Investors’ attention and overpricing of IPO: an empirical study on China’s growth enterprise market

In China, the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) is a brand new market that provides an additional way of financing for firms with good growth potential. Whereas there has been a massive amount of stocks breaking on the first trading day since 2010, the risk of IPO’s overpricing in China’s GEM has drawn more and more attention in recent years. Based on the theory of behavioral finance and limited attention, investors’ attention may be a quite indicative determinant to the IPO overpricing. Accordingly, we collected data from Internet including online stock forums and search engines, then built multiple investors’ attention metrics that were distinct to the traditional metrics from the offline stock market. In the empirical study, we built regression models to dig out the determinants of IPO’s overpricing and found that the hybrid model containing both online metrics and financial metrics outperformed the others considerably. The adjusted R-square of the hybrid model containing both online metrics and financial metrics is as high as 82.8%, in contrast to 18.2% for the model containing only the financial metrics and 59.3% for that containing only investors’ attention.     

The disclosure of an Android smartphone’s digital footprint respecting the Instant Messaging utilizing Skype and MSN

As Android Operating System (OS) for mobile computing devices become one of the major trends, the utilization of smartphones set the record for global users and they are taking advantages of the contemporary Instant Messaging (IM) as a convenient tool to communicate with global users in real time because of its competitive rate, high availability, robust reliability, and agile mobility. Undoubtedly, as IM has gradually become one of the channels to commit the cybercrime, the digital evidence collection, analysis, and preservation of the non-volatile data from the Random Access Memory (RAM) of the computing device in terms of cyber trails that were unknowingly left on the crime scene. Hence, this research conducts the design of the experiments to fulfill the essence of contribution of the paper. The Skype Chat and MSN are the popular IM tools, which are widely utilized in contemporary digital era. This paper provides a generic paradigm for the digital forensics specialists and law enforcement agencies to ponder if similar situations are faced.     

Developing business analytic capabilities for combating e-commerce identity fraud: A study of Trustev’s digital verification solution

Given the significant growth in e-commerce, organizations are seeking novel capabilities and technological innovations to deal simultaneously with the volume of data generated and the need to combat potentially damaging fraudulent activity. Although recent studies identify business analytics (BA) as a potential means of combating fraud, significant inroads into the interrelationships between capabilities and the articulation of a pathway to analytical capability have yet to be made. This study presents an investigation of Trustev, a global provider of digital verification technology, and its development of the profile-based social fingerprinting fraud detection solution. Adopting an interpretive structural modeling technique for data analysis, we construct a framework and reveal a road map for organizations to become analytically capable in online fraud detection. Our study adds to the discourse of the application of BA to combat online fraud.     

Visually impaired people and the emerging connected TV: a comparative study of TV and Web applications’ accessibility

With the TV signal digitization and the current market growth of connected TVs, the authors envision the appearance of accessibility barriers to visually impaired persons. The paper addresses the following hypothesis: (1) visually impaired users want to extend their TV usage to explore new TV features; (2) TV applications are in less conformance with accessibility guidelines compared to their Desktop versions. Additionally, the authors wanted to assess whether guideline conformance reflected real TV accessibility problems experienced by users. The methods used for this study included surveys aimed at characterizing the interest of the visually impaired population regarding the use of TV, and specifically of Web applications on TV, an automated accessibility evaluation to compare TV and Desktop versions of the same Web application, to understand their conformance with accessibility guidelines, and a user study where participants with visual impairments were asked to perform some tasks on both versions. From the survey, we confirmed that people with visual disabilities are interested in extra features on their TV. Results from the automated accessibility evaluation show that TV applications are in a significantly better level of conformance with accessibility guidelines. The user study has illustrated that users were unable to complete any task using the TV versions of the applications. The results from these studies demonstrated that the new features that come with connected TVs still have a long way to go in order to be accessible by all. Furthermore, they lead us to concur with other works that automated evaluations are not enough to assess the accessibility of a Web page.     

The realignment of offshoring frame disputes (OFD): an ethnographic ‘cultural’ analysis

In Information Systems (IS) research on cross-cultural issues, cultural categories are typically introduced as analytical labels that explain why and how organizational groups in different parts of the world act and think differently. However, broad cultural categories can also be discursively mobilized by organizational members as strategic adaptive resources. Drawing on an ethnographic study of offshoring frame disputes (OFD) in an Indian subsidiary unit of a large Western information technology (IT) organization, this paper explores how members actively invoke a series of beliefs about Western culture and implicitly position them as the binary opposite of Eastern (or Indian) culture. The findings demonstrate how the mobilization of such beliefs eventually plays a vital role in the reconciliation of four different types of OFD. Drawing on this analysis, I build a social–psychological process model that explains how frame extensions trigger a cognitive reorganization process, leading to the accomplishment of OFD realignment. The paper argues that discursively invoked binary cultural categories help maintain non-confrontational definitions of situations and sustain working relationships in IT offshoring environments. Furthermore, interpretations linked to cultural notions seem to reflexively take the offshore–onshore power differentials into account.     

Users’ perception of open source usability: an empirical study

The number of open source software (OSS) users has increased in recent years. No longer are they limited to technically adept software developers. Many believe that the OSS market share could increase tremendously provided OSS had systems that were easier to use. Although examples of good usable open source software exist, it is agreed that OSS can be made more usable. This study presents an empirical investigation into the impact of some key factors on OSS usability from the end users’ point of view. The research model studies and establishes the relationship between the key usability factors from the users’ perspective and OSS usability. A data set of 102 OSS users from 13 open source projects of various sizes was used to study the research model. The results of this study provide empirical evidence by indicating that the highlighted key factors play a significant role in improving OSS usability.     

Web-based self- and peer-assessment of teachers’ digital competencies

Although there exist several alternative frameworks and standards for describing the digital competencies expected from teachers, there is a lack of Web-based assessment tools that allow authentic, reliable and valid assessment of these competencies. This paper addresses the design challenges related to a software solution for self- and peer-assessment of teachers’ digital competencies. The empirical part of the paper describes the participatory design process and results from the first user testing of a Web-based self- and peer-assessment tool DigiMina, which supports teachers in building and sharing a personal competency profile. In DigiMina, the competencies are assessed by a teacher herself or by her peers using the performance indicators that are based on the competency model NETS for Teachers created by the International Society of Technology in Education.     

Commerce-oriented revenue models for content providers: an experimental study of commerciality’s effect on credibility

If content providers want to build successful businesses on the Internet, they have to establish viable revenue models online. Because selling content or ads is less profitable online than offline, content providers have begun to generate revenues by selling products or services related to their content. However, this incentivizes content providers to increase sales by manipulating their content and thus may harm the content’s credibility. We conducted a vignette-based online experiment to test the effect of content providers’ revenue models on the credibility of two different types of content. Although our results revealed significant differences between revenue models for one of the content types, we did not find evidence that users distrust content providers employing commerce-oriented revenue models. Our findings shed light on the relationship between credibility and monetization of content on the Internet and provide helpful insights for practitioners in the media industry regarding optimal revenue generation strategies.     

Impact of digital content on young children’s reading interest and concentration for books

This study investigates the influence of digital content on mobile devices including flash animations, app books, and augmented reality (AR) books on children's reading interest and reading concentration for books. The factors responsible for the aforementioned influence were also investigated. The results from this research show that flash animation can significantly increase the interest in reading and concentration. AR books and app books led children to become more interested in storybooks but significantly decreased their reading concentration. Following a comparison of the digital content, it was concluded that all the tested prototypes could positively increase the reading interest of children in the same-storyline books. However, prototypes with a high level of interactivity could have a negative influence on children’s reading concentration. The research findings are important in determining how to design digital content for children.     

Reflection of people’s professions on social media platforms

Neural Computing and Applications - John Holland asserts that most people are one of the six personality types such as realistic, social, investigative, entrepreneurial, traditional, and artistic....     

Parental perspectives on children’s use of portable digital devices

Small portable digital devices (PDDs) – tablets and smartphones – are becoming increasingly popular among children at early ages. In this qualitative study, we applied the theoretical frameworks of self-efficacy and othermothering to examine the perspectives of parents from rural areas regarding the role of PDDs in children of early and primary education age (4–7 years old). We conducted in-depth interviews with parents, observed children at home, and collected artefacts related to children’s PDDs use to capture daily habits, experiences, and attitudes from different angles. Data revealed that parents supported PDDs as entertainment and learning tools. Parents reported improvements in dexterity, memory, attention, and linguistic and mathematical skills, and believed that PDDs positively affect children’s cognitive development. During observations, children exhibited versatility and skill with app navigation for entertainment and educational purposes. Children completed tasks in an independent and efficacious manner that reinforced engagement. Parents seemed to unconsciously transfer to PDDs a cognitive and social role that created another parenting modality as in othermothering. Parents, meanwhile, appeared concerned with uncontrolled overuse of PDDs by children. These findings suggest that parents from rural areas view PDDs as tools that pose opportunities and challenges for entertainment and learning.     

Predicting customer behavior in the market-space: a study of Rayport and Sviokla’s framework

The rapidly evolving phenomenon of the World Wide Web and the creation of a new international arena for electronic commerce have expanded the possibilities for the marketing of products and services. The role played by customer behavior in the market-space is still not entirely understood and calls for investigations into the significance of customer attitudes and loyalty. In this article, a model is developed; it examines the significance of content, context, and infrastructure in determining customer loyalty. An empirical study involving 145 subjects was conducted to test this model and to gain a better understanding of the relationship between customer belief about a Web site (specifically, an e-publishing site) and customer behavior (such as attitudes toward brand and customer loyalty).The results indicate that customer attitude is influenced by belief about brand equity (value), which is affected by the content, context, and infrastructure. Customer loyalty is determined by attitude and belief about the context in which the products or services are offered. These findings provide a better understanding of customer behavior associated with Web sites in the market-space, also confirm the proposition of Rayport and Sviokla that ‘customer loyalty is developed at the context level’.     

Between fascination and concern: an exploratory study of senior citizens’ attitudes towards synthetic biology and agricultural biotechnology

Universal Access in the Information Society - The present exploratory study describes senior citizens’ attitudes relating to biotechnologies, which were compared with a younger sample. Using...     

Older adults’ use of smart phones: an investigation of the factors influencing the acceptance of new functions

After adopting mobile phones, most older adults use them only for calling and SMS. The purpose of this study is to extend their usage of mobile phones to new functions. To understand older adults’ requirements of mobile phones, a questionnaire was constructed and 351 Chinese older adults were recruited to complete the questionnaires. Data collected through the questionnaires were analysed using explorative factor analysis. The results revealed that older adults’ requirements were composed of 10 factors: Find a Specific Function, Awareness and Attractiveness, Readability, Personal Concern, Soft Keys and Multi-tap, Hardware Capacity, Touch Screen, Concern of Learning, Connectivity, and Social Influence. Then, from the above 10 factors, the 6 most important factors were revealed using multiple linear regression analysis. The results imply that accepting new functions is different from accepting a product. Readability and Find a Specific Function, which are critical for older adults’ acceptance of feature phones, are not determinants of their acceptance of new functions in smart phones.     

From physical to digital: a case study of computer scientists’ behaviour in physical libraries

There has been substantial research on various aspects of peoples usage of physical libraries but relatively little on their interaction with individual library artefacts; that is: books, journals, and papers. We have studied peoples behaviour when working in physical libraries, focusing particularly on how they interact with these artefacts, how they evaluate them, and how they interact with librarians. This study provides a better understanding of how people interact with paper information, from which we can draw implications for some requirements of the design of digital libraries, while recognising that the term library is a metaphor when applied to electronic document collections. In particular, improved communication with other library users and with librarians could facilitate more rapid access to relevant information and support services, and structuring information presentation so that users can make rapid assessments of its relevance would improve the efficiency of many information searches.     

The European Union’s contributions to international stability: the role of education and study mobilities

The efforts of the European Union for stabilisation and democratisation in Eastern Europe and the Balkan region covered a range of areas. While the impact of such measures and incentives testify for the progress on the path of regional reconciliation and democratisation, this record remains largely a top-down account, with governments and political leaders acting as principal agents of change and drivers of stability. The long-term efficiency of this type of approach cannot be guaranteed without genuine transformations at all society levels and layers. The role of the European Union’s educational exchange schemes, particularly Erasmus, may prove to be an instilling factor for regional reconciliation and a stability generator. The Erasmus scheme has been extremely successful and key to breaking cultural barriers and working across borders and disciplines. This study seeks to understand student experiences of two postgraduate programmes which deal with issues associated with international stability. The study used a case study research methodology and selected the case studies of the “MITRA” Erasmus Mundus Masters programme on Intercultural Mediation: Identities Mobilities and Conflict and the EM2-STEM (Entrepreneurship and Management Training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Erasmus Mundus programme. The study specifically investigates the experiences of students in these programmes and their experiences of intercultural interactions. From here an analysis is conducted to explore if European Union-funded study mobilities have shaped or transformed participating students’ views of international stability.     

An algebraic study of Peterson’s Intermediate Syllogisms

Peterson’s Intermediate Syllogisms, generalizing Aristotelian syllogisms by intermediate quantifiers ‘Many’, ‘Most’ and ‘Almost all’, are studied. It is demonstrated that, by associating certain values V, W and U on standard ?ukasiewicz MV-algebra with the first and second premise and the conclusion, respectively, the validity of a corresponding intermediate syllogism is determined by a simple MV-algebra (in-)equation. Possible conservative extensions of Peterson’s system are discussed. Finally it is shown that Peterson’s bivalued intermediate syllogisms can be viewed as fuzzy theories in Pavelka’s fuzzy propositional logic, i.e. a fuzzy version of Peterson’s Intermediate Syllogisms is introduced.     

Enhancing older people’s activity and participation with socially assistive robots: a multicentre quasi-experimental study using the ICF framework*

Socially assistive robots (SARs) are seen as part of a pragmatic solution to addressing the increasing demands, shortage of care workers and to realizing the potential of optimum integrated care. Yet their effectiveness and impact on older people’s care, activities and participation are still unknown. A total of 67 people aged 65 and over participated in a 24-week-long, quasi-experimental study in five residential nursing homes in Japan. The personalized care plan and targets were created based on the framework of the WHO’s International Classification of Function, Disability and Health (ICF). Three types of socially assistive robots were used. The participants in the robot intervention groups showed greater improvements in their scores for targeted activities and participation than the control group. Statistically significant improvements were observed in communication, self care, and social life. SARs have great potential for improving older people’s quality of life. With further research, the use of these robots by older people could be considered as a serious option in the future. In addition, the ICF framework can be utilized further for measuring the effects of introducing SARs on older people’s quality of life.     

Mining the optimal clustering of people’s characteristics of health care choices

In Asian countries, there has been a multi-choice healthcare environment for many years. In Taiwan, people’s multiple health care seeking behavior has resulted in much heavier financial burden of National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) in recent years: investigating the characteristics of people who use multiple health care resources has gained increasing importance for health authorities. In this study, we investigated the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics which underlined people’s choice of health care by using a population representative database. A novel methodology which incorporated k-means cluster analysis with v-fold cross-validation into Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) is proposed. This novel methodology can help us to find the optimal attribute clustering of multiple health care utilization. By using this methodology, researchers not only can avoid the ambiguities of identifying clusters resulted from the traditional hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), but also can provide more solid and evidence-based analysis for health policy making.