Contrary to previous empirical studies that find a linear link between economic conditions and presidential approval, this study argues for and finds a nonlinear relationship. A threshold regression is used to assess potential nonlinear relationships between macroeconomic variables and presidential popularity. A quarterly data analysis for the 1960Q1–2012Q2 time period reveals that domestic fac...

Microfinance is gathering momentum to become a major force in India. The self-help group (SHG) model with bank lending to groups of (often) poor women without collateral has become an accepted part of rural finance. The paper discusses the state of SHG-based microfinance in India. With traditionally loss-making rural banks shifting their portfolio away from the rural poor in the post-reform per...

background: testicular torsion is a medical emergency with catastrophic sequelae that deserves the same treatment considerations and concerted efforts in research as any other complicated medical condition. the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pausinystalia macroceras (pm) bark extract on sperm quality and serum testosterone levels in testicular torsion in a rat model. methods...

in order to evaluate the response of emergence rate of oil seed rape seedlings to temperature, a pot experiment was conducted to assess the relationship between emergence rate of three rape seed cultivars (apetalous flower, rgs003 and syn3) by using a non-linear regression against temperature variation. six models (tooth shape, segmented, beta, curve, quadratic and cubic) were used and the supe...

the ultimate goal of power system operation and planning is to increase power system reliability which enforces interconnected operation of power system. as a result of power system interconnection, the inter-area oscillation under different disturbances may cause power system partial or total blackout. dc-segmentation of interconnected power systems is a solution in which the topology of the n...

background: the present study investigated the effect of the middle east dust storm episodes on the concentration and composition of pm 10 during april to september 2013 in sanandaj city, western iran. methods: sampling was once every six days, and on dusty days using an omni air sampler. the pm 10 sample was collected on polytetrafluoroethylene filters. average of 24 h values of pm 10 mass con...

in order to perform preventive maintenance (pm), two approaches have evolved in the literature. the traditional approach is based on the use of statistical and reliability analysis of equipment failure. under statistical-reliability (s-r)-based pm, the objective of achieving the minimum total cost is pursued by establishing fixed pm intervals, which are statistically optimal, at which to replac...