Identifying the roots of inequality of opportunity in South Korea by application of algorithmic approaches

This study identifies the roots of inequality of opportunity in South Korea by applying algorithmic approaches to survey data. In contrast to extant studies, we identify the roots of inequality of opportunity by estimating the importance of variables, interpreting the estimated results, and analyzing the importance of individual variables, instead of measuring inequality of opportunity. We apply a decision tree classification algorithm, light gradient boosting machine, and SHapley Additive exPlanations to estimate the importance of the studied variables and interpret the estimated results. According to the estimated results, the region where the individuals grew up, their gender, and their father’s job during their childhood were the main factors contributing to inequality of opportunity. This study proves that the considerable regional disparity and social environment perpetuate gender inequality in South Korean society. It argues that an individual’s socio-economic achievements are strongly influenced by their father’s background, thus, outweighing other family background-related factors. Individuals receive unequal opportunities owing to a combination of region, father’s background, and their own gender, thereby, affecting their socioeconomic achievements. If these factors remain influential from birth to adulthood, removing the conditions that structure them would be one way to achieve equality of opportunity.

Integrated control of individual plasma scalars with simultaneous Neoclassical Tearing-Mode suppression

Simulations using the Control-Oriented Transport SIMulator (COTSIM) and DIII-D experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the performance of a novel integrated-control architecture for simultaneous regulation of individual-scalar magnitudes. The individual scalars considered in this work include kinetic variables, such as the thermal stored-energy or volume-average toroidal rotation, and magnetic variables such as the safety factor profile at different spatial locations. Separate control algorithms have been designed independently for each of these individual variables that use robust, nonlinear control techniques. In addition, the individual-scalar controllers have been integrated with Neoclassical Tearing-Mode (NTM) suppression algorithms, supervisory and exception handling algorithms, and an actuator manager, both within COTSIM and in the Plasma Control System (PCS) of the DIII-D tokamak. The resulting architecture has a high level of integration and some of the functionalities that will be required to fulfill the advanced-control requirements anticipated for ITER. Initial simulations using COTSIM suggest that the plasma performance and its Magneto-HydroDynamic (MHD) stability may be improved under integrated feedback control. These simulation results also show good qualitative agreement with DIII-D experimental results in the steady-state high-$q_{min}$ scenario, which is one of the candidates for steady-state operation in ITER. By means of individual-scalar feedback-control techniques in conjunction with NTM-suppression techniques, the confinement deterioration caused by NTMs in these scenarios may be significantly ameliorated.

Covid-19 Pandemic: Empirical Study of Determinants of Purchase Decision

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of lifestyle and price on purchasing decisions. Individual variables include lifestyle and price. The regulatory variable is the Covid-19 plague, and the dependent variable is the purchase decision. The survey data were obtained from a food factory (coffee shop) in Semarang. Population sampling is used. Data are collected through research methods such as direct surveys. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) testing is used for data analysis. The model of the mathematical equation is used in a statistical test to show the effects of the independent variables on the dependent and controlled variables. The results of the study suggest that: 1) Purchasing decisions do not directly affect lifestyle. 2) The decision to buy has a negative effect on the price. 3) During the COVID-19 epidemic, lifestyle had a positive effect on purchasing decisions. 4) Transmission variable COVID-19 had a positive effect on purchasing decisions during the epidemic. Before the plague, prices were lower than usual, but coffee experts kept their distance, avoided crowds, and cared about their health.

Factors associated with the incomplete opportune vaccination schedule up to 12 months of age, Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso

Objective: To analyze factors associated with the incomplete timely vaccination schedule up to 12 months of age, in children born in 2015, in the municipality of Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso. Methods: Population survey, August/2017 to February/2018, which used the method proposed by the World Health Organization to collect information about routine vaccination. For analysis of the associated factors, the recommendations of the National Immunization Program of the Ministry of Health were considered. Univariate analysis was performed, and the factors associated with p<0.20 entered in the multiple analysis, with hierarchical entry of individual variables and contextual indicator of concentration of the income extremes. Results: The incomplete timely vaccination schedule up to 12 months was 82.03% (95%CI 78.41–86.63). In the final model, the following remained independently associated: having one or more siblings at home (OR 3.18; 95%CI 1.75–5.76) and not receiving a visit from a community health worker in the last 30 days (OR 1.93; 95%CI 1.04–3.57). Conclusions: It is necessary to implement an active search for children with vaccination delay in relation to the recommended interval for each vaccine, in addition to the need to strengthen the link of the family health strategy and child caregivers.

The Dynamic Effects of Anchoring on Portfolio Return Volatility; Are there any economic issues in the developing world?

This study aims to see the anchoring effect on portfolio return volatility in the case of KSE-30. Business anomalies such as overreaction and under-reaction are affected by a variety of psychological causes. The use of anchors or baseline values known as the anchoring effect causes market under-reaction and overreaction. This research used nearness to 52-week high and nearness to historical high as proxies for under and over-reaction, respectively, to analyze the psychological causes for under and over-reaction. On the KSE-30, the findings revealed that proximity to the 52-week peak positively predicts future returns, whereas proximity to the historical high negatively predicts future returns. KSE-30 was used for rigorous testing. Similarly, the three macroeconomic variables used as control variables are the exchange rate, inflation rate, and interest rate to provide a more robust model of strong prediction capacity. The findings revealed that proximity to the 52-week maximum and proximity to the historical high and other macroeconomic factors had a forecast capacity of around 62 percent. Similarly, focused on volatility clusters, the GARCH (1, 1) model was used to measure the association between potential and past returns. The results show that there is a first order autoregressive function in the GARCH (1, 1) model. The findings also show that their predictive capacity decreases when the study's individual variables are moved from every day to annual Periods.

Undecidability of QLTL with two variables and one monadic predicate letter

We study the algorithmic properties of the quantified linear-time temporal logic QLTL in languages with restrictions on the number of individual variables as well as the number and arity of predicate letters. We prove that the satisfiability problem for QLTL in languages with two individual variables and one monadic predicate letter in Σ 11 -hard. Thus, QLTL is Π 11 -hard, and so not recursively enumerable, in such languages. The resultholds both for the increasing domain and the constant domain semantics and is obtained by reduction from a Σ 11 -hard N×N recurrent tiling problem. It follows from the proof for QLTL that similar results hold for the quantified branching-time temporal logic QCTL, and hence for the quantified alternating-time temporal logic QATL. The result presented in this paper strengthens a result by I. Hodkinson, F. Wolter, and M. Zakharyaschev, who have shown that the satisfiability problem for QLTL is Σ 11 -hard in languages with two individual variablesand an unlimited supply of monadic predicate letters.

Food Neophobia, Odor and Taste Sensitivity, and Overall Flavor Perception in Food

Smell, which allows us to gather information about the hedonic value of an odor, is affected by many factors. This study aimed to assess the relationship among individual factors, odor sensitivity, and enjoyment, and to evaluate how overall flavor perception and liking in actual food samples are affected by odor sensitivity. A total of 749 subjects, from four different Italian regions, participated in the study. The olfactory capabilities test on four odors (anise, banana, mint, and pine), as well as PROP (6-n-prpyl-2-thiouracil) status and food neophobia were assessed. The subjects were clustered into three groups of odor sensitivity, based on the perceived intensity of anise. The liking and intensity of the overall flavor were evaluated for four chocolate puddings with increasing sweetness (C1, C2, C3, and C4). The individual variables significantly affected the perceived intensity and liking of the odors. Even if all of the odor sensitivity groups perceived the more intensely flavored samples as the C1 and C4 chocolate puddings, the high-sensitivity group scored the global flavor of all of the samples as more intense than the low-sensitivity group. The low-sensitive subjects evaluated the liking of the sweeter samples with higher scores than the moderate-sensitive subjects, whereas the high-sensitive subjects gave intermediate scores. In conclusion, odor sensitivity plays a pivotal role in the perception and liking of real food products; this has to be taken into account in the formulation of new products, suitable for particular categories with reduced olfactory abilities.

A behavioural study of obedience in health professional students

Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (IPECP) is a field of study suggested to improve team functioning and patient safety. However, even interprofessional teams are susceptible to group pressures which may inhibit speaking up (positive deviance). Obedience is one group pressure that can inhibit positive deviance leading to negative patient outcomes. To examine the influence of obedience to authority in an interprofessional setting, an experimental simulated clinical scenario was conducted with Respiratory Therapy (RT) (n = 40) and Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP) (n = 20) students. In an airway management scenario, it was necessary for students to challenge an authority, a senior anesthesiologist, to prevent patient harm. In a 2 × 2 design cognitive load and an interventional writing task designed to increase positive deviance were tested. The effect of individual characteristics, including Moral Foundations, and displacement of responsibility were also examined. There was a significant effect for profession and cognitive load: RT students demonstrated lower levels of positive deviance in the low cognitive load scenario than students in other conditions. The writing task did not have a significant effect on RT or ACP students’ behaviour. The influence of Moral Foundations differed from expectations, In Group Loyalty was selected as a negative predictor of positive deviance while Respect for Authority was not. Displacement of responsibility was influential for some participants thought not for all. Other individual variables were identified for further investigation. Observational analysis of the simulation videos was conducted to obtain further insight into student behaviour in a compliance scenario. Individual differences, including experience, should be considered when providing education and training for positive deviance. Simulation provides an ideal setting to use compliance scenarios to train for positive deviance and for experimentation to study interprofessional team behaviour.