Estimation of Continuous Time Models in Economics: an Overview

The dynamics of economic behaviour is often developed in theory as a continuous time system. Rigorous estimation and testing of such systems, and the analysis of some aspects of their properties, is of particular importance in distinguishing between competing hypotheses and the resulting models. The consequences for the international economy during the past eighteen months of failures in the financial sector, and particularly the banking sector, make it essential that the dynamics of financial and commodity markets and of macro-economic policy are well understood. The nonlinearity of the economic system means that it’s properties are heavily dependent on it’s parameter values. The estimators discussed here are tools to provide those parameter estimates.

Explaining Levels of Customer Satisfaction with First Contact with Jobcentre Plus: results of qualitative research with Jobcentre Plus Staff

This report is a follow up to the First Contact Customer Survey (Research Report 504). As a result of ongoing difficulties accessing data for sampling purposes, the initial plan to undertake qualitative follow-up research with customers was abandoned in favour of research with staff to explore process-related issues which might explain customer responses. The research was undertaken in September and October 2008 and included telephone interviews with senior staff combined with face-to-face interviews and structured observations with staff in Contact Centres, Jobcentres and Benefit Delivery Centres in four Jobcentre Plus regions. Findings relate specifically to staff perceptions of customer satisfaction with first contact

Nonprofit brand strength’s moderational role

The nature and characteristics of the nonprofit brand strength construct are conceptualized.  Brand strength is defined as a multidimensional construct, composed by brand familiarity, brand remarkability, and brand attitude.  Brand familiarity refers to the level of knowledge the target audience has about the brand object. Brand attitude refers to the degree to which a brand object is perceived favorably by a target group. Brand remarkability refers to the degree to which a brand object is perceived by a target group to be extraordinary.  In the brand management nomological net, brand strength acts as a moderator, influencing the strength of the relationship between marketing tactics (antecedents) and marketing outcomes (consequents). Brand strength’s inter-dimensional relationships are conceptualized. A brand strength strategy grid is presented, which informs brand management strategy based on a brand’s current levels of brand familiarity and brand remarkability. <p

City regions and polycentricity: the East Midlands urban network

The aims of this paper were to clarify the meaning of the terms city region and polycentricy and to then examine evidence on urban centres in the East Midlands to see how far these terms describe the present configuration of the region

Social media and live streaming : reaching and engaging fans? : the case of Facebook Live and the Queensland Maroons : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for a PhD in Sport and Exercise at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Social media has profoundly changed the way sport organisations communicate with their fans by encouraging consumers to interact directly with event and player activity. While there has been an abundance of research examining the broad effects of social media on sport organisations, there has been a paucity to date around the usage of live streaming. As such, this research explores the case of one elite sport organisation, the Queensland Maroons, and how live-streaming was incorporated into their Facebook page by using Facebook Live over the entire 2017 and 2018 State of Origin seasons. This study sought to uncover the positioning of the live streaming component within the organisation’s overall social media strategy and how live-streaming may impact fan engagement by using a multi-method approach involving semi-structured interviews with the organisation’s social media managers, a content analysis of related Facebook posts and a thematic analysis of fan responses. The findings revealed that live streaming may be disruptive to a conventional social media strategy, as not all live posts are ‘engaging’ by design. However, live streaming can be an engaging proposition when it provides exclusive content that allows the fan to experience authentic insights into the rituals and traditions of their favourite sport team and athletes in ‘real-time’. Furthermore, live streaming may provide an immersive experience, and encourage fan-to-fan interaction and fan-to-sport organisation interaction, resulting in a sense of community and fan engagement. Three unique management challenges were identified: (1) access to athletes; (2) live-streaming resourcing and (3) understanding and determining ‘engaging’ live streams. Consequently, a conceptual model was formed to assist sport organisations to provide a strategic, structured approach to social media, of which live streaming can be a critical, useful component. It provides seven categories of live videos on a scale of engagement and ways in which fans may respond to these posts to assist sport managers to plan specific content to encourage interaction and fan engagement

An Investigation of the Impact of a Supervision Intervention on Secondary Traumatic Stress Responses Among Counselors Treating Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse

Novice counselors who have high trauma caseloads are at risk for secondary traumatic stress (STS) responses, which can impact their ability to function effectively in professional counseling roles. Supervision is one factor frequently conceptualized to have an impact on STS responses in counselors; however, there is a dearth of literature regarding specific supervision interventions that are evidence-based to reduce or prevent STS responses among counselors treating trauma, specifically child survivors of sexual abuse (CSSA). Due to the absence of supervision intervention studies among counselors working with this population, the current study implemented an experimental single case research design to measure the effectiveness of an affective check-in supervision intervention in reducing STS responses in counselors working with CSSA

Punching Nazis?: Preaching as Anti-Fascist Resistance

In this essay I examine contours of fascism and anti-fascism through which we must interpret the current political climate in the USA. I suggest that anti-fascist preaching is a necessary response to fascism and proto-fascism, and I press for more aggressive, illiberal homiletical responses in the age of Trump. In order to meet a minimal definition of homiletical anti-fascist resistance, as I define it, preachers and homileticians need to actively, explicitly preach and lead in ways that intentionally render churches dangerous places for racist, fascist or proto-fascist expression – and perhaps simultaneously render them havens for those who are the targets of racism, fascism and proto-fascism. If Christian preaching had been intentionally and explicitly anti-racist and anti-fascist throughout the past century, the present political situation in which we find ourselves and the scars of fascism which haunt our country and the world might look much differently today

Vol. 2 Ch. 9 Ohio Hopewell as Food Producers, Regional Intensification of the Domestication Process

https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/encountering_hopewell/1019/thumbnail.jp