5916 research outputs found
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Can the marketing department benefit from socially responsible marketing activities? The role of legitimacy and customers’ interest in social responsibility
No full textPurpose: In a world where corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a meaningful trend valued by firm stakeholders, it is still not clear how the marketing department integrates corporate-level social responsibility strategy into its departmental activities i.e. socially responsible marketing activities (SRMA) and whether such activities can benefit the department. Using legitimacy as the underlying theoretical explanation, this paper aims to study two instrumental returns from SRMA at the marketing department level, i.e. marketing department’s performance – impact outside the firm on multiple marketing-related outcomes and influence within the firm – the power of the marketing department compared to other departments. Design/methodology/approach: Three studies were performed. Study 1 is a survey that offers a validated measure of SRMA and examines its relationship with the focal outcome variables. Study 2 is also a survey that investigates the mediating role of the marketing department’s legitimacy and the moderating role of customers’ interest in social responsibility and uses actual sales data of firms. Study 3 is an experiment that examines the main findings in a controlled setting using participants other than marketing executives i.e. chief executive officers. Findings: Study 1 shows that SRMA is different than the closely related variable socially responsible business strategy and is positively related to the marketing department’s performance and influence within the firm. Study 2 complements these findings by demonstrating these impacts are mediated by the marketing department’s legitimacy and strengthened with higher customers’ interest in social responsibility. Study 3 sets the causality between the focal variables and the mediating role of legitimacy. Research limitations/implications: This work extends the study of firm-level CSR to the department- and implementation-level, in the context of marketing departments. It reveals the underlying mechanism driving the positive impact of SRMA, i.e. legitimacy, and identifies a moderating condition, i.e. customers’ interest in social responsibility. It further extends research on the role of the marketing department and its contribution to firm performance. Practical implications: Marketers can benefit from the reported findings by understanding when and how CSR-related, domain-specific activities that feature the traditional responsibilities of marketing, including market research, customer relationship management and the product, promotions, price and place (4Ps) may be reshaped to include a broader set of stakeholders and a socially responsible angle and thereby generate more legitimacy and impact – inside and outside the firm. Originality/value: This study provides a novel perspective on how marketing departments evaluate CSR in their daily activities where such engagement vests increasing returns to the marketing department and underpins the successful implementation of CSR. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.Marketing Science Institute ; D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern Universit
Development of polycaprolactone biodegradable films reinforced with silver-doped organoclay and effect on the microbiological quality of ground beef meat
No full textIn this work, a comparative study was held to obtain biodegradable antibacterial nanocomposite films using polycaprolactone (PCL) and silver-ion-doped organomodified halloysite (HNT) and montmorillonite (MMT) nanoclays. The PCL-based nanocomposite films (PNFs) were characterized in terms of thickness, mechanical, thermal, morphological, molecular, color, gas barrier, and antibacterial activity properties. The PNFs were also tested for enhancement of microbiological quality of ground beef. The addition of the Ag-doped nanoclays provided improved mechanical (tensile strength [TS] and elongation at break [EB]) and barrier (water vapor and oxygen permeability) properties in comparison to the pure PCL film. PNF formation increased the crystallization temperature (Tc) of pure PCL by about 1°C and decreased the crystallinity (Xc) from 44.8% to 41.3%. The PNFs exhibited strong in vitro antibacterial activity against the test pathogens and bacteriostatic effect on natural bacterial load of ground beef meat during the storage, thus providing it better microbiological quality. Novelty impact statement: This work focuses on the production and characterization of new packaging materials reinforced with silver-ion-doped halloysite and montmorillonite nanoclays and improving the microbial quality of ground beef meat by this material. PCL-based nanocomposite films reinforced with Ag-doped nanoclays had enhanced mechanical and barrier properties and gained in vitro antibacterial activity. Additionally, its antibacterial potential in food applications was demonstrated by the ground beef meat packaging studies.Yildiz Technical Universit
Head-motion-aware viewport margins for improving user experience in immersive video
No full textViewport-dependent delivery (VDD) is a technique to save network resources during the transmission of immersive videos. However, it results in a non-zero motion-to-high-quality delay (MTHQD), which is the delta time from the moment where the current viewport has at least one low-quality tile to when all the tiles in the new viewport are rendered in high quality. MTHQD is an important metric in the evaluation of the VDD systems. This paper improves an earlier concept called viewport margins by introducing head-motion awareness. The primary benefit of this improvement is the reduction (up to 64%) in the average MTHQD
On the existence, uniqueness, and stability of periodic waves for the fractional Benjamin–Bona–Mahony equation
No full textThe existence, uniqueness, and stability of periodic traveling waves for the fractional Benjamin–Bona–Mahony equation is considered. In our approach, we give sufficient conditions to prove a uniqueness result for the single-lobe solution obtained by a constrained minimization problem. The spectral stability is then shown by determining that the associated linearized operator around the wave restricted to the orthogonal of the tangent space related to the momentum and mass at the periodic wave has no negative eigenvalues. We propose the Petviashvili's method to investigate the spectral stability of the periodic waves for the fractional Benjamin–Bona–Mahony equation, numerically. Some remarks concerning the orbital stability of periodic traveling waves are also presented.Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior ; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico eTecnologico ; FundacaoAraucari
From Constantinople to Rome along the via militaris
No full textThe Mediterranean that we are describing in the Medways research is divided in two parts by an ancient line. This line
dates back to the time of Diocletian who introduced the tetrarchy dividing the Roman Empire into separate administrative
domains, one in the East and one in the West. Perhaps this line has shifted today from its original position, but
it is still there, and the ongoing war in Ukraine seems to be a consequence of that very same line. In order to reconnect
these two divided parts of the Mediterranean, and of the surrounding landscapes, we would like to build a narrative related
to the road that connected the two capitals of the Eastern and Western Roman Empire. We will poetically move, as in
an imitation game, from Constantinople to Rome along the so-called via militaris. This route was actually a network of
roads that connected the two capitals of the empire through the Balkans. The via militaris gradually replaced by importance
the older via Egnatia, which connected Constantinople to Durrës, then across the Adriatic Sea to Brindisi, and finally
to Rome along the Via Appia. After the tetrarchy, when the Empire moved its gravity centre towards the Balkan area, the
via militaris became the main infrastructure of an itinerant principality. It is no coincidence that Constantine the Great
was born in a city along this path, Naissus (Nis).Publisher versio
Exploring the social logic of preschool environments structured with Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia A semantic and syntactic study on preschool environments
No full textKindergartens are socio-spatial organizations with their social and cultural as well as their spatial structures which prepare children to be responsible members of the society. In the early years of the twentieth century, the issue of how to raise new generations was one of the primary research areas of many educational scientists, especially in Europe, and therefore different progressive pedagogical methods were generated. Among these views, the Waldorf pedagogical approach developed by Rudolf Steiner, Montessori pedagogical approach developed by Maria Montessori, and Reggio Emilia pedagogical approach developed by Loris Malaguzzi became prominent. Although these three pedagogical approaches have a common view that the child should be accepted as an individual with his/her rights, each of them involved different physical environment requirements in the context of their educational philosophies. The projects obtained in an architectural design studio course constitute the focus of this paper and it aims to decipher the semantic and syntactic characteristics based on twelve student projects. The semantic dimension of the study was revealed by coding the related themes through students’ project reports while the syntactic dimension of the study demonstrated the prioritized social interaction area through isovist area and variance values. Considering the semantic results, it was revealed that the students not only comprehended the spatial requirements of a specific educational pedagogy but also grasped the transformative power of the methods, in terms of physical, social, and natural characteristics. Considering the syntactic results, the fact that the mean isovist area value was higher in Reggio Emilia schools showed that the piazza dominates the physical setting. The fact that the school cluster with the highest variance value emerged in Montessori draws attention to the changeability of isovist perimeter value within the interiors to orientate the individuals to the classroom units
The effect of COVID‐related EU state aid on the level playing field for airlines
No full textState aid for airlines around the world has been a common practice during the COVID‐19 pandemic, as the air transport was one of the sectors most heavily affected. This study analyzes 27 cases of state aid to EU airlines between 1 March 2020 and 30 September 2021 with a total amount of €85 billion. The information was obtained from the area of competition of the European Commission (EC), which is the entity responsible for final approval. Results indicate that the largest EU economies (Germany and France), as well as some Northern European countries, are supporting national airlines more extensively. Airlines with a weaker financial performance before the pandemic were more likely to receive state aid. Government involvement in the airline industry during the recent health crisis will have an important influence on the level playing field (LPF) for airlines. It is still unclear how this will evolve in the future, but it seems that some airlines now resemble the public flag companies of the past.Publisher versio
Shelter from the storm: health service access and utilization among Syrian refugees in Turkey
No full textAim: Since 2011, the conflict in Syria has led to the migration of 5.6 million refugees, mainly to neighbouring countries. By the start of 2019, over 3.5 million people had moved to Turkey to seek safety, meaning that Turkey is hosting the majority of these refugees. Most of them are today settled in urban and peri-urban locations. A large part of the health services of these populations had been cut before their move, leaving a significant population that had been unprotected and under-provided for. The Turkish health system has provided a cost-free way for these populations to use health services, especially public health services at the primary and secondary levels. The objective of this study was to identify the size and the geography of the health shock as a result of the Syrian influx, starting in 2011. The resulting health effects of the refugee integration and the resilience of the health system are also assessed. Subject and methods: We investigated the medical treatment given in public hospitals for the Syrian population for the years 2012–2014, at the primary and secondary health levels. We investigated 10,444,290 cases of health visits, 7,211,342 of them occurring at the secondary level and representing more than 70% of total applications. The overall coverage of the health system for the Syrian population is estimated to be 64%, with 115,000 live-births among Syrian refugees occurring in the same time period. Results: Since the influx of Syrian refugees, there has been a considerable shock to the regional part of the Turkish health system located closest to the Syrian border. From the Syrian refugee point of view, no significant over-crowding or lowered quality effect was observed in the health system. The Syrian refugee’s health demand was observed to be different from that of the Turkish average, as this population’s unique vulnerabilities and access evolution came to the fore. However, significant convergence was then observed in the health demand, as urgent needs were converted into more routine health requirements over time. Conclusion: This initial investigation of the Turkish health system after the Syrian integration underlies the case for a significant resilience being shown, especially in areas where it has been most severely tested
HYGAR: a hybrid genetic algorithm for software architecture recovery
No full textGenetic algorithms have been used for clustering modules of a software system in line with the modularity principle. The goal of these algorithms is to recover an architectural view in the form of a modular structural decomposition of the system. We discuss design decisions and variations in existing genetic algorithms devised for this purpose. We introduce HYGAR, a novel hybrid variant of existing algorithms. We apply HYGAR for software architecture recovery of 5 real systems and compare its effectiveness with respect to a baseline and a state-of-the-art hybrid algorithm. Results show that HYGAR outperforms these algorithms in maximizing the modularity of the obtained clustering.TÜBİTA
Döviz piyasalarında ortak hareket dinamikleri ve küresel faktörler: Gelişen piyasalardan bulgular
No full textEmerging markets are particularly different from developed markets as they possess vulnerability, easily disturbed by financial crises, and not completely liberalized. Some global shocks such as Covid-19 and 2018 global financial crisis easily affect the emerging markets in especially currency-based systems. Therefore, it is important to investigate the impacts of global factors on their currencies in the last few decades. The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate the effects of global factors on emerging markets between the years of 2009-2021. The cluster was narrowed by PCA analysis and regression analysis was performed on the factors obtained as a result of the analysis. Then, the analysis was made to minimize the average loss that will occur due to restructuring with the factors included in the PCA analysis results and to compare the movements of the currencies of developing countries within themselves with the regression results. Empirical tests are implemented into three different time periods to understand the effects of global factors: • High Liquidity Market Regime (January 2009 – June 2013) • Monetary Tightening Market Regime (July 2013 – December 2019) • The Emerging Markets in Pandemic (January 2020 – August 2021) The findings show that the currencies of the developing countries are highly correlated with the Dollar Index, MSCI World Index and EURUSD parity, but also it is observed that they are correlated with the commodity markets in times of crisis. On the other hand, even the emerging markets countries do not diverge from each other much during the global financial crisis, it is analyzed that the currencies of the countries that have difficulties in their domestic monetary and fiscal policies such as Turkey and Argentina are decomposed from the emerging markets currencies in all periods regardless of the type of crises.Birçok ülke, son birkaç yılda gelişmekte olan ülke ve pazar kategorisinde yer almaktadır. Bu tür piyasalara gelişen piyasalar denir. Kırılgan olmaları, finansal krizlerden kolayca etkilenmeleri ve tamamen serbestleşmemeleri nedeniyle gelişmiş piyasalardan özellikle farklıdırlar. Covid-19 ve 2018 küresel finans krizi gibi bazı küresel faktörler özellikle para bazlı sistemlerde yükselen piyasaları kolaylıkla etkilemektedir. Bu nedenle, küresel faktörlerin son birkaç yılda para birimleri üzerindeki etkilerini araştırmak önemlidir. Bu tezin temel amacı, 2009-2021 döneminde küresel faktörlerin gelişmekte olan piyasalar üzerindeki etkilerini araştırmaktır. Gelişmekte olan piyasa para birimleri için veriler 2009 – 2021 arası yılları kapsayacak şekilde toplanmıştır. PCA analizi ile küme daraltılarak, analiz sonucu elde edilen faktörler üzerine regresyon analizi yapılmıştır. Ardından, PCA analiz sonuçlarında yer alan faktörler ile yeniden yapılandırılmaya bağlı olarak oluşacak ortalama hata payının minimize edilmesi ve gelişmekte olan ülke para birimlerinin kendi içlerinde hareketlerinin regresyon sonuçlarıyla karşılaştırılması için analiz yapılmıştır. Global faktörlerin etkilerinin anlaşılması için üç farklı dönem seçilmiştir: • Yüksek Likidite Rejimi (Ocak 2009 – Haziran 2013) • Sıkı Para Politikası Rejimi (Temmuz 2013 – Aralık 2019) • Pandemi Döneminde Gelişmekte Olan Ülkeler (Ocak 2020 – Ağustos 2021) Bulgular, gelişmekte olan ülke para birimlerinin Dolar Endeksi, MSCI Dünya Endeksi ve EURUSD paritesi ile yüksek korelasyona sahip olduğunu göstermek ile birlikte, kriz dönemlerinde emtia piyasaları ile de korele olduğunu göstermiştir. Öte yandan, gelişmekte olan ülkeler küresel Finansal kriz döneminde birbirlerinden çok ayrışmasa da Arjantin ve Türkiye gibi kendi iç parasal ve mali politikalarında sıkıntı yaşayan ülke para birimlerinin krizlerden bağımsız olarak tüm dönemlerde ayrıştığı görülmektedir