The effect of class session length on student performance,homework, and instructor evaluations in an introductory accounting course

The author examines the effect of class format on student performance, time spent on homework, and instructor evaluations. The findings are unique and add to a limited body of literature. Each group comprised similar undergraduate students who received the same number of instructional hours, same assignments and were taught by the same instructor. Students in the one-day-a-week class performed significantly better than students in the two-days-a-week class. Students in the one-day-a-week class spent more time on online homework, although the difference was not statistically significant. Differences in instructor evaluation ratings were nominal.     

Determinants of the grant lag and the surrender lag of horticultural crop plant breeders’ rights applications: Survival analysis with competing risks

Obtaining a Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) certificate provides horticultural institutions the exclusive right to produce and reproduce new varieties, which directly motivate new plant variety innovations. This study investigates how the grant and surrender lag of PBR certificates is influenced by the crop type and applicant characteristics using the Canadian Food Inspection Agency horticultural crop PBR application data for the period 1992–2014. Results from the Fine and Gray subdistribution hazard model reveal that the grant lag and surrender lag of Canadian PBR applications significantly vary by the country of origin of the applicant, whether the applicant is a public institution or private company/individual, horticultural crop types, and the decades when applications are filed. The policy implications of the results provide useful information to stakeholders of the Canadian Plant Breeders’ Rights System regarding how the lifespan of PBRs is influenced by crop type and applicant characteristics.     

What moderates the influence of extremely negative ratings? The role of review and reviewer characteristics

Online customer reviews are increasingly used by travelers to inform their purchase decisions. However, the vast amount of reviews available nowadays may increase travellers’ effort in information processing. In order to facilitate traveller’s decisions, social commerce organizations must help travellers rapidly identify the most helpful reviews to reduce their cognitive effort. Academic literature has often documented that negative reviews are judged as helpful by consumers. However, extremely negative reviews are not always perceived as such. This study is the first that unveils what factors moderate the influence of extremely negative reviews on review helpfulness. The study has adopted a sample of 7455 online customer reviews of hotels to test hypotheses. Findings show that reviews with extremely negative ratings are more likely to be helpful when the review is long and easy to read and when the reviewer is an expert or discloses his identity (i.e. geographical origin).     

带后续队列长度通告的呼叫中心性能分析

从排队心理学的角度考虑了队列长度对顾客等待耐心的影响,设计了一个带队列信息通告机制的M／M／N模型。等待的顾客可以像有形排队一样获知目前排队的人数及其所处的队列位置,并以此决定继续等待或者放弃。使用仿真方法对该机制下的呼叫中心性能进行了分析,并与Erlang—A模型和Erlang—C模型进行了比较。     

应用线性规划解决井下锚杆机钻杆长度问题

煤炭企业井下锚杆巷道施工过程中,掘进进尺效率的高低与打眼效率密切相关,而打眼的过程中更换钻杆的次数无疑也是影响打眼效率的重要因素。本文试用线性规划技术解决井下锚杆机钻杆长度问题,从而提高打眼效率,提高进尺速度。     

人工挖孔桩桩端后压浆效果检测

高水位条件下采用人工挖孔桩基础,存在很多的隐患。采用人工挖孔桩桩端后压浆技术能使桩承载力提高50%。人工挖孔桩在高水位时选好持力层可适当减少开挖深度,采用桩端后压浆使承载力达到设计要求。     

复合地基有效桩长的理论研究进展

归纳总结了柔性桩复合地基有效桩长的试验确定方法和理论确定方法,指出了有效桩长现有研究存在的问题,并提出了一些建议。     

Analysis of the effects of visibility and warning devices on driver injury severity at highway-rail grade crossings considering temporal transferability of data

Abstract

This study explores the joint effect of visibility and warning devices on driver injury severity at the highway-rail grade crossings (HRGCs), while also considering other contributing factors. For this purpose, four mixed logit models are developed to estimate the determinants of driver injury severity considering the combinations of visibility conditions (daylight vs. no daylight) and type of warning devices (active vs. passive warning). The models were calibrated using the data obtained from the USDOT Federal Railroad Administration for HRGC crashes that occurred over a ten-year period 2008–2017 Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Safety Analysis. (2017). Accident data as reported by railroads. Retrieved July, 2018, from https://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/OfficeofSafety/publicsite/on_the_fly_download.aspx [Google Scholar] across the United States. A temporal transferability test was conducted and confirmed the stability of model specifications considering a ten-year span of collected data. The pseudo-elasticity analysis was conducted to ascertain marginal impact of the contributing factors on driver injury severity in each model. While the vehicle speed, train speed, time of day and driver age are found to be common significant factors among the four models, there are marked differences between parameters associated with various crash factors. The study provides new insight into the driver injury severity in train-vehicle collisions considering visibility and type of warning devices, which can help in setting up proper policies to improve safety at HRGCs.     

Policymakers' horizon and trade reforms: The protectionist effect of elections

This paper shows that electoral incentives deter politicians from supporting trade liberalization. We focus on all major trade liberalization bills introduced since the early 1970s in the U.S. Congress, in which House and Senate members serve respectively two- and six-year terms and one third of senators face elections every two years. We show that senators are more likely to support trade liberalization than House representatives. However, this result does not hold for the last generation of senators, who face elections at the same time as House members, suggesting that inter-cameral differences are driven by term length. Considering senators alone, we find that the last generation is less likely to support trade liberalization than the previous two. This result is pervasive and holds both when comparing the behavior of different senators voting on the same bill and that of individual senators voting on different bills. The protectionist effect of election proximity disappears for senators who are retiring or hold safe seats.     

The impact of the length of preceding and succeeding ads on television advertising effectiveness

This study investigates the impact of the length of immediately surrounding commercials on the effectiveness of a given ad with the consideration of sequential order relations between two consecutive ads. The results show that the effect of proactive inhibition, the effect of an immediately preceding commercial, is fundamentally different from that of retroaction inhibition, the effect of an immediately succeeding ad. This study also found that proactive interference is stronger than retraction interference on the effectiveness of television advertising. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.