Abstract: The goal of this paper is to specify factors influencing
the profitability of selected banks. Next, a model will be created to
help establish variables that have a demonstrable influence on the
development of the selected banks' profitability ratios. Czech banks
and their international parent companies were selected for analyzing
profitability. Banks categorized as large banks (according to the
Czech National Bank's system, which ranks banks according to
balance sheet total) were selected to represent the Czech banks. Two
ratios, the return on assets ratio (ROA) and the return on equity ratio
(ROE) are used to assess bank profitability. Six endogenous and four
external indicators were selected from among other factors that
influence bank profitability. The data analyzed were for 2001–2013.
First, correlation analysis, which was supposed to eliminate
correlated values, was conducted. A large number of correlated
values were established on the basis of this analysis. The strongly
correlated values were omitted. Despite this, the subsequent
regression analysis of profitability for the individual banks that were
selected did not confirm that the selected variables influenced their
profitability. The studied factors' influence on bank profitability was
demonstrated only for Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka and Société
Générale using regression analysis. For Československa Obchodni
Banka, it was demonstrated that inflation level and the amount of the
central bank's interest rate influenced the return on assets ratio and
that capital adequacy and market concentration influenced the return
on equity ratio for Société Générale.
Abstract: Sentiment analysis means to classify a given review
document into positive or negative polar document. Sentiment
analysis research has been increased tremendously in recent times
due to its large number of applications in the industry and academia.
Sentiment analysis models can be used to determine the opinion of
the user towards any entity or product. E-commerce companies can
use sentiment analysis model to improve their products on the basis
of users’ opinion. In this paper, we propose a new One-class Support
Vector Machine (One-class SVM) based sentiment analysis model
for movie review documents. In the proposed approach, we initially
extract features from one class of documents, and further test the
given documents with the one-class SVM model if a given new test
document lies in the model or it is an outlier. Experimental results
show the effectiveness of the proposed sentiment analysis model.
Abstract: The purpose of the study is to investigate the level of
intrinsic motivation of trainers after attending a Continuous
Professional Development Course (CPD) organized by Institute of
Teacher Training Malaysia titled, “Transformation of Teaching and
Learning the Fun Way”. This study employed a survey whereby 96
teacher trainers were given Situational Intrinsic Motivational Scale
(SIMS) Instruments. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to
get the validity of this instrument in local setting. Data were analyzed
with SPSS for descriptive statistic. Semi- structured interviews were
also administrated to collect qualitative data on participants’
experiences after participating in the two-day fun-filled program. The
findings showed that the participants’ level of intrinsic motivation
showed higher mean than the amotivation. The results revealed that
the intrinsic motivation mean is 19.0 followed by Identified
regulation with a mean of 17.4, external regulation 9.7 and
amotivation 6.9. The interview data also revealed that the participants
were motivated after attending this training program. It can be
concluded that this program, which was organized by Institute of
Teacher Training Malaysia, was able to enhance participants’ level of
motivation. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a multidimensional
approach to motivation was utilized. Therefore, teacher trainers may
have more success using the “The fun way approach” in conducting
training program in future.
Abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) live yeast culture on microbial
protein supply to small intestine in Kivircik male yearlings when fed
with different ratio of forage and concentrate diets. Four Kivircik
male yearlings with permanent rumen canula were used in the
experiment. The treatments were allocated to a 4x4 Latin square
design. Diet I consisted of 70% alfalfa hay and 30% concentrate, Diet
II consisted of 30% alfalfa hay and 70% concentrate, Diet I and II
were supplemented with a SC. Daily urine was collected and stored at
-20°C until analysis. Calorimetric methods were used for the
determination of urinary allantoin and creatinine levels. The
estimated microbial N supply to small intestine for Diets I, I+SC, II
and II+SC were 2.51, 2.64, 2.95 and 3.43 g N/d respectively.
Supplementation of Diets I and II with SC significantly affected the
allantoin levels in μmol/W0.75 (p
Abstract: Durian skin is a newly explores natural fibre
potentially reinforced polyolefin for diverse applications. In this
work, investigation on the effect of coupling agent, maleic anhydride
polypropylene (MAPP) on the mechanical, morphological, and
thermal properties of polypropylene (PP) reinforced with durian skin
fibre (DSF) was conducted. The presence of 30 wt% DSF
significantly reduced the tensile strength of PP-DSF composite.
Interestingly, even though the same trend goes to PP-DSF with the
presence of MAPP, the reduction is only about 4% relative to
unreinforced PP and 18% higher than PP-DSF without MAPP
(untreated composite or UTC). The used of MAPP in treated
composite (TC) also increased the tensile modulus, flexural
properties and degradation temperature. The enhanced mechanical
properties are consistent with good interfacial interaction as
evidenced under scanning electron microscopy.
Abstract: Much of the literature on research design has focused
on research conducted in developed, uni-cultural or primarily English
speaking countries. Studies of qualitative case study research, the
challenges, and prospects have been embedded in Western/Eurocentric
society and social theories. Although there have been some
theoretical studies, few empirical studies have been conducted to
explore the nature of the challenges of qualitative case study in
developing countries. These challenges include accessibility to
organizations, conducting interviews in developing countries,
accessing documents and observing official meetings, language and
cultural challenges, the use of consent forms, issues affecting access
to companies, respondent issues, and data analysis. The author, while
conducting qualitative case study research in Libya, faced all these
issues. The discussion in this paper examines these issues in order to
make a contribution toward the literature in this area.
Abstract: Selenium is an-antioxidant which is important for
human health enters food chain through crops. In Kenya Zea mays is
consumed by 96% of population hence is a cheap and convenient
method to provide selenium to large number of population. Several
soil factors are known to have antagonistic effects on selenium
speciation hence the uptake by Zea mays. There are no studies in
Kenya that has been done to determine the effects of soil
characteristics (pH, Tcarbon, CEC, Eh) affect accumulation of
selenium in Zea mays grains in Maize Belt in Kenya. About 100 Zea mays grain samples together with 100 soil samples
were collected from the study site put in separate labeled Ziplocs and
were transported to laboratories at room temperature for analysis.
Maize grains were analyzed for selenium while soil samples were
analyzed for pH, Cat Ion Exchange Capacity, total carbon, and
electrical conductivity. The mean selenium in Zea mays grains varied from 1.82 ± 0.76
mg/Kg to 11±0.86 mg/Kg. There was no significant difference
between selenium levels between different grain batches {χ (Df =76)
= 26.04 P= 1.00} The pH levels varied from 5.43± 0.58 to 5.85±
0.32. No significant correlations between selenium in grains and soil
pH (Pearson’s correlations = - 0.143), and between selenium levels in
grains and the four (pH, Tcarbon, CEC, Eh) soil chemical
characteristics {F (4,91) = 0.721 p = 0.579} was observed. It can be concluded that the soil chemical characteristics in the
study site did not significantly affect the accumulation of native
selenium in Zea mays grains.
Abstract: Poverty alleviation is one of the most difficult
challenges facing third world countries in their development efforts.
Evidences in Nigeria showed that the number of those in poverty has
continued to increase. This paper is aimed at analyzing the
performance of poverty alleviation measures undertaken by
successive administrations in Nigeria with a view to addressing the
quagmire. The study identified the whole gamut of factors that served
as stumbling blocks to the implementation of each of the strategies
and recommended the involvement of local people in the
identification and design of projects so that sufficient participation
could be achieved.
Abstract: The aim of this work is to detect geometrical shape
objects in an image. In this paper, the object is considered to be as a
circle shape. The identification requires find three characteristics,
which are number, size, and location of the object. To achieve the
goal of this work, this paper presents an algorithm that combines
from some of statistical approaches and image analysis techniques.
This algorithm has been implemented to arrive at the major
objectives in this paper. The algorithm has been evaluated by using
simulated data, and yields good results, and then it has been applied
to real data.
Abstract: This research work presents the surface
thermodynamics approach to M-TB/HIV-Human sputum
interactions. This involved the use of the Hamaker coefficient
concept as a surface energetics tool in determining the interaction
processes, with the surface interfacial energies explained using van
der Waals concept of particle interactions. The Lifshitz derivation for
van der Waals forces was applied as an alternative to the contact
angle approach which has been widely used in other biological
systems. The methodology involved taking sputum samples from
twenty infected persons and from twenty uninfected persons for
absorbance measurement using a digital Ultraviolet visible
Spectrophotometer. The variables required for the computations with
the Lifshitz formula were derived from the absorbance data. The
Matlab software tools were used in the mathematical analysis of the
data produced from the experiments (absorbance values). The
Hamaker constants and the combined Hamaker coefficients were
obtained using the values of the dielectric constant together with the
Lifshitz Equation. The absolute combined Hamaker coefficients
A132abs and A131abs on both infected and uninfected sputum samples
gave the values of A132abs = 0.21631x10-21Joule for M-TB infected
sputum and Ã132abs = 0.18825x10-21Joule for M-TB/HIV infected
sputum. The significance of this result is the positive value of the
absolute combined Hamaker coefficient which suggests the existence
of net positive van der waals forces demonstrating an attraction
between the bacteria and the macrophage. This however, implies that
infection can occur. It was also shown that in the presence of HIV,
the interaction energy is reduced by 13% conforming adverse effects
observed in HIV patients suffering from tuberculosis.
Abstract: This research aimed to investigate the relationship
between attitude towards marketing mix, brand image and consumer
behavior of the passengers of low-cost airlines service. This study
employed by quantitative research and the questionnaire was used to
collect the data from 400 sampled of the passengers who have ever
used the low-cost airline services based in Bangkok, Thailand. The
descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation analysis were used to
analyze data. The research results revealed that the attitude of the marketing mix
of the low-cost airline services including product, price, place,
promotion and process had related to the consumer behavior on the
aspects of duration of service and frequency of service. While, the
brand image of the low cost airline including the characteristics of
organization, service quality and company identity had related to the
consumer behavior on duration of service, frequency of service and
cost of service at the significant statistically acceptable levels.
Abstract: Rotary entrainment is a phenomenon in which the
interface of two immiscible fluids are subjected to external flux by
means of rotation. Present work reports the experimental study on
rotary motion of a horizontal cylinder between the interface of air and
water to observe the penetration of gas inside the liquid. Experiments
have been performed to establish entrainment of air mass in water
alongside the cylindrical surface. The movement of tracer and seeded
particles has been tracked to calculate the speed and path of the
entrained air inside water. Simplified particle image velocimetry
technique has been used to trace the movement of particles/tracers at
the moment they are injected inside the entrainment zone and
suspended beads have been used to replicate the particle movement
with respect to time in order to determine the flow dynamics of the
fluid along the cylinder. Present paper establishes a thorough experimental analysis of the
rotary entrainment phenomenon between air and water keeping in
interest the extent to which we can intermix the two and also to study
its entrainment trajectories.
Abstract: Gastric Cancer (GC) has high morbidity and fatality
rate in various countries. It is still one of the most frequent and
deadly diseases. Gastrokine1 (GKN1) and gastrokine2 (GKN2) genes
are highly expressed in the normal stomach epithelium and play
important roles in maintaining the integrity and homeostasis of
stomach mucosal epithelial cells. In this study, 47 paired samples that
were grouped according to the types of gastric cancer and the clinical
characteristics of the patients, including gender and average of age.
They were investigated with gene expression analysis and mutation
screening by monitoring RT-PCR, SSCP and nucleotide sequencing
techniques. Both GKN1 and GKN2 genes were observed significantly
reduced found by (Wilcoxon signed rank test; p
Abstract: The understanding of geotechnical characteristics of
near-surface material and the effects of the groundwater is very
important problem in such as site studies. For showing the relations
between seismic data and groundwater, we selected about 25 km2 as
the study area. It has been presented which is a detailed work of
seismic data and groundwater depths of Gokpinar Damp area.
Seismic waves velocity (Vp and Vs) are very important parameters
showing the soil properties. The seismic records were used the
method of the multichannel analysis of surface waves near area of
Gokpinar Damp area. Sixty sites in this area have been investigated
with survey lines about 60 m in length. MASW (Multichannel
analysis of surface wave) method has been used to generate onedimensional
shear wave velocity profile at locations. These shear
wave velocities are used to estimate equivalent shear wave velocity in
the study area at every 2 and 5 m intervals up to a depth of 45 m.
Levels of equivalent shear wave velocity of soil are used the
classified of the study area. After the results of the study, it must be
considered as components of urban planning and building design of
Gokpinar Damp area, Denizli and the application and use of these
results should be required and enforced by municipal authorities.
Abstract: Monitoring the conditions of rotating machinery, such
as bearings, is important in order to improve the stability of work.
Acoustic Emission (AE) and vibration analysis are some of the most
accomplished techniques used for this purpose. Acoustic emission
has the ability to detect the initial phase of component degradation.
Moreover, it has been observed that vibration analysis is not as
successful at low rotational speeds (below 100 rpm). This because the
energy generated within this speed region is not detectable using
conventional vibration. From this perspective, this paper has
presented a brief review of using acoustic emission techniques for
monitoring bearing conditions.
Abstract: With the increasing dependence of countries on the
critical infrastructure, it increases their vulnerability. Big threat is
primarily in the human factor (personnel of the critical infrastructure)
and in terrorist attacks. It emphasizes the development of
methodology for searching of weak points and their subsequent
elimination. This article discusses methods for the analysis of safety
in the objects of critical infrastructure. It also contains proposal for
methodology for training employees of security services in the
objects of the critical infrastructure and developing scenarios of
attacks on selected objects of the critical infrastructure.
Abstract: Internship is a supervised and structured learning
experience related to one’s field of study or career goal. Internship
allows students to obtain work experience and the opportunity to
apply skills learned during university. Internship is a valuable
learning experience for students; however, literature on employer
assessment is scarce on Malaysian student’s internship experience.
This study focuses on employer’s perspective on student’s
performances during their three months of internship. The results are
based on the descriptive analysis of 45 sets of question gathered from
the on-site supervisors of the interns. The survey of 45 on-site
supervisor’s feedback was collected through postal mail. It was found
that, interns have not met their on-site supervisor’s expectations in
many areas. The significance of this study is employer’s assessment
on the internship shall be used as feedback to improve on ways how
to prepare students for their internship and employments in future.
Abstract: The report deals with comparison of traffic accidents
in Slovak republic in road and rail transport since 2009 until 2014,
with evaluation of external costs and consequently with the
possibilities of their internalization. The results of road traffic
accidents analysis are realized in line with after-effects they have
caused; in line with main cause, place of origin (within or out of
town) and in accordance to age of accident´s victims and kind of
injuries (easy, hard or fatal). Evaluation of individual after-effects is
carried in terms of probability of traffic accidents occurrence.
Abstract: The research explored the effect of morphemic analysis
awareness on ESL secondary school students’ vocabulary acquisition.
The quasi-experimental study was conducted with 100 ESL
secondary school students in two experimental groups (inflectional
and derivational) and one control group. The students’ vocabulary
acquisition was assessed through two measures: Morph-Analysis Test
and Morph-Vocabulary Test in the pretest and posttest before and
after an intervention programme. Results of ANCOVA revealed that
both the experimental groups achieved a significant score in Morph-
Analysis Test and Vocabulary-Morphemic Test. However, the
inflectional group obtained a fairly higher score than the derivational
group. Thus, the findings of the research are discussed in two main
areas. First, individual instructions of two types of morphemic
awareness have contributed significant results on inflectional and
derivational awareness among the ESL secondary school students.
Nevertheless, derivational morphology achieved a significant but
relatively smaller amount of effect on secondary school students’
morphological awareness compared to inflectional morphology in
this research. Second finding showed that the awareness of
inflectional and derivational morphology was found significantly
related to vocabulary achievement of ESL secondary school students.
Nevertheless, inflectional morphemic awareness had higher
significant effect on ESL secondary school students’ vocabulary
acquisition. Despite these findings, the study implies that morphemic
analysis awareness can serve as an alternative strategy for ESL
secondary school students in acquiring English vocabulary.
Abstract: The 1:1 cocrystal of 2-amino-4-chloro-6-
methylpyrimidine (2A4C6MP) with 4-methylbenzoic acid (4MBA)
(I) has been prepared by slow evaporation method in methanol,
which was crystallized in monoclinic C2/c space group, Z = 8, and a
= 28.431 (2) Å, b = 7.3098 (5) Å, c = 14.2622 (10) Å and β =
109.618 (3)°. The presence of unionized –COOH functional group in
cocrystal I was identified both by spectral methods (1H and 13C
NMR, FTIR) and X-ray diffraction structural analysis. The
2A4C6MP molecule interact with the carboxylic group of the
respective 4MBA molecule through N—H⋯O and O—H⋯N
hydrogen bonds, forming a cyclic hydrogen–bonded motif R2
2(8).
The crystal structure was stabilized by Npyrimidine—H⋯O=C and
C=O—H⋯Npyrimidine types hydrogen bonding interactions.
Theoretical investigations have been computed by HF and density
function (B3LYP) method with 6–311+G (d,p)basis set. The
vibrational frequencies together with 1H and 13C NMR chemical
shifts have been calculated on the fully optimized geometry of
cocrystal I. Theoretical calculations are in good agreement with the
experimental results. Solvent–free formation of this cocrystal I is
confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction analysis.