Development of a voice recognition based system to help physically disabled people use the facebook

Social network sites (SNSs) have become so popular that the number of people joining and actively participating on such sites is increasing on a daily basis. Although there are several SNSs, Facebook is currently the most popular and most commonly used. SNSs have primarily been developed with able-bodied people in mind and as a result of this, people with disabilities find it difficult to join and participate on these sites. Furthermore, this topic has received little attention by researchers around the world. Facebook pages usually consist of text, graphics, and sound where the users navigate through the pages using a mouse. As a step towards addressing this need and finding a possible elegant solution, the authors have developed a voice-activated PC-based system (called NEU-FACE) in the form of an interface to Facebook. With the aid of this system, a person with a physical disability can join and participate in Facebook by giving voice commands to manage the typical Facebook activities.

     

The Brand Choice Model of Wine Consumers: A Multinomial Logit Model

The objective of this study is to determine factors influencing brand preferences of wine consumers in the Marmara region where viniculture and wine production is so important in Turkey. First, the consumers’ preferences survey has been conducted with 1022 persons in the region randomly selected and evaluated. Then, the informative factors influencing brand preferences collected in these surveys have been determined by the multinomial logit model. A lot of independent variables have been used in the multinomial logit model, but, because some independent variables were not found as significant according to Likelihood Ratio test, these variables are not included in the multinomial logit analysis. Six important factors influencing wine brand preferences have been determined. These factors are brand change causes of consumers, occupation of consumers, marital status of consumers, birthplace of consumers, income of consumers and gender of consumers. In addition, whether the wine brand preferences are independent, has been tested with Testing Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives of Hausman. According to this test, it has been found that the wine brand preferences are independent.     

Productivity and Technical Change in Malaysian Banking: 1989–1998

This study examines the impact of deregulation and technological change on the productivity of Malaysian banks over the period 1989–1998. Malmquist indices constructed with nonparametric DEA techniques are decomposed into their pure efficiency, scale efficiency, and technological change components. Our findings indicate an erosion of banking productivity that masks divergent tendencies among its component elements. These are dominated by adverse effects of technological change, which are associated with a reduction in the labor intensity of banking activity. Consistent with the mixed findings reported in the literature, the present investigation suggests that regulatory reform and liberalization are not sufficient conditions for productivity improvement.JEL classification: D24, G21This paper was written while Dogan was a member of Monash University Malaysia. Financial support from the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University is gratefully acknowledged, as are the constructive comments from two anonymous referees.     

Generational differences: An examination of work values and generational gaps in the hospitality workforce

The purpose of this study is to identify generational differences and similarities among hospitality employees and managers in order to develop leadership strategies and management styles that can be utilized to increase employee morale and productivity while enhancing recruitment and retention rates of highly qualified workers. Data for this study were collected through a series of in-depth focus group discussions. Findings indicated significant generational differences in world views, attitudes toward authority and perspectives on work. Findings suggested the Baby Boomers respect authority and hierarchy, while the Generation X-ers (Gen X-ers) rebel against authority. Findings also suggested while Baby Boomers live to work, Gen X-ers work to live. The Baby Boomers are willing to wait their turn for promotions and rewards, and are very loyal. On the other hand, Gen X-ers expect immediate recognition through title, praise, promotion, and pay. They also want a life outside of work—they are not likely to sacrifice theirs for the company. The Millennial Generation believes in collective action, with optimism of the future, and trust in centralized authority. They like teamwork, showing a strong will to get things done with a great spirit.     

Island residents' identities and their support for tourism: an integration of two theories

Most studies that examine tourism impacts and community attitudes have been carried out from the perspective of industrialized economies, making the findings less valid for small islands. This paper discusses some pertinent issues in relation to tourism development and community attitudes in small islands, and it develops and presents a conceptual framework based on social exchange theory and identity theory. The different facets of identity relevant to small-island communities that are likely to influence attitudes and support for tourism are incorporated in the framework and discussed. These include occupational identity, environmental identity and gender identity. Based on these, five propositions are developed. The study concludes that inclusion of identity variables in behavioral models could increase their predictive power in explaining attitudes to tourism and consequent support for the industry.     

Tariffs versus anti-dumping duties

Tariffs and anti-dumping duties are two important tools used to protect industries from foreign competition and to generate revenue. While the two tools have been studied extensively in separate contexts, little is known about their comparative effects. This paper compares their effects on prices, profits, government revenue, industry protection, and welfare in a two-country framework where a dominant firm in one country exports to the other inhabited by an oligopoly. Conditions under which one tool dominates the other for a given criterion are provided.     

Tracking the Evolution of Idiosyncratic Risk and Cross-Sectional Expected Returns for US REITs

This paper adopts the methodology in Bali and Cakici (Journal of Financial & Quantitative Analysis, 43, 29–58, 2008) in tracking the evolution of the relation between equity REITs’ idiosyncratic risk and their cross-sectional expected returns between 1981 and 2010. In addition to the full sample period, we study this relation for (i) January 1981–December 1992, (ii) January 1993–September 2001, (iii) November 2001–August 2008 and (iv) November 2001–December 2010 and produce empirical results for (i) all sample REITs, (ii) REITs with a price greater than $10 or (iii) REITs with a price greater than $5. Each period represents different dynamics (including the Global Financial Crisis) in the life of the REIT industry and leads to a different hypothesis. Further, we present comparative results based on the Fama-French 3- and 4-factor models. Overall, we document a negative relation between idiosyncratic risk and cross-sectional expected returns and demonstrate that this negative relation changes over time. These findings amplify the “idiosyncratic volatility puzzle,” as reported in the recent finance literature. Interestingly, REITs with a price of $5-to-$10 do well in 2009 and 2010. Further, the momentum factor appears to be influential since the first-ever listing of a REIT in the S&P500 Index in early October 2001.     

External Scale Economies in Turkish Manufacturing Industries

In this study, the relationship between external scale economies (agglomeration economies) and productivity is measured by using Turkish data. The productivity increase can be due to economies from locating closer to other firms in either the same industry (localisation economies) or different industries (urbanisation economies). Localisation economies are proxied by own industry size and urbanisation economies by city population. Productivity (output per worker) is regressed on industry size, city population, and other related variables. A measure of concentration of state enterprises is included in the regressions to control for the possible inefficiencies in public sector firms. The functional form of the estimating equations is derived from the translog production function. As a check, a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) form is also experimented with. Data are cross-section data and come from industrial and production surveys conducted by the State Institute of Statistics of Turkey in 1985. The study finds that agglomeration economies that are robust across different specifications of the agglomeration economy function and production function exist in food products, textiles, and wood products. Urbanisation economies are detected in food products and textiles. In wood products there are localisation economies.     

Concentrated Ownership, No Dividend Payout Requirement and Capital Structure of REITs: Evidence from Turkey

This paper studies empirically the capital structure of Turkish REITs as they offer unique and so far untested angles. They do not have to pay out dividends, yet enjoy the exemption from paying corporate taxes since their legal foundation in 1998. Several financial meltdowns occurred in the last three decades, keeping investors with a doubt about Turkey??s financial and political stability. The last meltdown in 2001 is part of the sample period. Findings show that Turkish REITs employ little long-term debt in their capital structure. The legal requirement that a leader entrepreneur be present with a minimum equity position of 25% introduces the agency problem between the majority and minority owners. The leader entrepreneurs, as non-taxable institutional investors, appear to dictate Turkish REITs?? dividend and debt policies and deplete REITs?? dividends, causing them to go to the long-term debt market. The financial meltdown of 2001 exerts negative short-term and positive long-term influence on the debt ratios while inflation??s effect is negative. Firm size, REITs?? engagement in development and stock market development influence debt ratios positively; tangibility and a few firm, ownership, and country-specific determinants appear to have either mixed or no influence on Turkish REITs?? debt policies.     

Platform coopetition in the tourism industry: conflicts and tensions caused by the closure of Booking.com in Turkey

In March 2017, as a result of a precautionary interim decision made by the courts based on the case relating to ‘unfair competition practices’, Booking.com closed its platform for inbound tourism in Turkey and ceased operations. This was the first instance of an online booking platform halting access for inbound bookings for the domestic market. This platform-based relationship involves both cooperation and competition, and thus this paper identifies this relationship as platform coopetition. Based on the governance network theory and employing a case-study approach, the Booking.com case is examined from the viewpoint of tourism coopetition from two perspectives: industry-wide and agent-specific. The paper provides an analysis of these perspectives and the past and on-going process of Booking.com’s platform closure. The constitutive dynamics this case endangers the coopetitive environment of the tourism industry and thus creates destructive uncertainties, especially for small hotels. This analysis also reveals the issues in terms of political representation for digital service platform companies.