Academic literature on the topic 'Non-probability sample size'

Previously, we developed a high throughput non-parametric maximum entropy method (PLOS ONE, 13(5): e0196937, 2018) that employs a log-likelihood scoring function to characterize uncertainty in trial probability density estimates through a scaled quantile residual (SQR). The SQR for the true probability density has universal sample size invariant properties equivalent to sampled uniform random data (SURD). Alternative scoring functions are considered that include the Anderson-Darling test. Scoring function effectiveness is evaluated using receiver operator characteristics to quantify efficacy in discriminating SURD from decoy-SURD, and by comparing overall performance characteristics during density estimation across a diverse test set of known probability distributions.

The present study investigates the crucial elements of sample selection in social science research, thoroughly examining the nuances of sampling techniques, categories, and factors. The paper offers a thorough overview of the procedures involved in sampling strategies, with a particular emphasis on non-probability and probability approaches. It also discusses the critical role that sample size determination plays, taking into account variables like cost, ethics, statistical power, accuracy, and generalizability in addition to type I and type II errors. The paper also closely examines how several elements, such as research objectives, design, analytical instruments, and resource constraints, affect the choice of the ideal sample size. The topic of choosing the right data analysis software and how it affects choices about sample size is covered in detail. In the last section of the study, the ideas of power, effect size, and minimum sample size in statistical analysis are thoroughly explored, with a focus on partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

The consensus of many researchers on data saturation is that data saturation is a key driver for determining the adequacy of sample size in a qualitative case study. Despite these global consensuses, some researchers described data saturation as complex because the decision to stop data collection is solely dictated by the judgment and experience of researchers. Other researchers claimed that guidelines for determining non-probability sample sizes, used as an indication of data saturation are virtually non-existent, problematic, or controversial. Others claimed that data saturation hitched to sample size is practically weak, because data are never truly saturated, as there are always new data to be discovered. This narrative study highlights the dilemma of data saturation and strategies to adequately determine sample size in a qualitative case study. A narrative review of prior research that focused on the vast works of literature that revealed significant information on data saturation and strategies to adequately determine sample size was adopted. Peer-reviewed articles within the last five years from electronic databases, using some keywords such as “qualitative case study”, “sample size in a qualitative case study”, “data saturation”, etc., were also extracted. Results show that data saturation is very helpful especially at the conceptual stage, but its concept and standard is elusive, because it lacks practical guidance for estimating sample size for a robust research prior to data collection. Findings from this study may encourage researcher on better guidelines for determining non-probability sample sizes.

The consensus of many researchers on data saturation is that data saturation is a key driver for determining the adequacy of sample size in a qualitative case study. Despite these global consensuses, some researchers described data saturation as complex because the decision to stop data collection is solely dictated by the judgment and experience of researchers. Other researchers claimed that guidelines for determining non-probability sample sizes, used as an indication of data saturation are virtually non-existent, problematic, or controversial. Others claimed that data saturation hitched to sample size is practically weak, because data are never truly saturated, as there are always new data to be discovered. This narrative study highlights the dilemma of data saturation and strategies to adequately determine sample size in a qualitative case study. A narrative review of prior research that focused on the vast works of literature that revealed significant information on data saturation and strategies to adequately determine sample size was adopted. Peer-reviewed articles within the last five years from electronic databases, using some keywords such as “qualitative case study”, “sample size in a qualitative case study”, “data saturation”, etc., were also extracted. Results show that data saturation is very helpful especially at the conceptual stage, but its concept and standard is elusive, because it lacks practical guidance for estimating sample size for a robust research prior to data collection. Findings from this study may encourage researcher on better guidelines for determining non-probability sample sizes.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of Capital Adequacy Ratio, Operating Income Operating Costs, Loan to Deposit Ratio and Bank Size to Non-Performing Loans in Commercial Banks in Indonesia. The sample used in this research consists of 38 commercial banks. The sampling method is non probability sampling with the sampling technique using purposive sampling. The analysis is performed by using the Panel Data regression analysis by the Random Effects Model in testing the hypothesis. The results show that Capital Adequacy Ratio, Operating Income Operating Costs, Loan to Deposit Ratio and Bank Size have a positive effect on Non-Performing Loans (NPL).Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Biaya Operasional Pendapatan Operasional (BOPO), Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) dan Ukuran Bank (SIZE) terhadap Non-Performing Loan (NPL) pada Bank Umum Konvensional di Indonesia. Sampel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini terdiri dari 38 Bank Umum. Metode pengambilan sampel yang digunakan yaitu non probability sampling dengan teknik pengambilan sampel menggunakan purposive sampling. Analisis dilakukan dengan menggunakan Analisis Regresi Data Panel dengan Random Effect model dalam pengujian hipotesis. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Biaya Operasional Pendapatan Operasional (BOPO), Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) dan Ukuran Bank (SIZE) berpengaruh positif terhadap Non-Performing Loan (NPL).

Abstract Carefully designed probability-based sample surveys can be prohibitively expensive to conduct. As such, many survey organizations have shifted away from using expensive probability samples in favor of less expensive, but possibly less accurate, nonprobability web samples. However, their lower costs and abundant availability make them a potentially useful supplement to traditional probability-based samples. We examine this notion by proposing a method of supplementing small probability samples with nonprobability samples using Bayesian inference. We consider two semi-conjugate informative prior distributions for linear regression coefficients based on nonprobability samples, one accounting for the distance between maximum likelihood coefficients derived from parallel probability and non-probability samples, and the second depending on the variability and size of the nonprobability sample. The method is evaluated in comparison with a reference prior through simulations and a real-data application involving multiple probability and nonprobability surveys fielded simultaneously using the same questionnaire. We show that the method reduces the variance and mean-squared error (MSE) of coefficient estimates and model-based predictions relative to probability-only samples. Using actual and assumed cost data we also show that the method can yield substantial cost savings (up to 55%) for a fixed MSE.

Sampling methods in epidemiological studies Sampling allows researchers to obtain information about a population through data obtained from a subset of the population, with a saving in terms of costs and workload compared to a study based on the entire population. Sampling allows the collecting of high quality information, provided that the sample size is large enough to detect a true association between exposure and outcome. There are two types of sampling methods: probability and non-probability sampling. In probability sampling the subset of the population is extracted randomly from all eligible individuals; this method, as all subjects have a chance of being chosen, allows researchers to generalize the findings of their study. In non-probability sampling, some individuals have no chance of being selected, because researchers do not extract the sample from all eligible subjects of a population; the sample is probably non-representative, the effect of sampling error cannot be estimated, so that the study produces non-generalizable results. Examples of probability sampling methods are: simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratified sampling, and clustered sampling. Examples of non-probability sampling methods are: convenience sampling, judgement sampling.

The aim of this research is to empirically prove that company size, profitability, dividend policy, leverage, audit committee, cash holding and institutional ownership are able to predict the probability of company management implementing income smoothing practices. This research uses a population of companies in the consumer cyclicals and consumer non-cyclicals sectors that have been listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2017 to 2022, with 34 companies selected as samples. The sample was selected using a purposive sampling method and analyzed using the logistic regression method. The results of this research show that company size, dividend policy, leverage, audit committee, cash holding, and institutional ownership cannot predict the probability of company management implementing income smoothing practices, while profitability can predict the probability of company management implementing income smoothing practices.

In this paper, we examine some often ignored or assumed problems relating with fitting probability models to count data either exhibiting over, equi, or under dispersion. Of particular concern are last category truncated data, where most often, expected values in this last category are collapsed together so that the sum of the expected values sum to the sample size in the data. That is, so that $\displaystyle \sum_{i=0}^{k} \hat{m}_i=n$, the sample size. We shall for illustrative purposes in this paper, consider the following distributions: the negative binomial (NB), the Inverse trinomial (IT), the hyper-Poisson (HP), the Quasi-negative binomial (QNBD), the extended com-Poisson distribution (ECOMP) as well as the negative binomial-exponential distribution (NBGE).Though, we have restricted our discussion to these six distributions, other distributions may also be employed but the patterns are always the same, that is, the sum of the estimated probabilities does not equal 1.00 and consequently, the sum of the expected values is always less or equal (Poisson case only) the sample size in the observed data. We propose a common procedure to rectify this problem for both right truncated or non-truncated frequency count data exhibiting either excess zeros or regular frequency data.

Objective: To estimate and compare the prevalence of depression among college students in Karachi. The analytical approach was aimed to minimize biases produced by profession, gender, and age of samples on the prevalence rate.Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed. Two hundred and sixty students were chosen from January 2018 to March 2019 through a purposive non-probability sampling technique from different professional colleges in Karachi. Beck Depression Inventory, a self-report questionnaire comprising 21 items was used as a study tool. After taking informed consent, each sample was inquired about the profession, age, gender, and personal and family history of psychiatric illness. Diagnosed cases of any psychiatric illness were excluded. Samples were stratified on the basis of profession, gender, and age. A minimum sample size of 70 students was extracted from the total sample through quasi randomization. Statistical software SPSS version 16 was used for data entry, sample randomization and analyses.Results: Overall prevalence rate was 26.15%. Profession based stratification of samples showed prevalence rates of 21.81% and 29.33% in business and medical college students, respectively. Substrata of medical colleges i.e. public and private medical college students showed prevalence rates of 38.66% and 20%, respectively. Gender-based stratification showed a prevalence rate of 33.33% in female and 17.24% in male students. Age-based stratification showed a prevalence rate of 15.49% in teens (17-19 years) and 21.69% in the post-teen group (20-25 years). Independent sample t-tests showed a statistically significant difference between the strata of the profession, gender, and age and substrata of public and private medical colleges. A prevalence rate of 25.71% was estimated in quasi-randomized samples.Conclusion: Randomization, stratification and large sample sizes are employed to minimize biases in prevalence studies. The present study showed the importance of sample stratification based on age, gender, and profession in estimating the prevalence of depression. Results also showed the validity of the minimum sample size is calculated appropriately.

In the classic setup of the Condorcet Jury Theorem, voters decide by majority vote between two different options. The Competence Assumption is that all voters are more likely than not to identify the correct alternative with the same probability. The Independence Assumption is that the votes are statistically independent. The Sincerity Assumption is that the voters always vote for the alternative they believe to be correct. Two results follow if these conditions are met. First, the Non-asymptotic Result says that the probability of a correct decision increases in group size. Second, the Asymptotic Result says that this probability converges to 1. We show that this convergence happens very quickly.

AbstractPurpose – The purpose of this research was to investigate and explore the influence of chatbots service quality on customer satisfaction in the banking sector.Methodology – The sample size for this research was determined to be 25, sufficient to achieve data saturation. This research utilised qualitative inductive research approach, exploratory in nature, implementing non-probability, stratified purposeful sampling technique, based on the age category of commercial bank consumers.Findings – Overall, a total of eleven themes and sub-themes emerged from the gathered data, resulting in three aggregate dimensions, which were “perceived chatbot service quality”, “customer satisfaction” and “responses and intentions”.Practical implications – The study could be extended for different target market, creative strategy, other media and more countries. The findings of this research aimed to help banks further understand customer satisfaction, along with their responses and intentions, when it comes to interacting with chatbots.Originality/value – This research added value to customer experience, which mattered the most, when it comes to them being satisfied with their interaction with chatbot. The output of this research developed a conceptual framework which identified the factors causing customer dissatisfaction once they interacted with chatbots.

The conclusion of contracts was known in ancient times and is still relevant today. Shares that are not distributed in kind can cause certain difficulties that force the interested parties to decide on distribution.Joint ownership of inherited property received from a family member necessitates joint decision-making on its maintenance, ownership, use, and disposal, and it is difficult to achieve such a consensus on all issues. Therefore, quite often a certain period may pass from the acquisition of the right to a share in the joint property to its distribution, but due to conflicts regarding the use of the property or in the case of the need to receive funds or for other reasons, the joint property is divided by the co-owners. That is, the reasons may even be questions of how to use agricultural land, for example, to rent it out, sow it yourself, plant a garden, etc. However, the complexity of the division of land plots is because it is difficult to «divide» agricultural lands at least. After all, their intended use depends on the size, etc. Quite often, disputes also arise regarding the use of residential buildings, since the size and location of the rooms make their use impossible or difficult, as well as the distribution in kind according to the inherited shares. In other words, there is a certain «trading» of assets. If the situation is related to the distribution of a small plot of land where the house is located, then questions also arise regarding the establishment of an easement, as well as mutual concessions for the compensation of a part of the house in exchange for most of the land. In general, there are protracted negotiations, from the point of view of which these parties, who are still in a family relationship, agree on the division of property.Factors that can affect the outcome of property division include unique family circumstances, the specific nature of assets, and traditional legal practices. The parties will use different mechanisms for the division of joint assets: sale, donation, or exchange, under the terms of which they «trade» with the consent of others their rights as co-owners of jointly owned objects. The various evolutionary stages of the agreement on the division of property by the testator’s family culminate in the final stage of agreeing. The agreement on the division of inheritance is a complex legal process. Potentially, in a single transaction, the beneficiaries can choose and implement the division by sale, exchange, or donation. These different legal constructions reflect the uniqueness of the decisions in each agreement and to some extent demonstrate the specific legal practice of the individual Old Babylonian city-state and the particular circumstances of each family.However, in addition to the division of property, there are other agreements regarding the division of inheritance. For example, an agreement on quasi-partition upon adoption (quasi-adoption), an agreement on the division of residential property by the owner between its future beneficiaries.The need to conclude such agreements arises when an agreement on the division of property is required, which differs from such concepts as sale, donation, exchange, etc.Domestic scientists consider the agreement on the distribution of joint property very broadly and include other types of agreements in the list of such agreements, establishing that the agreement on changing the succession of the right to inheritance by law is atypical. It was determined that the contract under investigation belongs to contracts on the distribution of inheritance. Agreements on the distribution of inheritance are concluded in the field of inheritance, which indicates that they belong to inheritance agreements. It is proposed to supplement the existing classifications of civil law contracts by distinguishing a new type of civil law contracts – contracts in the law of inheritance on the level with the selection of a new type of inheritance contracts – contracts on the distribution of inheritance.» This is a bold hypothesis, but it is difficult to agree with it for various reasons, not least because the distribution of inheritance has been known since ancient times.The factor that the term «distribution» of inheritance and giving it a broad legal meaning is analyzed is an interesting author’s hypothesis. At the same time, according to our position, the term «distribution of inheritance» is more balanced, since in Art. 1278 of the Civil Code does not quite successfully use the term «division», when in the content of this norm it is about the equality of shares in the inheritance and the allocation of a share in kind, and not about division. However, in Part 1 of Art. 1280 of the Civil Code, the term «distribution» is used with a direct meaning and «redistribution» as an opportunity to review the results of the distribution under new circumstances – in the case of acceptance of the inheritance by other heirs. In essence, the obvious meaning of the term «distribution» follows from this norm as the initial determination of the ownership of the share of each of the heirs. In this sense, the redistribution of the inheritance should be connected with the possible introduction of changes to the previously made distribution, that is, in this case, we do not limit the number of subsequent redistributions of the inheritance. This hypothesis is related to the fact that the number of heirs who missed the deadline for valid reasons is not limited by legislation and cannot be limited, but is determined by various legal circumstances.Therefore, it is hardly expedient and possible, to apply in Art. 1280 of the Civil Code, the concept of «distribution» should be given a wider meaning than it has in the Civil Code, as this would lead to its ambiguous perception and application both in theory and in legislation and practice. Usually, theoretical terms should be distinguished by being original and should accurately reflect the legal meaning of actions, events, or conditions.But an important element of the procedure for the distribution of common inheritance property or its redistribution are the subjects who must fix the relevant agreement or carry out such distribution according to their conviction.It is indicated that the practice of concluding contracts by the living owner with his future heirs is widespread in foreign countries. At the same time, German experts equate inheritance with what they consider to be contractual inheritance.It should be noted that the practice of concluding contracts on the distribution of inheritance in the practice of the Ukrainian notary is relatively new and does not have clear boundaries in regulation, which complicates the activity of notaries in certifying such contracts. There are several difficulties in the application of relevant legal norms in practice, as there is a lack of understanding of the legal nature and essence of the conclusion of contracts, the term of conclusion, and the procedure for notarization.The opinions of individual authors are studied, about legal relations regarding the division of inheritance characterized by a weak state policy, this obliges the participants of such relations to draw up the content of agreements on the division of inheritance independently. For agreements between heirs on the distribution of inheritance to be valid regulators of the relations of its participants (heirs), conditions (clauses) must be clarified and formulated, which will be disclosed with sufficient completeness and consistency of the content of the relevant agreement and the purpose of its conclusion.We do not agree with this point of view of the scientist regarding «weak state policy», since the Central Committee of Ukraine was not created by politicians or the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, but by leading scientists of Ukraine. It is also difficult to agree with the statement that the lack of clear regulation of the terms of inheritance contracts «obliges the participants of such relationships to independently draw up the content of inheritance distribution contracts.» In Ukraine, some good notaries and lawyers can draw up high-quality contracts for the distribution of inheritance. Moreover, according to Art. 4 of the Law of Ukraine «On Notaries», notaries have the right to draw up relevant draft contracts. In our opinion, it is worth emphasizing here that this is a right, not a duty of a notary public. That is, the notary may not undertake the drafting of the relevant project, but this provision is positive for interested parties since the lack of experience in drafting original contracts will most likely lead to the drafting of a low-quality draft contract. Indeed, in this case, it is worth looking for an experienced notary who will be able to draw up a draft contract, but this will make it possible to prevent errors in its drafting with a high probability.Thus, the agreement on the distribution of inheritance enters into force if the parties reach an agreement in the proper form on all the essential terms of the agreement. The main essential condition for agreeing on the division of inheritance is the subject of the agreement. However, either party may consider this condition insufficient and propose to include additional conditions in the contract. In this case, these conditions become essential. In connection with the instability of the regulation of the content of contracts between heirs on the distribution of inheritance, it can be concluded that the inclusion of normal conditions in the contract is currently impossible. We believe that such a general scheme of perception of contract terms is not entirely rational, since how to perceive ordinary terms or essential terms of a contract quite often in practice depends on the judgments of the parties to the contract unless otherwise regulated by legislation. This issue can be approached more precisely if we take into account the possibility of interpreting transactions and contracts (Article 213 of the Civil Code).So, based on the essence of the process of concluding contracts, it should be taken into account that the notary who drafts the contract can edit it, therefore it is worth recognizing the right of the notary to interpret it, since according to Art. 5 of the Law of Ukraine «On Notaries», he is obliged to clarify the legal consequences that will arise for persons after his certification. It follows from this that the notary must be given the official right to interpret the contract upon its certification, then it will be clear that after its certification, the court can interpret the content of the contract. In this regard, Art. 213 of the Civil Code is proposed to be supplemented with a corresponding provision regarding the powers of the notary, namely: his duty to interpret the content of the deed or contract before and during its certification.The Inheritance Regulation, which envisages wide acceptance of the inheritance contract, is considered. It is noted that it is worth revising Ukrainian inheritance law in advance for compliance with European standards since after Ukraine accedes to the EU it will be necessary to inform all EU countries about what types of contracts in Ukraine will be related to the issuance of the European Certificate of Succession.This is also important for inheritance by law, because, in case of non-fulfillment of the terms of the lifetime maintenance (care) agreement and the inheritance agreement, they will have to be terminated or recognized as invalid or unfulfilled by the acquirer, so the property that was the subject of this agreement will be inherited by law. At the same time, if the terms of these agreements are fulfilled, the part of the property that belonged to the testator will not be inherited but will become the property of the acquirers.The process of accepting the inheritance is quite long, and the inheritance law allows for several agreements between the heirs, which can significantly affect the size of the inheritance shares and the real things in each share in the inheritance. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the possibility of agreements between the heirs at different stages of accepting or not accepting the inheritance. From communication with one of the clients, the author learned that the notary unofficially advised the heirs to agree on the distribution of the inheritance, as well as for certain heirs to waive the right to inheritance, but to receive a proper share of the inheritance in household items. When the author was informed of all the circumstances of the inheritance case, it became clear that the notary could not solve the complex inheritance problem, since the inheritance took place based on a will and some heirs had the right to a mandatory share, as well as part of the property remained. So, in such a situation, it was necessary to solve an arithmetical and at the same time legal problem, the complexity of which was determined by the complex subject composition of numerous heirs. Therefore, the notary tried to simplify its solution by artificially «transforming» the heirs who have the right to a mandatory share into ordinary heirs who claim property that is not subject to recording in the certificate of the right to inheritance.A natural will was considered, when the testator bequeathed the specific property to each of the heirs, namely: a house to a daughter, a factory to one son, and a yacht to another let’s say. In such a case, the will of the testator is formulated in the Shodo of the objects of inheritance, so it is difficult to perceive the consequences of the refusal of one of the heirs to inherit, when the yacht will be divided into equal shares between the son and the daughter, because: firstly, the value of the factory and the house will be different, so someone from the testator gave the children a larger inheritance than the other. Secondly, in the case of the existence of a part of the inheritance not covered by the will, it can be assumed with a high degree of probability that the will of the testator was formulated about a certain property and nothing more. Therefore, in case of refusal of one of the heirs to inherit under the will, the property bequeathed to him should be considered as not covered by the will and should be inherited according to the law. That is, if the will of the testator regarding the entire property is revealed, it can be assumed that he thus intended to deprive one of the heirs of the right to inheritance.At the same time, the will must be interpreted not only by the heirs under the will but also by the heirs under the law, when its content concerns the right to a mandatory share in the inheritance, which belongs to the heirs under the law of the first rank, who due to incapacity have the right to claim it, as well as the recipients of the response. With a high degree of probability, it can be assumed that the inheritance, which consists of household items, will be divided even without a written agreement. However, the interpretation of a will, which concerns a substantial inheritance between a significant number of heirs, requires not only a written form of recording of agreements – a contract, but also, in our opinion, a notarial form that will allow recording the agreement more reliably, to explain to the parties to the contract the consequences of its conclusion. If all interested parties sign the agreement, and the notary recognizes it as legal, then it will be difficult to recognize it as illegal or invalid in the next one. Therefore, the agreement on the interpretation of the will, which will establish the specific rights of the heirs and their obligations regarding the coverage of the testator’s debts, is a rational form of specification of the terms of the inheritance, which will allow establishing the executor of the will, if he was not determined by the testator.We can assume with a high degree of probability that similar «simplified calculations» are made by other notaries, as well as directly by the heirs, and certain agreements are not necessary here.

This chapter covers sampling in quantitative research. It explores the issues involved in selecting respondents for survey research. After formulating research questions and planning the fieldwork, the survey researcher needs to decide between a structured interview and a self-completion questionnaire to determine the population suited to investigate the chosen topic. Randomly selected samples are important because they permit generalizations to the population and because they have certain known qualities. The chapter covers the types of probability sampling and non-probability sampling while also considering the decreasing possibility of achieving a sampling error in line with the sample size. It considers the sampling issues for online surveys, recognizing their increasing popularity in recent decades.

The procedure for obtaining the particle size distribution by visual inspection of a sample involves stereological errors, given the cut of the sample. A cut particle, supposedly spherical, with radius R, will be counted as a circular particle with radius r, r≤R. The difference between r and R depends on how far from the center of the sphere the cut was performed. This introduces errors when the extrapolation of the properties from two to three dimensions during the analysis of a sample. The usual method is to correct the distribution by probabilistic functions, which have large errors. This paper presents a method to reduce the error inherent to this problem. The method is to compute a simulation of the preparation process in a sample whose structure can be described by non-penetrating spheres of various diameters which meet a known probability distribution function, for example, a log-logistic function, or even a constant function. For each distribution radius, a number of spheres is generated and virtually cut, generating a bi-dimensional (2D) distribution. The 2D curves of the spheres distribution obtained in this simulation are compared with that obtained by the experimental procedure and then the parameters of the threedimensional distribution function are adjusted until the 2D curves are similar to the experimental one using the optimization method Simulated Annealing for the curve-fitting. In future this method will be applied to the analysis of the oil reservoir rocks.

The objective of the study was to establish a relationship between social entrepreneurship and the principles of complex thinking in Peru. The research was quantitative, and non-experimental, with a probability sample of 166 entrepreneurs (X = 55.4 years; 52% women). It was concluded that the structural models for the general objective and the specific objectives were acceptable (YB-X2/gl<5 for both). The values for the general objective were rp= .855 (p<.001) and effect size of r2 = .73). For the specific objectives the correlations in all cases reported statistical significance below p<.001, with large effect size (r2 ≥.25). Therefore, this research established a positive relationship between social entrepreneurship and the principles of complex thinking, contributing to the theory of SE under the lens of complex thinking.

Skill acquisition is defined as the art of learning to do something in order to earn a living and or to survive. Acquisition of skill is a type of learning in which repetition results in enduring changes in individual’s capability to perform a specific task. The study is aimed to identify the influence of skills acquisition on employability of graduate students in selected educational institutions. A descriptive research study with the use of questionnaires has been adopted to collect data from the selected respondents. A self-designed scale was used as the research instrument. Non-probability sampling method with the sample size of 209 samples was administered. Data analysis was done for the two hypotheses developed by using Multiple regression analysis and independent sample t-test. The results of analysis showed that there is significant influence of skills acquisition on the perceived employability among the graduate students of the selected institutions. The analysis also revealed that there is no significant influence of gender on perceived employability. The study concluded that skills acquisition has significant influence on perceived employability among the graduates of the selected institutions taken for the study.

Manager awareness of culture and cultural diversity is subjective and as such, managers use their own cultural knowledge to make judgments on issues that relate to cultural diversity. Human resource practitioners are not championing the practices that empower managers to manage cultural diversity due to overbearing administrative procedures. This results in favoritism, leading to high turnover and poor morale. Managers are also unable to associate organizational strategies and policies to cultural diversity, indicating cultural diversity knowledge and skill gaps. Hence, adopting a qualitative approach and descriptive design, the aim of this research is investigating the role of human resource management in managing cultural diversity at the correctional service organization. The sample size consists of 24 managers selected through non-probability purposive sampling from 42 managers' population of head and regional office.

Tourist satisfaction is an important statistic that indicates how satisfied a tourist is with the services they receive at their location. It is assessed by comparing their initial expectations with the actual services provided. Nowadays, hotels utilize AI to enhance the tourists experience and individual marketing Communication. With the help of AI technology such as Chatbot, Robot maximum hotels can manage the tourists and their satisfaction level. Due to the varied and refined preferences of tourists, there is an increasing desire to create more comprehensive models for assessing customer satisfaction. This holds special significance in the hospitality industry, where client happiness is regarded as a crucial element in attaining a competitive edge. To carry out this study, we utilized the initial SERVQUAL model put forth by Parasuraman et al. in 1988, which includes five dimensions and 22 variables that were assessed both before and after the provision of service. We employed the Non-Probability Convenience Sampling Technique to choose a sample size of 385 respondents.

Ordinal tabular data, with advantages of structured knowledge representation in tabular data and the characteristic of inter-class ranks, has drawn increasing attention. However, existing retrieval-based tabular deep learning methods designed primarily for classical tabular data pay less attention to ordinal tabular data. Ordinal knowledge of ordinal tabular data provides a more explicit objective for tabular ordinal classification by considering both classification and regression properties. Furthermore, these approaches overlook the significance of intra-class group features which can balance the retrieved probability of various sample size groups and capture shared knowledge among multiple samples within same group. In this work, we propose the Intra-Class Groups Retrieval and Inter-Class Ordinal Knowledge Augmented Network (TabCGOK) model for ordinal tabular data prediction, equipped with Intra-Class Groups Retrieval (CG) module and Inter-Class Ordinal Knowledge Augmented (OK) module. The CG module provides intra-class group features candidate set for subsequent retrieval operation. It divides each class into several groups, then extracts the representation of each group as intra-class group features. And the intra-class group features candidate set consists of all intra-class group features from each class. The OK module is designed to capture inter-class ordinal knowledge. It estimates the ordinal distances by calculating inter-class feature distances, which could correspond to the inter-class non-isometric nature of ordinal knowledge, and then aggregates the previous ordinal distances to clarify the containment relationship of ordinal knowledge. OK module utilizes the attention mechanism for fusing the captured ordinal knowledge to retrieved intra-class group features. Finally, TabCGOK integrates fused intra-class group features with sample level features for ordinal tabular data prediction. Extensive experiments on several ordinal tabular datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. The source code is available at https://github.com/luozhengdong/TabCGOK.

Abstract This work aims at deriving the most probable extreme response of highly nonlinear systems under random excitations based on a collection (ensemble) of small size samples by using order statistics in combination with non-parametric statistical inference methods (SIMs). The resulting scheme essentially consists of the r-largest Order Statistics (r-LOS) model and the (Delete-d) Jackknife or Bootstrap non-parametric, resampling methods. Using the r-LOS model when dealing with relatively small size samples, more information from the collected set of extremes per sample can be accrued as opposed to the common engineering practice of employing just the single highest extreme per sample, i.e., Block-Maxima approach. On the other hand, SIMs, with the aid of resampling with or without replacement, can further enhance this information using artificially created ensembles. As a result, from the ensembles produced via resampling, quantile levels and distribution parameters such as shape, scale and location become new random variables. With the aid of these new distributions, the probability of extremes can be explained better in terms of both sample size, i.e., number of realizations and number of largest extremes per sample. Due to data availability, a direct application-example for the illustration of the merits of this novel approach is the determination of the most-probable maximum of experimental green water related extreme loads. Using the proposed approach, the statistical attributes of recorded extremes and distribution-fit parameters can be assessed w.r.t: a. the number of realizations, b. the number of largest extremes per realization, c. all possible combinations of a and b.

Introduction: A sample of the patient's blood is needed to analyse their blood count. Different locations and methods can be chosen to draw blood. Different factors can cause haemolysis to occur when drawing samples. Haemolysis can cause erroneous laboratory results. Methods: A quantitative method has been used. The theoretic part used a descriptive method, and the research used a non-probability research sample. To process the results, Microsoft Office Professional Plus and IBM SPSS have been used. Results: A larger occurrence of haemolytic samples, 34%, has been recorded when drawing blood from the distal part of the arm as opposed to 12% from the cubital part. Furthermore, 32% of samples were haemolytic when drawing blood via vacuum as opposed to 12% when drawing blood via syringe. 36% of samples drawn with smaller intravenous cannulae indicated haemolysis and 14% of samples drawn with larger cannulae. In comparison to drawn samples via syringe and intravenous cannulae haemolysis occurred in 6 and 13% of samples respectively. The cause of 88,8% of haemolytic samples was drawing via an IV cannula and its size. Discussion and conclusion: Haemolysis occurrence is larger especially when drawing blood with smaller IV cannulae and via vacuum, as well as from the distal part of the arm. Over half of haemolytic samples were caused by drawing blood via IV cannula and due to its size.

In recent years, a more realistic safety analysis of nuclear reactors has been based on best estimate (BE) computer codes. Because their predictions are unavoidably affected by conceptual, aleatory and experimental sources of uncertainty, an uncertainty analysis is needed if useful conclusions are to be obtained from BE codes. In this paper, statistical uncertainty analyses of cross-sectional averaged void fraction calculations using the POLCA-T system code, and based on the BWR Full-Size Fine-Mesh Bundle Test (BFBT) benchmark are presented by means of two different sampling strategies: Latin Hypercube (LHS) and Simple Random Sampling (SRS). LHS has the property of densely stratifying across the range of each input probability distribution, allowing a much better coverage of the input uncertainties than SRS. The aim here is to compare both uncertainty analyses on the BWR assembly void axial profile prediction in steady-state, and on the transient void fraction prediction at a certain axial level coming from a simulated re-circulation pump trip scenario. It is shown that the replicated void fraction mean (either in steady-state or transient conditions) has less variability when using LHS than SRS for the same number of calculations (i.e. same input space sample size) even if the resulting void fraction axial profiles are non-monotonic. It is also shown that the void fraction uncertainty limits achieved with SRS by running 458 calculations (sample size required to cover 95% of 8 uncertain input parameters with a 95% confidence), result in the same uncertainty limits achieved by LHS with only 100 calculations. These are thus clear indications on the advantages of using LHS.

In many cases, the declaration of compliance of a result of measurement is not clear. This is observed when there is a partial superposition of the expanded uncertainty of a quantity with its limit of specification. In these cases, a judgment is required based in pre-established criteria between the client and the supplier. The consequences of an inadequate decision may be disastrous. Either the supplier will have financial losses or it will lose credibility with its client. This work demonstrates how to calculate the probability, for an appropriate confidence level, that the uncertainty associated with the measurement is within the limits that were established in a contract, declaring the compliance or non-compliance relative to the specification, and study two methodologies for helping the claimer to take the decision of compliance or non-compliance, using as example the heat capacity of natural gas, calculated from its gas chromatography. This approach encourages the client/supplier relationship. This occurs because the results are reported to both parts with a probability of compliance instead of a single value. The first methodology is based on the increase in the size of the sample. The second proposal is based in the calibration of the chromatograph against certificate reference materials with more exact and precise uncertainty values.

Abstract The design and operation of High Pressure / High Temperature (HP/HT) equipment in the oil and gas industry using API 17TR8 drives requirements for fracture mechanics fatigue verifications. The inputs used as part of the fracture mechanics assessment require to be defined in order to ensure the integrity of the assumptions and results. Such assessments assume the HP/HT product may include an initial flaw that is equal to the size of the minimum indication detectable by the defined Non-destructive Examination (NDE) technique used as part of the part quality requirements. This size of this initial flaw can have a large impact on the overall fatigue life of the product and can influence the operating conditions of the subsea operator. Therefore, the smaller the initial crack size that is detectable the longer the subsea operating window and the harder the conditions that can be tolerated. Historically, in the subsea oil and gas industry, API 6A limits on detectable flaws have been assumed but these limits do not define the Probability of Detection (POD) or confidence level of the NDE techniques used. This paper outlines a test methodology for deriving the POD and confidence level of NDE techniques based on the use EDM notches in sample plates. Results of the testing show the ability of the NDE techniques used in the test to detect initial EDM notches that align with the API 6A limits of 1/16″ long flaws with a POD of 90% and with a confidence level of 80%. The impact of using this size of initial flaw on the fracture mechanics assessment of a HP/HT product is outlined with significant improvements in fatigue life achieved.

Marksmanship has been a key metric in evaluating total Soldier performance. While marksmanship assessment is typically done at the individual level, marksmanship performance is heavily embedded in team tasks and battle drills. Thus, an objectively measured and operationally-based assessment is needed to characterize teamwork in marksmanship tasks, as well as evaluate its impact on team marksmanship performance. This study was a proof-of-concept trial conducted during a 72-hour mission field study, using 39 active-duty male, infantry Soldiers. Thirteen 3-person teams completed a 6-minute scenario that simulated rapidly escalating firing engagement. The teams conducted a planning session to develop strategies for mission accomplishment prior to scenario start. At mission start, the team was situated in the center of a circle of 28 target light emitting diode (LED) displays, which they were required to cover and engage. The target LED displays were in one of three states (dark, non-threat, or threat), each represented by a pattern created by the research team. The scenario was split into six ~60-80 second segments, differing in number of targets presented, target identities (non-threat or threat), as well as density of targets displayed per sector. On-weapon and body sensor data was used to calculate team marksmanship performance (i.e., probability of target hits, probability of threat targets engaged). Additional teamwork data were gathered from observer ratings of teams’ communication and coordination during the scenario, and post-session questionnaires. To evaluate the effects of scenario segment, sector strategy, and communication strategy on team marksmanship performance, two 6x2x2 mixed analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted with scenario segment as the within-subjects variable, and sector strategy (implicit or explicit) and communication strategy (plan or no plan) as the between-subjects variables. Team marksmanship performance outcomes included a team’s probability of hit, p(hit), and ratio of targets engaged, p(engage). Both marksmanship variables revealed significant main effects of segment, p<.001, where performance degraded as the scenario progressed. Additionally, p(hit) had a main effect of sector strategy, where those who used the external environment cues for sectoring (i.e., explicit) resulted in a higher probability of hit as compared to those who used teammate relative positions (i.e., implicit), p=.02. Team communication was trending towards significance, where having a communication plan resulted in lower p(hit), p=.07. For p(hit), there was also a three-way interaction between communication strategy, sector strategy, and segment, p<.01, where teams without a strategy performed more consistently in their shooting across the segments if they had an externally driven sector strategy (i.e., explicit), but performed just the same as those with a communication plan if they had an internally driven sectoring strategy (i.e., implicit). These results suggest that this methodology can not only characterize individual marksmanship skills but is beneficial to assessing team performance across operationally-based scenarios representing escalating short-term engagements and measuring the effects of team variables. However, our proof-of-concept analysis was limited by sample size and future development will strive to increase the number of teams participating. Additionally, future versions of this methodology will incorporate additional metrics of communication, physiology, and decision making.

Background. Concurrent use of alcohol and cannabis (CAM) has been shown to be common among college students (Bravo et al., 2021), and is associated with more alcohol use and related negative consequences (Cummings et al., 2019). There is evidence that both alcohol and cannabis use may be associated with changes in brain functioning and cognition (Oomen et al., 2018), including differences on tasks related to cognitive inhibition/inhibitory control (i.e., Go/NoGo tasks; Lopez-Caneda et al., 2014). A promising method for assessing potential neurocognitive changes associated with alcohol and cannabis use is by examining substance-associated event-related potentials (ERPs) using electroencephalography (EEG; Zhang et al., 2021). The present study aimed to examine differences in P300 ERPs associated with alcohol cues between binge drinking alcohol only students and binge drinking students who also consumed cannabis in the past 30-days (i.e., CAM use). Method. Fifty binge drinking college students (26 of whom also reported using cannabis over the past 30 days) were recruited from a Psychology department research pool to participate in an alcohol-related Cued Go/NoGo task while their brainwaves were measured. The task was characterized by within-subjects factors block (indicating probability of Go/NoGo task cue-target combinations), Cue (Alcohol vs. Neutral), and Target (Go vs. NoGo). Participants identified as mostly White (78%), female (72%), were freshman (64%), and reported a mean age of 18.86 (SD=0.90). To test study aims, at electrode Cz, we conducted a 2x2x2x2 mixed ANOVA with all within-subjects factors (Block, Cue, Target), and between-subjects factor CAM over the past 30 days (CAM use vs. No CAM use). Results. We observed a significant block*target*CAM interaction with a medium effect size (Richardson, 2011), F(1,47)=4.09, p=.049, η2=.08. Cue was retained as a factor in subsequent analyses in order to effectively evaluate the hypothesis. In Block 2, we found a non-significant cue*CAM interaction, F(1,47)=3.10, p=.085, η2=.06, with a medium effect size. Paired-samples t-tests revealed that individuals who used cannabis did not display a significant difference between alcohol and neutral cues, t(25)=0.243, p=.81, while individuals who did not use cannabis showed significantly greater alcohol vs. neutral cues, t(23)=2.34, p=.025. Conclusions. While preliminary, we observed a significant difference in P300 ERPs for alcohol vs. neutral cues, only in individuals who did not report using cannabis over the past 30-days. In other words, we found that CAM using individuals display similar neural reactivity to alcohol compared to neutral cues, while an alcohol vs. neutral difference was observed for alcohol-only individuals. It may be that by using another substance, alcohol stimuli lose salience, and evaluative processing indexed by the P300 is reduced. These are interesting results to be observed within a non-clinical sample of mostly-freshman college students, and provides rationale for examining neuropsychological differences between individuals who use multiple substances versus one substance in populations with more severe levels of dependence.

Abstract The Object detection, especially for autonomous navigation, requires high accuracy of the localization accuracy on the objects detected. The bounding box is devised to provide the localization of the object detection. However, the confidence score of the bounding boxes does not provide the localization reliability although the bounding boxes are selected by the confidence score through a non-maximum suppression (NMS) task. In this paper, we propose a novel bounding box regression framework to build a probability-based bounding box. The proposed bounding box leverages the spatial and confidence information of the candidate boxes removed by the NMS task. The information enables to capture the object entirely through expanding the localization extent of the tradition bounding boxes reliably, where the extent is asymmetrically expansion on each side to avoids unnecessary localization. In addition, the regression task using the information of the candidate boxes allow us to the extent of the bounding box for desire confidence level. The proposed method is evaluated on sample images from Berkery DeepDrive (BDD) dataset, where the samples include objects only partially detected by the traditional bounding box. Our experiment presents that the probability-based bounding box would provide more reliable localization compared to the tradition bounding box.

Split learning is a simple solution for Vertical Federated Learning (VFL), which has drawn substantial attention in both research and application due to its simplicity and efficiency. However, communication efficiency is still a crucial issue for split learning. In this paper, we investigate multiple communication reduction methods for split learning, including cut layer size reduction, top-k sparsification, quantization, and L1 regularization. Through analysis of the cut layer size reduction and top-k sparsification, we further propose randomized top-k sparsification, to make the model generalize and converge better. This is done by selecting top-k elements with a large probability while also having a small probability to select non-top-k elements. Empirical results show that compared with other communication-reduction methods, our proposed randomized top-k sparsification achieves a better model performance under the same compression level.

Renovasi pada bangunan Kantor Pertamina Balongan dilakukan untuk memperbarui desain bangunan menjadi lebih modern. Fasad menjadi bagian renovasi yang paling terlihat karena berada pada bagian terluar di sekeliling bangunan. Desain fasad setelah renovasi membuat bangunan lebih menarik dan menjadi emphasis bagi sekitarnya. metode deskriptif kualitatif dengan paradigma rasionalisme. Pengambilan sampel pada penelitian ini adalah dengan cara non-probability sampling menggunakan metode purposive sampling. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa konsep fasad bisa didapatkan dengan berbagai cara, mulai dari analisis site, hingga memanfaatkan budaya yang dianut oleh masyarakat sekitar. Konsep dari rancangan fasad hasil renovasi terinspirasi dari Batik Complongan asal Balongan dan juga ombak dari Laut Jawa di sekitar site. Kombinasi keduanya menghasilkan kualitas fasad yang berpotensi menjadi landmark melalui pendekatan kondisi site dan budaya yang dianut oleh masyarakat Balongan. Kata-kunci : fasad, budaya, landmark

Using a sample of 32 developed and developing countries we analyze the empirical characteristics of Sudden Stops in capital flows and the relevance of balance-sheet effects in the likelihood of their occurrence. We find that large real exchange rate (RER) fluctuations accompanied by Sudden Stops are basically an emerging market (EM) phenomenon. Sudden Stops seem to come in bunches, grouping together countries that are different in many respects. However, countries are similar in that they remain vulnerable to large RER fluctuations. This may be the case because countries are forced to make large adjustments in the absorption of tradable goods, and/or because the size of dollar liabilities in the banking system (i.e., domestic liability dollarization, or DLD) is large. Openness, understood as a large supply of tradable goods that reduces leverage over the current account deficit, in combination with DLD, is a key determinant of the probability of Sudden Stops. The relationship between Openness and DLD in the determination of the probability of Sudden Stops is highly non-linear, implying that the interaction of high current account leverage and high dollarization may be a dangerous cocktail.

We model the one-year ahead probability for default of Spanish non-financial corporations using data for the period 1996-2019. While most previous literature considers that a firm is in default if it files for bankruptcy, we define default as having non-performing loans during at least three months of a given year. This broader definition allows us to predict firms’ financial distress at an earlier stage that cannot generally be observed by researchers, before their financial conditions become too severe and they have to file for bankruptcy or engage in private workouts with their creditors. We estimate, by means of logistic regressions, both a general model that uses all the firms in the sample and six models for different size-sector combinations. The selected explanatory variables are five accounting ratios, which summarise firms’ creditworthiness, and the growth rate of aggregate credit to non-financial corporations, to take into account the role of credit availability in mitigating the risk of default. Finally, we carry out two applications of our prediction models: we construct credit rating transition matrices and evaluate a programme implemented by the Spanish government to provide direct aid to firms severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis.