Abstract: This paper provides an overview of auction theory
literature. We present a general review on literature of various
auctions and focus ourselves specifically on an English auction. We
are interested in modelling bidder-s behavior in an English auction
environment. And hence, we present an overview of the New Zealand
wool auction followed by a model that would describe a bidder-s
decision making behavior from the New Zealand wool auction. The
mathematical assumptions in an English auction environment are
demonstrated from the perspective of the New Zealand wool auction.
Abstract: Does the spatial perspective provide a common thread for rural sociology? Have rural sociologists succeeded in bringing order to their data using spatial analysis models and techniques? A trial answer to such questions, as touchstones of theoretical and applied sociological studies in rural areas, is the point at issue in the present paper. Spatial analyses have changed the way rural sociologists approach scientific problems. Rural sociology is spatial by nature because much, if not most, of its research topics has a spatial “awareness." However, such spatial awareness is not quite the same as spatial analysis because it is not typically associated with underlying theories and hypotheses about spatial patterns that are designed to be tested for their specific spatial content. This paper presents pressing issues for future research to reintroduce mainstream rural sociology to the concept of space.
Abstract: Views on therapists- attraction have influenced the ethical and professional development of the mental health fields. Because the majority of therapist attraction literature (63.6%) has been conducted from a psychoanalytic standpoint, approaches to attraction from feminist perspectives have not been adequately developed. Considering the lack of a feminist voice regarding attraction, this article attempts to offer a feminist perspective on this issue. The purpose of this article is to offer a feminist perspective on the phenomenon of attraction in order to raise awareness about the importance of power inequalities, intersectionalities, contextual variables and the need for action in the field.
Abstract: On the basis of questionnaires and interviews of two samples of subjects (French and Anglo-Saxon) for which two food products were presented (one of the subject’s country and one of the foreign country), we have shown how consumers could be sensitive to the label or brand written on the package of the food product. Furthermore, in the light of Intersubjectivity theory, we have shown the necessity for the consumer to find congruence between the direct and meta perspective towards the product for which the producer and especially the marketer is responsible. Taking into account these findings may help to avoid the commercial failure of a brand while exported abroad.
Abstract: The amount of urban artificial heat which affects the
urban temperature rise in urban meteorology was investigated in order
to clarify the relationships between urbanization and urban
meteorology in this study.
The results of calculation to identify how urban temperate was
increased through the establishment of a model for measuring the
amount of urban artificial heat and theoretical testing revealed that the
amount of urban artificial heat increased urban temperature by plus or
minus 0.23 ˚ C in 2007 compared with 1996, statistical methods
(correlation and regression analysis) to clarify the relationships
between urbanization and urban weather were as follows.
New design techniques and urban growth management are
necessary from urban growth management point of view suggested
from this research at city design phase to decrease urban temperature
rise and urban torrential rain which can produce urban disaster in terms
of urban meteorology by urbanization.
Abstract: Supplier selection is a multi criteria decision-making process that comprises tangible and intangible factors. The majority of previous supplier selection techniques do not consider strategic perspective. Besides, uncertainty is one of the most important obstacles in supplier selection. For the first, time in this paper, the idea of the algorithm " Knapsack " is used to select suppliers Moreover, an attempt has to be made to take the advantage of a simple numerical method for solving model .This is an innovation to resolve any ambiguity in choosing suppliers. This model has been tried in the suppliers selected in a competitive environment and according to all desired standards of quality and quantity to show the efficiency of the model, an industry sample has been uses.
Abstract: Transportation is one of the main activities related to
creating value for the tourists. Transport management in tourism
mainly focuses on managing transfer points and vehicle capacity.
However, transport service level must also be ensured as it now
relates to tourist-s experiences. This paper emphasizes on the
responsiveness as one of key service performance measures. An
evaluation framework is developed and illustarted by using the case
of small bus service in Pattaya city. It can be seen as a great potential
for the city to utilize the small bus transportation in order to meet the
needs of more diverse group of passengers and to support the
expansion of tourist areas. The framework integrates with service
operations management, logistics, and tourism behavior perspectives.
The findings from the investigation of existing small bus service are
presented and preliminarily validate the usability of the framework.
Abstract: A neuron can emit spikes in an irregular time basis and by averaging over a certain time window one would ignore a lot of information. It is known that in the context of fast information processing there is no sufficient time to sample an average firing rate of the spiking neurons. The present work shows that the spiking neurons are capable of computing the radial basis functions by storing the relevant information in the neurons' delays. One of the fundamental findings of the this research also is that when using overlapping receptive fields to encode the data patterns it increases the network-s clustering capacity. The clustering algorithm that is discussed here is interesting from computer science and neuroscience point of view as well as from a perspective.
Abstract: More and more governments around the world are
introducing e-government as a means of reducing costs, improving
services, saving time and increasing effectiveness and efficiency in
the public sector Therefore e-government has been identified as one
of the top priorities for Saudi government and all its agencies.
However, the adoption of e-government is facing many challenges
and barriers such as technological, cultural, organizational, and social
issues which must be considered and treated carefully by any
government contemplating its adoption. This paper reports on a pilot
study amongst online (e-ready) citizens to identify the challenges and
barriers that affect the adoption of e-government services especially
from their perspective in Saudi society. Based on the analysis of data
collected from an online survey the researcher was able to identify
some of the important barriers and challenges from the e-ready
citizen perspective. As a result, this study has generated a list of
possible strategies to move towards successful adoption of egovernment
services in Saudi Arabia.
Abstract: Biological, psychological and social experiences and
perceptions of healthcare services in patients medically diagnosed of
coronary heart disease were investigated using a sample of 10
participants whose responses to the in-depth interview questions
were analyzed based on inter-and-intra-case analyses. The results
obtained revealed that advancing age, single status, divorce and/or
death of spouse and the issue of single parenting negatively impacted
patients- biopsychosocial experiences. The patients- experiences of
physical signs and symptoms, anxiety and depression, past serious
medical conditions, use of self-prescribed medications, family
history of poor mental/medical or physical health, nutritional
problems and insufficient physical activities heightened their risk of
coronary attack. Collectivist culture served as a big source of relieve
to the patients. Patients- temperament, experience of different
chronic life stresses/challenges, mood alteration, regular drinking,
smoking/gambling, and family/social impairments compounded their
health situation. Patients were satisfied with the biomedical services
rendered by the healthcare personnel, whereas their psychological
and social needs were not attended to. Effective procedural treatment
model, a holistic and multidimensional approach to the treatment of
heart disease patients was proposed.
Abstract: As a learning theory tries to borrow from science a framework to found its method, it shows paradoxes and paralysing contraddictions. This results, on one hand, from adopting a learning/teaching model as it were a mere “transfer of data" (mechanical learning approach), and on the other hand from borrowing the complexity theory (an indeterministic and non-linear model), that risks to vanish every educational effort. This work is aimed at describing existing criticism, unveiling the antinomic nature of such paradoxes, focussing on a view where neither the mechanical learning perspective nor the chaotic and nonlinear model can threaten and jeopardize the educational work. Author intends to go back over the steps that led to these paradoxes and to unveil their antinomic nature. Actually this could serve the purpose to explain some current misunderstandings about the real usefulness of Ict within the youth-s learning process and growth.
Abstract: The main objective of our study is to collect data
about the profile of the asthmatic patients in Assam and thereby have
a comprehensive knowledge of the factors influencing the asthmatic
patients of the state and their medication pattern. We developed a
search strategy to find any publication about the community based
survey asthma related and used. These to search the MEDLINE
(1996 to current literature) CINAHL DOAJ pubmed databases using
the key phrases, Asthma, Respiratory disorders, Drug therapy of
Asthma, database decision support system and asthma. The
appropriate literature was printed out from the online source and
library (Journal) source. The study was conducted through a set of
structured and non-structured questionnaires targeted on the
asthmatic patients belonging to the rural and urban areas of Assam,
during the month of Dec 2006 to July 2007, 138 cases were studied
in Gauwathi Medical College & Hospital located in Bhangagarh,
Assam in India. The demographic characteristics a factor in 138
patients with asthma with allergic rhinitis (cases) gives the detail
profile of asthmatic patient-s distribution of Assam as classified on
the basis of age and sex. It is evident from the study that male
populations (66%) are more prone to asthma as compared to the
females (34%).Another striking features that emerged from this
survey is the maximum prevalence of asthma in the age group of 20-
30 years followed by infants belonging to the age group of 7 (0.05%)
0-10years among both male and female populations of Assam. The
high incidence of asthma in the age group of 20-30 years may
probably be due to the allergy arising out of sudden exposure to dust
and pollen which the children face while playing and going to the
school. The rural females in the age group of 30-40 years are more
prone to asthma than urban females in the same age group may be
due to sex differentiation among the tribal population of the state.
Pharmacists should educate the asthmatics how to use inhalers
considering growing menace of asthma in the state. Safer drugs
should be produced in the form of aerosol so that easy administration
by the asthmatic patients and physicians of the state is possible for
curing asthma. The health centers should be more equipped with the
medicines to cure asthma in the state like Assam.
Abstract: The emergence of person-centred discourse based
around notions of 'personal development planning- and 'work'life
balance' has taken hold in education and the workplace in recent
years. This paper examines this discourse with regard to recent
developments in higher education as well as the inter-related issue of
work-life balance in occupational careers. In both cases there have
been national and trans-national policy initiatives directed towards
improving both personal opportunities and competitive advantage in
a global knowledge-based economy. However, despite an increasing
concern with looking outward at this globalised educational and
employment marketplace, there is something of a paradox in
encouraging people to look inward at themselves in order to become
more self-determined. This apparent paradox is considered from a
discourse analytic perspective in terms of the ideological effects of an
increasing concern with the personal world. Specifically, it is argued
that there are tensions that emerge from a concern with an innerdirected
process of self-reflection that dissolve any engagement with
wider political issues that impact upon educational and career
development.
Abstract: A Negotiation Support is required on a value-based decision to enable each stakeholder to evaluate and rank the solution alternatives before engaging into negotiation with the other stakeholders. This study demonstrates a process of negotiation support model for selection of a building system from value-based design perspective. The perspective is based on comparison of function and cost of a building system. Multi criteria decision techniques were applied to determine the relative value of the alternative solutions for performing the function. A satisfying option game theory are applied to the criteria of value-based decision which are LCC (life cycle cost) and function based FAST. The results demonstrate a negotiation process to select priorities of a building system. The support model can be extended to an automated negotiation by combining value based decision method, group decision and negotiation support.
Abstract: Advertising is one of the important marketing
strategies and the choice of media is an important aspect of
effectiveness of advertising media. The two most popular advertising
media, TV and web media are highly effective in creating successful
advertisements as they influence the purchase decision of the
viewers. Although TV and web are electronic media, they are unique
in their features and traits of advertising. Hence, the present study
attempts to analyze the influence of these two media towards buying
behavior of the viewers. The two media are analyzed separately to
determine its level of influence towards buying behavior and finally a
comparative analysis of these media is attempted to find the
difference in their level of influence.
Abstract: The paper studies implications between knowledge spillovers and technological innovation capability in the following three aspects: firstly, the paper debates on the effect of knowledge spillover on some perspectives of technological innovation ability; secondly, it discusses how different roles of knowledge spillover affect the technological innovation capability; finally, the paper creates the model of the factors of knowledge spillovers influencing to technological innovation capability. It concludes that knowledge spillovers affect all the main aspects of technological innovation ultimately to impact of technological innovation capabilities.
Abstract: The city of Suceava, one of the most important
medieval capital of Moldova, owes its urban genesis to the power
center established in its territory at the turn of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries. Freed from the effective control exercised by
the Emir Nogai through Alanians, the local center of power evolved
as the main representative of the interests of indigenous people in
relation to the Hungarian Angevin dinasty and to their
representatives from Maramures. From this perspective, the political
and military role of the settlement of Suceava was archeologically
proved by the discovery of extensive fortifications, unrivaled in the
first half of the XIVth century-s Moldavia. At the end of that century,
voivod Peter I decides to move the capital of the state from Siret to
Suceava. That option stimulated the development of the settlement
on specific urban coordinates.
Abstract: Age and sex are biological terms that are socioculturally
constructed for marriage and marital sexual behavior in
every society. Marriage is a universal norm that makes legitimate
sexual behavior between a man and a woman in marital life cycle to
gain bio-social purposes. Cross-cultural studies reveal that marital
sexual frequency as a part of marital sexual behavior not only varies
within the couple-s life cycle, but also varies between and among
couples in diverse cultures. The purpose of the study was to compare
marital sexual frequency in association with age status and length of
marital relationship between Muslim and Santal couples in rural
Bangladesh. For this we assumed that (1) Santal culture compared to
Muslim culture preferred earlier age at marriage for meeting marital
sexual purposes in rural Bangladesh; (2) Marital duration among the
Muslim couples was higher than that among the Santal couples; (3)
Sexual frequency among the younger couples in both the ethnic
communities was higher than the older couples; (4) Sexual frequency
across the Muslim couples- marital life cycle was higher than that the
Santal couples- marital life cycle. In so doing, 288 active couples
(145 for Muslim and 143 for Santal) selected by cluster random
sampling were interviewed with questionnaire method. The findings
of Independent Samples T Test on age at marriage, current age,
marital duration and sexual frequency independently reveal that there
were significant differences in sexual frequency not only across the
couples- life cycle but also vary between the Muslim and Santal
couples in relation to marital duration. The results of Pearson-s Inter-
Correlation Coefficients reveal that although age at marriage, current
age and marital duration for husband and wife were significantly
positive correlated with each other between the communities, there
were significantly negative correlation between the age at marriage,
current age, marital duration and sexual frequency among the
selected couples between the communities.
Abstract: On March 11, 2011, the East coast of Japan was hit by
one of the strongest earthquakes in history, followed by a devastating
tsunami. Although most lifelines, infrastructure, and public facilities
have been restored gradually, recovery efforts in terms of disposal of
disaster waste and revival of primary industry are lagging. This study
presents a summary of the damage inflicted by the earthquake and the
current status of reconstruction in the disaster area. Moreover, we
discuss the current trends and future perspectives on recently
implemented eco-friendly reconstruction projects and focus on the
pro-environmental behavior of disaster victims which is emerging as a
result of the energy shortage after the earthquake. Finally, we offer
ideas for initiatives for the next stage of the reconstruction policies.
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.