Number Of Significant Findings Research Articles

Profiling consumers’ online shopping and following social media influencers behaviors

In order to develop effective digital marketing strategies, this study explores how demographic factors may affect consumers’ online shopping and following social media influencers behaviors. Market segmentation theory and consumer demographics theory provide the theoretical foundation for this study. By analyzing survey data collected from 6,034 U.S. adults with decision tree analysis, there are a number of significant findings. First, educational level, income, and age category are the important predictors for consumers’ buying things online using a desktop or laptop computer behavior. Second, age category, geographic location (urban, suburban, rural) are the predictors for consumers’ buying things online using a smartphone behavior. Third, educational level, age, and geographic location are the predictors for consumers’ preferring online shopping over in-store shopping behavior. Fourth, age category and race-ethnicity are the predictors for following social media influencers behavior. Fifth, gender and age category are the predictors for purchasing something after seeing an influencer’s posts behavior. Finally, age category and gender are the predictors for purchase decisions getting impacted by influencers. The results provide valuable insights about consumer behaviors online, market segmentation, and influencer marketing strategies.

Small and state‐funded: An empirical study of liquidations in Scotland

AbstractThere is significant scope for empirical research in the field of corporate insolvency law. This paper seeks to make a valuable contribution to this field of research. It features analysis of data regarding all insolvent liquidations in Scotland that had their end point within a period of a year, specifically 1 October 2019‐30 September 2020 (even if the liquidations commenced prior to that period). A dataset was compiled using information from final accounts documentation for liquidations available from the UK's companies register. Following the introduction, the paper provides background and context for corporate insolvency in Scotland, with particular reference to liquidation and the rules relating to creditors. The section also includes comparisons with the law of England and Wales. The paper then moves on to discuss the empirical methodology adopted and how the relevant data was obtained. This is followed by results and analysis focused on: the asset values of companies in the study, the lifespan of those companies, the timespan of their liquidations, the levels of liquidation expenses, the recoveries of creditors (including secured, preferential and ordinary unsecured creditors), and the role of HMRC in liquidations, as a petitioner and in terms of paying liquidation expenses. The paper contains a number of significant findings regarding each of these matters. It supports the case for a streamlined liquidation procedure for smaller companies and for the introduction of an official receiver in Scotland (while also justifying the existence of the official receiver in England and Wales). Lastly, after the identification of some limitations regarding the analysed data, the paper highlights potential lines of further research building upon this study, including expanding the time periods examined, comparing the data for Scotland with data for other jurisdictions, most obviously England and Wales, and the consideration of corresponding data for other insolvency procedures.

Access, usage and influence of mass media on students’ academic performance: A private university experience

Previous studies on the influence of mass media on students’ academics are common, but none relating to private missionary schools with core values such as these has been rigorously evaluated. To determine the medium of media accessible to students, examine the purpose of media usage and media influence on students’ academic performance triangulated research design was adopted with the use of quantitative data through questionnaire and qualitative data through in-depth interview. The sampling technique adopted was stratified random sampling. The framework utilized to examine the data is the Uses & Gratifications theory. A number of significant findings firstly access to media mediums and contents are influenced by the University Christian values. Secondly, almost all of the respondents perceived the internet as the most useful communication medium to connect with their friends and families. Thirdly, a significant number of students were dependent solely on the internet contents for academic purpose. Finally, students also perceived media had an important influence in their academic performance. Students should develop good reading habits; mass media access and usage should be designed in line with academic needs, interests, aspirations and values of both the audience (students) and the society (university). Another contribution is that educational institutions, academicians as well as enterprises should familiarize with changing technologies, develop policy that will impact on student access and usage of mass media mediums as it affects their academics.

Integrating variant functional annotation scores have varied abilities to improve power of genome-wide association studies

Functional annotations have the potential to increase power of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) by prioritizing variants according to their biological function, but this potential has not been well studied. We comprehensively evaluated all 1132 traits in the UK Biobank whose SNP-heritability estimates were given “medium” or “high” labels by Neale’s lab. For each trait, we integrated GWAS summary statistics of close to 8 million common variants (minor allele frequency >1%) with either their 75 individual functional scores or their meta-scores, using three different data-integration methods. Overall, the number of new genome-wide significant findings after data-integration increases as a trait SNP-heritability estimate increases. However, there is a trade-off between new findings and loss of baseline GWAS findings, resulting in similar total numbers of significant findings between using GWAS alone and integrating GWAS with functional scores, across all 1132 traits analyzed and all three data-integration methods considered. Our findings suggest that, even with the current biobank-level sample size, more informative functional scores and/or new data-integration methods are needed to further improve the power of GWAS of common variants. For example, studying variants in coding sequence and obtaining cell-type-specific scores are potential future directions.

Assessing Students’ Satisfaction with Library Service Delivery at University of Health and Allied Sciences, HO

The purpose of the study was to investigate students' satisfaction with service delivery in the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ho. Research survey of students was adopted. Sample size of 151 made up of students from selected departments at UHAS participated in the study. Data from the questionnaire was analyzed using frequency counts and percentages by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS (version 22). Five areas of service delivery namely: library, ICT, health, transportation, and hostel services were considered in the study. A number of significant findings were made from the study. The results revealed that majority of the students indicated dissatisfaction with health, transport as well as Information and communication Technology services (ICT), while others showed little level of satisfaction with library and hostel services. Again, it was revealed that students' satisfaction with service delivery in terms of library and hostel services significantly differ by other services, while, they show much significant difference in their satisfaction with transport, health and ICT services. It was recommended that the university management should enhance students’ satisfaction by ensuring all services that contribute to academic and social life of students in UHAS are delivered to acceptable and satisfactory standards. Again, it was recommended that the government should provide the necessary financial support or resources to management to meet acceptable standards in service delivery and surveys to assess students’ satisfaction with service delivery should be on regular basis by management to ascertain the satisfaction needs of students.

Creation of Learning Opportunities for Electrical Engineering Students at Northern Cape Urban Technical Vocational Education and Training College

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges are currently not succeeding in developing requisite skills in Electrical Engineering Studies. The aim of this study was to investigate opportunities to learn (OTL) created for Electrical Engineering students at a TVET College. The study was conducted using a mixed method case study where 101 questionnaires were distributed to all the students enrolled for N1 Electrical Trade Theory, and interviews conducted with 6 students purposively sampled based on their performance, and with the only lecturer teaching the subject. Document analysis was also employed to source vital curriculum information for the subject. The research resulted in a number of significant findings, namely; engineering theory lessons taught were not complemented by practical work or experiments, teaching methods and learning activities did not promote active participation on the part of students, classes were composed of both young and so-called mature students, there were not enough assessment opportunities and instructional resources. The research therefore, recommends that lecturers be appropriately qualified, so that they are informed about teaching and learning methods suitable for students of mixed abilities, ages and backgrounds; and that they employ teaching methods that are learning-centred, which result in students actively creating knowledge through their own experiences. It is likely that the more a lecturer practices this type of teaching, and takes into consideration relevant contextual factors; the more s/he will enhance the creation of OTL for Electrical Engineering at a TVET college.

The role of disaster risk financing in building resilience of poor communities in the Karamoja region of Uganda: Evidence from an experimental study

The occurrence of natural disasters continues to ravage communities from all around the world, and the impacts are far reaching for underdeveloped regions. Karamoja region in the north-east of Uganda has endured severe droughts for decades, causing deaths, underdevelopment and abject poverty. Disaster risk financing (DRF) as a proactive approach to disaster risk reduction was piloted in Karamoja in 2016. The approach involved early detection of disaster risks and making financial resources available to take care of the needs of the affected communities during and after drought disasters. The initiative offered paid labor-intensive work on public projects to engender disaster risk resilience by preventing consumption from dropping and protecting people's livelihoods and assets. This paper focuses on how DRF contributed towards household productive assets and food consumption, comparing the periods before and after the intervention. This paper uses data from a sample of the same cohort of households selected scientifically across three districts of Karamoja. A mixed method approach, involving both qualitative and quantitative methods was used. A number of significant findings were made, highlighting DRF as an effective mechanism in building resilience of poor communities against disasters. Several scholarly and policy recommendations have been generated.

Problem ubikacije putne stanice Acruvium/Agruvium na rimskoj komunikaciji Narona-Scodra

The paper presents data on the positioning problems of Acruvium/Agruvium road stop on the Narona-Scodra road. The question of the position of ancient Acruvium/Agruvium starting from Risan to Budva is one of the unsolved ancient problems. Written historical sources do not state the exact location of the town/settlement. As we can see, there are two prevailing opinions on the position of this town in Boka Kotorska. The advocates of the first opinion put it where today's Kotor is while the advocates of the second opinion put it closer to the sea, on the territory of the Grbalj district. The question of positioning ancient Acruvium/Agruvium in Boka Kotorska from Risan to Budva presents one of the problems of ancient history and archeology in Montenegro. The contradictions will continue to exist as long as the claims continue to be based exclusively on written historical sources and their analyses without systematic archeological diggings and research. Besides significant number of findings (necropolis, epigraph statues, and other material cultural objects) found in Kotor that could support the claims that the ancient Acruvium/Agruvium was actually there, the lack of research in the city center is still an obstacle to fully proving or denying these claims. According to the aforementioned facts, it can be said that the life was ongoing in Kotor and in Grbalj from the ancient times till today. This is proved by archeological findings from both locations. Due to all the aforementioned reasons, it is believed that this question is still open and final conclusions cannot be made.

Association of objectively measured arm inclination with shoulder pain: A 6-month follow-up prospective study of construction and health care workers

ObjectivesThe aim was to determine the association of occupational arm inclination with shoulder pain in construction and health care workers.MethodsArm inclination relative to the vertical was measured with an accelerometer placed on the dominant upper arm for up to four full days at baseline in 62 construction workers and 63 health care workers. The pain intensity in the shoulder and mechanical and psychosocial work factors were measured by self-reports at baseline and prospectively after 6 months. The associations between exposures and shoulder pain were analyzed with multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions.ResultsFor the total study population working with the dominant arm at inclinations > 30° and >120° was associated with lower levels of shoulder pain both cross-sectionally and after 6 months. Associations were attenuated when adjusting for individual and social factors, psychological state, and exposure during leisure time, especially for the high inclination levels. Analyses, only including subjects with no pain at baseline revealed no significant associations. While stratified analysis showed negative associations in the construction worker group, there were no significant association in health care workers. Compared to the number of hypotheses tested, the number of significant findings was low. Adjustment by Bonferroni-correction made almost all findings insignificant.ConclusionsAll analyses reflected a negative association between arm inclination and shoulder pain, but few analyses showed these associations to be statistically significant. If there is a relationship between arm inclination and shoulder pain, these findings could indicate that pain-avoidance may modify how workers perform their tasks.

Parental involvement in young footballers’ development: A comparison of the opinions of children and their parents

Hitherto, much of the work on parental involvement in youth sport has focused on the role and behaviour of the parent. The present study took a more dynamic, interactive approach, examining the views of both parents and their children and comparing child and parent ratings of parental involvement in youth football. Parallel forms of a questionnaire recording parental behaviours, including praise and criticism of performances, were employed.Thirty-four parent-child dyads (N= 68 participants) were recruited from a football league in the North East of England. The children’s ages ranged from 8–15 years. A version of the Parental Involvement Sport Questionnaire was administered to the participants, and comparisons made between the parents and children. The degree to which parental involvement was perceived to be ‘helpful’ was also assessed by the children.A number of significant findings were obtained, such as the children rated their parents to be more directive than the parents believed themselves to be. In particular, the children rated their parents as being more likely to tell them: (i) what they did badly in a match; (ii) what they needed to work on; and (iii) how to improve their techniques. In general the children rated their parents’ involvement as being helpful. Nonetheless, negative emotional responses by the parents following matches were identified as being particularly unhelpful. The study provides insight into the dynamics of parental involvement, highlighting specific areas requiring further investigation. It also demonstrates the importance of examining the impact, alongside the frequency ratings, of parental involvement behaviours.

Roman road communication Epitauro-Resinum

Roman Road Communication Epitauro-ResinumIn this paper, we present data on the Roman road communication Asamo-Epitauro-Resinum (the present-day Trebinje-Cavtat-Risan), with the settlements along the route. From the road station Ad Zizio (the present-day village of Mosko or Uksici in the area of Ljubomir) the road led south to Asamo (Trebinje), then over the road station Epitauro (Cavtat) to Resinum (Risan, or Rose). The archaeological finds (the remnants of a Roman settlement, road, fragments of milestones) from the sites in Trebinje, Cavtat and Risan (the south of the province of Dalmatia) suggest that this area was, relatively early, connected with the network of Roman road communication. During the exploration of the ancient road communications and settlements in the south of the province of Dalmatia (southern Herzegovina, south-eastern Croatia, south-western Montenegro) we used original written sources and material remains from the site. Based on the visits to the sites in Trebinje, Cavtat and Risan, and the data obtained from oral sources as well, we believe that the road station Asamo is located in Trebinje, the road station Epitauro in Cavtat, and the road station Resinum in Risan, or Rose. Even though a significant number of findings is in favour of both of the thesis that the ancient Resinum is located in Risan, or Rose, systematic researches which would confirm this are yet to be conducted at this site.

Social Capital Theory in Social Media Research

Social media usage has increased significantly over the last decade with software such as Facebook gaining widespread popularity. It is common practice to evaluate the performance of software by using direct means such as transaction time. However it less common but equally important to consider the performance of software in terms of the value that it provides for users. Social capital theory provides a means to examine the idea of social value in communication networks. Therefore this paper contains a review of the literature on social capital theory as it has been used in social media research. It was found social capital theory provides concepts useful for analysis of online social interactions. In particular it was found that that Putnam (1995, 2000) is the most cited source in the literature largely due to the prevalence in the use of the concepts of bonding and bridging social capital. Another significant source is Bourdieu (1985) who provides a frequently cited definition of social capital which is clear and comprehensive. Overall it was found that there are a number of studies which have advanced the understanding of how computers can support the communication structure underpinning social capital. The paper concludes by explaining that the literature on social capital theory in social media contains a number of significant findings which are at times contradictory.

Bilješke o putnoj stanici i naselju Vindenis na komunikaciji Naisus-Lisus (jedan primjer iz prve polovine IV vijeka)

The paper discusses the data on the issues of ubication of the road station Vindenis on the route Naisus (Niš) Lisus (Lješ). The opinion of the researchers on the ubication of the settlement and station are quite different. The various directions of the route implied the differ­ences in ubication of the road station Vindenis. The bigger strikink building was discovered on the mentioned route Naisus-Lisus near the village Glavnik (locality Poljanice). It is a villa in which the rooms were heated by the warm air. The rooms were luxurious with the floor mosaic representations. The movable archaeological findings (ceramic vessels, glass, nails, jewellery, money of the Constantine I and Constantine II) date from the first half of the 4th century. However, we believe that the past claims on the ubication of the station Vendenis in Vidin (a part of the village Marevice, near Novo Brdo) are not well founded. It was believed so because of the similar­ity of name, on the basis of the medieval sources. According to the insight into the terrain, the distances noted in Tabula Peutingeriana Ptolemy's Geographia, and to the preserved seg­ments of the road and milestones without inscriptions it can be said that the road station Vindenis was situated near Podujevo (five kilo­metres southwest from Podujevo, and north from Priština), near the village Glavnik (locality Poljanice) behind the left bank of the river Laba. Although the significant number of findings indicates the hypoth­esis that Vindenis station was in locality Poljanice (Glavnik) near Podujevo, it requires the systematic archaeological researches which would prove it or not.

프로젝트 스폰서 역할과 프로젝트 관리자 역량이 프로젝트 성과 품질에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

ABSTRACT Purpose: This paper seeks to analyze the relationship between project sponsor roles and project manager competencies which may account for project performance quality.Methods: After an extensive literature review, the structural equation modeling was conducted test the re-search model. The data was collected from project manager training course attendees by the questionnaire.Results: The results of structural equation modeling show that project sponsor roles effect on project manager competencies. Project manager competencies have a positive effect on project performance quality.Conclusion: The authors demonstrate that project sponsor external roles are related positively to project performance quality. And project manager professionalism has a positive effect on project manager communication. A number of significant findings are reported including the empirical verification that project sponsor roles, and project manager competencies may all be directly related to project performance quality.Key words: Project Management, Project Sponsor, Project Manager, Project Performance Quality

The genetics of human obesity

It has long been known that there is a genetic component to obesity, and that characterizing this underlying factor would likely offer the possibility of better intervention in the future. Monogenic obesity has proved to be relatively straightforward, with a combination of linkage analysis and mouse models facilitating the identification of multiple genes. In contrast, genome-wide association studies have successfully revealed a variety of genetic loci associated with the more common form of obesity, allowing for very strong consensus on the underlying genetic architecture of the phenotype for the first time. Although a number of significant findings have been made, it appears that very little of the apparent heritability of body mass index has actually been explained to date. New approaches for data analyses and advances in technology will be required to uncover the elusive missing heritability, and to aid in the identification of the key causative genetic underpinnings of obesity.

Microglia: An Active Player in the Regulation of Synaptic Activity

Synaptic plasticity is critical for elaboration and adaptation in the developing and developed brain. It is well established that astrocytes play an important role in the maintenance of what has been dubbed “the tripartite synapse”. Increasing evidence shows that a fourth cell type, microglia, is critical to this maintenance as well. Microglia are the resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS). Because of their well-characterized inflammatory functions, research has primarily focused on their innate immune properties. The role of microglia in the maintenance of synapses in development and in homeostasis is not as well defined. A number of significant findings have shed light on the critical role of microglia at the synapse. It is becoming increasingly clear that microglia play a seminal role in proper synaptic development and elimination.

SP1-39 Sociodemographic heterogeneities associated to breast cancer stage: a hospital-based cancer registry study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

IntroductionEarly detection and diagnosis of breast cancer (BC) in important for subsequent treatment and prognosis. The aim of this study was to identify and sociodemographic differences in Brazilian BC patients.MethodsData...

P24: Maximising the value of repeated dose toxicity data

One of the main reasons cited for preclinical attrition is drug induced toxicity. As repeated dose toxicity tests are low throughput, expensive and time-consuming there is a clear benefit to organizations in capturing the data from these studies in a structure-searchable format. The data is then available for more effective internal use and can be mined for structure-activity relationships allowing read-across and the development of models for predicting toxicity of new chemicals. To this end we have proposed a database schema for collating repeated dose toxicity data. The proposed schema includes key experimental conditions such as species, strain, dose, frequency of administration and route. Subtables are then used to capture the results of any analyses performed. Subtable records are displayed in rows at the bottom of the parent record and this provides the flexibility needed for capturing study data when they may be none, a few or a significant number of findings reported. For serum chemistry, haematology, urinalysis and organ weight results are recorded as either “Increase”, “Decrease” or “No change” to allow searching across species where the reference ranges for specific parameters may vary. For clinical signs, gross pathology and histopathology controlled vocabulary is being used to avoid differences in terminology, spelling and transcriptional errors. The data can be queried using any of the fields in the schema, combining structure, CAS number and chemical name with specific events indicative of liver damage eg increased ALP and fibrosis. Feedback is being sought to determine if the proposed schema will meet the needs of organisations wishing to interrogate the data for structure activity relationships. It is planned to populate the new schema using subchronic and chronic study data from the US FDA CDER and CFSAN.

CANDID: a flexible method for prioritizing candidate genes for complex human traits

Genomewide studies and localized candidate gene approaches have become everyday study designs for identifying polymorphisms in genes that influence complex human traits. Yet, in general, the number of significant findings and the need to focus on smaller regions require a prioritization of genes for further study. Some candidate gene identification algorithms have been proposed in recent years to attempt to streamline this prioritization, but many suffer from limitations imposed by the source data or are difficult to use and understand. CANDID is a prioritization algorithm designed to produce impartial, accurate rankings of candidate genes that influence complex human traits. CANDID can use information from publications, protein domain descriptions, cross-species conservation measures, gene expression profiles and protein-protein interactions in its analysis. Additionally, users may supplement these data sources with results from linkage, association and other studies. CANDID was tested on well-known complex trait genes using data from the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database. Additionally, CANDID was evaluated in a modeled gene discovery environment, where it ranked genes whose trait associations were published after CANDID's databases were compiled. In all settings, CANDID exhibited high sensitivity and specificity, indicating an improvement upon previously published algorithms. Its accuracy and ease of use make CANDID a highly useful tool in study design and analysis for complex human traits.

Determinants of Customer-Perceived Service Quality in Fast-Food Restaurants and Their Relationship to Customer Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions

The intent of this research is to develop a model and the associated metrics that measure service quality in fast-food restaurants (FFRs). As part of this process the authors modified the classic SERVPERF instrument to examine the relationships among service quality, food quality, price/value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. This modified SERVPERF instrument was administered to college students at a large southwestern university. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were employed to analyze the data. A number of significant findings were reported including that the five dimensions—tangibles, employee behaviors, reliability, responsiveness, and empathy—positively influence the perception of service quality. The results also support the contention that service quality and customer satisfaction are two important antecedents of customer intention. The indirect effect of service quality on behavioral intentions is not supported by this study because the authors did not find a significant relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. The findings also show that food quality is a significant factor in satisfaction. These findings indicate that FFR managers should focus on monitoring and improving service quality and food quality because providing better service to their customers will drive repurchases.