Intelligent data analysis - support for development of SMEs sector

The paper studies possibilities of intelligent data analysis application for discovering knowledge hidden in small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) data, on the territory of the province of Vojvodina. The knowledge revealed by intelligent analysis, and not accessible by any other means, could be the valuable starting point for working out of proactive and preventive actions for the development of the SMEs sector.Intelligent data analysis, CRISP-DM, clustering, small and medium enterprises., Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, C8, L2,

Experiments and modeling of the chemo-mechanically coupled behavior of polymeric gels

Polymeric materials consist of mutually entangled or chemically crosslinked long njitmolecular chains which form a polymer network. Due to their molecular structure, the njitpolymeric materials are known to undergo large deformation in response to various njitenvironmental stimuli, such as temperature, chemical potential and light. When a polymer network is exposed to a suitable chemical solvent, the solvent molecules are able to diffuse inside the network, causing it to undergo a large volumetric deformation, known as swelling. In addition to volumetric deformation, this process involves the chemical mixing of the polymer network and solvent molecules, and is typically environmentally responsive. A polymeric material in this mixed and swollen state is known as a polymeric gel. Swollen polymers, or polymeric gels, find their application in the oil industry, soft robotics, drug delivery and microfluidic channels. Moreover, most of the organs inside our body are gel-like in structure, which makes this class of materials important for biomedical applications and tissue engineering. An important distinction between biological tissues and much of the previous literature on the mechanics of polymeric gels is that most biological tissues contain fibers. The existence of these fibers embedded in the material, causes the properties to be significantly different along the fiber direction. Recent years have seen the development of a vast number of large deformation continuum-level constitutive models aimed to capture the coupled diffusion-deformation behavior of polymeric gels. However, there is an insufficient amount of experimental data to complement such theoretical research. Thus, despite numerous potential applications, many aspects of polymeric gel behavior remain elusive. In addition, the diffusion-deformation behavior is known to be affected by the external stimuli. In the current state of the art there is a lack of theoretical models and robust simulation capabilities to account for the influence of such stimuli, hindering further advances in technologies involving polymeric gels. The purpose of this research is to bridge the gap between the experimental and theoretical studies, and provide reliable finite element simulation capabilities for polymeric gels. More specifically, the aim is to (i) experimentally characterize the behavior of polymeric gels, (ii) develop new experimentally motivated constitutive models and (iii) implement the models numerically for use in a finite element software. The final result of this research is a robust finite element method (FEM) code that can be used for simulations in the commercial software package Abaqus. Towards the goal, an experimental procedure is designed to thoroughly investigate the behavior of polymeric gels, and provide a direction for the development of novel constitutive models. The procedure involves mechanical testing of dry polymeric material, free swelling with suitable solvents, and mechanical testing when fully swollen. The experimental observations provide transformational insights in the mechanical behavior of polymeric gels, and are utilized to develop a continuum-level constitutive model. Further, the presence of embedded fibers in a swellable polymer matrix leads to anisotropy in the overall behavior. In order to capture this response, a constitutive model for fiber-reinforced polymeric gels is developed, that explicitly takes into account anisotropy in both the mechanical and diffusive behavior. The constitutive model is implemented as user element subroutine (UEL) in the commercial finite element software package Abaqus/Standard. Numerical simulations are performed to show the behavior of the model, and qualitative comparisons are made to experiments of a soft robotic gripper. In addition, many polymeric gels are known to respond or activate when exposed to a light stimulus. This light-driven alteration of the behavior is known to be caused by the photochemical reactions occurring inside the polymer network. Thus, the overall response of light-activated polymeric gels is affected by the mechanical stress, solvent content, and the extent of photochemical reaction caused by light irradiation. To account for such response of a polymeric gel, a continuum level constitutive model is developed and numerically implemented in Abaqus/Standard as a user element (UEL) subroutine

Contribution to the Development of the Urban Management Model

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the importance of management in lo¬cal self government units within the existing circumstances in the Republic of Croa¬tia. In addition, the purpose of the paper is to establish how the local self government officials understand and accept the role of professional management in today's con¬dition of business environment and the ever-growing citizens' needs. The aim of the paper is to raise the awareness of responsible individuals in the local self-government, first and foremost those with the highest responsibility, namely the elected local self-government power holders, of the need to understand and accept the ever-growing importance of management nowadays. Furthermore, to prompt them to use the available budget resources of a self government unit as ad¬equately as possible through proper management in order to achieve as many goals set for a certain period of time as possible. Following the analysis and assessment of management in the local self-govern¬ment of the town of Vinkovci, proposals have been offered for the improvement of local-self government management in the town of Vinkovci and local/regional self-government units in general. The paper indicates that, in addition to continuous in¬vestment into information and communication technology, which is substantial every year, there is a need for continuous investment in the training and education of town administration employees. Without employees equipped with adequate knowledge and competence, the tax payers' investment into information and communication technology would become a failed investment both in the short and the long term.model, urban management, local self-government, town of Vink¬ovci, town of Vukovar

Know your perceived expertise! : how to foster future sales strategies with stakeholder co-creation by the example of complex products

Compared to other generations Millennials are relatively little loyal to brands but search for brands and products that suit their lifestyle and character. Hence, it is crucial for managers to know how to gain their attention and what convinces them to purchase and recommend. The present research investigates Millennials’ attitude towards stakeholder co-creation. Namely brand perceptions and behavioral intentions are investigated. Whereas former studies of co-creation mainly focused on investigating user co-creation, this study compares the out-come of communicating products as co-created by stakeholders with different perceived lev-els of expertise for complex products. Moreover, it aims to analyze the mediating effect of co-actors’ perceived expertise, which predicts Millennials’ behavioral intentions. The hypotheses are tested in a single factor, independent group, between-subjects experiment, using three levels of perceived expertise for the factor co-actor and one control group repre-senting generic design. The data was collected with an online questionnaire on Qualtrics, quantifying respondents’ perception of brand uniqueness, innovation ability, and their inten-tions to buy and recommend. The findings indicate that brands, offering complex products, which are labeled as co-created, are perceived as more innovative and unique than brands with generic design. At the same time those perceptions partially influence behavioral intentions. Interestingly, results reveal that expertise is a mediator of behavioral intentions. Thus, the study suggests to managers that knowing Millennial consumers’ perception about the expertise level of co-actors is crucial for the success of communication strategies.Em comparação com outras gerações, os Millennials são relativamente pouco fiéis às marcas, mas procuram marcas e produtos que se adequem ao seu estilo de vida e caráter. Portanto, é crucial que os gestores saibam como captar a sua atenção e o que os convence a comprar e recomendar. A presente pesquisa investiga a atitude dos Millennials em relação à cocriação das partes in-teressadas. Ou seja, perceções da marca e intenções comportamentais são investigadas. Con-siderando que os estudos anteriores de cocriação se concentraram principalmente na investi-gação da cocriação de indivíduos, este estudo compara o resultado de produtos de comuni-cação como cocriado pelas partes interessadas com diferentes níveis de conhecimento para produtos complexos. Além disso, visa analisar o efeito mediador do nível de conhecimento dos coatores, que prevê as intenções comportamentais dos Millennials. As hipóteses são testadas num único fator, grupo independente, utilizando três níveis de conhecimento para o fator coator e um grupo de controle representando o design genérico. Os dados foram recolhidos através de um questionário on-line sobre a Qualtrics, quantificando a perceção dos entrevistados sobre a singularidade da marca, a capacidade de inovação e suas intenções de comprar e recomendar. Os resultados indicam que as marcas, oferecendo produtos complexos, que são rotulados co-mo cocriados, são tidas como mais inovadoras e exclusivas do que marcas com design genéri-co. Ao mesmo tempo, essas perceções influenciam parcialmente as intenções comportamen-tais. Curiosamente, os resultados revelam que o conhecimento é um mediador das intenções comportamentais. Assim, o estudo sugere aos gestores que conhecer a perceção dos consumi-dores Millennials sobre o nível de conhecimento dos coatores é crucial para o sucesso das estratégias de comunicação

Negative symbolic aspects in destination branding: exploring the role of the 'undesired self' on web-based vacation information search intentions among potential first-time visitors

Tourist destination choices depend, among other factors, on the match between the destination’s personality image and consumers’ self-concept, in line with self-image congruence theory. Motives also mediate this relationship, yet tourism research largely neglects the influence of avoidance motives. This study applies the product-based construct of undesired congruity, or consumers’ tendency to avoid undesired stereotypical images, to the context of web-based vacation destination information search intentions among potential first-time visitors. Undesired congruity relates negatively to willingness to search for destination-related information online and serves as an additional predictor, beyond established relevant factors for pre-visit choice contexts. Moreover, it overrides the influence of established, telic, approach motive constructs, which implies its principal role in early destination-related decision making. The findings have practical implications for market research in tourism, as well as for destination branding. (author's abstract

The contribution of attachment security/insecurity and self-esteem to identity formation in late adolescence

This study examined the contribution of attachment security/insecurity and self-esteem to identity formation. A convenience sample of 120 volunteer university students, 106 women and 14 men, aged between 18-25 years, participated in this study. The Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status-Two, (EOMEIS -2), (Adams, Bennion & Huh, 1989) was used to measure the participants' identity status, the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) (Collins and Read, 1990) to measure attachment styles and the Self-Liking Self-Competence Scale (SLSC) (Tafarodi and Swann, 1995) to measure self - esteem. A Hierarchical Multiple Regression analysis showed that the three attachment subscales, Secure, Ambivalent and Avoidant, together contributed significantly to the variance in all the identity statuses except for Achievement. Contrary to what was expected the Avoidant subscale made a significant independent contribution to the variance in Achievement status scores and the Ambivalent subscale made a significant independent contribution to the variance in Moratorium status scores. A Hierarchical Multiple Regression analysis showed that the two self-esteem subscales together contributed significantly only to the variance in Achievement status scores. Independently Self-Liking was found to contribute positively to the variance in Achievement scores and Self-Competence was found to contribute negatively to the variance in the Diffusion scores. These results were discussed in relation to theories of attachment and identity formation