University research and development of a microsatellite

Developing a microsatellite at a university is an effective means of training engineering students for an R&D career. Such a programme requires the adoption of many research and development processes from industry. This paper describes how tailored forms of systems engineering, project management and technology management were applied to develop a high technology product at a tertiary educational institution. This microsatellite development programme has produced students who are well prepared for the realities of engineering practice, and a research and development facility that earns research funding for the university.     

A quantitative and qualitative analysis of sexual harassment claims 1995–2005

This article explores the organisational and legal context in which parties involved in claims relating to sexual harassment operate, and presents an analysis of the population of sexual harassment cases heard by Employment Tribunals between 1995 and 2005.     

Bees in the medieval economy: religious observance and the production,trade, and consumption of wax in England,c. 1300–1555

The high and late middle ages saw a significant increase in demand for beeswax, a fundamental component of medieval Christian devotion, spurred by both changing socio‐economic conditions and shifts in religious practice. The vast quantities of wax needed for churches and religious foundations in England drove a thriving international trade spanning from the hinterland of Novgorod to the port of Lisbon, while at the same time encouraging widespread domestic beekeeping. This article considers the impact of supply‐side constraints and increasing demand on wax prices, calculating the cost and quantity of wax purchased by large foundations, parish churches, and individual offerings, to reveal the hitherto underexplored impact of religious consumption on the medieval economy.     

Communication networks,externalities, and the price of information

Information goods (or information for short) play an essential role in modern economies. We consider a setup where information has some idiosyncratic value for each consumer, exerts externalities, and can be freely replicated and transmitted in a communication network. Prices paid for information are determined via the (asymmetric) Nash Bargaining Solution with endogenous disagreement points. This decentralized approach leads to unique prices and payoffs in any exogenous network. We use these payoffs to find connection structures that emerge under different externality regimes in pre‐trade network formation stage. An application to citation graphs results in eigenvector‐like measures of intellectual influence.     

Personality traits,basic individual values and GMO risk perception of twitter users

Abstract

The present study investigates how the most foundational factors to individual differences – personality traits and personal values – affect the perceived safety of genetic modification and their relative importance. Publicly available communication data from 522 Twitter accounts discussing genetically modified foods and their safety was processed in two steps. First, accounts were categorized by the researchers as viewing GM foods as either safe or not safe. Second, using the IBM Watson platform, the Twitter communication data were subjected to lexical analysis to assign scores according to the Five Factor Model for personality traits and Schwartz’s basic individual values to the individual accounts. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine how perceived GM food safety is linked to personality traits and individual values. Although both traits and values significantly contribute to explaining GM attitudes, personality traits strongly moderate the effect of individual values on risk perception.     

Consumer response to food labels in an emerging market: the case of Romania

This study investigates consumer response to food labels in an emerging market. More specifically, it measures the levels of awareness, objective and perceived understanding, perceived usefulness and perceived trustworthiness of the most prominent food labels found in the Romanian market. An online survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 428 respondents (45.6% males of an average age of 30.6 years). Results revealed that for most respondents, awareness levels towards food labels are generally low, except for the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) and the organic food labels. Objective understanding towards food labels was relatively high, especially towards those food labels that included a clear text element. Perceived understanding, perceived usefulness and perceived trustworthiness were found to be consistently high with regard to the GDA and the national organic food labels, while the European organic label scored lower. Finally, response to food labels was found to differ between aware and unaware respondents.     

NONPARAMETRIC AND SEMIPARAMETRIC PANEL DATA MODELS: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

In this paper, we provide an intensive review of the recent developments for semiparametric and fully nonparametric panel data models that are linearly separable in the innovation and the individual-specific term. We analyze these developments under two alternative model specifications: fixed and random effects panel data models. More precisely, in the random effects setting, we focus our attention in the analysis of some efficiency issues that have to do with the so-called working independence condition. This assumption is introduced when estimating the asymptotic variance–covariance matrix of nonparametric estimators. In the fixed effects setting, to cope with the so-called incidental parameters problem, we consider two different estimation approaches: profiling techniques and differencing methods. Furthermore, we are also interested in the endogeneity problem and how instrumental variables are used in this context. In addition, for practitioners, we also show different ways of avoiding the so-called curse of dimensionality problem in pure nonparametric models. In this way, semiparametric and additive models appear as a solution when the number of explanatory variables is large.     

Intergenerational Correlations of Extreme Right‐Wing Party Preferences and Attitudes toward Immigration

In this paper, we analyze the importance of parental socialization on the development of children's far right‐wing preferences and attitudes toward immigration. Using longitudinal data from Germany, our intergenerational estimates suggest that the strongest and most important predictor for young people's right‐wing extremism are their parents' right‐wing extremist attitudes. While intergenerational associations in attitudes toward immigration are equally high for sons and daughters, we find a positive intergenerational transmission of right‐wing extremist party affinity for sons, but not for daughters. Compared to the intergenerational correlation of other party affinities, the high association between fathers' and sons' right‐wing extremist attitudes is particularly striking.     

Approach and Avoidance Motivation: Investigating Hedonic Consumption in a Retail Setting

Retail shopping studies often conclude that desirable shopper behaviors, such as spending more money, indicate underlying approach motivation, while undesirable behaviors, such as leaving the store, indicate underlying avoidance motivation. However, hedonic consumption would seem to provide an opportunity not only for approaching fun and excitement but also for avoiding problems and stress in everyday life. This study investigates approach and avoidance motivations in a hedonic consumption context. Results show that both approach and avoidance motivation lead to heightened hedonic motivations for shopping and to more positive shopper evaluations. Additional investigation reveals several differences by gender and across four shopping contexts. Several theoretical and managerial implications are offered.