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Forrest Research estimated that revenues derived from mobile devices will grow at an annual rate of 39% to reach $31 billion by 2016. With the tremendous market growth, mobile banking, mobile marketing, and mobile retailing have been recently introduced to satisfy customer needs. Academic and practical articles have widely discussed unique features of m-commerce. For instance, hardware constraints such as small screens have led to the discussion of tradeoff between usability and mobility. Needs for personalization and entertainment foster the development of new mobile data services. Given distinct features of mobile data services, existing empirical literature on m-commerce is mostly from the consumer side and focuses on consumer perceptions toward these features and their adoption intentions. From the supply side, limited data availability in early years explains the lack of firm-level studies on m-commerce. Prior studies have shown that unclear market demand is a major reason that hinders firms' adoption of m-commerce. Given the advances of smart phones, especially the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, firms recently have started to incorporate various mobile information systems in their business operations. The study uses mobile retailing as the context and empirically assesses firms' migration to this new sales venue with a unique cross-sectional dataset. Despite the distinct features of m-commerce, m-Retailing is essentially an extended arm of e-Retailing. Thus, a dependency perspective is used to explore the link between a firm's e-Retail characteristics and the migration to m-Retailing. Rooted in the innovation diffusion theory, the first stage of my study assesses the decision of adoption that indicates whether a firm moves to m-Retailing and the extent of adoption that shows a firm's commitment to m-Retailing in terms of system implementation choices. In this first stage, I take a dependency perspective to examine the impacts of e-Retail characteristics on m-Retailing adoption. The second stage of my study analyzes conditions that affect business value of the m-Retail channel. I examine the association between system implementation choices and m-Retail performance while analyzing the effects of e-Retail characteristics on value realization. The two-stage analysis provides an exploratory assessment of firm's migration from e-Retailing to m-Retailing.
ContributorsChou, Yen-Chun (Author) / Shao, Benjamin (Thesis advisor) / St. Louis, Robert (Committee member) / Goul, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In the digital humanities, there is a constant need to turn images and PDF files into plain text to apply analyses such as topic modelling, named entity recognition, and other techniques. However, although there exist different solutions to extract text embedded in PDF files or run OCR on images, they typically require additional training (for example, scholars have to learn how to use the command line) or are difficult to automate without programming skills. The Giles Ecosystem is a distributed system based on Apache Kafka that allows users to upload documents for text and image extraction. The system components are implemented using Java and the Spring Framework and are available under an Open Source license on GitHub (https://github.com/diging/).
ContributorsLessios-Damerow, Julia (Contributor) / Peirson, Erick (Contributor) / Laubichler, Manfred (Contributor) / ASU-SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems (Contributor)
Created2017-09-28
Description
Mathematical epidemiology, one of the oldest and richest areas in mathematical biology, has significantly enhanced our understanding of how pathogens emerge, evolve, and spread. Classical epidemiological models, the standard for predicting and managing the spread of infectious disease, assume that contacts between susceptible and infectious individuals depend on their relative frequency in the population. The behavioral factors that underpin contact rates are not generally addressed. There is, however, an emerging a class of models that addresses the feedbacks between infectious disease dynamics and the behavioral decisions driving host contact. Referred to as “economic epidemiology” or “epidemiological economics,” the approach explores the determinants of decisions about the number and type of contacts made by individuals, using insights and methods from economics. We show how the approach has the potential both to improve predictions of the course of infectious disease, and to support development of novel approaches to infectious disease management.
ContributorsPerrings, Charles (Author) / Castillo-Chavez, Carlos (Author) / Chowell-Puente, Gerardo (Author) / Daszak, Peter (Author) / Fenichel, Eli P. (Author) / Finnoff, David (Author) / Horan, Richard D. (Author) / Kilpatrick, A. Marm (Author) / Kinzig, Ann (Author) / Kuminoff, Nicolai (Author) / Levin, Simon (Author) / Morin, Benjamin (Author) / Smith, Katherine F. (Author) / Springborn, Michael (Author) / Simon M. Levin Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Sciences Center (Contributor) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Economics (Contributor) / Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2015-12-01
Description
Because collective cognition emerges from local signaling among group members, deciphering communication systems is crucial to understanding the underlying mechanisms. Alarm signals are widespread in the social insects and can elicit a variety of behavioral responses to danger, but the functional plasticity of these signals has not been well studied. Here we report an alarm pheromone in the ant Temnothorax rugatulus that elicits two different behaviors depending on context. When an ant was tethered inside an unfamiliar nest site and unable to move freely, she released a pheromone from her mandibular gland that signaled other ants to reject this nest as a potential new home, presumably to avoid potential danger. When the same pheromone was presented near the ants' home nest, they were instead attracted to it, presumably to respond to a threat to the colony. We used coupled gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to identify candidate compounds from the mandibular gland and tested each one in a nest choice bioassay. We found that 2,5-dimethylpyrazine was sufficient to induce rejection of a marked new nest and also to attract ants when released at the home nest. This is the first detailed investigation of chemical communication in the leptothoracine ants. We discuss the possibility that this pheromone's deterrent function can improve an emigrating colony's nest site selection performance.
ContributorsSasaki, Takao (Author) / Hoelldobler, Bert (Author) / Millar, Jocelyn G. (Author) / Pratt, Stephen (Author) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / ASU-SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems (Contributor) / Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity (Contributor)
Created2014-09-01
Description
While non-invasive breast cancer treatments may be considered less costly in the short-term, over the course of a lifetime, a more aggressive treatment can be overall less costly, especially with recurrence cases; however, these more aggressive treatments are not necessarily covered by insurance and are difficult to discuss in the short amount of time in physician consultations. This analysis studied data from 982 women diagnosed with breast cancer over a five-year period to evaluate monetary costs associated with treatment options and incorporated five in-depth interviews to understand experiences and non-monetary costs. Data showed the most expensive option was a unilateral mastectomy with radiation therapy and the least costly option was breast conserving surgery. Interviews determined each woman evaluated the monetary costs with each treatment but most heavily focused on personal values, biases and recommended opinions when deciding on a treatment. The use of prompt sheets before physician appointments and consultations, along with the addition of financial counselor meeting with each patient can improve patient satisfaction and alleviate stress by simplifying a woman's choice in deciding a treatment. In addition, increased insurance coverage to include every treatment chosen by women (rather than on a case-by-case basis), specifically contralateral prophylactic mastectomy and additional screening options, could decrease long term costs \u2014 both monetarily and in quality of life for patients.
ContributorsOsumi, Alana (Author) / LaRosa, Julia (Thesis director) / Sivanantham, Jai (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
In 2016, in the United States alone, the cosmetics industry made an estimated 62.46 billion dollars in revenue (Revenue of the Cosmetic Industry in the U.S. 2002-2016 | Forecast). With a consistent increase in sales in the last several years, the industry has reached continued success even during times of hardship, such as the Great Recession of 2008. The use of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), external campaigns, and thoughtful packaging and ingredients resonates with targeted consumers. This has served as an effective strategy to maintain growth in the industry. Cosmetic companies promote their brand image using these sustainability tactics, but there seems to be a lack of transparency in this unregulated industry. The purpose of this thesis is to determine if the cosmetics industry is a good steward of the sustainability movement. Important terms and concepts relating to the industry will be discussed, then an analysis of sustainability focused cosmetic brands will be provided, which highlights the extent to which these brands engage in activities that promote sustainability. This is followed by an application of findings to a company that could benefit from using such practices. Overall, the analysis of the different brands proved to be shocking and disappointing. This is due to the sheer amount that scored very poorly based on the sustainability criteria developed. The cosmetics industry is too inconsistent and too unregulated to truly act as a good steward for sustainability. Though some companies in the industry succeed, these accomplishments are not consistent across all cosmetic companies. Hence, the cosmetics industry as a good steward for sustainability can only be as strong as its weakest link.
ContributorsMamus, Sydney Wasescha (Author) / Ostrom, Amy (Thesis director) / Kristofferson, Kirk (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This report was commissioned to provide an analysis and evaluation of consumer perceptions and branding as it relates to the political and social climate in America. To be able to do this, the paper analyzes shifts in the external environment as well as researching case studies and online consumer perception surveys. Overall, this paper aims to examine the distributed survey and attempt to correlate and identify how branding, consumer perceptions, and social and political issues all can work and affect one another. Through the administration of this survey, we were able to formulate a conclusion that points towards the importance of brands actively adhering to changing consumer preferences, ideals, and expectations.
ContributorsClark, Sydney (Co-author) / Loera, Carolina (Co-author) / Montoya, Detra (Thesis director) / Samper, Adriana (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The use of generalized linear models in loss reserving is not new; many statistical models have been developed to fit the loss data gathered by various insurance companies. The most popular models belong to what Glen Barnett and Ben Zehnwirth in "Best Estimates for Reserves" call the "extended link ratio family (ELRF)," as they are developed from the chain ladder algorithm used by actuaries to estimate unpaid claims. Although these models are intuitive and easy to implement, they are nevertheless flawed because many of the assumptions behind the models do not hold true when fitted with real-world data. Even more problematically, the ELRF cannot account for environmental changes like inflation which are often observed in the status quo. Barnett and Zehnwirth conclude that a new set of models that contain parameters for not only accident year and development period trends but also payment year trends would be a more accurate predictor of loss development. This research applies the paper's ideas to data gathered by Company XYZ. The data was fitted with an adapted version of Barnett and Zehnwirth's new model in R, and a trend selection algorithm was developed to accompany the regression code. The final forecasts were compared to Company XYZ's booked reserves to evaluate the predictive power of the model.
ContributorsZhang, Zhihan Jennifer (Author) / Milovanovic, Jelena (Thesis director) / Tomita, Melissa (Committee member) / Zicarelli, John (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This research aims to look at the lower level collegiate athletics, Intramural sports and club sports, in comparison to Division 1 varsity athletics to see how their sport lives differ and why they are still competing when the reward does not seem as grand as the Varsity athletics. The findings show that the socially ingrained aspect of sports is the reason that most lower level athletes keep competing.
ContributorsHarvey, Abigail (Author) / Jonsson, Hjorleifur (Thesis director) / Jackson, Victoria (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This report will provide an analysis of frontier market equity-based investment funds with respect to bivariate correlation analysis, global integration analysis, and US optimized portfolio statistics. My analysis has indicated strong diversification benefits of including frontier market equities in a US portfolio, given its low correlation to US equity concentrated portfolios especially portfolios that would consist of midcap and smallcap stocks. With the drawbacks of the bivariate correlation test, an additional global integration analysis has been included to reaffirm the value frontier markets offer in the form of integration. Integration is a second layer of the diversification analysis. I find that when analyzing frontier markets (FM) against developed markets (DM) there exhibits significantly less integration as compared to emerging markets against developed markets. This analysis goes one step further and quantifies integration of specific frontier market funds against the broader emerging and developed markets. This study finds that iShares MSCI frontier 100 ETF (Ticker: FM) exhibits the least integration amongst Guggenheim Frontier Markets ETF (Ticker: FRN), Templeton Frontier Markets A (Ticker: TFMAX), and Morgan Stanley Frontier Emg (Ticker: MFMIX). Lastly, this analysis covers the inadequacy with using Sharpe ratios and minimum volatility parameters to achieve portfolio optimization under a Monte-Carlo style 1000 portfolio simulation with frontier market funds in a broader US equity portfolio but finds better results when using a US equity and US bond combination portfolio. Overall, this analysis of frontier markets and frontier market funds has shown there still exists significant diversification benefits to US Investors when they engage in FM investments, specifically through diversified FM investment funds.
ContributorsHardy, Gunner Laine (Author) / Pruitt, Seth (Thesis director) / Brada, Josef (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05