Major Purchases Research Articles

The Influence of Father and Mother's Joint Decision Making on Children's Basic Immunization:Empirical Research on Indonesia's Demographic and Health Survey 2017

The 2017 diphtheria outbreaks in Indonesia shows the downside of inadequate immunization for certain group that could endanger public health. Despite years of government intervention on this vaccine-preventable disease, insofar mandating basic vaccination for children from an early age, ultimately, it is parents that will decide on having their children being immunized. Utilizing the 2017 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey, this study aims to uncover the association between parents' decision-making processes and their demographic variables to their children's immunization completion status. Logistic regression suggests discussion between parents in household's major purchases, more likely to result in complete basic immunization for their children. Additionally, mothers' traits, which are education, frequency of access to mass media, and exposure to medical professionals, are positively associated with compliance with basic vaccines administration. Differences in compliance can also be observed in children's gender and order of birth.

Page Header OPEN JOURNAL SYSTEMS Journal Help USER Username captnyirenda2 Password •••••••••• Remember me NOTIFICATIONS View Subscribe JOURNAL CONTENT Search Search Scope All Browse By Issue By Author By Title Other Journals FONT SIZE Make font size smallerMake font size defaultMake font size larger INFORMATION For Readers For Authors For Librarians HOME ABOUT LOGIN REGISTER SEARCH CURRENT ARCHIVES ANNOUNCEMENTS Home

Maternal and neonatal mortality are largely caused by delays in attending to obstetric complications and this is attributed to limited women’s power in making decisions regarding household resources and utilisation of health care services. This requires effective implementation of male engagement interventions to improve women’s autonomy in making decisions and hence reduce delays in attending to obstetric complications. This study examines the contribution of male engagement interventions in promoting women’s autonomy in decision making within households and society. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic and household characteristics, women’s practices concerning prenatal care, childbirth, postnatal care, and related decision-making power. Descriptive statistics and inferential analysis were used to analyse the data. The findings show a significant difference in decision making autonomy regarding family planning methods among respondents who had received male engagement education versus those who had not received such education (p-0.001<1%). Again, there was significant participation of women in household purchases for daily needs (p-0.057<10%) and in decisions to work out of homes (p-0.015<5%). This trend was noted among respondents who had received male engagement education as compared to those who had not received such education. There was also greater engagement of women in decision making concerning major household purchases and their health care, although their engagement was not statistically significant (p-0.397>10% and p-0.293>10% respectively). Effective implementation of male engagement interventions may leverage men’s power within households and promote women’s autonomy in decision making, thereby improving healthcare-seeking behaviour.

The Botswana Defence Force’s Policy of Arms Procurement in the Late Cold War Period and beyond

This article highlights some key aspects in the development of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), in particular the politics surrounding its major arms purchases during the late Cold War period and afterwards. It argues that between 1980 and 1990 the BDF’s attempts to bolster its lethal capabilities in response to growing regional contentions were stifled by political pressure emanating from apartheid South Africa, the region’s superpower. During the 1980s, the South African government had ramped up its efforts to destabilise neighbouring countries that were sympathetic to the African National Congress (ANC) including Botswana. In light of this coercive environment, the BDF’s policy of procuring armaments was driven by the regional security context within the Cold War but was also complicated by the geopolitics of the continent. The article also explores the post-Cold War political dynamics following the independence of South West Africa (now Namibia) and the end of apartheid in South Africa. While these two key events and Botswana’s good diamond revenues favoured a more expansive procurement policy for the BDF, they presented new challenges to BDF efforts to develop certain lethal capabilities.

Predicting agricultural and livestock products purchases using the Internet search index and data mining techniques

PurposeThis study identifies whether the Internet search index can be used as effective enough data to identify agricultural and livestock product demand and compare the accuracy of the prediction of major agricultural and livestock products purchases between these prediction models using artificial neural network, linear regression and a decision tree.Design/methodology/approachArtificial neural network, linear regression and decision tree algorithms were used in this study to compare the accuracy of the prediction of major agricultural and livestock products purchases. The analysis data were studied using 10-fold cross validation.FindingsFirst, the importance of the Internet search index among the 20 explanatory variables was found to be high for most items, so the Internet search index can be used as a variable to explain agricultural and livestock products purchases. Second, as a result of comparing the accuracy of the prediction of six agricultural and livestock purchases using three models, beef was the most predictable, followed by radishes, chicken, Chinese cabbage, garlic and dried peppers, and by model, a decision tree shows the highest accuracy of prediction, followed by linear regression and an artificial neural network.Originality/valueThis study is meaningful in that it analyzes the purchase of agricultural and livestock products using data from actual consumers' purchases of agricultural and livestock products. In addition, the use of data mining techniques and Internet search index in the analysis of agricultural and livestock purchases contributes to improving the accuracy and efficiency of agricultural and livestock purchase predictions.

The role of gender power relations on women\u2019s health outcomes: evidence from a maternal health coverage survey in Simiyu region, Tanzania

BackgroundGender is a crucial consideration of human rights that impacts many priority maternal health outcomes. However, gender is often only reported in relation to sex-disaggregated data in health coverage surveys. Few coverage surveys to date have integrated a more expansive set of gender-related questions and indicators, especially in low- to middle-income countries that have high levels of reported gender inequality. Using various gender-sensitive indicators, we investigated the role of gender power relations within households on women’s health outcomes in Simiyu region, Tanzania.MethodsWe assessed 34 questions around gender dynamics reported by men and women against 18 women’s health outcomes. We created directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) to theorize the relationship between indicators, outcomes, and sociodemographic covariates. We grouped gender variables into four categories using an established gender framework: (1) women’s decision-making, (2) household labor-sharing, (3) women’s resource access, and (4) norms/beliefs. Gender indicators that were most proximate to the health outcomes in the DAG were tested using multivariate logistic regression, adjusting for sociodemographic factors.ResultsThe overall percent agreement of gender-related indicators within couples was 68.6%. The lowest couple concordance was a woman’s autonomy to decide to see family/friends without permission from her husband/partner (40.1%). A number of relationships between gender-related indicators and health outcomes emerged: questions from the decision-making domain were found to play a large role in women’s health outcomes, and condoms and contraceptive outcomes had the most robust relationship with gender indicators. Women who reported being able to make their own health decisions were 1.57 times (95% CI: 1.12, 2.20) more likely to use condoms. Women who reported that they decide how many children they had also reported high contraception use (OR: 1.79, 95% CI: 1.34, 2.39). Seeking care at the health facility was also associated with women’s autonomy for making major household purchases (OR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.13, 1.62).ConclusionsThe association between decision-making and other gender domains with women’s health outcomes highlights the need for heightened attention to gender dimensions of intervention coverage in maternal health. Future studies should integrate and analyze gender-sensitive questions within coverage surveys.

Friends and benefits? Endogenous rotating savings and credit associations as alternative for women’s empowerment in India

• We present a theoretical model of spousal bargaining using Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA) membership. • We examine the effect of ROSCAs and exogenous micro-credit on women’s empowerment in India. • ROSCA increases regular cash flow for women by 1.7 percentage points (pp) and property ownership by 3.3 pp. • We find ROSCAs to be better than exogenous micro-credit schemes in increasing women’s socio-economic autonomy. • Endogenous micro-credit could be critical for financial inclusion of women in developing countries. This study examines the effects of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) on women’s socio-economic freedom and autonomy at the national level in India. We compare ROSCAs to agency based micro-credit schemes and analyze their effects using nationally representative longitudinal gender-disaggregated data from 2005 to 2012. Building on a theoretical model of household savings and spousal bargaining power, we use individual fixed effects and instrumental variable regressions to test the theoretical predictions. Results show that ROSCA membership increases the likelihood of women’s cash in hand for expenditure by 1.7 percentage points, say in major purchase decisions by 3.9 percentage points and fertility choice by 4.7 percentage points. These margins exceed those for exogenous micro-credit schemes and are robust to sensitivity tests. This study is the first to contrast ROSCAs with other micro-credit schemes at the national level. We propose scaling up and associating longstanding ROSCAs with self-help groups for more inclusive development.

A Study On Online Spam Review Detection Methods By Machine Learning Approach

Online reviews for products, movies, shopping, etc. have become the major purchase decision of customers to make before buying the product. These reviews are kind of public opinion about the product which they bought and this may help another person who is willing to buy the product. The impact of reviews had made manufacturers, and retailers to be more concerned about making the product as a best one. Many retailers such as Reliance, Big Bazaar, More, etc are very concerned about online reviews and there are possibilities for these reviews to affect business either positively or negatively. Certain retailers are trying to create false reviews about the product through AI as a part of promoting the product. This process is termed the Opinion spam or opinion review spam here is where the reviewers manipulate a wrong review for selling the product for profit. Not all online reviews are trustworthy and truthful so in such cases, a model must be created for detecting online review spam. This research paper tries to highlight the online spam review detecting by machine learning approach using NLP (Natural Language Processing) where the extracted features from the text will be taken for further review. In this research main focus was shifted to the ML technique for detecting review spam, and classifying them. The main aim of the research is to provide a comprehensive ad strong ML approach for detecting review spam.

Determinants of woman's decision-making power in the household: evidence in Benin in Ivory Coast and in Niger

This paper analyzes the determinants of women's decision-making power in West Africa. The data used come from the Demographic Health Surveys (DHS IV) database of three West African countries, namely Benin, Niger and Ivory Coast. A Logit model was used to be able to analyze the determinants of women's decision-making power. The descriptive analysis of DHS data shows us that 64% of women in Benin, 38% in Ivory Coast and 21% in Niger have the last word on their health care. 58% in Benin, 35% in Ivory Coast and 20% in Niger have the power to decide on major purchases for household. Econometric analysis reveals that the age of woman, level of education, place of residence, woman's employment status, ethnicity, religion and type of union positively influence the power of decision-making process. Policies for women empowerment must take into account parents who constitute barriers to improving the decision-making power of women.

Consumer debt and satisfaction in life.

Life's major purchases, such as buying a home or going to college, often involve taking on considerable debt. What are the downstream emotional consequences? Does carrying debt influence consumers' general sense of satisfaction in life? Seven studies examine the relationship between consumers' debt holdings and life satisfaction, showing that the effect depends on the type of debt. Though mortgages tend to comprise consumers' largest debts, and though credit card balances tend to have the highest interest rates, we found among a diverse sample of American adults (N = 5,808) that the type of debt most strongly associated with lower levels of life satisfaction is student loans. We further found that the extent to which consumers mentally label a given debt type as "debt" drives the emotional consequences of those debt holdings, and compared to the other debt types, student loans are perceived more as "debt." Together the findings suggest that carrying debt can spill over to undermine people's overall subjective well-being, especially when their debt is perceived as such. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A National Survey of Student Loan Debt Accrued by Doctor of Physical Therapy Students

Introduction. Increasing levels of student loan debt are a concern within many health professions, including physical therapy. This purpose of this study was to determine the levels and potential repayment of student loan debt for graduates of public and private physical therapist educational programs and to determine the relationship between debt management education, student loan debt, and credit card debt in Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students just prior to graduation. Methods. Seven hundred thirty-three final year DPT students scheduled to graduate in spring or summer of 2019 completed a survey asking participants their level of student loan and credit card debt; their concerns regarding student loan debt; and if their educational program included curricular information on debt management. Results. Ninety-one percent of participants had some level of student loan debt. For participants with student loan debt, the average total student debt balance at the time of graduation was $103,482 for those attending a public institution and $138,361 for those attending a private institution; with the average amount of student loans taken out just for attending a DPT program being $83,087 for those attending a public institution and $112,207 for those attending a private institution. Participants who received debt management education within their DPT program had, on average, $3,520 less student loan debt for attending their DPT program and $570 less credit card debt than those who did not receive this education. For participants with student loans, 81% were concerned about loan repayment and 90.3% were concerned about the ability to make future major purchases, such as a house or car. Discussion and Conclusion. Utilizing participants' average estimated starting salary and a 15% debt to income guideline, 75.1% of participants with student loan debt would not meet 10-year loan repayment guidelines, 38.7% would not meet fixed 25-year loan repayment plan guidelines, and 21.4% would not meet 25-year graduated loan repayment plan guidelines. There was no significant difference in debt levels between students who did and did not receive debt management education within their DPT educational programs.

Reciprocity within major retail purchase channels and their effects on overall, offline and online loyalty

Although online stores drive offline stores and vice versa, knowledge of these reciprocal effects is still scarce. The authors analyze whether reciprocal effects between images of major purchase channels exist and how they affect consumers’ loyalty. Importantly, they differentiate cross-channel loyalty. Study 1 analyzes longitudinal data from 573 consumer evaluations of leading omni-channel fashion retailers using cross-lagged panel models. The results indicate that a positive offline channel image enhances the online channel image and vice versa. The reciprocal effects of offline (vs. online) images are stronger on overall retailer, offline channel and, surprisingly, online channel loyalty. Moreover, the effects change for retailers with which consumers have more or less favorable prior offline and online experiences. Study 2 tests identical relationships based on 380 consumer evaluations and reveals possible shortcomings of a typical cross-sectional design. The findings have direct implications for managers interested in understanding how reciprocity and prior experience affect consumer behavior.

Influence of women's empowerment indices on the utilization of skilled maternity care: evidence from rural Nigeria.

There is increasing evidence that women with the ability to exercise control over their sexual and reproductive lives have greater access to prompt prevention and treatment of maternal health disorders, resulting in a concomitant reduction in maternal morbidity and mortality. This study assessed the association between indices of women's empowerment and utilization of skilled antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal maternity care in two rural Local Government Areas in Edo State, Nigeria. Data were taken from a household survey conducted in July and August 2017, and the study sample comprised 1245 ever-married women currently in a union who had given birth in the 5 years preceding the survey. A Gender Roles Framework guided the selection of independent women's empowerment variables. Using hierarchical logistic regression, the likelihood of receiving all three levels of skilled maternal health care service (antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal) by women's empowerment variables, grouped into resource, decision-making and influencer domains following the model of Anderson and Neuman, was assessed. Of the resource domain variables, respondent's education and respondent's participation in payment for their own health care positively predicted their use of all three levels of skilled maternal care, whereas their ownership of land negatively predicted this. Two decision-making domain variables were significantly associated with respondent's use of all three levels of service: those who made decisions alone about major household purchases were twice as likely to use all three levels of services than when decisions were made by their partners or others, while respondent making decisions alone about what food to cook each day was a negative predictor. Of the influencer variables, religion and a large spousal education gap were strong positive factors, whereas living in a consensual union rather than being legally married was a negative factor. Although health system factors are important, interventions geared towards changing gender norms that constrain women's empowerment are critical to achieving maternal health-related development goals in Nigeria. A composite strategy that targets all women's empowerment indices is recommended, as Nigeria strives towards achieving SDG-3.

Beyond SmartCities: How to create an Attractive City for Talented Citizens

In the recent context of general economic stability and peace, cities have become the world’s key centers for human development. Without a clear leader in the 4th Industrial Revolution, cities are fiercely competing to attract talent. Investing in technology and innovation (SmartCities) is an essential and mandatory condition to draw that talent in, yet it is not sufficient alone. Choosing a city to live in is a complex decision, akin to making a major purchase, getting married, or signing a contract. So, the question arises: what makes a city attractive to talent?In this article, it is postulated that, as with every human decision, there is a compromise between two parties: the emotional component, which we call city magnetism, and the rational component, which we call city profitability.We study the world’s top 140 most attractive cities according to international studies in a custom model made up of more than 100 indicators. The objective is twofold: to help talented citizens evaluate cities in order to find which ones will best help them reach their potential; and to help politicians and city officials create the conditions that make their city as attractive as possible. This is not simply a question of technology or investment; identity, urban planning and social sustainability are determining factors too.

Behavioral Economics: Examining the Population’s Expectations and Strategies

The presented study analyzes the expectations and strategies of individuals in their economic behavior. Aim . The study aims to identify the major trends in the transformation of the population’s behavioral models in the field of economic decisions, primarily with regard to the implementation of savings strategies. Tasks . The authors compare data for 2007(2010)–2019 on the structure of application of financial income, on how the population evaluates the favorability of conditions for making major purchases, on the existence of savings and potential for their growth, minimum amount and purpose of savings. Methods . This study uses such methods as collection and comparative analysis of data from the Federal State Statistics Service, National Agency for Financial Studies (NAFI), Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), and the results of a study conducted by the Institute of Socio-Economic Studies of Population of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISESP RAS), which describes a number of directions of the monetary behavior of Russian people. Results . The dynamics of changes in the economic strategies and expectations of the population during the examined period is shown. The results of the analysis of data published by the Federal State Statistics Service are confirmed by sociological surveys: Russian people increasingly tend to apply conservative economic strategies and show a lack of optimism in their estimates. In terms of savings, there is a visible reduction in opportunities for savings and in the assessment of the amount that is called ‘savings’. Conclusions . The transformation of economic behavior is affected by factors associated with rational reasons for making certain decisions and with mental (psychological) motives for choosing a strategy. Changes in the models of savings behavior, which is the most common subject of Russian scientists, are caused by socio-economic factors (external influence) and previous practical experience (internal influence).

Analysis of the impact of food information acquisition paths on food purchase frequency

This study investigates the factors influencing consumers choice of food information acquisition paths using the statistical data of 2018 Food Consumption Behavior Survey and analyzes characteristics of food purchase behavior according to food information acquisition paths. Specifically, this study analyzes how the food information acquisition paths affects the frequency of major grocery purchase. In order to analyze factors influencing consumers choice of food information acquisition paths, a multinomial logistic model is used. The ordered probit model is also used to analyze factors affecting the frequency of major grocery purchases according to food information acquisition paths. As a result of the analysis, online food information has been shown to increase the frequency of purchasing online, suggesting that SNS can be utilized as a food information providing means.

Prevalence of Stunting and Its Associated Factors among Children of 6-59 Months in Arba Minch Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (HDSS), Southern Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

Methods The community-based cross sectional study was conducted in the Arba Minch Health and Demographic Surveillance Site, Southern Ethiopia. The simple random sampling method was used to recruit 656 mother-child pairs. Height for age Z score was computed using WHO Anthro version 3.2.2 software. Multivariable logistic regression model was fitted, and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) at p value <0.05 was used to determine statistically significant association between predictors and outcome variable. Result The prevalence of stunting among children of 6–59 months in the study area was 47.9% (95% CI; 44.0–51.7). The likelihood of stunting was significantly higher among children who live in households with medium (AOR 2.20, 95% CI: 1.43–3.37) and poor (AOR 2.87, 95% CI: 1.72–4.81) wealth status. In addition, children who were not exclusively breast fed (AOR 1.55, 95% CI: 1.07–2.24), whose mothers had not participated in decision of major household purchases (AOR 2.27, 95% CI: 1.21–4.26), and whose mothers lacked decision on freedom of mobility (AOR 1.96, 95% CI: 1.05–3.66) were significantly stunted compared with counterparts. Conclusion Stunting is a severe public health problem in the area. Therefore, efforts should be taken to enhance maternal empowerment, household wealth, and infant and young child feeding practice for reducing stunting among children.

Women’s empowerment among married women aged 15 to 49 in Myanmar

The present study entails an investigation of the empowerment of married women aged 15 to 49 in Myanmar from socioeconomic and demographic perspectives based on data from the Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey 2015-16. The dimensions of women’s empowerment are categorized into two parts: women’s control over their earnings, and women’s participation in household decision-making (decisions on major household purchases, visits to family or relatives, their health care; and the well-being of their children). These two dimensions are combined to create an index of women’s empowerment. A binary logistic regression is used, by means of odds ratios to assess the relationship between women’s level of empowerment and their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Overall, the findings of the study show that a higher empowerment level is associated with women’s employment, increased age, urban residence, a higher educational attainment, a higher wealth quintile, and a lower level of husband’s education. In addition, women that have one child or up to four children are more likely to have a higher level of empowerment than women with no children. About three fourths of the women in the sample live in rural areas. Among those women, the ones with a higher level of empowerment are more educated, employed and have higher household income. Generating employment opportunities for women and educating women are important factors that can lead to an increase in women’s income, and accordingly, help raise the levels of women’s empowerment.

‘Competitive shopping’ prevents board heat

Executive directors face a great deal of pressure when it comes to making major organizational purchases like banking services and commercial and health insurance for the organization.

Economic Determinants of Employment Sentiment: A Socio-Demographic Analysis for the Euro Area

In this study we construct quarterly consumer confidence indicators of unemployment for the euro area using as input the consumer expectations for sixteen socio-demographic groups elicited from the Joint Harmonised EU Consumer Survey. First, we use symbolic regressions to link unemployment rates to qualitative expectations about a wide range of economic variables. By means of genetic programming we obtain the combination of expectations that best tracks the evolution of unemployment for each group of consumers. Second, we test the out-of-sample forecasting performance of the evolved expressions. Third, we use a state-space model with time-varying parameters to identify the main macroeconomic drivers of unemployment confidence and to evaluate whether the strength of the interplay between variables varies across the economic cycle. We analyse the differences across groups, obtaining better forecasts for respondents comprised in the first quartile with regards to the income of the household and respondents with at least secondary education. We also find that the questions regarding expected major purchases over the next 12 months and savings at present are by far, the variables that most frequently appear in the evolved expressions, hinting at their predictive potential to track the evolution of unemployment. For the economically deprived consumers, the confidence indicator seems to evolve independently of the macroeconomy. This finding is rather consistent throughout the economic cycle, with the exception of stock market returns, which governed unemployment confidence in the pre-crisis period.

Simulated Volume-Based Regionalization of Complex Procedures: Impact on Spatial Access to Care.

This study simulates the regionalization of pancreatectomies to assess its impact on spatial access in terms of patient driving times. Although policies to regionalize complex procedures to high-volume centers may improve outcomes, the impact on patient access is unknown. Patients who underwent pancreatectomies from 2005 to 2014 were identified from California's statewide database. Round-trip driving times between patients' home ZIP code and hospital addresses were calculated via Google Maps. Regionalization was simulated by eliminating hospitals performing <20 pancreatectomies/yr, and reassigning patients to the next closest hospital that satisfied the volume threshold. Sensitivity analyses were performed for New York and Medicare patients to assess for influence of geography and insurance coverage, respectively. Of 13,317 pancreatectomies, 6335 (47.6%) were performed by hospitals with <20 cases/yr. Patients traveled a median of 49.8 minutes [interquartile range (IQR) 30.8-96.2] per round-trip. A volume-restriction policy would increase median round-trip driving time by 24.1 minutes (IQR 4.5-53.5). Population in-hospital mortality rates were estimated to decrease from 6.7% to 2.8% (P < 0.001). Affected patients were more likely to be racial minorities (44.6% vs 36.5% of unaffected group, P < 0.001) and covered by Medicaid or uninsured (16.3% vs 9.8% of unaffected group, P < 0.001). Sensitivity analyses revealed a 17.8 minutes increment for patients in NY (IQR 0.8-47.4), and 27.0 minutes increment for Medicare patients (IQR 6.2-57.1). A policy that limits access to low-volume pancreatectomy hospitals will increase round-trip driving time by 24 minutes, but up to 54 minutes for 25% of patients. Population mortality rates may improve by 1.5%.