05141 Abstracts Collection -- Power-aware Computing Systems

From 03.04.05 to 08.04.05, the Dagstuhl Seminar 05141 ``Power-aware Computing Systems\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and discussed open problems. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are collected in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Dagstuhl News January - December 2005

"Dagstuhl News" is a publication edited especially for the members of the Foundation "Informatikzentrum Schloss Dagstuhl" to thank them for their support. The News give a summary of the scientific work being done in Dagstuhl. Each Dagstuhl Seminar is presented by a small abstract describing the contents and scientific highlights of the seminar as well as the perspectives or challenges of the research topic

Hotel Corporate Social Responsibility: Guest Satisfaction, and Repeat Purchase Intention in China's Domestic Hotel Market

The fast development of China’s economy in the past two decades has created a series of CSR related problems, for instance, customer and employee rights, environmental pollution, natural resource shortage, and community relations. The effects of these issues on Chinese society have, to a degree, become a focus of a public debate aided by the emergence of the mobile Internet. Consequently corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies are being adopted by a growing number of Chinese companies, including those in the hotel sector. By adopting a composite methodology of qualitative and quantitative approaches, this thesis aims to obtain an understanding of hotel CSR policies in China from the guest’s perspective by identifying their assessments of a hotel’s CSR performance and the impacts that may follow for repeat purchasing intentions of hotel accommodation. Based on a literature review, this thesis first proposed a four dimensional CSR scale, which covers customer, environment, employee and community, and then attempted to measure how customers perceive hotel CSR policies and the relevant consequences for their future patronage of a hotel. Additionally this thesis also introduced for the first time as far as the author is aware, the concept that a guest’s familiarity with CSR is a possible determinant of future repeat patronage. Subsequently a research model was proposed to reveal the influence of hotel CSR policies determining guests’ choice of hotel. A total of 817 valid questionnaires were collected, and the dataset was analyzed by SPSS 19.0 using reliability and validity analysis, exploratory factor analysis, cluster and discriminant analysis, ANOVA, multi-approach regression analysis and structural equation modeling. The followings results were obtained. First, social demographic factors, that is gender, age, education background, occupation, income and marital status do not play significant roles in affecting customers’ purchase intention under the influence of CSR. Second, five distinct types of customers were found to have different attitudes towards hotel CSR policies, which could positively affect their satisfaction level and future purchase intention. This result showed the diversity of customers in terms of CSR, and laid a theoretical foundation for hotel marketers to offer customers customized CSR policies in order to retain guests. Third, two community related variables, namely hotels’ effort to provide local people with job opportunities and their respecting local culture and customs were found to be significant for guests’ purchase intention. Hotel managerial expertise was also found to have significance. The findings of other research that Chinese hoteliers’ efforts to create environmental friendly hotels is not a compelling reason for guests to book with a particular hotel, is also supported by this research. Fourth, hotels’ efforts to market their CSR practices or policies could potentially exert direct impact over customers’ future purchase intention by making guests aware of the importance of CSR polices if basic guest needs are being met. Last but not least, based on the results obtained from this research, suggestions for hotel management on how to enhance customers’ repeat consumption from a CSR standpoint were given, and future possible directions of similar research were also provided

Competences, skills, learning sources and the support needs of individuals who purchase small established enterprises

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/685 on 08.03.2017 by CS (TIS)Although a significant number of small firms are purchased as going-concerns these businesses are rarely studied as a separate sub-group. The research conducted here therefore focuses on small businesses that were purchased as established enterprises, namely the skills and competences that are required to operate them successfully. The study also looks to identify the learning and knowledge sources that are the most beneficial to the Owner-Managers of these firms and determine how their needs might best be supported. The study concerns small firms that are located in the South West of England (Torbay and South Hams) and comprises quantitative and qualitative research that is presented in three Phases. Phase I which comprises a postal questionnaire administered to a sample of 350 small business purchasers is used to (1) test a number of propositions and (2) identify issues that require further examination. Extensive use is therefore made of Chi-square, one-way analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance. The results generated by the questionnaire revealed a number of areas that required further examination, namely the reasons for training abstention; the role played by informal training; key sources of learning; the type of support that is most needed and whether skill prioritisation is linked to small firm ownership within this context. These issues form the basis of Phase 2 of the research, which comprises face-to face interviews held with a number of accountants (n=10), who could provide information concerning small firms from a professional and therefore different perspective However in order to fulfil the research objectives further research was required. Phase 3 of the research therefore comprises face-to-face interviews held with a cross-section of the OMs surveyed. Although the results generated by these two phases of the research show that there are no skills that are particular to this sub-sector, skill prioritisation is significantly influenced by ownership in this context. Whilst the most popular forms of skill development are informal training and experiential learning, working alongside the present owner(s) prior to taking over the business is the richest source of learning. Given that the research (1) shows that those who purchase established enterprises prioritise skills in a particular way (2) identifies a particular form of learning that takes place when time is spent working alongside the present owner(s) (3) establishes a need for specialist support and (4) proposes a framework, which can be used to formulate learning plans, the study therefore makes a significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge on small firms

Síntesis de nuevos materiales multifuncionales basados en ligandos nitrogenados con grupos carboxilato

En las últimas décadas, los compuestos de coordinación han sido unos de los materiales más ampliamente estudiados por la comunidad científica. Este interés radica en el gran abanico de propiedades que pueden llegar a exhibir, lo que los convierte en materiales con un gran potencial de aplicación en casi cualquier campo tal y comopor ejemplo en magnetismo, luminiscencia, catálisis, almacenamiento y separación de gases y biomedicina. El conocimiento de la estructura molecular de estos sistemas es la base para poder diseñarlos, sintetizarlos y modular sus propiedades con el fin de mejorar las propiedades físicas exhibidas. Sin embargo lo más interesante de estos materiales no consiste en que sean capaces de presentar distintos tipos de propiedades, sino en que logren presentar varias de estas características simultáneamente obteniéndose así, compuestos de coordinación multifuncionales. Esta multifuncionalidad permite a estos materiales adentrarse en otros campos aun más específicos como son los sensores o los sistemas magnético-ópticos. El desarrollo y optimización de compuestos de coordinación multifuncionales es hoy en día uno de los retos de la Química de la Coordinación. Partiendo de esto, el trabajo y desarrollo de esta Tesis doctoral trata sobre la síntesis, la caracterización estructural y el estudio de las propiedades físico-químicas y biológicas de los compuestos de coordinación a partir de ligandos nitrogenados con grupos carboxilato mediante métodos solvotermales. En resumen, en esta Tesis doctoral se recoge la síntesis, caracterización y estudio de las diferentes propiedades que presentan nuevos compuestos de coordinación multidimensionales, a partir del uso de ligandos nitrogenados con grupos carboxilato. Con todo lo anterior se ha demostrado la versatilidad y multifuncionalidad que estos materiales pueden llegar a presentar, sirviendo a su vez de base para la que comunidad científica siga desarrollando y mejorando esta familia de materiales basados en la Química de la Coordinación.Tesis Univ. Granada