An effective framework for finding similar cases of dengue from audio and text data using domain thesaurus and case base reasoning

Dengue, also known as break-bone fever, is a tropical disease transmitted by mosquitoes. If the similarity between dengue infected users can be identified, it can help government’s health agencies to manage the outbreak more effectively. To find similarity between cases affected by Dengue, user’s personal and health information are the two fundamental requirements. Identification of similar symptoms, causes, effects, predictions and treatment procedures, is important. In this paper, an effective framework is proposed which finds similar patients suffering from dengue using keyword aware domain thesaurus and case base reasoning method. This paper focuses on the use of ontology dependent domain thesaurus technique to extract relevant keywords and then build cases with the help of case base reasoning method. Similar cases can be shared with users, nearby hospitals and health organizations to manage the problem more adequately. Two million case bases were generated to test the proposed similarity method. Experimental evaluations of proposed framework resulted in high accuracy and low error rate for finding similar cases of dengue as compared to UPCC and IPCC algorithms. The framework developed in this paper is for dengue but can easily be extended to other domains also.     

The investment value of the frequency of analyst recommendation changes for the ordinary investor

We find that analysts who frequently revise their stock recommendations outperform those who do not. This result holds for portfolios formed on the basis of favorable changes in recommendations as well as unfavorable changes. The frequency of revision captures information incremental to factors known to identify superior recommendations. Although much of the frequently revising analysts' advantage follows events proxied by abnormally high returns or trading volume, it does not appear to derive from more public events such as earnings announcements. Further, these analysts outperform their counterparts even over the short-run, suggesting that this is not simply a “quantity over quality” phenomenon. In summary, our results imply that the superior profitability of frequently revising analysts emanates at least partly from their ability to generate private information using their superior skill. Overall, the ordinary investor is better off following the advice of analysts who revise their recommendations more frequently.     

Outdoor advertising for business markets

A review of the history and current prevalence of outdoor advertising suggests that although the medium is very effective it is not widely used in business-to-business markets. A case for using outdoor advertising is deductively made based on the unique characteristics of business markets such as: geographic concentration of buyers, need to target buying center members, advantages of having integrated communication, possibility of creating derived demand, and targeting trade shows. This paper offers recommendations on when and how to use outdoor advertising based on unique business market characteristics, industrial promotional objectives and business product classification. Research propositions and directions for future research are offered.     

The effects of perceived scarcity on consumers’ processing of price information

This research examines how perceived scarcity influences consumers’ processing of price information. To explain the effects of scarcity, a conceptual framework which incorporates both the motivational and the interference effects of scarcity on information processing is developed. The results from two studies show that under scarcity, consumers’ perceptions of quality and monetary sacrifice exhibit different response patterns, depending on the relative price level and consumers’ motivation to process information. We provide insights into how these perceptions of quality and sacrifice are integrated to form perceptions of value. Additional analyses of thought measures provided further understanding of the underlying processes that influenced the evaluation of price information under scarcity.

The Phenomenon of Brand Love: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Brand love is a phenomenon that is experienced by a group of satisfied consumers. The construct brand love is of great importance to academics and practitioners because a group of satisfied customers become loyal customers, thereby reduce several costs and also enhance several marketing activities. Since the research paper of it can be observed that there has been a surge in the number of research publications pertinent to brand love literature. Through this systematic literature review, we comprehensively review seventy six articles pertinent to brand love literature, published in various scientific journals there by presenting the key emergent themes, extensively used methodologies and analysis approaches, key variables observed, dominant theoretical underpinnings and a strategic conceptual framework.     

Does long-term disequilibrium in stock price predict future returns?

We propose a trading strategy based on error correction term (ECT), the residuals from the cointegration relation between the levels of security and the market portfolio. We find that buying stocks in the top 10 % ECT and selling stocks in the bottom 10 % ECT generates 1.09 % a month for 6-month holding period over 1965–2005. The monthly return increases to 1.57 % when the above trading strategy is applied to stocks with insignificant cointegration with the market portfolio. This profit is robust to three and four factor models. Moreover, this profit is neither driven by small and illiquid stocks nor is the result of any inherent positive serial correlation.     

Are wages and productivity converging simultaneously in Euro-area countries?

A convergence analysis is applied to wages and productivity for Euro-area countries in the period from 1981 to 2001. The results show a reduction in the dispersion of wages and unit labour costs, but not in productivity. Different patterns are found for real and nominal wages: higher levels of inflation in countries with higher growth rates of unit labour costs have caused nominal wages to move towards equalization. Moreover, disparities in all the variables have remained more or less the same since 1997, suggesting that the establishment of a single currency area has not accelerated the process of wage equalization.     

Information dynamics effects from major world markets to SAARC nations

This paper investigates the impact of major world equity markets on four founding countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). With a population of 1.47 billion, SAARC is the largest regional organization in the world. However, the issue of global integration of equity markets of the SAARC nations has largely been ignored. This study fills this important gap, adding results towards the ongoing debate concerning the issue of global market integration. After the onset of the financial crises of 2008, this issue is imperative. VAR analysis is used to determine whether there is any dependency of SAARC return on the performance of world equity markets. Further, GARCH-in-mean modeling is used to determine whether there is any evidence of Volatility spillover. It is found that volatility in major world markets do not impact returns in SAARC nation, but ample evidence of volatility spillover is found for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Similar results are not obtained for Pakistan.     

The Impact of Consumption Hassle on Pricing Schedules

A curious phenomenon in the retail pricing of many product categories (e.g., tuna, frozen orange juice, and tomato paste) is the existence of quantity surcharges. A related curiosity is the existence of both discounts and surcharges within the same product category. To explain the former phenomenon, extant research invokes heterogeneity in consumption parameters, heterogeneity in search costs, or concern for retail price image. To the best of our knowledge, there is no received explanation for the latter phenomenon. We add to this rich stream of work by proposing a novel explanation for quantity surcharges. Our explanation is based on the notion of consumption hassle. We analyze a market that is heterogeneous in a hedonic parameter that influences valuations as well as the effective cost of the consumption hassle. We then derive consumer choices (small pack, large pack, or two small packs) taking into account Individual Rationality (IR) and Incentive Compatibility (IC) constraints. In the absence of consumption hassle, we obtain two segments with one purchasing the small pack and the other purchasing the large pack. Moreover, the optimal pricing for the seller involves quantity discounts. However, with the introduction of consumption hassle, the market potentially splits into three segments: one purchasing the small pack, another purchasing two small packs, and the third purchasing the large pack. Moreover, the optimal pricing for the seller involves quantity surcharges. Overall, our analytical findings offer an additional explanation for the phenomenon of quantity surcharges. More importantly, they offer a rationale for the existence of multiple pricing schedules within the same product category by explicitly recognizing variations in consumption hassle. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Open evaluation of new product concepts at the front end of innovation: objectives and contingency factors

The proliferation of innovation contests has fostered community-based idea evaluation as an alternative to expert juries to filter and select new product concepts at the fuzzy front end of corporate R&D innovation. We refer to this phenomenon as open evaluation, as all registered participants can engage in jury activities like voting, rating, and commenting. While previous research on innovation contests and user engagement includes participant-based evaluation, the investigative focus so far has not been on this phenomenon. Access to jury activities in open evaluation practice contradicts innovation theory, which recommends careful selection procedures to establish expert juries for assessing new product concepts. Additionally, little is known about contingency factors that influence the performance and acceptance of open evaluation's results. To address these two questions on the objectives and contingency factors for open evaluation of new product concepts, this study applies exploratory multiple-case research of open evaluation in nine innovation contests. Data collection encompassed expert interviews and complementary sources of evidence. Results indicate that firms pursue six distinct objectives to support participant-based generation and selection of new concepts. In addition, eight contingency factors influence the performance of open evaluation and the acceptance of its results. Finally, results showed open evaluation output to efficiently complement jury decisions in filtering and selecting ideas for new product development.