Building Relationships Between Business Schools and Students: An Empirical Investigation into Student Retention

This study uses the relationship marketing theory of commitment and trust as a framework to investigate the issue of student retention in business schools. Structural equation modeling was used to examine relationships specified by Morgan and Hunt's (1994) theory of relationship marketing.  Students' commitment to the business schools were determined by perceived benefits of attending the school, perceived similarity of values between the school and the students, and trust between the professors and the students.  Commitment increased intentions to remain at the business school

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operators’ accuracy and confidence of decisions: Professional pilots or video game players?

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) operations have outpaced current training regimes resulting in a shortage of qualified UAS pilots. Three potential UAS operator groups were explored for suitability (i.e. video game players [VGP]; private pilots; professional pilots) and examined to assess levels of accuracy, confidence and confidence-accuracy judgements (W-S C-A) during a simulated civilian cargo flight. Sixty participants made 21 decision tasks, which varied across three levels of danger/risk. Scales of Tolerance of Ambiguity, Decision Style and NEO-PIR were also completed. Professional pilots and VGPs exhibited the highest level of decision confidence, with VGPs maintaining a constant and positive W-S C-A relationship across decision danger/risk. As decision danger/risk increased, confidence, accuracy and W-S C-A decreased. Decision danger also had a role to play in the confidence expressed when choosing to intervene or rely on automation. Neuroticism was negatively related, and conscientiousness positively related, to confidence. Intolerance of ambiguity was negatively related to W-S C-A. All groups showed higher levels of decision confidence in decisions controlled by the UAS in comparison to decisions where the operator manually intervened. VGPs display less overconfidence in decision judgements. Findings support the idea that VGPs could be considered a resource in UAS operation

Optimum Reduction of Flexural Effect of Axially Symmetric Cylindrical Walls with Post-tensioning Forces

Post-tensioning of axially symmetric cylindrical walls has been used to prevent cracking and serviceability failures. In the case of axially symmetric cylindrical walls used for storing water, post-tensioning improves impermeability by reducing the tension loads generated by fluid loads. However; achieving these improvements in axially symmetric cylindrical walls requires determination of a suitable design for post-tensioning loads. By optimizing the locations and intensities of the post-tensioning loads, the effects on axially symmetric cylindrical walls can be minimized. In this study, four metaheuristic algorithms such as harmony search (HS), flower pollination algorithm, bat algorithm and teaching-learning based optimization are investigated for optimum design of posttension forces on axially symmetric cylindrical walls. The design involves the location and intensity of the post-tensioning cables. In the optimization process, analyses of cylindrical walls are conducted by a developed module using the superposition method (SPM). According to the analyses results, the optimization methods investigated are effective in reducing maximum longitudinal moments on cylindrical walls, but major difference in performance of the methods are seen