Toni M. Conley - An Empirical Analysis of How Purchase Decision Makers Arrive at a Fair Price for Subscription-Based CRM

Internet based technologies have played an important role in the development of modern CRM applications over the last several years. They have been the critical driving force behind the rise of on-demand CRM, and have also enabled on-premise CRM vendors to dramatically simplify deployment and administration. As a result of this, business purchase decision makers are in the midst of a recent and accelerating shift in how they acquire marketing support solutions for their enterprises. They are moving from a CAPEX (capital expenditure) to an OPEX (operational expenditure) model. Many time, marketing support solutions acquired via an on-demand model (OPEX) are called hosted or cloud-based solutions, where service providers own, maintain and upgrade the software applications on their servers at their locations. Customers then access the solutions using web browsers and broadband Internet connections at their offices. This research is an analysis of how purchase decision makers actively weigh a cloud-based approach to CRM versus a premises-based approach. It’s an exploration of how IT and marketing decision makers optimize the profitability of acquiring marketing support solutions using price analysis for these two approaches? Out of the criteria used to select an approach, we want to know how important is price in that decision. We have interviewed 5 executives in the greater Milwaukee area, who have recently deployed a CRM solution for their businesses to better understand the role of price in their decision.https://epublications.marquette.edu/mcnair_2013/1010/thumbnail.jp

Access to Dental Care in Two Long-term Refugee Camps in Western Tanzania; Programme Development and Assessment

Objective:  To analyse the demographics surrounding and the sustainability of a course in Emergency Dental Care and Health Promotion developed and taught by a team of dentists from the United States to refugee camp health-care workers in two long-term refugee camps in Western Tanzania. Methods:  Refugee camp dental patient log books from Mtabila and Nyarugusu camps Kigoma, Tanzania were analysed and demographic data collected on each patient visit from the programme inception in November 2007 until August 2009. Data collection included information relevant to 1961 patient visits. Data were entered into SPSS Statistics 17.0 using the Freq application. Outcomes:  Patient visit data included demographics involving both the resident camp populations and the surrounding communities. The distribution of patients treated by nationality was: 58% Burundian (Mtabila), 14% Congolese (Nyarugusu), and 28% Tanzanian citizens residing near both camps. Extractions accounted for 95.5% of procedures performed. Recorded incidences of post-operative complications were 1 \u3e % of patient visits. Patient visits were steady over time and a referral system was implemented for complex cases. Health promotion sessions were held in both camps. Conclusion:  This dental programme has been self-sustaining and is providing some access to care where none existed previously. Programmes such as this may be one solution to the access to dental care problem in long-term refugee camps

Testing the q-Theory of Anomalies

The q-theory explanations of asset pricing anomalies are quantitatively important. We perform a new asset pricing test by using GMM to minimize the difference between average stock returns in the data and average investment returns constructed from observable firm characteristics. Under various specifications, the model-implied average returns display similar magnitudes of dispersion across portfolios sorted on investment-to-asset and on size and book-to-market. But the predicted dispersions in average returns among portfolios sorted on earnings surprises are somewhat smaller in magnitude than those observed in the dataq-theory, asset pricing anomalies, structural estimation

Collective intelligence: aggregation of information from neighbors in a guessing game

Complex systems show the capacity to aggregate information and to display coordinated activity. In the case of social systems the interaction of different individuals leads to the emergence of norms, trends in political positions, opinions, cultural traits, and even scientific progress. Examples of collective behavior can be observed in activities like the Wikipedia and Linux, where individuals aggregate their knowledge for the benefit of the community, and citizen science, where the potential of collectives to solve complex problems is exploited. Here, we conducted an online experiment to investigate the performance of a collective when solving a guessing problem in which each actor is endowed with partial information and placed as the nodes of an interaction network. We measure the performance of the collective in terms of the temporal evolution of the accuracy, finding no statistical difference in the performance for two classes of networks, regular lattices and random networks. We also determine that a Bayesian description captures the behavior pattern the individuals follow in aggregating information from neighbors to make decisions. In comparison with other simple decision models, the strategy followed by the players reveals a suboptimal performance of the collective. Our contribution provides the basis for the micro-macro connection between individual based descriptions and collective phenomena.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Competition in the presence of aging: order, disorder, and synchronized collective behavior

We study the stochastic dynamics of coupled states with transition probabilities depending on local persistence, this is, the time since a state has changed. When the population has a preference to adopt older states the system orders quickly due to the dominance of the old state. When preference for new states prevails, the system can show coexistence of states or synchronized collective behavior resulting in long ordering times. In this case, the magnetization $m(t)$ of the system oscillates around $m(t)=0$. Implications for social systems are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, lette

Walking Basketball Program: : Evaluation Report for Basketball Victoria

Modified sport programs were initially developed for young children and were aimed at providing an opportunity to participate in a modified version of the adult-based sport. This involved modifying the sport to suit young participants and included changing the equipment, rules and/or physical space, in an effort to make sport more accessible and enjoyable for young children. In the past seven years, this concept has been further developed to cater for adults and older adults, by accommodating those with reduced physical capabilities, such as injury rehabilitation, or for those seeking to re-engage with sport. The most popular iteration has been walking sports. Walking football (soccer) was first developed in the U.K. in 2011, before rugby, netball and basketball organisations similarly modified their rules and game structure, to make sport more accessible for those who do not engage with sport in its traditional format. In most of these walking sport programs, the participants tend to be older adults. The aim of this report was to, firstly, understand current older adult participation trends in basketball, using the Sport and Recreation Spatial project data. The second component of this report was to evaluate Basketball Victoria’s walking basketball program, by evaluating two current programs in the Melbourne metropolitan area. The evaluation involved interviewing the program facilitators and conducting focus groups with the program participants

Planned Behavior Typologies of Agricultural Education Teacher Educators Regarding Service Learning as a Method of Instruction: A National Mixed Methods Study

This study sought to understand the service-learning beliefs and intentions of agricultural education teacher educators. We collected quantitative data through a web-based survey instrument and course syllabi. Variables yielding statistically significant relationships were analyzed using cluster analysis, which produced three unique clusters operationalized as typologies representing the planned behaviors of teacher educators regarding service learning. For example, the Optimistically Unaware expressed positive beliefs about the method, but did not understand how to integrate service learning in their teaching methods courses. Meanwhile, the Policy-Focused Decision Makers used established education policy as anchors when navigating decisions, such as whether to feature service learning in their courses. Service-Learning Implementers espoused strong beliefs about the method’s potential while also emphasizing how it could be used to enrich the preparation of agriculture teachers. Results point to the potential service learning holds if integrated as a complement to teacher preparation rather than an addition to current practice

Teaching Culturally Sensitive Care to Dental Students: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Dental schools must prepare future dentists to deliver culturally sensitive care to diverse patient populations, but there is little agreement on how best to teach these skills to students. This article examines this question by exploring the historical and theoretical foundations of this area of education in dentistry, analyzes what is needed for students to learn to provide culturally sensitive care in a dental setting, and identifies the discipline-specific skills students must master to develop this competence. The problems associated with single-discipline, lecture-based approaches to teaching culturally sensitive care are outlined, and the advantages of an interdisciplinary, patient-centered, skills-based approach to teaching culturally sensitive care are described. The authors advocate for an approach to teaching culturally sensitive care that builds upon learning in the behavioral sciences, ethics, and public health. Component skills and perspectives offered by each of these curriculum areas are identified, and their contributions to the teaching of culturally sensitive care are described. Finally, the need to consider the timing of this instruction in the dental curriculum is examined, along with instructional advantages associated with an approach that is shared by faculty across the curriculum

Variation in Environmental Parameters in Research and Aquaculture: Effects on Behaviour, Physiology and Cell Biology of Teleost Fish

Over the last few years the increasing use of fish as animal models in scientific research and the increased fish breeding for human consumption have stressed the need for more knowledge on the effect of variations in environmental parameters on fish biology and on the welfare of specimens used both in research and aquaculture contexts. Experimental evidence shows that environmental variations can affect fish biology at various levels, from the molecular to that of the population, sometimes in a different way depending on the species considered. In order to achieve reproducible results in experiments involving fish it is necessary to set and maintain all environmental parameters constant at the optimal value to guarantee the wellness of the animal. The effects of the variation in environmental parameters on the behaviour, physiology and cell biology of teleosts are here discussed in order to provide useful information for research based on fish models

Relationship of blood pressure, antihypertensive therapy, and outcome in ischemic stroke treated with intravenous thrombolysis: retrospective analysis from Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-International Stroke Thrombolysis Register (SITS-ISTR)

<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> The optimal management of blood pressure (BP) in acute stroke remains unclear. For ischemic stroke treated with intravenous thrombolysis, current guidelines suggest pharmacological intervention if systolic BP exceeds 180 mm Hg. We determined retrospectively the association of BP and antihypertensive therapy with clinical outcomes after stroke thrombolysis.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> The SITS thrombolysis register prospectively recorded 11 080 treatments from 2002 to 2006. BP values were recorded at baseline, 2 hours, and 24 hours after thrombolysis. Outcomes were symptomatic (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score deterioration ≥4) intracerebral hemorrhage Type 2, mortality, and independence at (modified Rankin Score 0 to 2) 3 months. Patients were categorized by history of hypertension and antihypertensive therapy within 7 days after thrombolysis: Group 1, hypertensive treated with antihypertensives (n=5612); Group 2, hypertensive withholding antihypertensives (n=1573); Group 3, without history of hypertension treated with antihypertensives (n=995); and Group 4, without history of hypertension not treated with antihypertensives (n=2632). For 268 (2.4%) patients, these data were missing. Average systolic BP 2 to 24 hours after thrombolysis was categorized by 10-mm Hg intervals with 100 to 140 used as a reference.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> In multivariable analysis, high systolic BP 2 to 24 hours after thrombolysis as a continuous variable was associated with worse outcome (P<0.001) and as a categorical variable had a linear association with symptomatic hemorrhage and a U-shaped association with mortality and independence with systolic BP 141 to 150 mm Hg associated with most favorable outcomes. OR (95% CI) from multivariable analysis showed no difference in symptomatic hemorrhage (1.09 [0.83 to 1.51]; P=0.58) and independence (1.03 [0.93 to 1.10]; P=0.80) but lower mortality (0.82 [0.73 to 0.92]; P=0.0007) for Group 1 compared with Group 4. Group 2 had a higher symptomatic hemorrhage (1.86 [1.34 to 2.68]; P=0.0004) and mortality (1.62 [1.41 to 1.85]; P<0.0001) and lower independence (0.89 [0.80 to 0.99]; P=0.04) compared with Group 4. Group 3 had similar results as Group 1.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> There is a strong association of high systolic BP after thrombolysis with poor outcome. Withholding antihypertensive therapy up to 7 days in patients with a history of hypertension was associated with worse outcome, whereas initiation of antihypertensive therapy in newly recognized moderate hypertension was associated with a favorable outcome.</p&gt