scholarly journals Male spacing and female choice in a fiddler crab

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1769-1774
Author(s):  
Daniela M Perez ◽  
Patricia R Y Backwell
Keyword(s):  
Fiddler Crab ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Theoretical Explanation ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Local Competition ◽  
Female Preferences ◽  
Test Female ◽  
Aggregation Formation ◽  
The Many ◽  
Clustering Behavior

Abstract The aggregation of courting males is widespread among animal taxa, yet we do not understand why males congregate and therefore intensify local competition for female attention. The most commonly invoked theoretical explanation is that females preferentially approach clustered males due to the many benefits they would gain, and clustered males would therefore have higher mating success. However, although theoretical explanations of aggregation formation are well advanced, empirical studies are scarce, especially in invertebrates. In fact, there is little evidence that females do prefer to approach clustered displayers over spaced displayers. Here we address this question by using robotic crabs to test female preferences in fiddler crabs (a visually displaying species) and show that females do not preferentially approach clustered males. We suggest that if this pattern is more widespread, the most commonly invoked explanation of courting aggregations is of limited use. We offer explanations for the strong clustering behavior we observe in this species and discuss the implications of this finding for the theoretical underpinnings of this research field.

scholarly journals Share Contract Revisited: A New Transaction Cost Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Ding ◽  
Yixiao Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Transaction Cost ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Theoretical Explanation ◽  
Empirical Testing ◽  
Cost Approach ◽  
Satisfactory Answer ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explore how sharecropping contracts are chosen over fixed-rent contracts. There are two concerning issues. First, theoretical explanation has been criticized for not providing a satisfactory answer to the question as to why share contracts are chosen. Second, among the existing empirical studies, there are great controversies about the impact of variance of output. Inspired by the latest insights from (Cheung, S. N. S. 2014. Economic Explanation. Hong Kong: Arcadia Press.), this paper not only provides an explanation for the choice of share contract that is suitable for empirical testing, but also solves the puzzle over variance of output.

scholarly journals A Study on the Integration of Resilience and Smart City Concepts in Urban Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Anastasia Tzioutziou ◽  
Yiannis Xenidis
Keyword(s):  
Smart City ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
City Management ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Continuous Growth ◽  
Management And Development ◽  
The Many ◽  
Development And Management

The continuous growth of cities brings out various concerns for improved development and management of the multifaceted urban systems, including those of resilience and smartness. Despite the many significant efforts in the research field, both notions remain changeable, thus retaining the lack of commonly accepted conceptual and terminological frameworks. The paper’s research goals are to designate the current direct and indirect links in the conceptualizations and research trends of the resilience and smart city frameworks and to prove the potential of the conceptual convergence between them in the context of urban systems. The application of a semi-systematic literature review, including bibliometric evidence and followed by content analysis, has led to the observation that as the resilience discourse opens up to embrace other dimensions, including technology, the smart city research turns its interest to the perspective of urban protection. Therefore, both concepts share the goal for urban sustainability realized through specific capacities and processes and operationalized with the deployment of technology. The paper’s findings suggest that the conceptual and operational foundations of these two concepts could support the emergence of an integrated framework. Such a prospect acknowledges the instrumental role of the smart city approach in the pursuit of urban resilience and unfolds a new model for sustainable city management and development.

scholarly journals The Effect of Access to Debt on Lebanese Small and Medium Enterprises Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-44
Author(s):  
Zainab Abdulawood Jadoua ◽  
Nihal Farid Mostapha
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Generalized Least Squares ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Order Theory ◽  
Theoretical Explanation ◽  
Financial Behavior ◽  
Trade Off

Since thirties access to debt has been considered as one of the main challenges facing the growth of Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, empirical studies focused on how facilitating access to debt affects SMEs financial performance in developed countries. However, this is not the case in the developing economies countries such as Lebanon due to the lack of financial transparency and poor financial reporting. In addition, very few studies discussed the theoretical pillar behind SMEs financial behavior on how access to debt affects firm performance in developed and developing countries. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the effect of access to debt on Lebanese SMEs financial performance in terms of profitability and tangibility. In addition, the study explores the theoretical explanation of how Lebanese SMEs access to debt affects profitability (PR) and tangibility (ST) using trade-off theory (TOT) and pecking order theory (POT). Data of 102 SMEs for the period 2014 till 2017 from 12 official audit firms located in Beirut-Lebanon. Additionally, generalized least squares (GLS) method was used to conduct regression analysis. The analysis reveals the positive effect of Lebanese SMEs access to debt on SMEs profitability and tangibility confirming the adoption of trade-off theory as an approach by Lebanese SMEs and lenders. It is concluded that facilitating Lebanese SMEs access to debt to reach proper debt level improves SMEs performance which in return affects positively the lenders and economy as whole.

Understanding Fluency and Friction in Customer Experience Management

2019 ◽  
pp. 88-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Marutschke ◽  
Ted Gournelos ◽  
Subhasis Ray
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Customer Experience ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Customer Journey ◽  
Customer Experience Management ◽  
New Research

Customer experience management is a relatively new research field. Although past literature has studied certain aspects and elements of customer experience, major questions are still unanswered, including how to integrate touch-points across the customer journey and how to measure customer experience in a way that takes its multidimensional nature into consideration. This chapter attempts to provide a framework to study how customers perceive touch-points as a holistic experience and proposes an integrated approach to measuring the experience of challenges that result in what we call “friction.” The framework is based on the concept of “fluency” from the engineering and omni-channel literature and suggests survey items which can be used for future empirical studies. Insights from this research can be used by various types of organizations to better identify problems in the customer experience in regard to the process and dynamics of touch-points through time and across channels/platforms, thereby enhancing value for customers and businesses.

An Exploration of Darkness within Doctoral Education

2016 ◽  
pp. 260-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Søren S. E. Bengtsen
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Doctoral Education ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Professional Community ◽  
Research Field ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Education Development ◽  
Education Today

In doctoral education, the formal structures include the Graduate School system, PhD courses, and supervision contracts, etc. Doctoral education also takes place on informal and tacit levels, where doctoral students learn about the institutional regulations, the research field, academic craftsmanship, and research design by observing how their supervisors talk, act, and handle issues in the professional community. However, the formal-informal divide is not adequate if we want to understand the sprawling, mongrel, and diverse forms of student engagement, coping, and learning strategies within doctoral education today. By drawing on the empirical studies of cross-level institutional voices, as well as international studies into similar grey areas of student learning in doctoral education, this chapter argues that learning spaces of educational ‘darkness' hold unrecognised potential for enhancing learning experiences, harnessing professional competences, and enriching the depth of research in the PhD life that implies significant contributions to future doctoral education development.

scholarly journals Depression among Patients with HIV/AIDS: Research Development and Effective Interventions (GAPRESEARCH)

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 1772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bach Xuan Tran ◽  
Roger C. M. Ho ◽  
Cyrus S. H. Ho ◽  
Carl A. Latkin ◽  
Hai Thanh Phan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Research Field ◽  
People Living With Hiv ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Database Research ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Population Effects

Depression in people living with HIV (PLWH) has become an urgent issue and has attracted the attention of both physicians and epidemiologists. Currently, 39% of HIV patients are reported to suffer from depression. This population is more likely to experience worsening disease states and, thus, poorer health outcomes. In this study, we analyzed research growth and current understandings of depression among HIV-infected individuals. The number of papers and their impacts have been considerably grown in recent years, and a total of 4872 publications published from 1990–2017 were retrieved from the Web of Science database. Research landscapes related to this research field include risk behaviors and attributable causes of depression in HIV population, effects of depression on health outcomes of PLWH, and interventions and health services for these particular subjects. We identified a lack of empirical studies in countries where PLWH face a high risk of depression, and a modest level of interest in biomedical research. By demonstrating these research patterns, highlighting the research gaps and putting forward implications, this study provides a basis for future studies and interventions in addressing the critical issue of HIV epidemics.

In search of the frugal innovation strategy

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leandro Lima Santos ◽  
Felipe Mendes Borini ◽  
Moacir de Miranda Oliveira Júnior
Keyword(s):  
Citation Analysis ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Business Strategies ◽  
Innovation Strategy ◽  
Resource Constrained ◽  
Frugal Innovation ◽  
Content Type

Purpose In the past years, many contributions have been published addressing frugal innovation and other types of resource-constrained innovations in the management field. Throughout this paper frugal innovation is reported as a phenomenon, concept, research field and strategy, showing the different ways the literature refers to it and how scattered the concept is. However, based on the understanding, the authors decided to address frugal innovation as a kind of innovation strategy that helps companies to innovate in resource-constrained environments. Therefore, considering the increasing interest in the frugal innovation topic and adding the perspective of business strategy for resource-constrained conditions, the research question addressed in this paper is: what are the main features of the frugal innovation literature that unfold its current perspectives for business strategy? In this sense, the purpose of this study is to analyze the scientific production in frugal innovation through a literature mapping and review to better understand it, delimiting different perspectives and creating boundaries to other business strategies or approaches. Design/methodology/approach The authors performed a co-citation analysis using the Vosviewer software to notice how authors are arranged in clusters based on their understanding of the topic. Furthermore, the authors also performed a systematic literature review (SLR) analyzing the extant literature on frugal innovation based on the clusters found through the co-citation method. The final sample used in the study included 42 papers published between 2011 and 2019, using the Web of Science platform as a data source. Findings By means of SLR, the findings of this study provided a more organized view of frugal innovation through the co-citation analysis and the qualitative analysis of the clusters, which were the basis for the parameters established. After the conceptualization of frugal innovation strategy (FIS) and the delimitation of boundaries of FIS, the authors bring the reflections about the contribution to the literature and the practice (managers and society) by showing three assumptions to be tested and confirmed in future studies and a framework to guide companies in search of a FIS. Originality/value This study contributes to the discussion on frugal innovation moving a step forward to clarify the research field on this subject providing the main characteristics for researchers and practitioners. The paper has delimited the boundaries of FIS. The assumptions established in the discussion can become hypotheses for empirical studies. In addition, the authors explain why, what is, where and to whom the FIS can be developed and applied. Furthermore, the authors contribute by developing the FIS framework, with four strategic positions based on the boundaries of FIS organized by the complexity technological level. The strategic positions are frugal innovation orientation (FIO), FIO to value shared, FIO to market and FIS.

scholarly journals AN INTERVIEW WITH ASSAR LINDBECK

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thorvaldur Gylfason
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Daily Newspaper ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many

Sweden has a long and distinguished tradition in economics, beginning with Knut Wicksell and continuing with Gustav Cassel, Eli Heckscher, Erik Lindahl, Gunnar Myrdal, Bertil Ohlin, and Erik Lundberg, all of whom are now gone. Yet, for several of these men, economics was not enough: Wicksell spoke out on moral issues and served time in jail, and Myrdal was for many years a high official at the United Nations and, briefly, a cabinet minister, as was Ohlin, who made his mark at home primarily as leader of the opposition in a country governed mostly by Social Democrats, serving in parliament for 32 years. For Assar Lindbeck, however, economics has been broad enough: he has devoted a long and distinguished career to economics, and to economics alone, with unfailing enthusiasm and energy over half a century. Not that he was not wanted elsewhere: over the years, he has declined challenging job offers from an international organization and a Swedish daily newspaper, to name but two examples, as well as from universities outside Sweden. Assar has managed to harness his varied and wide-ranging talents within the many mansions of economics. He is one of the most versatile economists of his generation. Indeed, he is one of the few who, for clarity, need to divide their bibliography into categories by subject: Macroeconomics and monetary economics, Public economics, Labor economics, International economics, Economic systems and economic structures, Methodology and history of economic thought, and Swedish economy. His work on these different subjects has ranged from pure theory to applied policy-oriented and empirical studies. In addition to the numerous scientific publications listed at the end of this interview, his bibliography includes nearly 200 articles for magazines and newspapers. His ivory tower has always been equipped with a high-speed elevator. But, as he points out in the conversation to follow, all his research work, as well as his journalism, is driven by an overarching interest in bettering economic policy and organization—in other words, boosting economic and social efficiency for the purpose of lifting ordinary people's standard of life. This has been, and remains, a guiding principle—a Leitmotiv, if you prefer—from which he has never swerved. Assar Lindbeck is a towering figure in Swedish economics and in Swedish national life.

scholarly journals Panic, Irrationality, and Herding: Three Ambiguous Terms in Crowd Dynamics Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milad Haghani ◽  
Emiliano Cristiani ◽  
Nikolai W. F. Bode ◽  
Maik Boltes ◽  
Alessandro Corbetta
Keyword(s):  
Social Influence ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Escape Behaviour ◽  
Crowd Dynamics ◽  
Lay Persons ◽  
Relative Consistency ◽  
Science Domain

Background. The three terms “panic”, “irrationality”, and “herding” are ubiquitous in the crowd dynamics literature and have a strong influence on both modelling and management practices. The terms are also commonly shared between the scientific and nonscientific domains. The pervasiveness of the use of these terms is to the point where their underlying assumptions have often been treated as common knowledge by both experts and lay persons. Yet, at the same time, the literature on crowd dynamics presents ample debate, contradiction, and inconsistency on these topics. Method. This review is the first to systematically revisit these three terms in a unified study to highlight the scope of this debate. We extracted from peer-reviewed journal articles direct quotes that offer a definition, conceptualisation, or supporting/contradicting evidence on these terms and/or their underlying theories. To further examine the suitability of the term herding, a secondary and more detailed analysis is also conducted on studies that have specifically investigated this phenomenon in empirical settings. Results. The review shows that (i) there is no consensus on the definition for the terms panic and irrationality and that (ii) the literature is highly divided along discipline lines on how accurate these theories/terminologies are for describing human escape behaviour. The review reveals a complete division and disconnection between studies published by social scientists and those from the physical science domain and also between studies whose main focus is on numerical simulation versus those with empirical focus. (iii) Despite the ambiguity of the definitions and the missing consensus in the literature, these terms are still increasingly and persistently mentioned in crowd evacuation studies. (iv) Different to panic and irrationality, there is relative consistency in definitions of the term herding, with the term usually being associated with ‘(blind) imitation’. However, based on the findings of empirical studies, we argue why, despite the relative consistency in meaning, (v) the term herding itself lacks adequate nuance and accuracy for describing the role of ‘social influence’ in escape behaviour. Our conclusions also emphasise the importance of distinguishing between the social influence on various aspects of evacuation behaviour and avoiding generalisation across various behavioural layers. Conclusions. We argue that the use of these three terms in the scientific literature does not contribute constructively to extending the knowledge or to improving the modelling capabilities in the field of crowd dynamics. This is largely due to the ambiguity of these terms, the overly simplistic nature of their assumptions, or the fact that the theories they represent are not readily verifiable. Recommendations. We suggest that it would be beneficial for advancing this research field that the phenomena related to these three terms are clearly defined by more tangible and quantifiable terms and be formulated as verifiable hypotheses, so they can be operationalized for empirical testing.

Advancing empirical resilience research

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffael Kalisch ◽  
Marianne B. Müller ◽  
Oliver Tüscher
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Collaborative Effort ◽  
Major Point ◽  
Target Article ◽  
The Many ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractWe are delighted by the broad, intense, and fruitful discussion in reaction to our target article. A major point we take from the many comments is a prevailing feeling in the research community that we need significantly and urgently to advance resilience research, both by sharpening concepts and theories and by conducting empirical studies at a much larger scale and with a much more extended and sophisticated methodological arsenal than is the case currently. This advancement can be achieved only in a concerted international collaborative effort. In our response, we try to argue that an explicitly atheoretical, purely observational definition of resilience and a transdiagnostic, quantitative study framework can provide a suitable basis for empirically testing different competing resilience theories (sects. R1, R2, R6, R7). We are confident that it should be possible to unite resilience researchers from different schools, including from sociology and social psychology, behind such a pragmatic and theoretically neutral research strategy. In sections R3 to R5, we further specify and explain the positive appraisal style theory of resilience (PASTOR). We defend PASTOR as a comparatively parsimonious and translational theory that makes sufficiently concrete predictions to be evaluated empirically.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document