and the dependent variable. The variable Human Development Index (HDI) as the dependent variable and per capita income variable as the independent variable. From this study it was concluded that the granger causality test on the proposed research model states that there is no causality relationship between two independent variables and the dependent variable, but significantly the Indonesian economic growth variable has a one-way relationship with the human development index (HDI).Human development is one of the indicators of the success of economic growth. The good quality of human resources goes hand in hand with economic growth, this is because resources as part of the factor of production are the most valuable assets in the economic activities of a country. This study aims to determine and analyze the causality of economic growth towards the quality of human resources. The method used in this study was using the Granger Causality method. Granger Causality Approach is used to measure the strength of the relationship between two or more variables, or it can also be used as a tool to see the direction of the relationship between independent variables and the dependent variable. The variable Human Development Index (HDI) as the dependent variable and per capita income variable as the independent variable. From this study it was concluded that the granger causality test on the proposed research model states that there is no causality relationship between two independent variables and the dependent variable, but significantly the Indonesian economic growth variable has a one-way relationship with the human development index (HDI).

In the first quarter of 2012, almost all of the observed indexes in regional capital markets registered an increase in value, except for the capital market in BH, i.e. index of the Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASX - 10) and Banja Luka Stock Exchange securities (BIRS). Therefore, the highest growth was achieved by the Serbian regional index (BELEX 15) in the amount of 6.59%, followed by Croatian (CROBEX) with 5.36%, Macedonian (MBI-10) with 2.56%, Montenegrin (MONEX) with an increase of 2.17% and Slovenian (SBI TOP) with the yield of 1.64 %. The largest decline in the value was registered by the Banja Luka index (BIRS) of 4.69 % and Sarajevo (SASX-10) for 3.57%. In this paper, we analyse the effect of four independent variables through multiple linear regression on a dependent variable. The dependent variable is the stock market index of the Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASX - 30), while the independent variables in the model are the total turnover of shares, total loans of commercial banks, market capitalization and stock exchange index of the New York Stock Exchange (S&P 500). The main objective of this paper is to determine whether there is interdependence in the movement between the independent and dependent variables in order to better understand the factors that influence the movement of the SASX - 30 stock index.

Life-cycle cost analysis for fire protection of buildings

Using macroeconomic variables in the prediction of stock market indices:A theoretical and empirical assessment within BRICS and selected developed economies

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of psychological contract fulfillment (PCF; independent) on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; dependent) with perceived organizational support (POS) playing a partial mediating role.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative methodology has been adopted to achieve the aim of this study, and data were collected via a questionnaire through an employee–supervisor/colleague dyad. Various five- and four-star hotel staff members in Pakistan were the target population, eliciting a recorded sample of 418 employees and 105 supervisors/colleagues.FindingsThe study revealed that PCF has a positive impact on POS and OCB. The partial mediating role of POS between the dependent and independent variables was also confirmed.Research limitations/implicationsAmong the implications, a novel theoretical underpinning of organizational support theory (OST) was established in psychological contract literature in addition to the social exchange theory (SET). Similarly, the mediating mechanism of POS was also validated, thereby offering an additional extension in psychological contract literature. Among the limitations, the cross-sectional nature of data and testing of a single mediating path between independent and dependent variables can be noted.Originality/valueAlternative theoretical underpinning, that is, the usage of OST, the partial mediating role of POS and the study settings, i.e. evidence from the hotel industry from a developing country, are novel contributions of this study.

IntroductionThis is the first of four chapters on fuzzy regression. This chapter and Chapter 14 are about fuzzy linear regression and Chapters 12 and 13 consider fuzzy nonlinear regression. In this chapter the independent (predictor, explanatory) variables are crisp but the dependent (response) variable is fuzzy. In Chapter 14 both the independent variables and the dependent variable are fuzzy. This chapter is based on [1].Fuzzy linear regression has become a very large area of research. Put “fuzzy regression” into your search engine and you can get too many web sites to visit.“Fuzzy linear regression” will eliminate a lot of web sites but the list is still quite long. We have selected a few recent and key references on fuzzy linear regression which are: (1) books (or articles in these books) ([4],[8],[14]); and (2) papers ([2],[3],[5],[9],[10],[12],[13],[15],[19]-[24],[27]-[32]).As far as the authors know our research is the only research on using Monte Carlo techniques in fuzzy linear regression. However, there have been other approaches employing random search (genetic algorithms) and others using neural nets. If we put “genetic algorithms” and “fuzzy linear regression” into the search engine there are less than 200 references. A recent reference is [11]. We feel that one problem with using a GA is that it can converge to a local minimum and to avoid this you need to start it with many different randomly generated initial populations. Also, we believe that our Monte Carlo method is easier to apply than a genetic algorithm, once you have a quasi-random number generator in your computer. Next we searched for “neural nets” and “fuzzy linear regression” getting less than 100 references. A key reference on this topic is [6].

BackgroundIn the present article, we propose an alternative method for dealing with negative affectivity (NA) biases in research, while investigating the association between a deleterious psychosocial environment at work and poor mental health. First, we investigated how strong NA must be to cause an observed correlation between the independent and dependent variables. Second, we subjectively assessed whether NA can have a large enough impact on a large enough number of subjects to invalidate the observed correlations between dependent and independent variables.MethodsWe simulated 10,000 populations of 300 subjects each, using the marginal distribution of workers in an actual population that had answered the Siegrist's questionnaire on effort and reward imbalance (ERI) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ).ResultsThe results of the present study suggested that simulated NA has a minimal effect on the mean scores for effort and reward. However, the correlations between the effort and reward imbalance (ERI) ratio and the GHQ score might be important, even in simulated populations with a limited NA.ConclusionsWhen investigating the relationship between the ERI ratio and the GHQ score, we suggest the following rules for the interpretation of the results: correlations with an explained variance of 5% and below should be considered with caution; correlations with an explained variance between 5% and 10% may result from NA, although this effect does not seem likely; and correlations with an explained variance of 10% and above are not likely to be the result of NA biases.