Search results for: empirical research
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 6393

Search results for: empirical research

6033 Investigation of Relationship between Organizational Climate and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Research on Health Sector

Authors: Serdar Öge, Pınar Erdogan

Abstract:

The main objective of this research is to describe the relationship between organizational climate and organizational citizenship behavior. In order to examine this relationship, a research is intended to be carried out in relevant institutions and organizations operating in the health sector in Turkey. It will be researched that whether there is a statistically significant relationship between organizational climate and organizational citizenship behavior through elated scientific research methods and statistical analysis. In addition, relationships between the dimensions of organizational climate and organizational citizenship behavior subscales will be questioned statistically.

Keywords: Organizational climate, organizational citizenship, organizational citizenship behavior, climate.

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6032 Measuring E-Learning Effectiveness Using a Three-Way Comparison

Authors: Matthew Montebello

Abstract:

The way e-learning effectiveness has been notoriously measured within an academic setting is by comparing the e-learning medium to the traditional face-to-face teaching methodology. In this paper, a simple yet innovative comparison methodology is introduced, whereby the effectiveness of next generation e-learning systems are assessed in contrast not only to the face-to-face mode, but also to the classical e-learning modality. Ethical and logistical issues are also discussed, as this three-way approach to compare teaching methodologies was applied and documented in a real empirical study within a higher education institution.

Keywords: E-learning effectiveness, higher education, teaching modality comparison.

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6031 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System in Higher Education: A Literature Review and Implications

Authors: Ahed Abugabah, Louis Sanzogni

Abstract:

ERP systems are the largest software applications adopted by universities, along with quite significant investments in their implementation. However, unlike other applications little research has been conducted regarding these systems in a university environment. This paper aims at providing a critical review of previous research in ERP system in higher education with a special focus on higher education in Australia. The research not only forms the basis of an evaluation of previous research and research needs, it also makes inroads in identifying the payoff of ERPs in the sector from different perspectives with particular reference to the user. The paper is divided into two parts, the first part focuses on ERP literature in higher education at large, while the second focuses on ERP literature in higher education in Australia.

Keywords: Enterprise resource planning system, higher education, implementation, user level.

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6030 Balance of Rural and Urban Structures

Authors: Ehrenstorfer Barbara, Peherstorfer Tanja, Nový Jan

Abstract:

Urbanization and regionalization are two different approaches when it comes to economical structures and development, infrastructure and mobility, quality of life and living, education, social cohesion and many other topics. At first glance, the structures associated with urbanization and regionalization seems to be contradicting. This paper discusses possibilities of transfer and cooperation between rural and urban structures. An empirical investigation contributed to reveal scenarios of supposable forms of exchange and cooperation of remote rural areas and big cities.

Keywords: Learning Regions, Quality of Life and Living, Regional and Rural Development, Social Innovation.

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6029 Smart Energy Consumers: An Empirical Investigation on the Intention to Adopt Innovative Consumption Behaviour

Authors: Cecilia Perri, Vincenzo Corvello

Abstract:

The aim of the present study is to investigate consumers' determinants of intention toward the adoption of Smart Grid solutions and technologies. Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model is applied and tested to explain the formation of such adoption intention. An exogenous variable, taking into account the resistance to change of individuals, was added to the basic model. The elicitation study allowed obtaining salient modal beliefs, which were used, with the support of literature, to design the questionnaire. After the screening phase, data collected from the main survey were analysed for evaluating measurement model's reliability and validity. Consistent with the theory, the results of structural equation analysis revealed that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control positively, which affected the adoption intention. Specifically, the variable with the highest estimate loading factor was found to be the perceived behavioural control, and, the most important belief related to each construct was determined (e.g., energy saving was observed to be the most significant belief linked with attitude). Further investigation indicated that the added exogenous variable has a negative influence on intention; this finding confirmed partially the hypothesis, since this influence was indirect: such relationship was mediated by attitude. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: Adoption of innovation, consumers behaviour, energy management, smart grid, theory of planned behaviour.

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6028 The Possibility Distribution for the Controlled Bloodstream Concentrations of Any Physiologically Active Substance

Authors: Arkady Bolotin

Abstract:

In many ways, biomedical analysis is analogous to possibilistic reasoning. In spite of that, there are hardly any applications of possibility theory in biology or medicine. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the use of possibility theory in an epidemiological study. In the paper, we build the possibility distribution for the controlled bloodstream concentrations of any physiologically active substance through few approximate considerations. This possibility distribution is tested later against the empirical histograms obtained from the panel study of the eight different physiologically active substances in 417 individuals.

Keywords: Possibility distributions, physiologically activesubstances, bloodstream concentrations.

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6027 Funding Innovative Activities in Firms: The Ownership Structure and Governance Linkage - Evidence from Mongolia

Authors: Ernest Nweke, Enkhtuya Bavuudorj

Abstract:

The harsh realities of the scandalous failure of several notable corporations in the past two decades have inextricably resulted in a surge in corporate governance studies. Nevertheless, little or no attention has been paid to corporate governance studies in Mongolian firms and much less to the comprehension of the correlation among ownership structure, corporate governance mechanisms and trend of innovative activities. Innovation is the bed rock of enterprise success. However, the funding and support for innovative activities in many firms are to a great extent determined by the incentives provided by the firm’s internal and external governance mechanisms. Mongolia is an East Asian country currently undergoing a fast-paced transition from socialist to democratic system and it is a widely held view that private ownership as against public ownership fosters innovation. Hence, following the privatization policy of Mongolian Government which has led to the transfer of the ownership of hitherto state controlled and state directed firms to private individuals and organizations, expectations are high that sufficient motivation would be provided for firm managers to engage in innovative activities. This research focuses on the relationship between ownership structure, corporate governance on one hand and the level of innovation on the hand. The paper is empirical in nature and derives data from both reliable secondary and primary sources. Secondary data for the study was in respect of ownership structure of Mongolian listed firms and innovation trend in Mongolia generally. These were analyzed using tables, charts, bars and percentages. Personal interviews and surveys were held to collect primary data. Primary data was in respect of corporate governance practices in Mongolian firms and were collected using structured questionnaire. Out of a population of three hundred and twenty (320) companies listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE), a sample size of thirty (30) randomly selected companies was utilized for the study. Five (5) management level employees were surveyed in each selected firm giving a total of one hundred and fifty (150) respondents. Data collected were analyzed and research hypotheses tested using Chi-Square test statistic. Research results showed that corporate governance mechanisms were better and have significantly improved overtime in privately held as opposed to publicly owned firms. Consequently, the levels of innovation in privately held firms were considerably higher. It was concluded that a significant and positive relationship exists between private ownership and good corporate governance on one hand and the level of funding provided for innovative activities in Mongolian firms on the other hand.

Keywords: Corporate governance, innovation, ownership structure, stock exchange.

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6026 Impact of VARK Learning Model at Tertiary Level Education

Authors: Munazza A. Mirza, Khawar Khurshid

Abstract:

Individuals are generally associated with different learning styles, which have been explored extensively in recent past. The learning styles refer to the potential of an individual by which s/he can easily comprehend and retain information. Among various learning style models, VARK is the most accepted model which categorizes the learners with respect to their sensory characteristics. Based on the number of preferred learning modes, the learners can be categorized as uni-modal, bi-modal, tri-modal, or quad/multi-modal. Although there is a prevalent belief in the learning styles, however, the model is not being frequently and effectively utilized in the higher education. This research describes the identification model to validate teacher’s didactic practice and student’s performance linkage with the learning styles. The identification model is recommended to check the effective application and evaluation of the various learning styles. The proposed model is a guideline to effectively implement learning styles inventory in order to ensure that it will validate performance linkage with learning styles. If performance is linked with learning styles, this may help eradicate the distrust on learning style theory. For this purpose, a comprehensive study was conducted to compare and understand how VARK inventory model is being used to identify learning preferences and their correlation with learner’s performance. A comparative analysis of the findings of these studies is presented to understand the learning styles of tertiary students in various disciplines. It is concluded with confidence that the learning styles of students cannot be associated with any specific discipline. Furthermore, there is not enough empirical proof to link performance with learning styles.

Keywords: Learning style, VARK, sensory preferences, identification model, didactic practices.

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6025 Combining Bagging and Boosting

Authors: S. B. Kotsiantis, P. E. Pintelas

Abstract:

Bagging and boosting are among the most popular resampling ensemble methods that generate and combine a diversity of classifiers using the same learning algorithm for the base-classifiers. Boosting algorithms are considered stronger than bagging on noisefree data. However, there are strong empirical indications that bagging is much more robust than boosting in noisy settings. For this reason, in this work we built an ensemble using a voting methodology of bagging and boosting ensembles with 10 subclassifiers in each one. We performed a comparison with simple bagging and boosting ensembles with 25 sub-classifiers, as well as other well known combining methods, on standard benchmark datasets and the proposed technique was the most accurate.

Keywords: data mining, machine learning, pattern recognition.

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6024 The Legal Procedure of Attestation of Public Servants

Authors: Armen Yezekyan

Abstract:

The main purpose of this research is to comprehensively explore and identify the problems of attestation of the public servants and to propose solutions for these issues through deeply analyzing laws and the legal theoretical literature. For the detailed analysis of the above-mentioned problems we will use some research methods, the implementation of which has a goal to ensure the objectivity and clarity of scientific research and its results.

Keywords: Attestation, attestation commission, competition commission, public servant, public service, testing.

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6023 Examining the Perceived Usefulness of ICTs for Learning about Indigenous Foods

Authors: K. M. Ngcobo, S. D. Eyono Obono

Abstract:

Science and technology has a major impact on many societal domains such as communication, medicine, food, transportation, etc. However, this dominance of modern technology can have a negative unintended impact on indigenous systems, and in particular on indigenous foods. This problem serves as a motivation to this study whose aim is to examine the perceptions of learners on the usefulness of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for learning about indigenous foods. This aim will be subdivided into two types of research objectives. The design and identification of theories and models will be achieved using literature content analysis. The objective on the empirical testing of such theories and models will be achieved through the survey of Hospitality studies learners from different schools in the iLembe and Umgungundlovu Districts of the South African Kwazulu-Natal province. SPSS is used to quantitatively analyze the data collected by the questionnaire of this survey using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations after the assessment of the validity and the reliability of the data. The main hypothesis behind this study is that there is a connection between the demographics of learners, their perceptions on the usefulness of ICTs for learning about indigenous foods, and the following personality and eLearning related theories constructs: Computer self-efficacy, Trust in ICT systems, and Conscientiousness; as suggested by existing studies on learning theories. This hypothesis was fully confirmed by the survey conducted by this study except for the demographic factors where gender and age were not found to be determinant factors of learners’ perceptions on the usefulness of ICTs for learning about indigenous foods.

Keywords: E-learning, Indigenous Foods, Information and Communication Technologies, Learning Theories, Personality.

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6022 Exploring Self-Directed Learning Among Children

Authors: Mariani Md Nor, Y. Saeednia

Abstract:

Self-directed learning (SDL) was developed initially for adult learning. Guglielmino constructed a scale to measure SDL. Recent researchers have applied this concept to children. Although there are sufficient theoretical evidences to present the possibility of applying this concept to children, empirical evidences were not provided. This study aimed to examine the quality of SDL and construct a scale to measure SDL among young children. A modified scale of Guglielmino-s scale was constructed and piloted with 183 subjects of age 9. Findings suggest that the qualities of SDL in young ages are apparently congruent with that of adults.

Keywords: SDLR, Self-Directed Learning, Young Children.

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6021 The Investors- Reaction to Investment Rating Change Announcements

Authors: Chih-Hsiang Chang, Liang-Chien Lee, Shu-Ling Wu

Abstract:

This study investigates the investors- behavioral reaction to the investment rating change announcements from the views of behavioral finance. The empirical results indicate that self-interest does affect the intention of securities firms to release investment ratings for individual stocks. In addition, behavioral pitfalls are also found in the response of retail investors to investment rating change announcements.

Keywords: Investment ratings, Behavioral finance, Self-interest, Behavioral pitfalls

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6020 Management Pattern for Lodging Business in Bang Khonthi Samut Songkram with Sufficient Economy Approach

Authors: Krisada Sungkhamanee

Abstract:

The objectives of this research are to search the management pattern of Bang Khonthi lodging entrepreneurs for sufficient economy ways, to know the threat that affects this sector and design fit arrangement model to sustain their business with Samut Songkram style. What will happen if they do not use this approach? Will they have a financial crisis? The data and information are collected by informal discussions with 8 managers and 400 questionnaires. A mixed methods of both qualitative research and quantitative research are used. Bent Flyvbjerg-s phronesis is utilized for this analysis. Our research will prove that sufficient economy can help small business firms to solve their problems. We think that the results of our research will be a financial model to solve many problems of the entrepreneurs and this way will can be a model for other provinces of Thailand.

Keywords: Bang Khonthi, Lodging Business, Sufficient Economy.

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6019 A Concept of Successful Collaborative Design towards Sustainability of Project Development

Authors: Yani Rahmawati, Nadjadji Anwar, Christiono Utomo

Abstract:

Development in construction industry is leading to involve complexities in engineering systems; whereas it also required to its sustainability towards social, environmental, and economical aspects. Experts with requisite background and expertise are involved in order to integrate knowledge in achieving whole criteria through design process. Collaborative design is needed in order to attain optimum design through shared solution and goal from experts. This study is conducted to explore issues and approaches development of collaborative design research in construction and its influence to sustainability of the development. Literature review method is used in order to conceptually figure future research direction of collaborative design research. This research is a part of beginning process in doctoral research program, and will be used to support dissertation’s conceptual definition.

Keywords: Collaborative design, multi-discipline design, design process, sustainability of project development.

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6018 Exploring the Applicability of a Rapid Health Assessment in India

Authors: Claudia Carbajal, Jija Dutt, Smriti Pahwa, Sumukhi Vaid, Karishma Vats

Abstract:

ASER Centre, the research and assessment arm of Pratham Education Foundation sees measurement as the first stage of action. ASER uses primary research to push and give empirical foundations to policy discussions at a multitude of levels. At a household level, common citizens use a simple assessment (a floor-level test) to measure learning across rural India. This paper presents the evidence on the applicability of an ASER approach to the health sector. A citizen-led assessment was designed and executed that collected information from young mothers with children up to a year of age. The pilot assessments were rolled-out in two different models: Paid surveyors and student volunteers. The survey covered three geographic areas: 1,239 children in the Jaipur District of Rajasthan, 2,086 in the Rae Bareli District of Uttar Pradesh, and 593 children in the Bhuj Block in Gujarat. The survey tool was designed to study knowledge of health-related issues, daily practices followed by young mothers and access to relevant services and programs. It provides insights on behaviors related to infant and young child feeding practices, child and maternal nutrition and supplementation, water and sanitation, and health services. Moreover, the survey studies the reasons behind behaviors giving policy-makers actionable pathways to improve implementation of social sector programs. Although data on health outcomes are available, this approach could provide a rapid annual assessment of health issues with indicators that are easy to understand and act upon so that measurements do not become an exclusive domain of experts. The results give many insights into early childhood health behaviors and challenges. Around 98% of children are breastfed, and approximately half are not exclusively breastfed (for the first 6 months). Government established diet diversity guidelines are met for less than 1 out of 10 children. Although most households are satisfied with the quality of drinking water, most tested households had contaminated water.

Keywords: Citizen-led assessment, infant and young children feeding, maternal nutrition, rapid health assessment supplementation, water and sanitation.

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6017 The Concept of an Agile Enterprise Research Model

Authors: Maja Sajdak

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to present the concept of an agile enterprise model and to initiate discussion on the research assumptions of the model presented. The implementation of the research project "The agility of enterprises in the process of adapting to the environment and its changes" began in August 2014 and is planned to last three years. The article has the form of a work-inprogress paper which aims to verify and initiate a debate over the proposed research model. In the literature there are very few publications relating to research into agility; it can be concluded that the most controversial issue in this regard is the method of measuring agility. In previous studies the operationalization of agility was often fragmentary, focusing only on selected areas of agility, for example manufacturing, or analysing only selected sectors. As a result the measures created to date can only be treated as contributory to the development of precise measurement tools. This research project aims to fill a cognitive gap in the literature with regard to the conceptualization and operationalization of an agile company. Thus, the original contribution of the author of this project is the construction of a theoretical model that integrates manufacturing agility (consisting mainly in adaptation to the environment) and strategic agility (based on proactive measures). The author of this research project is primarily interested in the attributes of an agile enterprise which indicate that the company is able to rapidly adapt to changing circumstances and behave pro-actively.

Keywords: Agile company, acuity, entrepreneurship, flexibility, research model, strategic leadership.

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6016 A Qualitative Study of Health-Related Beliefs and Practices among Vegetarians

Authors: Lorena Antonovici, Maria Nicoleta Turliuc

Abstract:

The process of becoming a vegetarian involves changes in several life aspects, including health. Despite its relevance, however, little research has been carried out to analyze vegetarians' self-perceived health, and even less empirical attention has received in the Romanian population. This study aimed to assess health-related beliefs and practices among vegetarian adults in a Romanian sample. We have undertaken 20 semi-structured interviews (10 males, 10 females) based on a snowball sample with a mean age of 31 years. The interview guide was divided into three sections: causes of adopting the diet, general aspects (beliefs, practices, tensions, and conflicts) and consequences of adopting the diet (significant changes, positive aspects, and difficulties, physical and mental health). Additional anamnestic data were reported by means of a questionnaire. Data analyses were performed using Tropes text analysis software (v. 8.2) and SPSS software (v. 24.0.) Findings showed that most of the participants considered a vegetarian diet as a natural and healthy choice as opposed to meat-eating, which is not healthy, and its consumption should be moderated among omnivores. A higher proportion of participants (65%) had an average body mass index (BMI), and several women even assumed having certain affections that no longer occur after following a vegetarian diet. Moreover, participants admitted having better moods and mental health status, given their self-contentment with the dietary choice. Relatives were perceived as more skeptical about their practices than others, and especially women had this view. This study provides a valuable insight into health-related beliefs and practices and how a vegetarian diet might interact.

Keywords: Health-related beliefs, health, practices, vegetarians.

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6015 Genetic-Based Planning with Recursive Subgoals

Authors: Han Yu, Dan C. Marinescu, Annie S. Wu, Howard Jay Siegel

Abstract:

In this paper, we introduce an effective strategy for subgoal division and ordering based upon recursive subgoals and combine this strategy with a genetic-based planning approach. This strategy can be applied to domains with conjunctive goals. The main idea is to recursively decompose a goal into a set of serializable subgoals and to specify a strict ordering among the subgoals. Empirical results show that the recursive subgoal strategy reduces the size of the search space and improves the quality of solutions to planning problems.

Keywords: Planning, recursive subgoals, Sliding-tile puzzle, subgoal interaction, genetic algorithms.

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6014 A Model for Reverse-Mentoring in Education

Authors: Sabine A. Zauchner-Studnicka

Abstract:

As the term indicates, reverse-mentoring flips the classical roles of mentoring: In school, students take over the role of mentors for adults, i.e. teachers or parents. Originally reverse-mentoring stems from US enterprises, which implemented this innovative method in order to benefit from the resources of skilled younger employees for the enhancement of IT competences of senior colleagues. However, reverse-mentoring in schools worldwide is rare. Based on empirical studies and theoretical approaches, in this article an implementation model for reverse-mentoring is developed in order to bring the significant potential reverse-mentoring has for education into practice.

Keywords: School education, reverse-mentoring, implementation model, innovation in education.

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6013 A Study on the Relation of Corporate Governance and Pricing for Initial Public Offerings

Authors: Chei-Chang Chiou, Sen-Wei Wang, Yu-Min Wang

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and pricing for initial public offerings (IPOs). Empirical result finds that the prediction of pricing of IPOs with corporate governance added can have a rather higher degree of predicting accuracy than that of non governance added during the training and testing samples. Therefore, it can be observed that corporate governance mechanism can affect the pricing of IPOs

Keywords: Artificial neural networks, corporate governance, initial public offerings.

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6012 Public Service Ethics in Public Administration: An Empirical Investigation

Authors: Kalsoom Sumra

Abstract:

The increasing concern of public sector reforms brings new challenges to public service ethics in developing countries not only at central level but also at local level. This paper aims to identify perceptions on public service ethics of public officials and examines more generally the understanding of public servants in Pakistan towards public service ethics in local public organizations. The study uses an independently administered structured questionnaire to collect data to know the extent of the recognition of public service ethics in local organizations. A total of 150 completed questionnaires are analyzed received from public servants working at the local level in Pakistan. The analysis explores how traditional, social patterns and cultural ethics can provide us with a rounded picture of the main antecedents, moderators of public service ethics in Pakistan. Moreover, the findings of this study contribute in association of public service ethics which are crucial in ongoing political and administrative culture of Pakistan, the most crucial core for public organizational ethical climate. This study also has numerous implications for local public administration and it highlights the importance of expanding research agenda on public service ethics in developing settings with challenging institutional contexts with imperfect training and operating environments. This study may well be particularly important for practice of public service ethics in developing countries in public administration. To the best of author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to provide an initial step in practical implications to emphasize relevant public service ethics in public administration in developing transparent and accountable organization.

Keywords: Public service ethics, accountability and transparency, public service reforms, public administration, organizational ethical climate.

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6011 Energy Retrofitting Application Research to Achieve Energy Efficiency in Hot-Arid Climates in Residential Buildings: A Case Study of Saudi Arabia

Authors: A. Felimban, A. Prieto, U. Knaack, T. Klein

Abstract:

This study aims to present an overview of recent research in building energy-retrofitting strategy applications and analyzing them within the context of hot arid climate regions which is in this case study represented by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The main goal of this research is to do an analytical study of recent research approaches to show where the primary gap in knowledge exists and outline which possible strategies are available that can be applied in future research. Also, the paper focuses on energy retrofitting strategies at a building envelop level. The study is limited to specific measures within the hot arid climate region. Scientific articles were carefully chosen as they met the expression criteria, such as retrofitting, energy-retrofitting, hot-arid, energy efficiency, residential buildings, which helped narrow the research scope. Then the papers were explored through descriptive analysis and justified results within the Saudi context in order to draw an overview of future opportunities from the field of study for the last two decades. The conclusions of the analysis of the recent research confirmed that the field of study had a research shortage on investigating actual applications and testing of newly introduced energy efficiency applications, lack of energy cost feasibility studies and there was also a lack of public awareness. In terms of research methods, it was found that simulation software was a major instrument used in energy retrofitting application research. The main knowledge gaps that were identified included the need for certain research regarding actual application testing; energy retrofitting strategies application feasibility; the lack of research on the importance of how strategies apply first followed by the user acceptance of developed scenarios.

Keywords: Energy efficiency, energy retrofitting, hot arid climate, Saudi Arabia.

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6010 The Performance Analysis of CSS-based Communication Systems in the Jamming Environment

Authors: Youngpo Lee, Sanghun Kim, Youngyoon Lee, Seokho Yoon

Abstract:

Due to its capability to resist jamming signals, chirp spread spectrum (CSS) technique has attracted much attention in the area of wireless communications. However, there has been little rigorous analysis for the performance of the CSS communication system in jamming environments. In this paper, we present analytic results on the performance of a CSS system by deriving symbol error rate (SER) expressions for a CSS M-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) system in the presence of broadband and tone jamming signals, respectively. The numerical results show that the empirical SER closely agrees with the analytic result.

Keywords: CSS, DM, jamming, broadband jamming, tone jamming.

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6009 Investors’ Misreaction to Subsequent Bad News

Authors: Liang-Chien Lee, Chih-Hsiang Chang, Ying-Shu Tseng

Abstract:

Comparing with prior studies mainly focused on the effect of a certain event (it may be the initial announcement of bad news or the repeated announcements of identical bad news) on stock price, the aim of this study is to explore how investors react to subsequent bad news with identical content. Empirical results show that as a result of behavioral pitfalls, investors underreact to the initial announcement of the bad news (i.e., unknown bad news) and overreact to the repeated announcements of the identical bad news (i.e., known bad news).

Keywords: Subsequent bad news, Behavioral finance, Investors’ misreaction, Behavioral pitfalls.

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6008 Novel Method for Elliptic Curve Multi-Scalar Multiplication

Authors: Raveen R. Goundar, Ken-ichi Shiota, Masahiko Toyonaga

Abstract:

The major building block of most elliptic curve cryptosystems are computation of multi-scalar multiplication. This paper proposes a novel algorithm for simultaneous multi-scalar multiplication, that is by employing addition chains. The previously known methods utilizes double-and-add algorithm with binary representations. In order to accomplish our purpose, an efficient empirical method for finding addition chains for multi-exponents has been proposed.

Keywords: elliptic curve cryptosystems, multi-scalar multiplication, addition chains, Fibonacci sequence.

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6007 Associated Map and Inter-Purchase Time Model for Multiple-Category Products

Authors: Ching-I Chen

Abstract:

The continued rise of e-commerce is the main driver of the rapid growth of global online purchase. Consumers can nearly buy everything they want at one occasion through online shopping. The purchase behavior models which focus on single product category are insufficient to describe online shopping behavior. Therefore, analysis of multi-category purchase gets more and more popular. For example, market basket analysis explores customers’ buying tendency of the association between product categories. The information derived from market basket analysis facilitates to make cross-selling strategies and product recommendation system.

To detect the association between different product categories, we use the market basket analysis with the multidimensional scaling technique to build an associated map which describes how likely multiple product categories are bought at the same time. Besides, we also build an inter-purchase time model for associated products to describe how likely a product will be bought after its associated product is bought. We classify inter-purchase time behaviors of multi-category products into nine types, and use a mixture regression model to integrate those behaviors under our assumptions of purchase sequences. Our sample data is from comScore which provides a panelist-label database that captures detailed browsing and buying behavior of internet users across the United States. Finding the inter-purchase time from books to movie is shorter than the inter-purchase time from movies to books. According to the model analysis and empirical results, this research finally proposes the applications and recommendations in the management.

Keywords: Multiple-category purchase behavior, inter-purchase time, market basket analysis.

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6006 Gender Differences in Negotiation: Considering the Usual Driving Forces?

Authors: Claude Alavoine, Ferkan Kaplanseren

Abstract:

Negotiation is a specific form of interaction based on communication in which the parties enter into deliberately, each with clear but different interests or goals and a mutual dependency towards a decision due to be taken at the end of the confrontation. Consequently, negotiation is a complex activity involving many different disciplines from the strategic aspects and the decision making process to the evaluation of alternatives or outcomes and the exchange of information. While gender differences can be considered as one of the most researched topic within negotiation studies, empirical works and theory present many conflicting evidences and results about the role of gender in the process or the outcome. Furthermore, little interest has been shown over gender differences in the definition of what is negotiation, its essence or fundamental elements. Or, as differences exist in practices, it might be essential to study if the starting point of these discrepancies does not come from different considerations about what is negotiation and what will encourage the participants in their strategic decisions. Some recent and promising experiments made with diverse groups show that male and female participants in a common and shared situation barely consider the same way the concepts of power, trust or stakes which are largely considered as the usual driving forces of any negotiation. Furthermore, results from Human Resource self-assessment tests display and confirm considerable differences between individuals regarding essential behavioral dimensions like capacity to improvise and to achieve, aptitude to conciliate or to compete and orientation towards power and group domination which are also part of negotiation skills. Our intention in this paper is to confront these dimensions with negotiation’s usual driving forces in order to build up new paths for further research.

Keywords: Gender, negotiation, personality, power, stakes, trust.

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6005 What Deter Academia to Share Knowledge within Research-Based University Status

Authors: S. Roziana, R. Azizah, A.R. Hamidah

Abstract:

This paper discusses the issues and challenge that academia faced in knowledge sharing at a research university in Malaysia. The partial results of interview are presented from the actual study. The main issues in knowledge sharing practices are university structure and designation and title. The academia awareness in sharing knowledge is also influenced by culture. Our investigation highlight that the concept of reciprocal relationship of sharing knowledge may hinder knowledge sharing awareness among academia. Hence, we concluded that further investigation could be carried out on the social interaction and trust culture among academia in sharing knowledge within research/ranking university environment.

Keywords: Knowledge sharing awareness, knowledge sharing practices, research university.

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6004 Fears of Strangers: Causes of Anonymity Rejection on Virtual World

Authors: Proud Arunrangsiwed

Abstract:

This research is a collaborative narrative research, which is mixed with issues of selected papers and researcher's experience as an anonymous user on social networking sites. The objective of this research is to understand the reasons of the regular users who reject to contact with anonymous users, and to study the communication traditions used in the selected studies. Anonymous users are rejected by regular users, because of the fear of cyber bully, the fear of unpleasant behaviors, and unwillingness of changing communication norm. The suggestion for future research design is to use longitudinal design or quantitative design; and the theory in rhetorical tradition should be able to help develop a strong trust message.

Keywords: Anonymous, anonymity, online identity, trust message, reliability.

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