Using the World Wide Web for eCommerce: Applying the Task-Technology Fit Model to Corporate Buyers

The World Wide Web (WWW) has emerged as a new and a promising means for electronic commerce (EC). This paper presents from the perspective of corporate buyers, an application of the task-technology fit (TTF) model to explain the antecedents and the consequences of WWW usage for EC

Lesson Plan: Forms of government from a comparative perspective

This lesson plan is designed to introduce students to three forms of government: presidentialism, parliamentarism, and semi-presidentialism. After briefly covering the key characteristics of each form, the lesson plan examines the process of government formation in parliamentary systems. The scenario covers different possible cabinet types and is designed to help students to distinguish between governments with a majority vs. minority status and to differentiate among different coalition arrangements—from minority to minimal winning to surplus to grand coalitions. The lesson plan concludes with an assignment that asks students to identify the current cabinet types in four countries that have parliamentary systems—Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Ireland

A Regression Analysis on the Macroeconomic Variables Affecting Taiwan’s Export Value to the US before and after 2008 Financial Crisis

The booming of international trade since 1980 has resulted in the sharp economic growth of Taiwan. It is therefore important to understand the influential factors and their impacts on Taiwan’s international trade and export. This research adopts multiple regression method to identify the respective influential macroeconomic variables affecting the export values of Taiwan to the U.S. before and after 2008 financial crisis. It also analyzes the correlations among these macroeconomic variables. The results of this research indicate that, the first lag period of: (1) Taiwan industrial production index, (2) exchange rate of U.S. dollar to New Taiwan dollar, (3) US Interbank real call loan rate, and (4) U.S. industrial production index are influential macroeconomic variables affecting export values of Taiwan to the U.S. before 2008 financial crisis. After 2008 financial crisis, the influential macroeconomic factors are the first lag period of (1) exchange rate of U.S. dollar to New Taiwan dollar, (2) Taiwan’s industrial production index, (3) Mainland China’s consumer price index yearly increment, and (4) Taiwan’s wholesale price index yearly increment (excluding service)

How does Covid-19 disrupt traditional success models: The case of e-learning

This paper questions the prevalent approach in assessing the value of e-learning through the information system model. A recall is made of the evolution of DeLone and McCain model and other theory at the basis of such assessment, namely TAM derived models and performance models. In these years of covid which imposed e-learning on schools, without adequate preparation this examination is more than ever important since it changes the logic of the assessment. The covid19 caused an unvoluntary use of e-learning that questions the validity of prevalent models. An integrated model, which take this aspect into consideration, is proposed in this article, to be validated empirically in a soon future

Assessing KM capabilities in two African healthcare organizations: case study

Cette étude vise à mieux comprendre le processus de développement des capacités organisationnelles spécifiques à la gestion des connaissances (COSGC) dans le contexte des organisations de santé. Ce processus s’inscrit dans le cadre de l’école d’apprentissage (Cyert & March, 1963 ; Nelson & Winter, 1982 ; Burgelman, 1988 ; Cohen & Levinthal, 1990) qui favorise un processus d’apprentissage organisationnel et d’accumulation des connaissances pouvant s’étaler dans le temps et en plusieurs niveaux de maturité. Ainsi, à l’aide du modèle de maturité des COSGC qui présente cinq niveaux de maturité (Booto Ekionea, 2008), cette étude présente un diagnostic des COSGC de deux centres hospitaliers de l’Afrique subsaharienne. Enfin, soulignons que les conclusions de cette étude ne constituent pas une recherche quantitative, mais bien une étude qualitative qui vise la compréhension du phénomène de éveloppement des capacités organisationnelles spécifiques à la gestion des connaissances (COSGC), dans un contexte particulier, à l’aide de l’étude de cas

Evaluating an online well-being program for college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: The global COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated challenges involving college students’ mental health and well-being. Some literature suggested developing online programs to address the pandemic’s impact on college students’ mental health and well-being. Thus, this study assessed if significant improvement in well-being among college students can be observed after introducing an online well-being program.Methods: The study utilized a quantitative methodology, mainly using a two-group pretest-posttest design on 178 college students in a private college and state university. The experimental group received 3 months of the well-being program while the control resumed their activities of daily living (ADL). The modified positive emotion, engagement, relationship, meaning, and accomplishment (PERMA) profiler questionnaire was the primary evaluation instrument that measured the participants’ well-being. The first phase gathered the participants’ relevant profile and background, and the last phase concluded with the evaluation of the program. Data were analyzed using SPSS v.21.Results: Based on the post-evaluation PERMA scores, the experimental participants (M = 7.21, SD 1.70) did not differ much from the control (M = 7.07, SD = 1.55) according to a t-test t(176) = –1.07, p = 0.57 as computed using a two-sample independent t-test at a significance level of α = 0.05. The overall PERMA score description is normal functioning. The Pearson correlation of the experimental group’s pre-test and post-test scores (r(91) = 0.01, p = 0.904) and the control (r(83) = 0.04, p = 0.732) group did not indicate an evidence of a significant relationship.Conclusion: The results do not provide evidence of a significant difference and relationship between the experimental participants’ pre-test and post-test PERMA scores after the online well-being program

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis