7,370 research outputs found
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
- …