scholarly journals How do security and benefits instill trustworthiness of a digital local currency?

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-465
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Ključnikov ◽  
Mehmet Civelek ◽  
Jiří Polách ◽  
Zdeněk Mikoláš ◽  
Michal Banot

Research background: The existence of new technologies and increase in the extensive usage of the internet by individuals, forces governments, local authorities and practitioners to create alternative payment methods such as digital currencies. However, some of the individuals are concerned about trusting these currencies since they negatively perceive their security. Moreover, some people with low income have the willingness to use these currencies in case of receiving some financial benefits. In this regard, security and benefits have been used as tools to increase the trustworthiness of digital currencies. Purpose of the article: The goal of this study is to investigate and to examine the influences of security and benefits of a local digital currency on potential users’ trust in this currency. This paper also considers the age and work experience of prospective users and investigate these variables’ effects on stated relationships. Methods: This paper is based on a case study that includes 413 respondents who are workers of a large company in Cieszyn Silesia region of the Czech Republic. A questionnaire survey was employed by researchers to determine the perceptions of potential local currency users. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the relationships between selected variables. Calculations were made using SPSS Statistics software. Findings & Value added: The results of this paper confirm the positive influences of security and provided benefits on the trust of a digital currency. Regarding characteristics of potential users, perceptions of younger and less experienced users regarding the security and financial benefits are more positive to trust this currency comparing to older and more experienced respondents. Trade freedom of a country, long term orientation and individualistic characteristics of potential users might be reasons for the positive relation-ships between security, benefits and trust in a local digital currency. On the other hand, the income of prospective users, new technology curiosity, and experience of users might be mounting pieces of evidence to explain the differences in the perceptions of potential users regarding security, benefits and trust to a local digital currency. This paper also proposes some policy implementations to users, practitioners, local authorities and governments to make them cope with the security and trust issues of these currencies.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Ključnikov ◽  
Mehmet Civelek ◽  
Iveta Vozňáková ◽  
Vladimír Krajčík

Research background: Because of enabling a greater amount of money circulation and addressing the needs of individuals in specific regions, local and digital currencies have become more important for local economic and sustainable development, especially in last decade. However, their awareness by potential users have become one of major constraints to their extensive usage. In this regard, discount have been used to increase the awareness of individuals.  Purpose of the article: As discount is used as an effective promotional tool. This study pays regard to this indicator and aims to investigate whether the  discount rate is positively associated with local and digital currency awareness of potential users. Moreover, this research also includes job positions and age of the respondents into the analyses due to potential existence of differences in the awareness of people regarding their characteristics. Methods: The research employs a questionnaire survey and acquires data from 407 workers of a local business in Cieszyn Silesia region of the Czech Republic. The researchers run Binary Logistic Regression analyses in IBM SPSS Software to examine the relationship between these specified variables. Findings & Value added: The research substantiates the fact that potential users who demand more discount rates are more likely to be aware of local and digital currencies. Moreover, potential users who work in lower job positions and demand more discounts are more acquainted with these currencies. Although the existence of a relationship between age and local currency awareness is not proved, older people who demand discounts with higher percentages are more informed about digital currencies than younger individuals. Higher elasticity in discount demand, mutual interactions and relations, such as social media and internet usage of potential users, might be the reasons of these results. This study makes significant contributions to the literature by confirming the significance of individuals’ ages and occupational statuses in the awareness of local and digital currencies and the positive relationship between their discount propensity and awareness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5825
Author(s):  
Jelena Vapa-Tankosić ◽  
Vera Miler-Jerković ◽  
Dejan Jeremić ◽  
Slobodan Stanojević ◽  
Gordana Radović

The purpose of this paper is to understand how members of beekeeping associations, with long-standing sustainable traditions and products with registered geographical origins, perceive the investments in research and development (R&D) and new technological adoptions. By means of a binary logistic regression, the socio-demographic factors of the members of beekeeping associations predicting the investments in R&D and new technological adoptions were analyzed. Our findings point out that higher level of education and professional beekeeping experience predicts the willingness of investing in research and development. The higher level of education positively influences the willingness to hire professional consultants or bodies for the research and development of beekeeping practices. Serbian female beekeepers, beekeepers aged more than 41 years and professionally engaged beekeepers are more likely to admit that they need support of scientific and research institutions in the further development of beekeeping practices. A higher education has been shown to significantly predict the value added hive products due to new technology adoption. There is also a positive influence of the education level on new technology adoption.


2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Robertson-Kraft ◽  
Angela Lee Duckworth

Background/Context Surprisingly little progress has been made in linking teacher effectiveness and retention to factors observable at the time of hire. The rigors of teaching, particularly in low-income school districts, suggest the importance of personal qualities that have so far been difficult to measure objectively. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In this study, we examine the predictive validity of personal qualities not typically collected by school districts during the hiring process. Specifically, we use a psychological framework to explore how biographical data on grit, a disposition toward perseverance and passion for long-term goals, explains variance in novice teachers’ effectiveness and retention. Research Design In two prospective, longitudinal samples of novice teachers assigned to schools in low-income districts (N = 154 and N = 307, respectively), raters blind to outcomes followed a 7-point rubric to rate grit from information on college activities and work experience extracted from teachers’ résumés. We used independent-samples, t-tests, and binary logistic regression models to predict teacher effectiveness and retention from these grit ratings as well as from other information (e.g., SAT scores, college GPA, and interview ratings of leadership potential) available at the time of hire. Conclusions/Recommendations Grittier teachers outperformed their less gritty colleagues and were less likely to leave their classrooms midyear. Notably, no other variables in our analysis predicted either effectiveness or retention. These findings contribute to a better understanding of what leads some novice teachers to outperform others and remain committed to the profession. In addition to informing policy decisions surrounding teacher recruitment and development, this investigation highlights the potential of a psychological framework to explain why some individuals are more successful than others in meeting the rigorous demands of teaching.


Author(s):  
Diriba Ayele Gebisa ◽  
Negash Geleta Etana

Today, youth unemployment is a common agenda and a critical issue of all countries; particularly in developing countries. In Ethiopia, lack of employment opportunities for educated young people is a critical development challenges facing the country. The objective of this study was to identify the determinants of graduate youth unemployment. To answer the research objective data was collected by a structured questionnaire from 312 samples of respondents, wherein a snow ball sampling technique was used and data was analyzed using mixed research design, descriptive and casual design; where a binary logistic regression model used to examine the relationship between dependent and independent variables. The result indicated that amongst the nine variables of the determinants of graduate youth unemployment; education, number of graduates, work experience, career advice, market information, family income, aspire to the low-income job, and education quality, all were significantly affected unemployment rate except entrepreneurial ability. As a result, based on these findings, it can be recommended that there is a critical need for government, NGOs and all other stakeholders to work on these determinants to reduce graduate unemployment.


1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S. Morrell

Airline sales and distribution costs have been increasing faster than other costs over the past decade, particularly travel agent commissions and incentive payments. At the same time ticketless travel and the development of on-line services offer airlines an apparent solution to the dilemma of achieving both increased market share and reductions in sales costs. It is argued here, however, that travel agents will maintain their dominant position in airline sales distribution, because they will continue to offer the consumer the best response to their disadvantages of small size, ignorance and immobility. This will involve agents making full use of new technologies, offering a wider range of value added services, and moving to a pricing system which will be more acceptable to both travellers and airlines.


MRS Bulletin ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 5-6
Author(s):  
Horst D. Simon

Recent events in the high-performance computing industry have concerned scientists and the general public regarding a crisis or a lack of leadership in the field. That concern is understandable considering the industry's history from 1993 to 1996. Cray Research, the historic leader in supercomputing technology, was unable to survive financially as an independent company and was acquired by Silicon Graphics. Two ambitious new companies that introduced new technologies in the late 1980s and early 1990s—Thinking Machines and Kendall Square Research—were commercial failures and went out of business. And Intel, which introduced its Paragon supercomputer in 1994, discontinued production only two years later.During the same time frame, scientists who had finished the laborious task of writing scientific codes to run on vector parallel supercomputers learned that those codes would have to be rewritten if they were to run on the next-generation, highly parallel architecture. Scientists who are not yet involved in high-performance computing are understandably hesitant about committing their time and energy to such an apparently unstable enterprise.However, beneath the commercial chaos of the last several years, a technological revolution has been occurring. The good news is that the revolution is over, leading to five to ten years of predictable stability, steady improvements in system performance, and increased productivity for scientific applications. It is time for scientists who were sitting on the fence to jump in and reap the benefits of the new technology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-58
Author(s):  
Orietta Da Rold

Abstract In this essay, I offer a brief history of manuscript cataloguing and some observations on the innovations this practice introduced especially in the digital form. This history reveals that as the cataloguing of medieval manuscripts developed over time, so did the research needs it served. What was often considered traditional cataloguing practices had to be mediated to accommodate new scholarly advance, posing interesting questions, for example, on what new technologies can bring to this discussion. In the digital age, in particular, how do digital catalogues interact with their analogue counterparts? What skills and training are required of scholars interacting with this new technology? To this end, I will consider the importance of the digital environment to enable a more flexible approach to cataloguing. I will also discuss new insights into digital projects, especially the experience accrued by the The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220 Project, and then propose that in the future cataloguing should be adaptable and shareable, and make full use of the different approaches to manuscripts generated by collaboration between scholars and librarians or the work of postgraduate students and early career researchers.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3147
Author(s):  
Kiyoung Kim ◽  
Namdoo Kim ◽  
Jongryeol Jeong ◽  
Sunghwan Min ◽  
Horim Yang ◽  
...  

Many leading companies in the automotive industry have been putting tremendous effort into developing new powertrains and technologies to make their products more energy efficient. Evaluating the fuel economy benefit of a new technology in specific powertrain systems is straightforward; and, in an early concept phase, obtaining a projection of energy efficiency benefits from new technologies is extremely useful. However, when carmakers consider new technology or powertrain configurations, they must deal with a trade-off problem involving factors such as energy efficiency and performance, because of the complexities of sizing a vehicle’s powertrain components, which directly affect its energy efficiency and dynamic performance. As powertrains of modern vehicles become more complicated, even more effort is required to design the size of each component. This study presents a component-sizing process based on the forward-looking vehicle simulator “Autonomie” and the optimization algorithm “POUNDERS”; the supervisory control strategy based on Pontryagin’s Minimum Principle (PMP) assures sufficient computational system efficiency. We tested the process by applying it to a single power-split hybrid electric vehicle to determine optimal values of gear ratios and each component size, where we defined the optimization problem as minimizing energy consumption when the vehicle’s dynamic performance is given as a performance constraint. The suggested sizing process will be helpful in determining optimal component sizes for vehicle powertrain to maximize fuel efficiency while dynamic performance is satisfied. Indeed, this process does not require the engineer’s intuition or rules based on heuristics required in the rule-based process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen V. Milner ◽  
Sondre Ulvund Solstad

ABSTRACTDo world politics affect the adoption of new technology? States overwhelmingly rely on technology invented abroad, and their differential intensity of technology use accounts for many of their differences in economic development. Much of the literature on technology adoption focuses on domestic conditions. The authors argue instead that the structure of the international system is critical because it affects the level of competition among states, which in turn affects leaders’ willingness to enact policies that speed technology adoption. Countries adopt new technology as they seek to avoid being vulnerable to attack or coercion by other countries. By systematically examining states’ adoption of technology over the past two hundred years, the authors find that countries adopt new technologies faster when the international system is less concentrated, that changes in systemic concentration have a temporally causal effect on technology adoption, and that government policies to promote technology adoption are related to concerns about rising international competition. A competitive international system is an important incentive for technological change and may underlie global technology waves.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. e042547
Author(s):  
Atif Riaz ◽  
Olga Cambaco ◽  
Laura Elizabeth Ellington ◽  
Jennifer L Lenahan ◽  
Khatia Munguambe ◽  
...  

ObjectivesPaediatric pneumonia burden and mortality are highest in low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC). Paediatric lung ultrasound (LUS) has emerged as a promising diagnostic tool for pneumonia in LMIC. Despite a growing evidence base for LUS use in paediatric pneumonia diagnosis, little is known about its potential for successful implementation in LMIC. Our objectives were to evaluate the feasibility, usability and acceptability of LUS in the diagnosis of paediatric pneumonia.DesignProspective qualitative study using semistructured interviewsSettingTwo referral hospitals in Mozambique and PakistanParticipantsA total of 21 healthcare providers (HCPs) and 20 caregivers were enrolled.ResultsHCPs highlighted themes of limited resource availability for the feasibility of LUS implementation, including perceived high cost of equipment, maintenance demands, time constraints and limited trained staff. HCPs emphasised the importance of policymaker support and caregiver acceptance for long-term success. HCP perspectives of usability highlighted ease of use and integration into existing workflow. HCPs and caregivers had positive attitudes towards LUS with few exceptions. Both HCPs and caregivers emphasised the potential for rapid, improved diagnosis of paediatric respiratory conditions using LUS.ConclusionsThis was the first study to evaluate HCP and caregiver perspectives of paediatric LUS through qualitative analysis. Critical components impacting feasibility, usability and acceptability of LUS for paediatric pneumonia diagnosis in LMIC were identified for initial deployment. Future research should explore LUS sustainability, with a particular focus on quality control, device maintenance and functionality and adoption of the new technology within the health system. This study highlights the need to engage both users and recipients of new technology early in order to adapt future interventions to the local context for successful implementation.Trial registration numberNCT03187067.


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