1,983 research outputs found
Hypotheses in Marketing Science: Literature Review and Publication Audit
We examined three approaches to research in marketing: exploratory hypotheses, dominant hypothesis, and competing hypotheses. Our review of empirical studies on scientific methodology suggests that the use of a single dominant hypothesis lacks objectivity relative to the use of exploratory and competing hypotheses approaches. We then conducted a publication audit of over 1,700 empirical papers in six leading marketing journals during 1984-1999. Of these, 74% used the dominant hypothesis approach, while 13 % used multiple competing hypotheses, and 13% were exploratory. Competing hypotheses were more commonly used for studying methods (25%) than models (17%) and phenomena (7%). Changes in the approach to hypotheses since 1984 have been modest; there was a slight decrease in the percentage of competing hypotheses to 11%, which is plained primarily by an increasing proportion of papers on phenomena. Of the studies based on hypothesis testing, only 11 % described the conditions under which the hypotheses would apply, and dominant hypotheses were below competing hypotheses in this regard. Marketing scientists differed substantially in their opinions about what types of studies should be published and what was published. On average, they did not think dominant hypotheses should be used as often as they were, and they underestimated their use
Hypotheses in Marketing Science: Literature Review and Publication Audit
We examined three approaches to research in marketing: exploratory hypotheses, dominant hypothesis, and competing hypotheses. Our review of empirical studies on scientific methodology suggests that the use of a single dominant hypothesis lacks objectivity relative to the use of exploratory and competing hypotheses approaches. We then conducted a publication audit of over 1,700 empirical papers in six leading marketing journals during 1984-1999. Of these, 74% used the dominant hypothesis approach, while 13 % used multiple competing hypotheses, and 13% were exploratory. Competing hypotheses were more commonly used for studying methods (25%) than models (17%) and phenomena (7%). Changes in the approach to hypotheses since 1984 have been modest; there was a slight decrease in the percentage of competing hypotheses to 11%, which is explained primarily by an increasing proportion of papers on phenomena. Of the studies based on hypothesis testing, only 11 % described the conditions under which the hypotheses would apply, and dominant hypotheses were below competing hypotheses in this regard. Marketing scientists differed substantially in their opinions about what types of studies should be published and what was published. On average, they did not think dominant hypotheses should be used as often as they were, and they underestimated their use.marketing, marketing research, marketing science
The Phenomenology of Cushing\u27s Syndrome: One Patient\u27s Account
Cushing\u27s syndrome caused by ectopic secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) is often a serious disease and a diagnostic dilemma. In the reported patient, the source of ACTH proved to he a benign pulmonary carcinoid tumor. The patient describes his trying experiences through the six months from initial diagnosis to definitive therapy
The HR Management Perspective on the Elimination of Mandatory Retirement in Ontario
Effective as of December, 2006, an end to mandatory retirement was legislated in Ontario. Prior to this move, some employers and labour organizations were opposed to eliminating mandatory retirement and expressed concern about the negative impact such a move would have on business and on individual workers. This exploratory descriptive study examines HR managersâ (N = 415) perceptions of the impact of the elimination of mandatory retirement in Ontario. Compared with HR managers in organizations not practicing mandatory retirement, HR managers in organizations with a mandatory retirement policy reported their organization had significantly fewer HR practices in place tailored to older employees and would be significantly more likely to respond to the elimination of mandatory retirement by implementing new HR practices or by modifying existing HR practices.Dans le passĂ©, la retraite obligatoire Ă©tait un aspect acceptĂ© de la rĂ©alitĂ© des ressources humaines (RH), associĂ© Ă un contrat de travail implicite Ă lâintĂ©rieur duquel les travailleurs plus jeunes voulaient bien diffĂ©rer les bĂ©nĂ©fices dâune rĂ©munĂ©ration immĂ©diate et attendre les emplois disponibles suite aux prises de retraite prĂ©vues. De plus, plusieurs entreprises avaient retenu des modĂšles de dĂ©prĂ©ciation du capital humain faisant en sorte que la valeur des employĂ©s atteigne son sommet tĂŽt dans la carriĂšre pour diminuer graduellement tout au long de la carriĂšre. Les perspectives des Ă©tapes de la carriĂšre au sein de ce modĂšle affichaient habituellement une corrĂ©lation entre lâĂąge chronologique et des « stades » particuliers, impliquant une phase de cheminement finale, au sein de laquelle les attentes de performance diminuĂ©e Ă©taient acceptĂ©es en retenant lâhypothĂšse dâune date fixe de retraite. De plus, la pratique de la retraite obligatoire Ă©tait tenue pour acquise dans lâexercice de planification des systĂšmes de rĂ©munĂ©ration et dâavantages sociaux sâappliquant aux salariĂ©s. Par opposition, le modĂšle de maintien en emploi des ressources humaines considĂšre tous les salariĂ©s comme des actifs renouvelables dans lesquels il est valable dâinvestir tout au long de leur carriĂšre dans lâentreprise et, par consĂ©quent, il ne comporte pas dâĂąge dĂ©terminĂ© pour la retraite.La mise en oeuvre dâune loi interdisant la retraite obligatoire en Ontario a changĂ© la situation de lâemploi et soulĂšve la question suivante : comment les gestionnaires des ressources humaines perçoivent-ils ce changement et quels rĂ©sultats leurs entreprises cherchent-elles Ă atteindre dans leur effort de planification des RH ? Cet essai fait Ă©tat des conclusions dâune Ă©tude rĂ©alisĂ©e en 2005, qui cherchait Ă identifier la maniĂšre dont ces gestionnaires (N = 415), Ă lâemploi dâune panoplie dâorganisations de cette province, envisageaient la suppression imminente de la retraite obligatoire et lâeffet quâune telle action aurait sur leur entreprise. Cette Ă©tude se veut une coupe instantanĂ©e des intentions des entreprises de lâOntario, au moment oĂč on sâapprĂȘtait Ă mettre en vigueur la loi prohibant la retraite obligatoire.Nous avons constatĂ© une vision diffĂ©rente entre les directeurs des ressources humaines dans les organisations oĂč il existait une politique de retraite obligatoire avant lâadoption de la loi et celles oĂč il nây en avait pas. Ă cette Ă©poque, dans prĂšs de la moitiĂ© de lâĂ©chantillon, il y avait un Ăąge de retraite obligatoire et, sans surprise, on constatait quâune proportion Ă peu prĂšs identique des rĂ©pondants croyaient que sa suppression aurait un effet dans leur organisation. Ceux qui croyaient que le changement aurait peu dâimpact soulignaient le fait quâils nâavaient pas de politique de retraite obligatoire ou bien que leurs salariĂ©s Ă©taient trop jeunes pour en subir lâeffet ou encore quâils se retiraient tĂŽt.Les entreprises oĂč les gestionnaires de ressources humaines recourraient couramment Ă la pratique de la retraite obligatoire Ă©taient plus susceptibles dâĂȘtre grandes (500 employĂ©s et plus); de se retrouver dans des localitĂ©s restreintes ou des rĂ©gions rurales; dâavoir procĂ©dĂ© Ă une rĂ©duction de leur taille au cours des cinq derniĂšres annĂ©es et dâĂȘtre dans le secteur public plutĂŽt que dans le privĂ©.Ă lâencontre des entreprises sans programme de retraite obligatoire, les gestionnaires de celles offrant un tel programme mentionnaient que leur organisation possĂ©dait peu de pratiques de ressources humaines pour les salariĂ©s plus ĂągĂ©s et quâils devraient mettre en oeuvre de nouvelles pratiques ou bien en modifier certaines. Peut-ĂȘtre pour rĂ©pondre Ă ce qui semble socialement souhaitable, les gestionnaires de ressources humaines dans la plupart des entreprises prĂ©tendaient avoir de bons systĂšmes dâapprĂ©ciation du personnel et de promotion liĂ©s Ă la performance. Les diffĂ©rences importantes apparaissaient surtout eu Ă©gard aux politiques plus pratiques, telles que lâoffre de temps de travail flexible, tout en faisant preuve dâune reconnaissance et dâun respect Ă lâendroit des employĂ©s plus ĂągĂ©s. Les gestionnaires de RH dans les organisations qui possĂ©daient un programme de retraite obligatoire ont possiblement senti que les salariĂ©s plus ĂągĂ©s prĂ©sentaient peu de valeur ajoutĂ©e, alors quâon Ă©tait conscient quâils se retireraient de toute façon. Cependant, ces mĂȘmes gestionnaires se rendaient compte de la nĂ©cessitĂ© dâavoir des politiques permettant le rĂ©embauchage des personnes retraitĂ©es pour des contrats particuliers. Il faut toutefois garder Ă lâesprit la prĂ©sence possible de lâinfluence des facteurs liĂ©s Ă la taille et au secteur dâactivitĂ©s dans notre Ă©tude car les politiques de retraite obligatoire se retrouvaient surtout dans les organisations plus grandes du secteur public.MalgrĂ© le nombre restreint de diffĂ©rences importantes, nos conclusions corroborent lâidĂ©e que des hypothĂšses concernant le capital humain soient Ă lâoeuvre. Il appert que des gestionnaires de RH dans des entreprises avec un programme de retraite obligatoire peuvent avoir une vision qui sous-estime la contribution de leurs salariĂ©s et croient quâil nây aurait pas de valeur ajoutĂ©e par lâadoption de pratiques favorables aux travailleurs ĂągĂ©s, parce que ces derniers vont se retirer de toute maniĂšre.Les conclusions sont Ă lâeffet que les politiques de RH dĂ©pendent du fait quâun enjeu particulier ait ou non un impact significatif. Les entreprises qui ont des programmes de retraite obligatoire sont plus susceptibles de rĂ©viser leur planification en RH, dâoffrir une formation de sensibilisation au phĂ©nomĂšne de lâĂąge, des pratiques dâapprĂ©ciation du rendement et dâattirer des travailleurs plus ĂągĂ©s, si elles croient que la suppression de la retraite obligatoire puisse avoir un impact positif sur leur organisation. Un facteur externe affectant lâorganisation, tel quâune modification Ă la loi, doit ĂȘtre portĂ© Ă lâattention des dirigeants de lâorganisation. Cela nous amĂšne Ă signaler lâimportance pour les professionnels de RH dâĂȘtre proactifs en soulevant les enjeux externes et en les portant Ă lâattention de la direction.On peut dĂ©gager de nos rĂ©sultats un certain nombre dâimplications pour la gestion des ressources humaines. Les entreprises devront Ă©laborer de nouvelles politiques de RH pour faire face Ă lâabolition de la retraite obligatoire. Ceci sâapplique dâune maniĂšre plus prĂ©cise aux organisations qui possĂ©daient des programmes de retraite obligatoire en vigueur avant sa suppression. Certaines organisations doivent sâattendre Ă prendre de nouvelles actions, incluant une rĂ©vision des programmes de ressources humaines qui devront reflĂ©ter la nouvelle rĂ©alitĂ© dâune main-dâoeuvre qui continue de travailler aprĂšs la date prĂ©vue pour leur retraite. Elles devront rĂ©viser les systĂšmes dâapprĂ©ciation du personnel et de contrĂŽle pour tenir compte de la rĂ©alitĂ© dâune main-dâoeuvre qui vieillit au travail. Elles devront aussi trouver une façon de gĂ©rer une augmentation Ă©ventuelle des coĂ»ts des avantages sociaux et des prestations de retraite, rĂ©viser les hypothĂšses qui servent au calcul actuariel, mettre au point de nouveaux programmes de formation visant Ă maximiser la contribution des salariĂ©s plus ĂągĂ©s; enfin, Ă©laborer des contrats de travail particulier et des amĂ©nagements flexibles afin dâaccommoder les travailleurs qui veulent se retirer tĂŽt et ceux qui veulent continuer aprĂšs lâĂąge de la retraite habituelle.En vigor desde diciembre 2006, la jubilaciĂłn obligatoria ha sido eliminada segĂșn una ley en Ontario. Antes de este cambio, algunos empleadores y organizaciones laborales se opusieron a la eliminaciĂłn de la jubilaciĂłn obligatoria y expresaron su inquietud respecto al impacto negativo sobre los negocios y el impacto individual para los trabajadores. Este estudio descriptivo exploratorio examina las percepciones de 415 directivos de recursos humanos con respecto al impacto de la eliminaciĂłn de la jubilaciĂłn obligatoria en Ontario. En comparaciĂłn a los directivos de RH de las organizaciones que no practican la jubilaciĂłn obligatoria, los directivos de RH de las organizaciones con polĂticas de jubilaciĂłn obligatoria declaran que sus organizaciones tendrĂan significativamente menos practicas de RH adaptadas a los empleados de edad y serĂan significativamente mĂĄs propicias a responder a la eliminaciĂłn de la jubilaciĂłn obligatoria con la implementaciĂłn de nuevas prĂĄcticas de RH o modificando las actuales practicas de RH
Management Options in Advanced Prostate Cancer: What is the Role for Sipuleucel-T?
Most prostate cancer-related deaths occur in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Until recently, only therapy with docetaxel and prednisone has been shown to prolong survival in men with metastatic CRPC. With the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) approvals of sipuleucel-T, cabazitaxel, and abiraterone acetate, all based on improvement in overall survival, the landscape for management of men with metastatic CRPC has dramatically changed. In this review we will discuss the pivotal clinical trial data leading to these approvals, with particular focus on the unique indication for sipuleucel-T and the implications for optimal management and sequencing of treatment in this patient population
A Policy Impact Evaluation Model For Scotland: Decoupling Single Farm Payments
The purpose of this paper is to assess the impacts of decoupling single farm payments in Scotland. It focuses on aggregate impacts on the agricultural products in domestic and external markets and the spill-over effect of this on the non-agricultural sector as well as an aggregate impact on the Scottish GDP. In order to capture system-wide impacts of the policy reform, a CGE model was formulated and implemented using a social accounting matrix constructed for Scotland. The simulation results suggest that the Scottish agricultural sector may encounter declines in output and factor us as a result of the policy reform. However, this critically depends on two factors: (a) the price effect of the policy reform on Scottish agricultural products relative to the EU average as well as the conditions of changes in world agricultural market prices; and (b) the extent to which customers would be sensitive to price effects of the policy reform. As far as the spill-over effect to the non-agricultural sector is concerned, decoupling of direct payments seems to have a positive spill-over effect. Similarly, the aggregate GDP effect is positive under all simulation scenarios. Critically, the simulation experiments indicate that policy shock may have a symmetrical outcome across the two sectors, with contractions in agriculture being accompanied by expansions in the non-agricultural sector, mainly because of factor market interactions between the two sectors.
Exploiting Memory Hardware for Use in Cryptographic Operations
Recent data breaches have motivated a desire to remove all trust storage platforms (e.g., the cloud). To this end, research has focused on implementing cryptographic access controls on untrusted storage platforms. However, there are issues with the feasibility of implementing such controls, particularly when revocation (i.e., a user losing permission) occurs. This thesis investigates the opportunity to increase the viability of these systems by exploiting new functionality in emerging main memory technology. Technology such as the Hybrid Memory Cube possess the ability to perform certain computations in-memory, without reading data into the CPU. This thesis focuses on implementing a re-encryption scheme, called keystream re-encryption, that computes a stream of key material that can be XOR-ed in-memory to re-encrypt a file, without ever bringing the contents of that file into the CPU. We show that keystream re-encryption can produce 5-10% improvements in Instructions Per Cycle (IPC), while also increasing throughput by 18% and reducing energy consumption by 44-65%
Improved prediction of hiking speeds using a data driven approach
Hikers and hillwalkers typically use the gradient in the direction of travel (walking slope) as the main variable in established methods for predicting walking time (via the walking speed) along a route. Research into fell-running has suggested further variables which may improve speed algorithms in this context; the gradient of the terrain (hill slope) and the level of terrain obstruction. Recent improvements in data availability, as well as widespread use of GPS tracking now make it possible to explore these variables in a walking speed model at a sufficient scale to test statistical significance. We tested various established models used to predict walking speed against public GPS data from almost 88,000 km of UK walking / hiking tracks. Tracks were filtered to remove breaks and non-walking sections. A new generalised linear model (GLM) was then used to predict walking speeds. Key differences between the GLM and established rules were that the GLM considered the gradient of the terrain (hill slope) irrespective of walking slope, as well as the terrain type and level of terrain obstruction in off-road travel. All of these factors were shown to be highly significant, and this is supported by a lower root-mean-square-error compared to existing functions. We also observed an increase in RMSE between the GLM and established methods as hill slope increases, further supporting the importance of this variable
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