Fluctuating initial condition and smoothening effect on elliptic and triangular flow

In heavy ion collisions, event-by-event fluctuations in participating nucleon positions can lead to triangular flow. Generally, one uses Monte-Carlo Glauber model to obtain the participating nucleon positions. To use in a hydrodynamic model, the positions needs to be smoothened. We study the effect of smoothening of Glauber Monte-Carlo initial conditions on elliptic and triangular flow. It is shown that integrated as well as differential elliptic and triangular flow remain largely unaltered, irrespective of functional form of the smoothening function, or the smoothening parameterComment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Religiosity, ethnocentrism end corporate image towards the perception of young muslim consumers: structural equation modelling approach

The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between religiosity, ethnocentrism and corporate image towards the perception of purchasing foreign goods by the young Muslim consumers in Malaysia. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed for measuring the relationship from young Muslim consumers in Klang Valley area. Finally, 230 questionnaires became validated and tested for further statistical analysis through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied for testing the hypotheses of the study. Among all the variables, corporate image and ethnocentrism behavior plays the most significant on the perception of young Muslim consumer’s before purchasing foreign made products. The added value of this paper is to link between theory and practice, and explore the religiosity and ethnocentrism behavior on young Muslim consumer’s purchase decisions of foreign products. Few researches have conducted over the years under the young Muslim consumers that investigated the relationship between religiosity and ethnocentrism perspective. Moreover, this relatively new issue remains largely undiscovered by researchers under various market environments

Managing Nitrogen and Phosphorus Nutrients for Switchgrass Produced for Bioenergy Feedstock in Phosphorus-Deficient Soil

There is limited information available explaining the agronomic and economic relationships between yield and nitrogen and phosphorus applications to growing switchgrass produced in phosphorus-deficient soils. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers on feedstock yield and measures of expected total cost, gross revenue, net return, and breakeven price of feedstock produced in phosphorus-deficient soils in the southern Great Plains. Data were collected from a three-year, two-location agronomic field study conducted in south-central Oklahoma. Two discrete nitrogen treatments (0 and 134 kg ha-1) and four discrete phosphorus treatments (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha-1) were randomly assigned to small plots arranged in a randomized complete block designed (RCBD) study. Random effects mixed ANOVA models were used to estimate the effects of nitrogen, phosphorus and nitrogen by phosphorus interactions on feedstock yield and the economic variables specified. Results showed that, on average over site-years, switchgrass yield increases from 10.5 to 12.3 Mg ha-1 with the highest (101-kg ha-1) treatment; however, we found no statistical difference in net profitability between phosphorus treatments. Yield and net return did respond significantly to 135 kg-1 of N ha-1. Our results suggest that phosphorus-deficient soils do not seem to have the same impact on switchgrass yield and profitability as they do for the yields and profitability of other crops traditionally grown in this region.bioenergy feedstock, economics, phosphorus-deficient soils, nitrogen, switchgrass, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics,

Factors affecting the attractiveness of medical tourism destination: an empirical study on India

Abstract Background: In this edge, medical tourism is not a new idea. Medical treatment is one of the essential demands of human beings and it requires high quality and intensive care. Beside western world, few developing countries are playing key roles as medical tourism destinations. India is one of the leading names among these countries. The purpose of the paper is to find the factors influencing the attractiveness of India as a health tourism destination. Methods: The study has found the major contributing factors and their relative importance in the attractiveness of the health tourism destination that is India from consumers‟ perspectives by conducting survey with an application of structural equation modelling approach. Results: In Indian context, medical tourists consider service quality and cost mostly to select any medical destination. In addition they also give value to the destination competitiveness but tourist attitude is less important in comparison with other factors affecting their destination choice. Since the study has used structural equation modelling approach to test the hypothesis and figure out the relative importance of the factors, the fundamental indices such as Normed Chi square(less than 3), RMSEA (less than 0.08) and CFI (more than 0.90) values show the overall model fit of the proposed model. Conclusion: In order to transform a country such as India as an attractive and competitive medical tourist destination in this time of globalization, a step should be taken to control cost ensuring the quality of services. Keywords: Medical tourism, Destination competitiveness, Factors, Indi

Islamic banking in Malaysia: a study of attitudinal differences of Malaysian customers

This research emphasizes attitudinal difference of Malaysian customers about Islamic banking services. The banking service providers can gain excellent benefit from Islamic banking practices upon identification of these differences. A structured questionnaire was constructed to collect the necessary data to answer the research questions as being framed on related affective factors of attitudinal differences of consumers’ in Malaysia. In this research we have employed independent sample ‘t’ test and ANOVA to test the hypotheses. Results showed that Malaysian consumers have positive attitude toward Islamic banking. Results of ‘t’ test showed significant attitudinal differences between males and females. In addition, the results of ANOVA showed significant attitudinal difference existed only between Malay and Chinese and between Chinese and Indian, while the overall attitudes of all three races were positive toward Islamic banking. One potential limitation of this study was the size and composition of the group which participated in the study. Therefore, a generalization about the entire population of Malaysian banking customers of banking sector is inappropriate. In addition, this research could not incorporate all levels of diverse attributes of Islamic banking that might influence customers’ behavior. The results of this study can facilitate the Islamic banking service providers to introduce new, innovative service offerings based on attitudinal differences and of course, in accordance with Islamic rules and regulation