Translation and validation of the first time fathers questionnaire into Persian

Background/Aims The presence of fathers during labour and birth can have favourable outcomes for the health of the mother, father and infant. However, there are few studies on fathers' experiences while being present during labour and birth, which necessitates the development of a valid questionnaire for this purpose. The aim of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the first time fathers questionnaire into Persian. Methods A total of 220 first-time fathers at private midwifery counseling centers were given a translated questionnaire to complete. Forward-backward translation of the questionnaire was conducted and content, face and construct validity were examined. After extracting factors and item distribution, confirmatory factor analysis was performed. Cronbach's alpha was used for reliability. Results A valid 19-item questionnaire with four dimensions, ‘worry’, ‘acceptance and support during labor’, ‘support during and after birth’, and ‘preparedness’ was obtained. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.78. Conclusions The Persian questionnaire is valid and reliable for examining the experiences of first-time fathers. It can be employed to evaluate fathers' experiences during labour and birth in midwifery services planning to promote quality of care during childbirth.

Anti-contiguity

This book develops a theory of wh- prosody according to which wh- expressions must avoid forming prosodic constituents with overt complementizers at the level of Intonational Phrase. The theory is inspired by Richards’s (2010, 2016) Contiguity Theory and is based empirically on asymmetries in the distribution of wh- items in five West African languages: Krachi (Kwa: Ghana), Bono (Kwa: Ghana), Wasa (Kwa: Ghana), Asante Twi (Kwa: Ghana), and Nupe (Benue-Congo: Nigeria). The observations and analyses stem from original fieldwork on all five languages and represent some of the first prosodic descriptions of the languages. The theory is shown to successfully derive a number of famous and less well-known asymmetries in wh- in-situ distribution in a variety of languages unrelated to those the theory was originally designed to analyze. Against the backdrop of data from eighteen languages, the theory is parameterized to account for wh- item distribution across typologically diverse languages.

Length of business operation and its relationship with compliance behaviour of business zakat among owners of SMEs

Length of business operation and its relationship with zakat compliance behaviour are hardly found in the literature. This is because many studies mainly discussed zakat on income compared zakat on business. Thus, this paper aims to identify the relationship between the length of business operation and compliance behaviour of business zakat among owners of SMEs through the new application namely Rasch Measurement Model. 276 questionnaires managed to be collected from SMEs and only 253 respondents fit with the Rasch Measurement Model. The statistical indicators such as Person Item Distribution Map revealed that among 253 respondents, 41.1 percent denoting the group that complies with paying business zakat and 58.9 percent denoting the group that does not comply with paying business zakat. Interestingly, this shows the length of business operation can be said as not influenced at all in compliance behaviour of business zakat among owners of SMEs. The implication of this paper provides evidence of the usefulness of Rasch Measurement Model in identifying the relationship between the length of business operation and compliance behaviour of zakat on business that has not been explored yet by other studies.

Farm Machinery Breakdown Classification – Seed drills

Work job orders for 196 seed drills collected by HADCO (Hail Agricultural Development Company), Saudi Arabia, were used in this study. The work job orders were classified in terms of the parts used and the cost of each item. Distribution of repair and maintenance as listed in the work-job orders was classified as repairs by 55% while 45% was found to be maintenance. Moreover, Classification of repair and maintenance for parts of seed drills was 66% for rapair jobs and 34% for manitinance jobs. Cost ratio term was developed, by dividing the repair or maintenance cost by the seed drill purchase price. The results indicate that the average cost ratio was affected by annual working area. Also repair and maintenance cost decreased as increasing the number of seed drills every year, and due to the increasing number of working area, the costs increased after about 430 ha/year.