Reciprocal relationships and mechanism design

We study an incomplete information game in which players can coordinate their actions by contracting among themselves. We model this relationship as a reciprocal contracting procedure where each player has the ability to make commitments contingent on the other players' commitments. We differ from the rest of the literature on reciprocal contracting by assuming that punishments cannot be enforced in the event that cooperation breaks down. We fully characterize the outcomes that can be supported as perfect Bayesian equilibrium outcomes in such an environment. We use our characterization to show that the set of supportable outcomes with reciprocal contracting is larger than the set of outcomes available in a centralized mechanism design environment in which the mechanism designer is constrained by his inability to enforce punishments against non‐participants. The difference stems from the players' ability in our contracting game to convey partial information about their types at the time they offer contracts. We discuss the implications of our analysis for modelling collusion between multiple agents interacting with the same principal.     

An exploratory study on the perspectives of prospective computer teachers following project-based learning

This study investigates perceptions of 29 prospective teachers about a course based on Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach. The course, ‘Authoring Languages in PC Environment (B-320)’ lasted in 14 weeks in fall semester of 2004–2005. In this course each prospective teacher carried out a project that requires designing and developing courseware individually. This study is qualitative in nature and data were collected through an open ended questionnaire composed of seven items and analyzed by content analysis technique. The results show that prospective teachers found PBL as an effective way of learning. It also suggests that when efficient guidance about technical issues and time management is provided, PBL approach can be successfully implemented in computer related courses such as programming language and web designing.     

Population growth and per capita income： A panel cointegration analysis

The noteworthy effects of demographic factors on economic development have been well documented. However, the empirical formulation grounds heavily on theoretical framework. Moreover, there is no set agreement on the relationship between population growth and per capita income. This paper retraces the famous pastime relationship for a sample of thirty-two countries classified as developing and developed over the period of 1970-2007. The methodology includes panel unit root tests and panel cointegration analysis. The main conclusion of the study is that population growth is an indicator of per capita income. The empirical findings display the existence of cointegration for both country groups. Moreover, the results support a significantly positive effect for developed countries; whereas a significantly negative effect for developing countries.     

Simple methods for uncapacitated facility location/allocation problems

Facility location/allocation problems are encountered in many different areas of management science. The methods presented in the literature are complex and are not easily understood by practitioners who are not trained in the techniques of optimization. Simple heuristic methods are presented in this article. The methods are developed for three different types of uncapacitated problems: (1) unlimited facility capacity with no fixed cost; (2) unlimited facility capacity with a fixed cost for assignment; (3) multiperiod problems. Examples are included to illustrate the basic methods.     

Measuring the performance of hotel operations

Hotel operations comprise many activities that are performed to satisfy guests' needs for accommodation, business, dining, and entertainment. These activities consume resources and provide a wide range of services from checking-in to cleaning and re-supplying rooms. In this paper, hotel operations are considered on a montjly basis. The manner in which a hotel's activities are performed in a given month determines the competitiveness of its operations in that month. A reliable performance measurement system is essential for effective control and improvement of hotel operations. A procedure is proposed to obtain a hotel's operational competitiveness profile based on its observed performance over a number of months. The application of the procedure involves simple ratio-type computations that produce relative performance ratings. The procedure's data requirement is not excessive and management may select any level of aggregation of resources and/or products as well as incorporating into the ratings its perception of the relative importance of consumption of resources and generation of revenues. A case study of a 100-room hotel that caters primarily to business travellers is included to demonstrate application of the procedure. Comparisons with other measurement techniques are provided, including financial ratios, total factor productivity, and data envelopment analysis models.     

Sample size needed for calibrating trip distribution and behavior of the gravity model

Conventional calibration algorithms of trip distribution models assume that the analyst has a whole base year trip matrix. To attain a whole trip matrix, the sample size for travel surveys needed to be as large as possible. However, this could be very expensive especially in large cities. Some studies in the past showed a small sized sample would be enough to estimate functional parameters of observed trip length frequency distribution. But the performance of a gravity model with small sized samples has never been addressed. This empirical study has shown that sample sizes as small as 1000 (even smaller for quick response studies) could be as dependable as large sample surveys using a line search calibration algorithm.     

Manipulation Through Biased Product Reviews*

We study a signal-jamming model of product review manipulation in which rational consumers consult product reviews and price to better estimate a product's quality, and a firm, whose quality is either high or low, chooses its price and how much bias to insert into product reviews. We show that both firm types always exert positive effort to manipulate product reviews, and, depending on the equilibrium price level, one or both of them can increase its sales. When the high-type firm exerts more effort than the low-type, review manipulation benefits consumers by raising [lowering] their demand for the high-quality [low-quality] product.     

Energy Savings and Economic Impact of Green Roofs: A Pilot Study

This study focuses on the energy savings and economic impact of green roof systems applied to Central Bodrum, a district in southwestern Turkey. Energy savings of the buildings were evaluated based on the added thermal resistance on the roofs and corresponding heat transmission through the roofs. Four different scenarios, two without green financing and two with green consumer loans for retrofitting financed by the central government via the state-owned banks, were studied. The economic impact of this activity on the economy is estimated based on sectoral employment multipliers for a period of 10 years. Based on the scenario analysis and the priorities of the Turkish economy, given the employment benefits and energy savings which would reduce the energy demand in the area in the peak season, we propose that the government implements green consumer loans for retrofitting through the state-owned banks.     

Lean Six Sigma methodology and application

For last 15 years, Six Sigma that many leader companies have put into practice, help companies to increase their profit and develop by making their process more effective. Six Sigma focuses on quality more than speed. Lean Management removes weakness of Six Sigma on speeding process. In this study, the Lean Six Sigma methodology developed by using these two techniques together is presented. The goal of application is making process lean and increasing the level of sigma. The necessary preventions and recommendations for decreasing defects are presented in this study performed in one of the leading white goods company.     

Location choice under trade and environmental policies

In this paper, we use a game theoretic model to analyze the trade-off between the attractiveness of FDI and the environmental damage caused by production under asymmetric information. In the first stage, the domestic developing country reveals the level of import tariff and pollution tax under information uncertainty about the environmental damage that the foreign firm can cause. The foreign firm from a developed country decides where to locate afterwards with complete information about its own damage. Results show that the developing country can be better off encouraging FDI if and only if the marginal damage of pollution is sufficiently low. The optimal level of pollution taxes attracting FDI is higher than the marginal damage of pollution. However, the optimal pollution tax without FDI can be lower than the marginal damage of pollution with sufficiently high demand in the developing country.