Patenting and the early‐stage high‐technology investor: evidence from the field

We discuss the importance of patenting to the venture capital investor in high‐technology firms. While literature suggests that patenting will have an impact on the nature and level of investment, the investors themselves are keen to suggest otherwise. We investigate this issue by the use of new primary‐source empirical data, gathered by fieldwork methods. Our results help explain a link between the existence of patenting and the level of investment made. We further support our analysis with illuminating quotes from investors currently active in the field.     

“Engineering Economics Jeopardy!” Mobile App for University Students

This article presents the “Engineering Economics Jeopardy!” mobile app development process and college students’ satisfaction assessment of the developed app. The app includes a general tools E-book, calculator, reference tables, conceptual questions, and calculation problems in an engaging fashion. The E-book is a summary of the key concepts of engineering economics. The calculator provides functions to solve basic engineering economics problems with formulas. The tables allow the users to compute discrete compound interest factors. Through this Jeopardy! game, users can compete with two virtual opponents that have artificial intelligence to answer conceptual questions and calculation problems. Different sets of problems range from the simple questions on the time value of money to more complex concepts, such as sensitivity analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, and supply–demand equilibrium. This app is intended to give students more opportunity to learn and practice concepts of engineering economics whenever and wherever they want using their mobile devices. Accomplishments of this work include the following:

• “Engineering Economics Jeopardy!” mobile app has been developed and distributed.

• Five thousand people have downloaded the app so far.

• The effectiveness of the developed app has been researched with 116 college students who were enrolled in engineering economics courses across two semesters.

     

Heterogeneous Investor Sentiment and Institutional Real Estate Investments

Commercial real estate investors differ in their sentiment due to factors such as market expertise, investment strategies and expectations about future market conditions. Focusing on the office market, we investigate whether investors with a multiasset investment focus such as pension funds or insurance companies rely on the sentiment of specialized real estate investors such as public REITs or private developers/owners as source of information in their investment decision‐making. Using disaggregated sentiment measures and vector autoregression (VAR) we find evidence that changes in REIT and private real estate investor sentiment lead to changes in institutional investor sentiment in the suburban office and office REIT market. Our findings suggest that institutional investors rely on the sentiment of specialized real estate investors to make real estate investment decisions. Our study contributes to the existing literature on sentiment in commercial real estate markets by emphasizing the heterogeneity of investor sentiment and introducing a disaggregated sentiment measure. We also contribute to the institutional herding literature.     

Modeling self-censoring of polluter pays protest votes in stated preference research to support resource damage estimations in environmental liability

The identification and treatment of protest response in stated preference (SP) research such as contingent valuation is an underdeveloped area. Protest related to the polluter pays principle (PPP) is expected to pose an important hurdle to the application of SP research in environmental liability claims, for instance under the European Environmental Liability Directive. Our main objective is to test the effect of PPP induced protest votes on welfare measures for lost passive use value using different treatment procedures. We argue for a more reliable and defensible indicator of willingness to pay (WTP) in environmental liability litigation cases than current standard removal practices in cases where protest votes affect sample representativeness. Analyzing the impact of PPP-based protest response on WTP values with the help of a Full Information Maximum Likelihood sample selection model, a significant correlation is found between the decision to participate in the CV market and the WTP bids. Self-censoring biases average WTP and is correlated with factors such as respondent use of the resource and disposition towards its future protection. Simply removing protest response from the sample is indefensible and results in a biased estimation of WTP.     

Creating Distance from Body Issues: Exploring New Materialist Feminist Possibilities for Renegotiating Gendered Embodiment

Abstract

The body’s active role in the production of gendered embodiments is a key focus for feminist cultural studies and leisure studies. The article draws on new materialist feminist scholarship to explore how gender relations are produced and negotiated in physical culture through one case study example taken from a wider study of young people’s experiences of the body and self-image over time. The article explores how gendered embodiment is assembled through the socio-material circumstances of everyday life. For one particiapnt, 'Ann', “creating distance” from appearance concerns was an embodied process which involved new practices and encounters (e.g., walking for leisure, reading feminist literature) and relationships and engagements with others (e.g., a partner, friends, family). The potential for feminism to open possibilities to imagine the body otherwise is also discussed in relation to recent efforts to foster social justice imperatives in leisure sciences and feminist physical cultural studies.     

Do extrinsic cues affect purchase risk at international e-tailers: The mediating effect of perceived e-tailer service quality

The inherent nature of the international e-tailing environment leads to the consideration of purchase risk. In this study, an attempt is made to investigate the effect of three extrinsic cues, e-tailer brand equity, Country-Of-e-tailers (COE) and guarantee quality, within such an environment in Taiwan. The research findings support the proposed hypotheses that these exogenous factors affect a mediator, i.e., perceived e-tailer service quality, which in turn affects purchase risk perceived by online shoppers in a borderless marketplace. In conclusion, managerial implications of the research results as well as future research directions are presented and discussed.     

Global Navigation Satellite System based tolling: state-of-the-art

Road pricing or road user charging may be understood as an economic concept regarding direct charges applied for using roads. Different pricing paradigms may be distinguished mainly refering to pricing of congested, non-expandable urban networks as well as pricing of expandable, uncongested (principally, interurban) road infrastructure. Numerous technologies within Intelligent Transport Systems can provide support in efficiently applying various charging mechanisms. Recently, among others, tolling systems have been deployed that rely on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the state-of-the-art of using GNSS technology in road user charging.     

Research Misconduct in Accounting Literature: A Survey of the Most Prolific Researchers' Actions and Beliefs

Incidents of research misconduct, especially falsification, in the hard sciences and medicine have been widely reported. Motives for misconduct include professional advancement and personal recognition. Accounting academics are under the same tenure, promotion and recognition pressures as other academics; and, without the life-and-death issues of medical research, rationalizing misconduct in accounting research seems much easier. It is reasonable to assume that dishonesty has occurred, even if little evidence exists about its prevalence. Further, accounting research can influence tax policy and market conditions, affecting people's lives. This study is, to our knowledge, the first attempt to survey accounting researchers directly as to their ethical practices; it uses the randomized response technique of addressing sensitive questions. To maximize its relevance to the most respected accounting research, this questionnaire was sent only to the most prolific researchers at U.S. colleges and universities—those who have published in the 'top thirty' accounting journals. The results indicate that serious misconduct has occurred among these established accounting researchers. The estimated percentage of seriously tainted articles in the top thirty accounting journals, based on self-reporting, is about 4 per cent, while the respondents on average believe that about 21 per cent of the literature is tainted. Faculty who were tenured more recently provide higher estimates of the falsification rate, and attribute more of the cause to external factors like tenure pressure. The article concludes by discussing implications and offering policy recommendations.     

A look at the LEAD programme as a transformative experience

The Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Programme is described by the authors based on their many years as Executive Director and Director of Capacity Development. The LEAD approach to training leaders in sustainable development issues and enhancing leadership skills uses cross-sectoral and cross-cultural experiential methods which are said to have transformed the lives of its participants. Once completing the training phase, participants become life-long members of a powerful network of change agents found in nearly 100 countries worldwide.     

Managing Oil Price Risk in Developing Countries

This article presents a simple framework for understanding theimpact of oil dependence on growth in terms of an optimal savingsand investment strategy. Among the more important factors underlyingthis strategy is the extent to which oil price changes are temporaryor permanent. This in turn determines whether a country shouldrely on stabilization and savings funds or the use of financialinstruments to manage oil revenues—or both. Country experienceswith stabilization and savings funds are surveyed, and the caseis presented for using financial instrument to manage oil pricerisk. Policy implications for enhancing the use of financialinstruments are explored, including an expanded role for internationalfinancial institutions.