Price Determination in the Bottled Water Industry: A Case Study of Poland Spring

This paper analyzes the price of a single brand in the bottled water industry. We find that the brand's price is negatively related to its own share. We also find that price is positively related to the four firm concentration ratio in the carbonated segment, but unrelated in the noncarbonated segment.Demand and Price Analysis,

A prediction model of the depth-of-discharge effect on the cycle life of a storage cell

Cycle life requirements are very high for batteries used in aerospace applications in low Earth orbit. The data base required to establish confidence in a particular cell design is thus both extensive and expensive. Reliable accelerated cycle life testing and performance decay modeling represent attractive alternatives to real-time tests of cycle life. In light of certain long-term cycle life test results, this paper examines a very simple performance decay model developed earlier. Application of that model to available data demonstrates a rigid relationship between a battery's expected cycle life and the depth of discharge of cycling. Further, modeling analysis of the data suggests that a significantly improved cycle life can be obtained with advanced components, materials, and designs; and that cycle life can be reliably predicted from the results of accelerated testing

Value Relevance of Financial and Non-Financial Information: Evidence from the Gaming Industry

Using financial and non-financial data from casino gaming firms listed in the United States from 1999–2017, we explore two research questions: (1) Is financial information value relevant to financial markets in the casino gaming industry? (2) Does non-financial information have incremental explanatory power over financial information? In general, we find that accounting numbers can explain a firm’s market value and stock returns in the casino gaming industry, except for accounting accruals, which may behave differently compared to other industries. We also find that non-financial information, such as the number of table games, number of slot machines, and their relative proportion, have significant value relevance in explaining market valuation. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the value relevance of financial and non-financial information in the casino gaming industry. We also provide analysis of firms characterized by these non-financial attributes. Keywords: hospitality, casino, gaming, value relevance, table games, slot machines JEL Code: L83, M19, M4

Action Research in Teacher Education: Classroom Inquiry, Reflection, and Data-Driven Decision Making

One of the growing interests in teacher education lies in how and what teachers learn across time and space in the complex ecologies and technologies of today’s society. Teacher research has been implemented in teacher education programs as a powerful, exploratory tool for teacher candidates to inquire about educational problems and to improve their knowledge of teaching practice. This article presents insights gained from review of 18 action research projects completed by classroom teachers enrolled in a graduate reading methods course. To better understand what teachers learned through the action research process and how their self-study impacted teaching and learning in their classrooms, qualitative research methods were used to analyze the teachers’ projects. The data revealed action research impacted literacy instruction, teachers struggled with how to make their literacy instruction explicit, projects focused on specific literacy topics, teachers used a range of resources for their selected intervention and shared information with each other and with colleagues in their respective contexts

Self-Images of Women Bodybuilders

In analyzing the data from a questionnaire survey of 205 competitive women bodybuilders conducted by the International Federation of Body-Builders, the authors attempt to find out how these women define their roles. What emerges from the analysis is a new concept of femininity that combines aspects of the traditional definitions with added dimensions of muscularity and body symmetry. They see muscularity, fitness, strength, and health as increasing their femininity, adding to their attractiveness as women, and increasing their sex appeal to men. They do not see themselves as emulating men. Relatively few see themselves as feminists or androgynists

Multi-Sensor Fusion of Infrared and Electro-Optic Signals for High Resolution Night Images

Electro-optic (EO) image sensors exhibit the properties of high resolution and low noise level at daytime, but they do not work in dark environments. Infrared (IR) image sensors exhibit poor resolution and cannot separate objects with similar temperature. Therefore, we propose a novel framework of IR image enhancement based on the information (e.g., edge) from EO images, which improves the resolution of IR images and helps us distinguish objects at night. Our framework superimposing/blending the edges of the EO image onto the corresponding transformed IR image improves their resolution. In this framework, we adopt the theoretical point spread function (PSF) proposed by Hardie et al. for the IR image, which has the modulation transfer function (MTF) of a uniform detector array and the incoherent optical transfer function (OTF) of diffraction-limited optics. In addition, we design an inverse filter for the proposed PSF and use it for the IR image transformation. The framework requires four main steps: (1) inverse filter-based IR image transformation; (2) EO image edge detection; (3) registration; and (4) blending/superimposing of the obtained image pair. Simulation results show both blended and superimposed IR images, and demonstrate that blended IR images have better quality over the superimposed images. Additionally, based on the same steps, simulation result shows a blended IR image of better quality when only the original IR image is available