Business Commons^™

Financial Institutions Continue To Adopt Crypto Despite Industry Turmoil, Andre Beganski

Capstones

Even though this calamitous year has raised doubts about crypto's future, not a single large financial institution has backed away from their forays into digital assets. And despite a period of turmoil that’s seen the market value of all cryptocurrencies crater to under $880 billion from over $3 trillion, many sizable firms continue to view crypto as an emerging sector of finance and technology that’s rife with opportunity.

While financial firms have the potential to foster a widespread perception of cryptocurrencies as a legitimate asset class, their involvement runs counter to the intent of those who pioneered blockchain technology for …

A Study Of Heart Disease Diagnosis Using Machine Learning And Data Mining, Intisar Ahmed

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people around the world today. Diagnosis for various forms of heart disease can be detected with numerous medical tests, however, predicting heart disease without such tests is very difficult. Machine learning can help process medical big data and provide hidden knowledge which otherwise would not be possible with the naked eye. The aim of this project is to explore how machine learning algorithms can be used in predicting heart disease by building an optimized model. The research questions are; 1) What Machine learning algorithms are used in the diagnosis of heart …

Insights On Factors Influencing Startup Failure In The Hospitality Industry, Shivangi Khurania

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Hospitality businesses and innovative startups have faced extremely high failure rates. The author provides insights on the factors that impact startup failure in the hospitality industry after performing a deep analysis on innovation frameworks such as the diffusion of innovation theory, the theory of disruptive innovation, and the ten types of innovation framework. Not only that, the author also provides insights based on their own personal experience and knowledge gained through education at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada. The research explored in this paper revealed that startup failure is not based on one factor alone and how leaders in …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

Business Model Innovation In Marine Engine Maintanance, Dofilia Sinangui Kaloia

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Security Issues With Software In Maritime Industry: Focus On Artificial Intelligence, Alexis Nixon

Graduate Scholarly Works

Abstract

Maritime industry is the use of waterways to conduct business, move people and goods across water and shipping goods overseas. This area of business is last to update their cyber security and technical policies leading to many issues discussed below. Some of proposed solutions include updated software, patches, autonomous ships and updating the legality issues around technical updates in Maritime industry. Overall, the goal of the paper is to help the reader become informed about the shortcomings in maritime software, understand the vulnerabilities in the software they use, propose solutions to the vulnerabilities and discuss a popular new option …

A Digital Leadership Lens For A Physical World: Digital Transformation Levers Of Control For Incumbent Companies, Michael J. Seals

Dissertations

A new wave of advanced technologies is disrupting companies of all types and transforming business models within every industry. Long-standing industrial firms that rose to prominence in a pre-digital economy are particularly vulnerable. Prevailing views suggest these companies (hereafter referred to as incumbents) must reimagine their value propositions and transform themselves by leveraging today’s advanced technologies. The opportunities provided by these advanced technologies will significantly affect incumbents whether they participate or not. The pursuit of these opportunities, commonly referred to as digital transformation (DX), is the focus of our research.

Traditional technology-enabled business endeavors creating incremental operational improvements fell within …

A Study On The Impact Of Technological Innovation Attributes On Listing Success Rate And Post-Listing Performance, Yijun Xu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

"Key and core technology" enterprises form the backbone of great powers. China’s STAR Market (technological innovation board) is committed to implementing strategies that will lead to technological innovation-driven sustainable development and strengthen the country by building a secure and independent industrial chain that can support the development of cutting-edge technology. From the outset, the STAR Market put forward clear requirements for "key and core technology" enterprises. The technological innovation attributes of the enterprises listed on the STAR Market are the most essential core characteristics, but a question arises as to how best to evaluate their technological innovation attributes. Are these …

The Value Of Nfts, Angelina Tham

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Non-fungible token stories have flooded the media since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. NFTs have changed the public’s views on art, finances, and the self. The emergence of Web 3 redefined ways of self expression with the help of NFTs. What are NFTs, how are they valuable, and how will they shape the future of digital art? The data visualization for this project indicates that the most popular type of crypto art is in the style of a profile picture. The discussion suggests that NFTs are in their infancy and there will be more to come from digital art, …

Three Essays On Climate Finance And Machine Learning In Financial Studies, Huan Kuang

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on climate finance and explore how to incorporate machine learning techniques into financial research. In the first chapter, we focus on climate innovation. Through a novel design to link climate risk and the U.S. firm patents related to climate change mitigation technologies (CCMTs), we find that CCMT innovations generate significant economic value. These innovations are effective in mitigating firms’ carbon risk. We also find that adoption of a new patent classification scheme has promoted more CCMT innovations in the United States. However, we find mixed evidence on firms’ carbon risk and their CCMT innovation activities. Our work …

Nudging Social Online Referrals: Evidence From A Randomized Field Experiment, Qian Zeng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

With the rise of social commerce platforms and customer engagement in online products and services, firms are focusing their attention on effective social online referral program to encourage customers’ online referral behaviors to grow their customer base. Hence, how to influence customers to participate in online referral is a matter of the utmost importance to firms. However, little empirical research has examined the impact of online referral program on customers’ online referral on social commerce platform. To close this research gap, this dissertation investigates the effectiveness of digital nudging for consumers’ social online referral on social commerce platforms.

Working with …

Kitchen Invasion: Restaurants’ Business Model Innovations During The Covid-19 Crisis, Jaewoo Jung

Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation explores how and why firms facing the same exogenous threats react differently, leading to different business model innovation (BMI) processes. I examine BMI in a context that has been hard-hit by COVID-19 pandemic restrictions—the restaurant industry. Employing a mixed-method research design, I conducted a longitudinal, inductive comparative case study of 17 restaurateurs in the same geographic region to explore how they have responded to the pandemic and how their BMI unfolded over time. To generalize my understanding of these processes, I then analyzed large-scale media data about the restaurant industry using topic modeling. In this quantitative analysis, I …

The Impact Of Innovation On The Performance Of Chinese Listed Companies, Shaoying Luo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Company innovation has significant consequences for the macroeconomic development of the nation as well as serving as a guide for the creation of innovation strategies at the micro level of enterprises. But because the mechanism linking R&D inputs to firm success has not been completely explored, findings for various samples and sample intervals have varied greatly. Therefore, using the data of listed companies in China from 2009 to 2017 as the research sample, this paper introduces mediating and moderating variables to empirically analyze the mediating effect of innovation output in the correlation between R&D input and firm performance and the …

Female Motivation In Engineering, Manufacturing, And Stem-Related Trades, Leaann Nichole Manz, Leaann Nichole Manz-Young, Leaann Nichole Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historically, female representation in engineering and manufacturing trades has been underrepresented compared to their male counterparts. Given this trend, the scope of this paper is to analyze the motivational factors among females who are currently working in Engineering and Manufacturing related trades in the surrounding lower East Appalachian area. Literature research will support an analysis of the following focus: Females in Engineering and Manufacturing Trades. The study focuses on analyzing questionaries from thirty-two females based on the Social Cognitive Career Theory and its three components: “outcome expectations, career interest, and career self-efficacy”. The major findings of this study …

Privacy Rights Pertaining To The Developing Cyber World We Live In, Alexis Nixon

Graduate Scholarly Works

A large concern expressed by the general public is the right to privacy when dealing with the cyber/online sector. One major factor that influences the privacy rights of people in the cyber realm is our fourth amendment in the United States. In this paper, the focus will be on the fourth amendment, privacy rights and how these pertain to the cyber world of individuals, companies and countries. Some of the points covered in the sections below include: an explanation of the fourth amendment, influential court case pertaining to the fourth amendment, companies right to privacy/ keeping their customers data private, …

Factors Influencing The Adoption Of Smart-Home Appliances: Users' Perspectives, Prakash Shahi

Dissertations

Smart appliances will be a significant part of the annual $300 billion smart-home market by 2025. Their use is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 31% for the foreseeable future. Currently, 12-16% of households use smart-home products in the U.S., including thermostats, TVs, refrigerators, coffee machines, garage door openers, and vision-equipped doorbells. Smart appliances provide significant benefits to us over traditional appliances. Smart appliances simplify our lives by automating various tasks in our homes and allowing us to monitor and control them remotely from our offices, grocery stores, and wherever we may be.

Despite the usefulness …

Privacy In Online Communities: How Control And Assurances Influence Intention To Disclose Personal Information, Oscar E. Lopez Arizaga

Doctoral Dissertations

Online Health Communities provide a rich, context-specific scenario for the study of privacy, which promises to enhance our knowledge of this complex phenomena. Online communities are only successful to the extent that individuals join and participate in the communities, and privacy concerns are a barrier to this success. In this dissertation, the privacy calculus and the agentic perspective of social cognitive theory provide the theoretical foundation for studying privacy in online communities. The first study represents a comprehensive literature review of online privacy in IS. Several research opportunities are found in the literature including limited empirical work on the roles …

How Presidential Disapproval Affects Bitcoin Returns: A Product Of The President, Joseph Libretti

Honors Theses

There has been a growing fascination for decentralized electronic assets, and Bitcoin has emerged as the face and leader of the movement. There have been three different presidents coinciding with the growth of Bitcoin. Since the creation of Bitcoin, each president has faced periods of net disapproval, and these periods have been the norm throughout Obama’s, Trump’s, and Biden’s presidencies. There is currently no existing literature on Presidential ratings as a predictor of Bitcoin, however, there has been research on the predictors of Bitcoin and Presidential ratings as a predictor of financial markets. I hypothesized that increases in net disapproval …

"Yay Area Fest" Proposal, Taira Tyler Matsuzaki

Graphic Communication

As an avid hip-hop music lover and producer, I always envisioned the creation of my own hip-hop festival theme and lineup. I used my senior project as an opportunity to execute this vision while showcasing all of the skills I have acquired as a Graphic Communication student. My project encompasses the creation of a marketing flyer, website prototype, app prototype, and social media animation for a hypothetical hip-hop festival. These deliverables highlight my abilities in learning new tools, graphic design, UI/UX design, and project management.

Ramble: Travel Journal Application Concept, Christine Elizabeth Curulla

Graphic Communication

The purpose of this project is to provide an easier and more engaging way for study abroad students to document their experiences. I wanted to collect data on the effectiveness of student journaling while abroad, and identify ways to improve the process through a mobile application.

Ramble is a social app I designed that provides a new question or prompt each day to encourage more frequent, fun journaling while traveling, and connection with others at home and abroad. Ramble solves problems that accompany traditional journaling by making the journaling process more accessible and requiring less time from the user.

Learning To Fly: The Impact Of Project-Based Learning On Development Of The 4cs In The Elementary Grades, Deborah Francois

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate the impact of project-based learning on K-5 students’ development of the 4Cs (Critical Thinking, Communication, Creativity, Collaboration) as perceived by elementary charter school teachers.

Methodology: A phenomenological design was selected to address the research questions for this study. Through purposeful sampling, 12 charter elementary teachers who met a pre-determined set of criteria (including the routine integration of project-based learning within their instructional programs) were selected to participate in virtual, semi-structured interviews. All teachers were employed by charter schools located in six counties within California. The interviews were conducted using …

Non-Profit Accounting And Financial Strategies For The Exponential Age, Nathan A. Judd

Honors Projects

This research project was designed to introduce the current state of digital assets with all of its potential risks and rewards within the non-profit business sector. Non-profit organizations receive donations constantly, but what happens when an individual gives a digital asset such as Bitcoin to the non-profit? The answer is quite complicated from an accounting and strategic business approach but will be unpacked and reviewed. Other nonprofit topics included are the exponential network effects for digital assets, official FASB accounting regulation treatments for digital assets, taxation documentation from the IRS regarding digital assets, and potential implementation strategies to consider.

The Significance Of Sonic Branding To Strategically Stimulate Consumer Behavior: Content Analysis Of Four Interviews From Jeanna Isham’S “Sound In Marketing” Podcast, Ina Beilina

Student Theses and Dissertations

Purpose:
Sonic branding is not just about composing jingles like McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It.” Sonic branding is an industry that strategically designs a cohesive auditory component of a brand’s corporate identity. This paper examines the psychological impact of music and sound on consumer behavior reviewing studies from the past 40 years and investigates the significance of stimulating auditory perception by infusing sound in consumer experience in the modern 2020s.

Design/methodology/approach:
Qualitative content analysis of audio media was used to test two hypotheses. Four archival oral interview recordings from Jeanna Isham’s podcast “Sound in Marketing” featuring the sonic branding experts …

Essays On Strategies For Increasing Repayment Rates Of Digital Microloans, Alain Rutayisire Shema

Dissertations - ALL

Access to credit can act as a highly effective tool for poverty reduction and economic growth. The ability to borrow increases the propensity of low-income people to start and maintain businesses, educate their children and withstand financial shocks. These factors, in turn, can help them to move out of poverty and lead to more sustainable economic development. However, traditional financial institutions have inherent limitations that have impeded their ability to serve the poor.

Digital lenders are able to leverage the widespread adoption of mobile phones and mobile money to extend credit quickly and conveniently to more people, especially in developing …

Digital Equity: Difficulties Of Implementing The 1:1 Computing Initiative In Low-Income Areas, Demetric D. Williams

Dissertations

Successful One-to-One Computing Initiative implementation requires educators to communicate and collaborate effectively with everyone in the learning community. However, other factors such as teacher’s professional development, student’s perception, and parent’s perception often affect the implementation of the One-to-One Computing Initiative. School districts, which serve low-income areas in Mississippi, have difficulties ensuring students and communities have access to the information technology they need to participate outside the school setting. The concept is often called digital equity. However, when officials do not address the capacity, there is a vital threat to the participants’ civic, cultural, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential …

Supplier Performance Scorecard Utilization In The Medical Device Manufacturing Healthcare Supply Chain, Justin Cardisco

Theses and Dissertations

The medical device manufacturing industry has a deficiency in determining how to improve supplier performance for the components and systems they purchase. Many complex medical devices require components from superb suppliers. But how does a medical device manufacturer (MDM) impartially assess supplier performance to know which suppliers to continuing with (or even boost purchase volumes) and which suppliers they should exit? This study describes which supplier-specific metrics are most important to medical device manufacturers (MDMs) so they can utilize this supplier performance scorecard backed by real-world inputs. This research will focus on five categories to measure MDM supplier performance (Quality, …

The Dark Side Of Artificial Intelligence: Understanding The Role Of Perceived Algorithm Unfairness On Ride-Hailing Driver Discontinuance, Zhenya Tang

Theses and Dissertations

Ride-hailing platforms (RHP) are sharing economy platforms that connect passengers who need to order a private ride or to share a vehicle with drivers who want to share a ride. However, after rapid growth, major RHPs (e.g., Uber, Lyft, and Didi) have begun to face severe driver shortages. Attracting and maintaining a large driver base is critical to the survival and success of any RHP no matter its size. While practitioners are urging to seek suggestions from academia to prevent driver loss, limited research attention has been paid to RHP drivers’ discontinuance. To fill this gap, this dissertation aims to …

Pancake Programming: An Interactive Stack-Based Coding Experience In Virtual Reality, William Adams

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Coronavirus Disability Survey: Assessing The Impact Of Covid-19 On Young Adults With Disabilities, Hena Rashid

Student Research Submissions

This paper seeks to inform individuals of the importance of digital inclusivity, diminish the digital divide, and accessibility to technological services of college students who experience a form of disability. The United States has conducted minimal research on the digital disability rhetoric, promoted minimal disability-inclusive measures to protect the rights and well-being of college students, and minimal assistance to mitigate Coronavirus (COVID-19) impacts to this population subgroup. This subject can have a big impact on individuals who suffer from disability stigma, low accessibility issues, and who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Furthermore, this subject will benefit college students …

Bitcoin, Blockchain Technology, And Cryptocurrencies, Jeffrey Dodson

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

The blockchain based cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin was theorized in a whitepaper published October 28, 2008, by Satoshi Nakamoto (pseudonym) (Nakamoto, 2008). The paper, titled, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” laid out a digital currency creation/exchange structure that employs a decentralized ledger that would later run on the author’s open-source application (Nakamoto, 2008). The main innovation of this technology is found within the security benefits provided by the proof-of-work consensus mechanism that requires solving a mathematic trap-door compression function to verify transactions/blocks added to the blockchain. On January 3, 2009, the genesis block, a term for the first block …