scholarly journals A Students’ Preferences-Based Approach to Select Methods for Detecting and Handling Free-Riding

2021 ◽  
pp. 027347532199210
Author(s):  
Else-Marie van den Herik ◽  
Tim M. Benning

Free-riding is a serious challenge in group projects. While there are various methods to reduce free-riding, marketing educators still face a difficult task when selecting an appropriate method for their course. In this study, we propose a students’ preferences-based approach that supports marketing educators with the selection of methods to detect and handle free-riding. To measure these preferences, students completed an online survey based on a choice task about two methods to detect free-riding and a ranking task about four methods to handle free-riding ( n = 254). Their answers were analyzed using chi-squared tests, Borda scores, and rank-ordered logit models. The results show that (a) neither Dutch nor international students have a clear preference for one of the two detection methods (the reporting system vs. the process evaluation system), (b) grade discussion (a possible reduction of the free-rider’s grade based on a conversation with the course coordinator about each student’s contribution) is the most preferred method to handle free-riding, and (c) international students have a stronger preference for stricter handling methods. Marketing educators can apply the proposed approach, or use our specific findings, for designing methods to reduce free-riding in their courses.

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
L E Murchison ◽  
R Anbarasan ◽  
A Mathur ◽  
M Kulkarni

Abstract Introduction In the already high-risk, high-stress environment of the operating theatre, operating during Covid-19 has brought its own unique challenges. Communication, teamwork and anxiety related new operating practices secondary to Covid-19 are hypothesised to have a negative impact on patient care. Method We conducted a single-centre online survey of operating theatre staff from 22nd June–6th July 2020. Respondents completed 18 human factors questions related to COVID-19 precautions including communication, teamwork, situational awareness, decision making, stress, fatigue, work environment and organisational culture. Questions consisted of yes/no responses, multiple choice and Likert items. Kruskall-Wallis tests, Chi-Squared, Mann Whitney U tests, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, lambda and Cramer’s V tests were used. Free-text responses were also reviewed. Results 116 theatre staff responded. Visual (90.5%), hearing/ understanding (96.6%) difficulties, feeling faint/lightheaded (66.4%) and stress (47.8%) were reported. Decreased situational awareness was reported by 71.5% and correlated with visors (r = 0.27 and p = 0.03) and FFP2/3 mask usage (r = 0.29 and p = 0.01). Reduced efficiency of theatre teams was reported by 75% of respondents and 21.5% felt patient safety was at greater risk due to Covid-19 precautions in theatre. Conclusions Organisational adjustments are required, and research focused on development of fit-for-purpose personal protective equipment (PPE).


2020 ◽  
pp. 102986492097216
Author(s):  
Gaelen Thomas Dickson ◽  
Emery Schubert

Background: Music is thought to be beneficial as a sleep aid. However, little research has explicitly investigated the specific characteristics of music that aid sleep and some researchers assume that music described as generically sedative (slow, with low rhythmic activity) is necessarily conducive to sleep, without directly interrogating this assumption. This study aimed to ascertain the features of music that aid sleep. Method: As part of an online survey, 161 students reported the pieces of music they had used to aid sleep, successfully or unsuccessfully. The participants reported 167 pieces, some more often than others. Nine features of the pieces were analyzed using a combination of music information retrieval methods and aural analysis. Results: Of the pieces reported by participants, 78% were successful in aiding sleep. The features they had in common were that (a) their main frequency register was middle range frequencies; (b) their tempo was medium; (c) their articulation was legato; (d) they were in the major mode, and (e) lyrics were present. They differed from pieces that were unsuccessful in aiding sleep in that (a) their main frequency register was lower; (b) their articulation was legato, and (c) they excluded high rhythmic activity. Conclusion: Music that aids sleep is not necessarily sedative music, as defined in the literature, but some features of sedative music are associated with aiding sleep. In the present study, we identified the specific features of music that were reported to have been successful and unsuccessful in aiding sleep. The identification of these features has important implications for the selection of pieces of music used in research on sleep.


2016 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ka-yan Yim ◽  
Chi-wai Kan

Fabric hand is an indispensable characteristic for the selection of fabric and product development and the buying consideration for manufacturers and consumers. However, there is little comprehensive work on the hand feel property of warp-knitted fabrics due to the mainstream natural fibers (cotton, wool and silk) and other fabric structures (woven, weft-knitted and nonwoven). The increasing potential for the wide variety of applications and development of warp-knitted fabrics is not only because its fabric hand gives better determination for fabric marketing, but also because it provides extensive scope for fabric performance and appearance. This paper reports an experimental study on the integrated fabric hand behavior of a series of warp-knitted fabrics made for various apparel applications, such as sportswear, lingerie and leisure wear. These 105 fabrics were produced by varying different physical parameters, including fabric weight and fabric thickness. The Kawabata Evaluation System for Fabric (KES-F) was employed to obtain the fabric hand properties (primary hand value and total hand value) related with stiffness, smoothness and softness. All low-stress mechanical properties and fabric hand values from the testing results were used to verify the applicability of the KES-F on warp-knitted fabrics and to analyze the relationships of fabric parameters and hand characteristics. The results indicate that the KES-F is an appropriate tool to measure the hand attributes of warp-knitted samples, and moderate correlations between physical properties and mechanical behavior were found.


2013 ◽  
Vol 465-466 ◽  
pp. 387-394
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ashraf Fauri Fauzi ◽  
Daeng Ahmad Zuhri Zuhud ◽  
Hafiz Husin

Digital computers that automate manufacturing process are an important aspect for any manufacturing engineers in the modern world. Selection of the programming paradigm (PP), as well as the programming language (PL) that supports it, is crucial to ensure the correct ideas are being used to automate the solution of the problem. In current Malaysian Higher institution practices, various PPs and PLs courses are offered to current undergraduate manufacturing majors. An online survey was deployed to experienced manufacturing engineers from various manufacturing specializations in the industry. Graduates from one of Malaysias public universities, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) have been chosen for this particular study. From the survey, it has been found that almost 80% of the participants agreed that PPs are important for manufacturing graduates. It was found out that 90% of the participants were from intermediate (scale of 3) until poor (scale of 1) to express their ability to explain PPs if asked. Only about 10% are able to explain on PPs (scale of 4 and 5). The study concluded that majority of the manufacturing graduates from IIUM agreed that PP is an important subject to be taught in university. However, it was found the majority of the manufacturing graduates lack the knowledge and understanding of PPs and general PLs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Lamon ◽  
Domenico Meloni ◽  
Simonetta Gianna Consolati ◽  
Anna Mureddu ◽  
Rina Mazzette

<em>Listeria monocytogenes</em> is an ubiquitous, intracellular pathogen which has been implicated within the past decade as the causative organism in several outbreaks of foodborne diseases. In this review, a new approach to molecular typing primarily designed for global epidemiology has been described: multi-<em>locus</em> sequencing typing (MLST). This approach is novel, in that it uses data that allow the unambiguous characterization of bacterial strains via the Internet. Our aim is to present the currently available selection of references on <em>L. monocytogenes</em> MLST detection methods and to discuss its use as <em>gold</em> <em>standard</em> to <em>L. monocytogenes</em> subtyping method.


Author(s):  
Zeying Huang ◽  
Haijun Li ◽  
Jiazhang Huang

The nutrition facts table is a nutrition labeling tool designed to inform consumers of food nutritional contents and enable them to make healthier choices by comparing the nutritional values of similar foods. However, its adoption level is considerably low in China. This study employed the Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) algorithm to explore the factors associated with respondents’ adoption of nutrition facts table to compare the nutritional values of similar foods. Data were gathered through a nationally representative online survey of 1500 samples. Results suggested that consumers’ comprehension of the nutrition facts table was a direct explanatory factor for its use. The usage was also indirectly explained by people’s nutrition knowledge, the usage of nutrition facts table by their relatives and friends, and their focus on a healthy diet. Therefore, to increase the use of nutrition facts table by Chinese consumers, the first consideration should be given to enhancing consumers’ comprehension of the labeling


Author(s):  
Jeanne McConachie ◽  
Patrick Alan Danaher ◽  
Jo Luck ◽  
David Jones

<p> Central Queensland University (CQU) is a highly complex institution, combining campuses in Central Queensland and distance education programs for Australian domestic students with Australian metropolitan sites for international students and a number of overseas centres, also for international students. In common with many other universities, CQU has recently reviewed its course management systems (CMSs). In doing so, CQU has signalled its desired strategic position in managing its online learning provision for the foreseeable future.</p> <p>This paper analyzes that strategic position from the perspective of the effectiveness of CQU’s engagement with current drivers of change. Drawing on online survey results, the authors deploy Introna’s (1996) distinction between teleological and ateleological systems to interrogate CQU’s current position on CMSs – one of its most significant enterprises – for what it reveals about whether and how CQU’s CMSs should be considered an accelerator of, or a brake on, its effective engagement with those drivers of change. The authors contend that a more thorough adoption of an ateological systems approach is likely to enhance the CMS’s status as an accelerator in engaging with such drivers. </p> <P><STRONG>Keywords: </STRONG>Australia, course management systems, enterprise systems, open and distance learning, teleological and ateleological systems<BR> </P>


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-319
Author(s):  
Heba Mostafa ◽  
Yongsun Lim

Advancing diversity and inclusion in the U.S. higher education requires a solid understanding of the dynamics of students’ mobility. This study investigated the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that lead different international student groups to study in American universities, in connection with their resilience in overcoming the inevitable higher education challenges. An online survey was completed by 164 international students at three research universities. Pearson correlation coefficient analyses and independent t tests were conducted to examine the relationships among three variables—intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and resilience—along with the differences among groups. Results show a medium-sized positive significant relationship between international students’ intrinsic motivations and resilience, and significant differences among groups of students in relation to intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 439-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Mutro Nigo ◽  
Georgette Salieb-Beugelaar ◽  
Manuel Battegay ◽  
Peter Odermatt ◽  
Patrick Hunziker

Schistosomiasis is a neglected invasive worm disease with a huge disease burden in developing countries, particularly in children, and is seen increasingly in non-endemic regions through transfer by travellers, expatriates, and refugees. Undetected and untreated infections may be responsible for the persistence of transmission. Rapid and accurate diagnosis is the key to treatment and control. So far, parasitological detection methods remain the cornerstone of Schistosoma infection diagnosis in endemic regions, but conventional tests have limited sensitivity, in particular in low-grade infection. Recent advances contribute to improved detection in clinical and field settings. The recent progress in micro- and nanotechnologies opens a road by enabling the design of new miniaturized point-of-care devices and analytical platforms, which can be used for the rapid detection of these infections. This review starts with an overview of currently available laboratory tests and their performance and then discusses emerging rapid and micro/nanotechnologies-based tools. The epidemiological and clinical setting of testing is then discussed as an important determinant for the selection of the best analytical strategy in patients suspected to suffer from Schistosoma infection. Finally, it discusses the potential role of advanced technologies in the setting near to disease eradication is examined.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guanghui Liang ◽  
Jianmin Pang ◽  
Zheng Shan ◽  
Runqing Yang ◽  
Yihang Chen

To address emerging security threats, various malware detection methods have been proposed every year. Therefore, a small but representative set of malware samples are usually needed for detection model, especially for machine-learning-based malware detection models. However, current manual selection of representative samples from large unknown file collection is labor intensive and not scalable. In this paper, we firstly propose a framework that can automatically generate a small data set for malware detection. With this framework, we extract behavior features from a large initial data set and then use a hierarchical clustering technique to identify different types of malware. An improved genetic algorithm based on roulette wheel sampling is implemented to generate final test data set. The final data set is only one-eighteenth the volume of the initial data set, and evaluations show that the data set selected by the proposed framework is much smaller than the original one but does not lose nearly any semantics.


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