Structural social work and the compatibility of NGO approaches: a case analysis of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)

This article offers a comparative analysis between the ideological orientation of structural social work (SSW) and the programmatic orientation of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC). SSW sees social problems as arising from specific socio-economic contexts rather than from the failings of individuals. This perspective recognises that patriarchy is a central feature of life in Bangladesh. BRAC analyses poverty, broadly defined, from a perspective that is political, making use of feminist principles. By assessing SSW as it pertains to the programme coverage of BRAC, this article presents the consistencies and inconsistencies of the approaches. Yet, SSW and BRAC share a common objective of shifting the locus of power to facilitate the empowerment of marginalised communities.     

The Association Between Social Competence in Adolescents and Mothers’ Parenting Style: A Cross Sectional Study on Iranian Girls

This study is to determine the association between parenting style of mothers and the social competence of their adolescent daughters in effective communication, problem solving skills and use of basic social skills dimensions. The data were gathered for the mean age of 11–15 years on 737 Iranian adolescent girls in a cross sectional study design. The parenting style of mothers was based on their demand and responsiveness. These scales classified mothers into four parenting styles as follows: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, or neglectful. The social competence was also categorized into effective relationship, problem solving skills, use of basic social skills dimensions. The mean scores of the adolescents’ social competence whose mothers had permissive and authoritative parenting style was higher than that for the two other groups for all the dimensions (p < 0.05). The results showed that with the expectation of controlling roles, the supportive role of mothers can be more effective in providing opportunities for social competence performance.     

An empirical investigation of advanced manufacturing technology investment patterns: Evidence from a developing country

Advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) investment patterns in developing countries is in need of further investigation, particularly in the light of the conflicting evidence from the literature. This paper provides new evidence on AMT investment patterns from the Turkish automotive industry and develops a taxonomy by exploring the relationships between AMT investment patterns, ownership structure, firm size and performance. Analysis of industry survey data suggests the existence of three groups with different AMT investment strategies. Results suggest that AMT investment patterns are not only significantly correlated with firm performance or ownership, but also reveals significant differences in manufacturing performance across investment patterns.     

Robust two parameter ridge M-estimator for linear regression

The problem of multicollinearity and outliers in the data set produce undesirable effects on the ordinary least squares estimator. Therefore, robust two parameter ridge estimation based on M-estimator (ME) is introduced to deal with multicollinearity and outliers in the y-direction. The proposed estimator outperforms ME, two parameter ridge estimator and robust ridge M-estimator according to mean square error criterion. Moreover, a numerical example and a Monte Carlo simulation experiment are presented.     

A new computational approach test for one-way ANOVA under heteroscedasticity

This paper proposes a new test statistic based on the computational approach test (CAT) for one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) under heteroscedasticity. The proposed test was compared with other popular tests according to type I error and power of tests under different combinations of variances, means, number of groups and sample sizes. As a result, it was observed that the proposed test yields better results than other tests in many cases.     

Cross‐Cultural Measurement Invariance of Adolescent Self‐Report on the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ 4.0

This study evaluated the cross‐cultural measurement invariance of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory version 4.0 (PedsQL^?) among adolescents sampled from Bulgaria, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Serbia, and Turkey. The multiple‐indicator multiple‐cause (MIMIC) model was used, which allowed controlling of demographic variables (i.e., age, gender, and socioeconomic status). Significant effects of country on scores within the PedsQL^? domains were observed, with up to 17 items showing differential item functioning (DIF) across the countries. We did not find support for cross‐cultural measurement invariance hypotheses for scores on the PedsQL^? adolescent self‐report in this study. Researchers should use caution in making cross‐cultural quality of life comparisons while using the PedsQL.     

Logistic Regression Analysis of the Outlook of People in Turkey Regarding the Principles of Secularism and Republic for the New Constitution to be Prepared

This paper studies demands and expectations of people about the content of the new constitution supposed to be prepared after the parliamentary election of June, 2011 in Turkey. For that purpose, a survey was applied across the country to 6,810 people with different ethnic identities, religious faiths and political tendencies. Economic and social conditions of the respondents were studied and subsequently their tendencies regarding two of the most frequently discussed topics of the country namely Secularism and Republic were explored. For that purpose, statistical technics and the logistic regression technic were used. We interestingly found out that the two principles mentioned above have been substantially accepted by different parts of the society and there are no considerable negative reactions regarding those issues. It was found out in this study that almost all parts of the Turkish society accept some fundamental principles of the regime like Republic and Secularism as well as the Presidency of Religious Affairs. It appears that in Turkey basic differences regarding perspectives on political and social values arise rather from sectarian identities.     

FIRM EXPANSION THROUGH FRANCHISING: A MODEL AND SOLUTION PROCEDURES

This paper presents a practical model for firm expansion through franchising. The model allows the possibility of opening both company-owned and franchised stores. The objective is to maximize the expected returns to the franchisor from both types of stores, subject to the total capital outlay budget and the excess capacity available at each warehouse. A relaxation for this problem is studied and a heuristic solution procedure that makes use of this relaxation is developed. Experimental results over a wide range of problem structures show this solution methodology to be very effective, with gaps between feasible solution values and upper bounds generally in the 0 to 1 percent range. An efficient branch-and-bound code also is developed. This code is tested on problems with up to 100 potential store locations and 20 regions. It is found to be at least two orders of magnitude faster than a state-of-the-art commercial integer programming package.     

Coastal settlement patterns and exposure to sea-level rise in the Jaffna Peninsula,Sri Lanka

The Jaffna Peninsula in Sri Lanka has a generally flat topography with a median elevation of 2.72 m, and thus faces a high risk from sea-level rise that has the potential to have adverse impacts on the livelihoods of coastal communities. Understanding these risks and identifying the regions that could be adversely impacted is critical for planning future settlements and developing preventative protocols where possible. The aim of this study was to analyze the exposure of coastal settlements of the Jaffna Peninsula to climate risks, particularly to sea-level rise, and to identify the areas that are likely to be impacted under different sea-level rise scenarios. Raster-based sea-level rise modeling was performed with a digital elevation model produced with topographic contours and spot heights. The spatial distribution of individual residential houses for the entire Jaffna Peninsula was obtained through manual digitization using virtual globe platforms and high-resolution satellite images, and the houses exposed to inundation under various Representative Concentration Pathways from 2025 to 2100 were identified. The results showed that a majority (55.5%) of the residential buildings in the Jaffna Peninsula are located within 3 m above sea level. Approximately 5554 (5.6%) of the houses were projected to be inundated by 2100, and this projection increased to approximately 25,074 (25.4%) under high tide scenarios. This study highlights the coastal communities with a high level of exposure to coastal inundation where adaptation planning is essential. These results provide insights for coastal managers and policy makers for future planning of new settlements and urban expansion.

     

A modified ridge m-estimator for linear regression model with multicollinearity and outliers

The ordinary least-square estimators for linear regression analysis with multicollinearity and outliers lead to unfavorable results. In this article, we propose a new robust modified ridge M-estimator (MRME) based on M-estimator (ME) to deal with the combined problem resulting from multicollinearity and outliers in the y-direction. MRME outperforms modified ridge estimator, robust ridge estimator and ME, according to mean squares error criterion. Furthermore, a numerical example and a Monte Carlo simulation experiment are given to illustrate some of the theoretical results.