Factors Leading to Secondary School Dropout In Bangladesh: The Challenges to Meet the Sdg’s Targets

Bangladesh is regarded as a success story for rapid economic development and changes in social indicators that have taken place in the last couple of decades. Enrolment in education, especially women's education, has reached a desirable level. However, the dropout rate in secondary education is still a concern, which has not been reduced to the desired level. This research aims to understand better the undisclosed causes of dropout at secondary level schools. The primary data were collected from 790 former secondary school level students and 1580 parents/guardians, enabling in-depth and systematic analysis of the issue.. The method used in this study is quantitative with logit analysis. The study results showed that students’ perceptions on education, working experience, low socio-demographic status (SDS), family size, total number of siblings, food deficit, distance of the school, bullied by peers/teachers have a significant effect on increasing the probability of dropping out of school. Contrariwise, parents’ academic support, NGO membership of family members, mobility to the local power structure, and government’s social safety net programmes support are significant variables to reduce the probability of dropping out. The research reveals that financial problems are severely engaged to increase the dropout rate, and non-financial factors together aggressively play a catastrophic role and lead the academic life of the dropout student towards the end. The study suggests authorities for rapid response to reduce dropout, which leads Bangladesh to achieve SDGs targets and eventually become an upper middle-income country by 2041. J. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 47(2): 173-190, December 2021

INDIKATOR KOLEKTIBILITAS KREDIT JOINT FINANCING MENGGUNAKAN OLS & LOGIT

This study aims to determine indicators that have a significant effect on debtor collectability. The number of sample data used is 102 joint financing debtors whose loans were realized in 2019, which consists of two groups of 51 debtors that have current and non-current collectability. The analytical method used is the ordinary least square method and the logit regression method, where the combination of the two analytical methods being used at once was not yet found in previous studies. The analysis result using ordinary least squares shows three (3) significant indicators that affect collectability, namely term of the loan, value of collateral and monthly liabilities, with a significance level of 0.05. Meanwhile, the binary logit analysis results in four (4) significant indicators, namely term of the loan, value of collateral and monthly liabilities with a significance level of 0.05 and level of job risk with a significance level of 0.10. The R-squared value in the ordinary least square is 41%, which means that the ten indicators in this study simultaneously affect the collectability variable, while 59% is influenced by other variables not included in this study. The analysis using the logit regression method shows an R-square value of 39% which can be said that the ten indicators altogether affect debtor collectability by 39%.

Digital Goods and Digital Platforms

In this study, I analyze the characteristics of consumer attitudes toward digital and non-digital service provision in the platform business and discuss its regulation. Specifically, I employ consumer questionnaires on subscription services and extract comparable objects to examine the interests that end consumers evince in the provision of these goods and services, thereby enabling better distinction between digital and non-digital goods. A logit analysis of consumer attitudes toward digital and non-digital goods shows that low-price appeals are more effective for digital goods than for non-digital goods, and that they are demanded by younger, male, and higher-income consumers based on an online survey conducted in February 2021. In terms of regulatory and research responses, the issue of market dominance needs to be examined in light of business activities based on the characteristics of goods.

Preferred Lung Cancer Screening Modalities in China: A Discrete Choice Experiment

This study aimed to identify preferred lung cancer screening modalities in a Chinese population and predict uptake rates of different modalities. A discrete choice experiment questionnaire was administered to 392 Chinese individuals aged 50–74 years who were at high risk for lung cancer. Each choice set had two lung screening options and an option to opt-out, and respondents were asked to choose the most preferred one. Both mixed logit analysis and stepwise logistic analysis were conducted to explore whether preferences were related to respondent characteristics and identify which kinds of respondents were more likely to opt out of any screening. On mixed logit analysis, attributes that were predictive of choice at 1% level of statistical significance included the screening interval, screening venue, and out-of-pocket costs. The preferred screening modality seemed to be screening by low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) + blood test once a year in a general hospital at a cost of RMB 50; this could increase the uptake rate by 0.40 compared to the baseline setting. On stepwise logistic regression, those with no endowment insurance were more likely to opt out; those who were older and housewives/househusbands, and those with a health check habit and with commercial endowment insurance were less likely to opt out from a screening programme. There was considerable variance between real risk and self-perceived risk of lung cancer among respondents. Lung cancer screening uptake can be increased by offering various screening modalities, so as to help policymakers further design the screening modality.

Use of LC50 in aquatic regulatory toxicology-Disharmony in global harmonization of hazard classification of chemicals

In regulatory aquatic toxicology, acute toxicity studies with chemicals are conducted with a species of fish, crustacea, and or alga. The LC50/EC50 obtained from these studies is used for the hazard classification and labeling of the chemicals. The methods like probit or logit analysis and Litchfield and Wilcoxon method are prescribed in the OECD guidelines to determine the LC50. In the present study, LC50s were calculated using probit analysis, Litchfield & Wilcoxon method, and also using the method by Trevan (the inventor of median lethal dose) using three sets of concentration-mortality data of fish acute toxicity tests. The slopes of the concentration-mortality curves, fiducial limits (95% confidence interval) of LC50s, and ‘mode’ of the concentration-mortality curves were compared. Though the methods used in the study resulted in more or less similar LC50s, the LC10 and LC90, slopes and ‘mode’ differed considerably, indicating that LC50 does not reveal the exact toxicity profile of a chemical. The LC50 calculated using Finney’s probit analysis provides better information on the toxicity profile of a chemical than the LC50calculated by Litchfield & Wilcoxon method. While interpreting LC50, the mortality occurred below 16 % (eg.,LC10) and above 84 % (eg.,LC90), slope and ‘mode’ of the concentration-mortality curve may also be considered. It is worth having a relook at the current practice of hazard classification and labeling of the chemicals based only on LC50 in regulatory aquatic toxicology.

Monetary and Non-Monetary Poverty within Urban Locals and Rural Migrants in China using Inequality-Sensitive Poverty Measures

This paper measures monetary and non-monetary poverty among urban local and rural migrant groups in the urban labour market in China, capturing incidence, intensity and inequality of poverty. To measure non-monetary poverty in multiple dimensions the chosen indicators are education, health status, health insurance and pension insurance. Using data from the China Household Income Project for the years 2002, 2007, and 2013, it appears that although monetary poverty in both groups is low, migrants have higher levels of non-monetary deprivation for various levels of poverty thresholds. Compared to the urban locals, the rural migrants experienced relatively less severe poverty than mild or moderate poverty during 2002 and 2007. Our Shapley decomposition exercise on non-monetary poverty measure reveals that the incidence contributes most to the urban-migrant gap, and the contribution of intensity is higher than that of inequality. The most important factors in multidimensional poverty for both groups are health insurance and pension insurance in all years. Our logit analysis shows that the effects of demographic characteristics, level of contract, occupation, and the industry have different impacts on these two groups.

Digital practices across the UK population: The influence of socio-economic and techno-social variables in the use of the Internet

This article investigates the entanglement between socio-economic and technological factors in conditioning people's patterns of Internet use. We analysed the influence of sociodemographic and techno-social aspects in conditioning the distinctive digital practices developed by Internet users. By using a representative sample of UK users and different methods of analysis, such as factor analysis, K-means cluster analysis and logit analysis, this study shows how techno-social variables have a stronger effect than socio-economic variables in explaining the advanced use of the Internet.

Managing Turnover of STEM Teacher Workforce

We are facing a lack of skilled and certified STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) teachers confined to schools with specific characteristics, such as working conditions and neighborhoods. It is essential to understand teachers’ decision-making processes that affect teacher turnover rates to enable schools to retain and motivate STEM. This study hypothesizes that lower job satisfaction concerning location and opportunities for advancement and independence is positively associated with voluntary leave from a school to another school or job switched from the K-12 teaching profession to other industries. We utilized a logit analysis for internal mobility if teachers remained in K-12 teaching but switch schools and external mobility if employed in non-education sectors using the National Survey of College Graduates data. The results varied by teacher experiences and mobility type. For novice STEM teachers, more opportunities for career advancements are needed to prevent external attrition. Internal mobility can be addressed via the overall improvement of the urban education environment and teacher compensation. Administrative support for experienced teachers’ career advancement should be considered. Government policies on STEM education need differentiated support considering teachers’ work experiences and working conditions.

The influence of the vulnerability of sectors on their survival and probability of insolvency: the case of small and medium entities in Spain

This paper looks at a sample of small and medium entities in Spain and analyzes the effect of the vulnerability of sectors to insolvency on their survival and the probability that they will go bankrupt. We collected data from solvent and insolvent firms in Spain over the period 2012-2016, and grouped them according to the percentage of insolvencies by sector (highest, lowest, and a reference group). The results show that no differences in the endurance of the firms emerge among the groups, while some variables appear to be relevant when the logit analysis is applied. Survival depends on liquidity and size in all industries, but profitability and turnover are also essential for the group with the highest levels of insolvency. The probability of bankruptcy is mainly explained by turnover and short-term solvency. Size and turnover have negative effects on bankruptcy. Age is also a common factor, but with a different interpretation for each technique. The main contribution of this paper is the analysis of insolvency in the two dimensions of survival and probability according to the sectorial insolvency rate.