Evaluation of a Multi-robot Cafe Based on Service Quality Dimensions

While AI applications are popular in many domains, they should work harmoniously with domain exerts and end users. Furthermore, to develop such harmonious AI applications, we need agile AI platforms for not only developers, but also domain experts. Currently, we have developed PRactical INTElligent aPplicationS (PRINTEPS), which is a user-centric platform to develop integrated intelligent applications. This paper reports on a multi-robot cafe as a practical application of PRINTEPS and evaluates its service quality at a university festival. It is not clear if robotic services are perceived as attractive and/or valuable, and how the concept of robotic services could lead to customer satisfaction. Therefore, the evaluation of the quality of such services is necessary to identify the key factors that could contribute to improving customer satisfaction. The purpose of this research is to identify key factors in improving customer satisfaction in robotic services by evaluating the service quality of the multi-robot cafe. We designed questionnaire items based on SERVQUAL which is one of the service quality evaluation measurement methods and conducted a questionnaire survey at a multi-robot cafe held at a university festival. From the collected data, we modeled and evaluated the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction to identify key factors in robotic services using a Bayesian network. In addition, the experiment confirms the usefulness of PRINTEPS.     

Reducing Agricultural Income Vulnerabilities through Agroforestry Training: Evidence from a Randomised Field Experiment in Indonesia

Although agroforestry is recognised as a means to stabilise farm income, little work has been done to differentiate farmers based on their incomes, their capacity to diversify crops, and the economic outcomes of agroforestry adoption. By distinguishing between high- and low-income farmers, this paper examines how agricultural training affects agroforestry promotion, and evaluates its relevance for the poor, the extent of its adoption, and its economic consequences. We found that although training generally increased participants’ knowledge of agroforestry, it increased crop diversity only for low-income participants. We also detected the presence of information spillovers from participants to non-participants, which may increase crop diversity among non-participants and consequently reduce the measurable impact of training. When income heterogeneity is considered, we found that the low-income participants benefited more from increasing their incomes and expanding their social networks than the higher-income participants. We also found that agroforestry adoption helped to reduce income volatility.     

What causes business cycles? Analysis of the Japanese industrial production data

We explore what causes business cycles by analyzing the Japanese industrial production data. The methods used are spectral analysis and factor analysis. Using the random matrix theory, we show that two largest eigenvalues are significant. Taking advantage of the information revealed by disaggregated data, we identify the first dominant factor as the aggregate demand, and the second factor as inventory adjustment. They cannot be reasonably interpreted as technological shocks. We also demonstrate that in terms of two dominant factors, shipments lead production by four months. Furthermore, out-of-sample test demonstrates that the model holds up even under the 2008–2009 recession. Because a fall of output during 2008–2009 was caused by an exogenous drop in exports, it provides another justification for identifying the first dominant factor as the aggregate demand. All the findings suggest that the major cause of business cycles is real demand shocks.     

RADICALISM VERSUS GRADUALISM: AN ANALYTICAL SURVEY OF THE TRANSITION STRATEGY DEBATE

Academic debate on a transition strategy for former socialist economies continues even a quarter century after the collapse of the communism in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In this paper, through an analytical survey of 137 preceding studies, we present an overall picture of the debate and examine the relationship between the debate attitudes and the literature attributes in related studies. We found that the radicalists maintain a consistent debate attitude from the viewpoints of time speed and policy sequence of economic transition, while the debate attitude of the gradualists is more diversified. We also found that there is another group of researchers that stays within the framework of the radicalism‐versus‐gradualism debate while at the same time keeping at arm's length from both the radicalists and the gradualists. In addition, our regression estimation of qualitative selection models provides interesting findings on the relationship between the debate attitudes and the literature attributes.     

Local and Personal Networks in Employment and the Development of Labor Markets: Evidence from the Cut Flower Industry in Ethiopia

We examine the roles of local and personal networks in the employment process and the emergence and development of the labor market in Ethiopia’s growing cut flower industry. Using primary survey data of 320 workers randomly sampled from all 64 farms, we find that workers who were recruited informally using the social ties were paid less than the formally-recruited workers at hiring. However, these workers quickly increased their productivity, and the effect of social ties on wages disappeared over time. Further, we find that the development of labor market for this newly-emerged industry took place particularly within the industrial cluster.     

Business cycle and corruption

In studying the Great Depression, Galbraith asserts that the higher the transitory income the higher the corruption. For a panel of 39 countries over 13 years, 1995-2007, Galbraith's claim holds. Regression analyses also confirm that the higher the permanent income, the lower the corruption.     

A Finite‐Time‐Horizon Model of Suicide When a Person's Income is at Risk: A Research Note

The risk of income fluctuations affects the suicidal behaviour. First, an increase in this risk makes risk‐averse individuals more likely to commit suicide by reducing their expected utility. Second, the increased risk makes them less likely to commit suicide by creating a value to waiting for the economic conditions to improve. I lay out a theoretical model of suicide to assess the net impact of income fluctuations on suicidal behaviour by taking into account an individual's ability to delay the action. I also address the question of whether there are generational differences in the suicidal behaviour.     

Who are the members of the international club?

This article proposes pragmatic methods that incorporate recent contributions to public good theory to identify the members of the international club and how they select new members. This article also suggests simple applications to the recent problems in international clubs such as the euro and NATO.     

On a Non-linear Risk Analysis for Stock Market Indexes

We propose a method to detect early signs of a potential major crash in the market from only the information of the time series representing its stock market data. As reinforcement of the abnormality test Test(ABN) developed in Okabe, Matsuura, and Klimek (International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, 3, 443–484, 2002), we introduce in this paper a risk graph to measure abnormality of time series by using the non-linear prediction analysis in the theory of KM₂O-Langevin equations. By applying it to real data of stock market indexes on the Black Monday of 1987 and those during the past 7 years from January 2000 to December 2006, we investigate whether we can detect early signs of a potential major crash in the market by watching the behavior of the risk graph. An erratum to this article can be found at