Business Commons^™

What Bitcoin Is, And How It Can Change Commerce, Jeffrey Bukhari

Capstones

The use of the digital currency Bitcoin has spiked dramatically over the last several years. Spurred by interest from investors and those excited about its commercial and banking potential, the value of the cryptocurrency has seen its value greatly increase since its beginning in 2009.

This project explains the underlying technology behind Bitcoin, how Bitcoin is and will change commerce, and what potential lies ahead for the digital currency.

Breadcrumbs: Privacy As A Privilege, Prachi Bhardwaj

Capstones

Breadcrumbs: Privacy as a Privilege Abstract

By: Prachi Bhardwaj

In 2017, the world saw more data breaches than in any year prior. The count was more than the all-time high record in 2016, which was 40 percent more than the year before that.

That’s because consumer data is incredibly valuable today. In the last three decades, data storage has gone from being stored physically to being stored almost entirely digitally, which means consumer data is more accessible and applicable to business strategies. As a result, companies are gathering data in ways previously unknown to the average consumer, and hackers are …

Applying Agile Project Management To Art Museums: A Proposal For Implementing A Generalist Scrum Master, Vincent Sulit

Master's Projects and Capstones

This capstone project examines organizational change, along with its challenges, through case studies in museums and businesses in the private sector, subsequently providing a possible solution for museums to adapt to the current global market economy through the use of Agile Project Management (Agile). I cite recent case studies of art museums implementing Agile for digital product development. This project proposal aims to introduce Agile outside of digital departments, including Exhibitions and Education, with the goal of developing better visitor-centered offerings from museums. This may be achieved through the proposal of a job description for a new museum position of …

Technology Planning For Aligning Emerging Business Models And Regulatory Structures: The Case Of Electric Vehicle Charging And The Smart Grid, Kelly R. Cowan

Dissertations and Theses

Smart grid has been described as the Energy Internet: Where Energy Technology meets Information Technology. The incorporation of such technology into vast existing utility infrastructures offers many advantages, including possibilities for new smart appliances, energy management systems, better integration of renewable energy, value added services, and new business models, both for supply- and demand-side management. Smart grid also replaces aging utility technologies that are becoming increasingly unreliable, as the average ages for many critical components in utility systems now exceed their original design lives. However, while smart grid offers the promise of revolutionizing utility delivery systems, many questions remain about …

Exploring Strategies For Teaching Creatively Online, Conny Van Der Wouw

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The way we learn and teach is changing. There is more emphasis on collaboration and personalization of the learning. Teaching online is becoming common. For my Master’s project I have developed a product that will help designing and delivering teaching programs creatively through the use of online learning opportunities. The product discusses the opportunities and challenges of a creative climate when teaching online and provides strategies to develop creativity during the online learning process. It is developed with the use of the Torrance Incubation Model of Teaching and Learning (TIM) and Ekvall’s ten dimensions of a creative climate. This paper …

Effect Of A Ubiquitous Moral Cue On Ethical Leadership, Moral Disengagement And Goal Difficulty: Real-World Outcomes Of A Novel Behavioural Intervention By Mobile Application Technology, Boon Heon Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Firms invest significant resources in their ethical infrastructure to influence the ethical decision-making of employees. The advent of mobile technology has extended the frontier of interventions that may discourage unethical behaviour, through the use of ubiquitously-present mobile-based moral cues. I conducted a prospective, randomized field experiment, to study how a ubiquitous moral cue may positively enhance ethical decision-making. Sales professionals working in a pharmaceutical firm in China were assigned randomly by teams to either receive, or not, a mobile application from their firm’s compliance department. Over six months, participants completed three cross-sectional surveys, and were randomly monitored by an independent …

The Development Of Organizational Training: Identifying Generational Differences And Perceptions In Computerized Learning Systems In Government Organizations, Gregory Negron

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the degree of effectiveness and preferences as it related to various computer-based training (CBT) and instructor-based training (IBT) types as perceived by baby boomer, Generation X, and millennial generational Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) employees based in San Diego, California, as measured by the Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) Extended Learning Institute Survey.

Methodology: The study used a descriptive, causal-comparative research design. A survey was administered to collect demographic data and responses that described and determined the degree of difference and effectiveness for various CBT types …

Virtual Commissioning For Industrial Automation, Saihiranmitra Mudiki

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Business and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Saihiranmitra Mudiki on November 7, 2017.

Modeling The Consumer Acceptance Of Retail Service Robots, So Young Song

Doctoral Dissertations

This study uses the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) and domestication theories as the underlying framework of an acceptance model of retail service robots (RSRs). The model illustrates the relationships among facilitators, attitudes toward Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), anxiety toward robots, anticipated service quality, and the acceptance of RSRs. Specifically, the researcher investigates the extent to which the facilitators of usefulness, social capability, the appearance of RSRs, and the attitudes toward HRI affect acceptance and increase the anticipation of service quality. The researcher also tests the inhibiting role of pre-existing anxiety toward robots on the relationship between these facilitators and attitudes …

Others’ Reactions To Service Recovery Efforts In Social Media: A Third-Party Justice Perspective, Minwoo Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

Service failures are inevitable incidents in hospitality settings due to the characteristics of hospitality offerings such as intangibility, heterogeneity, and inseparability. When service failures occur, effective service recovery effort should be made in order to redress such failures and improve customer satisfaction because service failures could negatively affect customers’ satisfaction and future behaviors. In the context of social media, firms’ service recovery efforts can be witnessed by the complainant’s family, close friends, other fan page members, and/or even unknown people who are connected and influenced through enormous social networks. However, no prior study has been found to investigate how and …

How Technology Is Reshaping Financial Services: Essays On Consumer Behavior In Card, Channel And Cryptocurrency Services, Dan Geng

Dissertations and Theses Collection

The financial services sector has seen dramatic technological innovations in the last several years associated with the “fintech revolution.” Major changes have taken place in channel management, credit card rewards marketing, cryptocurren-cy, and wealth management, and have influenced consumers’ banking behavior in different ways. As a consequence, there has been a growing demand for banks to rethink their business models and operations to adapt to changing consumer be-havior and counter the competitive pressure from other banks and non-bank play-ers. In this dissertation, I study consumer behavior related to different aspects of financial innovation by addressing research questions that are motivated …

Transitioning Business-To-Business Marketing Communications To Social Media, Terri S. Gibson

Master of Arts in Media and Communication Plan II Graduate Projects

There has been a movement toward digital media marketing channels away from the traditional media marketing channels in the realm of business-to-business (B2B) marketing. This transformation is more than mere semantics. It reflects the recent integration of digital strategies including blogging, social media, and email marketing by B2B marketers. A greater commitment to driving return on investment (ROI) and tracking movement through a website is seen in these strategies. In the rapidly changing digital landscape of B2B marketing, there is a focused emphasis on analytics, which reveals a sharp contrast between traditional media channels and social networking. With traditional media, …

A Survey Of Addictive Software Design, Chauncey J. Neyman

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The average smartphone owner checks their phone more than 150 times per day. As of 2015, 62% of smartphone users had used their phone to look up information about a health condition, while 57% had used their phone to do online banking. Mobile platforms have become the dominant medium of human-computer interaction. So how have these devices established themselves as our go to connection to the Internet? The answer lies in addictive design. Software designers have become well versed in creating software that captivates us at a primal level. In this article, we survey addictive software design strategies, their bases …

A Study Of Innovating And Non-Innovating Firms’ Perception Of Environmental Dynamism And Innovation In A Mature Regulated Industry, Patrick Siong Kuan Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection

Can large firms be innovative in an industry that is mature and regulated?”

Business managers in mature regulated industries, like new and unregulated industries, operate under very challenging conditions, albeit a bit different, and need to create competitive advantages. One potential route to do this is through innovations.

The strategic direction and choices which the firm takes and whether to innovate or not innovate are largely influenced by its environment. And, in mature regulated industries, large incumbents face a triple challenge. Its size, the maturity of the industry and regulations governing the industry are three conditions that are generally deemed …

A Cost-Differential Analysis Of Local Soybean Processing In East Tennessee: Roast Or Crush?, Rachel Lauren Eatherly

Masters Theses

East Tennessee soybean producers currently have limited local markets and processing options. Most soybeans produced in the region are transported for processing or export to Guntersville or Decatur, Alabama. High transportation costs cut into profit margins and limit local economic impact. With the demand for processed soybeans from the local beef and dairy industries, local processing technology options ought to be investigated. This study will assist soybean farmers in decision-making between hauling to current processing plants or seeking out alternative local processing. Local processing points could allow local beef and dairy farmers additional options of including processed soybeans in least-cost …

Feasibility Analysis Of Recycled-Paper Fueled Agricultural Desalination Process: Design Of Recycling And Desalination Processes, Sean M. Street

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

While recycled-paper-briquettes have lower BTU ratings than wood, and fresh water is typically a low cost to agricultural entities, situations exist where economic and/or environmental factors may allow a recycled-paper-fueled desalination process to be viable for some specific agricultural entities. This document begins with a discussion of how water is priced throughout India before analyzing trends in the Maize futures market. By tying the two together, an opportunity is created for solution which the remainder of the document presents. Paper waste in India makes-up 50% of its solid waste country-wide; however, only a quarter of that waste is recycled - …

Information Technology Prioritization, In Merger Integration: A Grounded Theory Approach, Sandesh Dayanand Raikar

Dissertations and Theses Collection

This exploratory study, examines the significance of Information Technology (IT) Prioritization during the due diligence phase, in a merger integration scenario. In a world where firms are becoming increasingly dependent on information systems and technology, IT continues to play a progressively significant role within organizations. There is growing literature, on the increasing importance of IT in the business environment. However, till date, neither has there been a study regarding the role and impact of IT prioritization and IT integration schedule on the overall synergy savings, nor is there a study on the relationship between IT prioritization and the achievement of …

Intrusive Or Beneficial: Do Corporate Cell Phones Affect Workplace Obligation?, Jamie Gelberg

Honors Capstone Projects - All

As mobile devices have crept into our personal lives, they have become a staple in professional’s lives as well. While these devices have made individuals better at instant communication, does this affect work-life balance? This paper aims to address this question through literature review, two primary data sources and an overall analysis. The target audience of this paper are employees with corporate cell phones and executives making decisions on mobile phone policies for their company or organization although, anyone can read it if they are interested in how technology influences daily routines.

A Mixed-Methods Study: Self-Efficacy And Barriers To Participation In Workplace Wellness Programs, Massiel Perez-Calhoon

Dissertations

America needs a healthy workforce to sustain the country. The scourge of obesity continues to plague Americans despite government initiatives such as the Affordable Care Act and wellness programs in the workplace to combat this epidemic. However, despite initiatives to make America healthy, barriers continued to impede the nation’s health. Lack of awareness and sensitivity to what motivates individual participants versus group participants built formidable barriers to accessing all workplace employees equitably. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the intent of this study was to explore the relationship between self-efficacy and the impact on participation and engagement when …

A Method To Organize The Stamping Area In A Manufacturing Company With A Lean System, Ali Aghashashi

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

Thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Business and Technology at Morehead State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Ali Aghashahi on April 20, 2017.

Assessing The Impact Of Transformational Leadership, Organizational Climate, And Personality On Individual Innovativeness At Work, Khalid M. Iskandarani

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Innovation is critical for any organization’s success in the twenty first century. Organizations are continuously seeking to create new products and services to differentiate themselves from their completion and to create a competitive advantage in the dynamic global business environment. In order for this to occur, the organization needs to encourage employee creativity. Furthermore, leaders in the organization also need to work with the employees to help guide and support them as they embark on the development of products and services. This study examined this organizational environment by assessing the impact that the organizational climate promotes innovation. It also assessed …

A Delphi Study: Identifying Practices Used To Build Cohesive Teams In A Virtual Setting, Barbara Thiss

Dissertations

The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify practices used to build cohesive teams in a virtual setting and to determine whether the practices were task-oriented or social-oriented. Organizations are challenged to remain competitive in a rapidly changing climate. Leaders in business, education, manufacturing, healthcare and nonprofit organizations look for answers to the economic, environmental, competitive and technological issues they face. Greater utilization of teams in organizations provides a better response to competitive forces, mines greater efficiencies from existing resources, and offers an ability to produce better results. Carron, Widmeyer and Brawley’s (1985) study on cohesion found a significant …

Meaning-Centered Leadership: How Exemplary Technology Leaders Create Organizational Meaning, Ed Jackson

Dissertations

ABSTRACT Meaning-Centered Leadership: How Exemplary Technology Leaders Create Organizational Meaning by Ed Jackson Purpose: The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to identify and describe the behaviors that exemplary technology leaders use to create personal and organizational meaning for themselves and their followers through character, vision, relationships, wisdom, and inspiration. It was also the purpose of this research to identify how followers perceive that the behaviors related to character, vision, relationships, wisdom, and inspiration help to create personal and organizational meaning. Methodology: This research looked at leadership through the lens of meaning making. Current leadership trends, which are driven …

Development Of A Technology Transfer Score For Evaluating Research Proposals: Case Study Of Demand Response Technologies In The Pacific Northwest, Judith Estep

Dissertations and Theses

Investment in Research and Development (R&D) is necessary for innovation, allowing an organization to maintain a competitive edge. The U.S. Federal Government invests billions of dollars, primarily in basic research technologies to help fill the pipeline for other organizations to take the technology into commercialization. However, it is not about just investing in innovation, it is about converting that research into application. A cursory review of the research proposal evaluation criteria suggests that there is little to no emphasis placed on the transfer of research results. This effort is motivated by a need to move research into application.

One segment …

Extending Time Series Forecasting Methods Using Functional Principal Components Analysis, Isaac Michael Wagner-Muns

Masters Theses

"Traffic volume forecasts are used by many transportation analysis and management systems to better characterize and react to fluctuating traffic patterns. Most current forecasting methods do not take advantage of the underlying functional characteristics of the time series to make predictions. This paper presents a methodology that uses Functional Principal Components Analysis (FPCA) to create smooth and differentiable daily traffic forecasts. The methodology is validated with a data set of 1,813 days of 15 minute aggregated traffic volume time series. Both the FPCA based forecasts and the associated prediction intervals outperform traditional Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) based methods"--Abstract, …

Look At Where You Listen: A Study Of Commercial Music And Mediation, Thomas Walton Moore

Senior Projects Spring 2017

A joint senior project submitted to the divisions of arts and social studies. This project aims to reconsider the 'album' as a format of music distribution that has effects on the consumption-of and relationship-with music as commodity. This project consists of writing and recorded-music-making. Please email tom (at) dpimusic (dot) com for a link.

นวัตกรรมการวิเคราะห์ข้อความในโพสต์บนเฟซบุ๊กเพจด้วยการทำเหมืองข้อความ, พรพิมล กะชามาศ

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

เฟซบุ๊ค (Facebook) เป็นสื่อสังคมออนไลน์อันดับหนึ่งของโลกและประเทศไทย ในทุกๆวันจะมี "ข้อความในโพสต์บนเฟซบุ๊กเพจ" ใหม่ๆจากหลากหลายตราสินค้า ผู้ผลิต ผู้ขาย ขึ้นใหม่ตลอดเวลา เพื่อโฆษณาสินค้าและบริการ โดยในแต่ละข้อความล้วนมีวัตถุประสงค์มุ่งหวังจากผู้อ่านต่างกันไป แต่ผลที่เกิดขึ้นจริงมีทั้งสมหวังหรือกลายเป็นตรงกันข้ามก็พบได้เช่นกัน จะดีเพียงใดหากนักการตลาดออนไลน์มีเครื่องมือที่สามารถคาดเดาโอกาสของพฤติกรรมที่จะเกิดขึ้นได้เมื่อผู้อ่านได้อ่านข้อความนั้นๆ งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์คือ 1) เพื่อศึกษาข้อความในโพสต์บนเฟซบุ๊กที่ส่งผลต่อพฤติกรรมผู้บริโภค ตามทฤษฎีของเดนท์สุ AISAS โมเดล 2) เพื่อพัฒนาต้นแบบนวัตกรรมการวิเคราะห์ข้อความในโพสต์บนเฟซบุ๊กที่ส่งผลต่อพฤติกรรมผู้บริโภค ตามทฤษฎีของเดนท์สุ AISAS โมเดล โดยใช้วิธีการของการเรียนรู้ของเครื่อง (Machine Learning) 3) เพื่อทดสอบการใช้งานและการยอมรับต้นแบบนวัตกรรม และ 4) เพื่อศึกษาแนวทางในเชิงพาณิชย์ของการวิเคราะห์ข้อความในโพสต์บนเฟซบุ๊กที่ส่งผลต่อพฤติกรรมผู้บริโภค ตามทฤษฎีของเดนท์สุ AISAS โมเดล ในการศึกษานี้จะใช้ข้อความจากเพจที่มีผู้ติดตามสูงและมีจุดมุ่งหมายและการใช้ข้อความในการโพสต์แตกต่างกันมาทำการวิเคราะห์ โดยผู้เชี่ยวชาญด้านภาษาไทยจำนวน 75 คนเพื่อประเมินโอกาสของ พฤติกรรมที่ผู้อ่านน่าจะกระทำหลังจากการอ่านแต่ละข้อความว่ามีแนวโน้มเป็นไปในทางใดของ AISAS โมเดล ผลที่รวบรวมมาได้จะถูกใช้เป็นข้อมูลให้เครื่องจักรได้เรียนรู้ และวิเคราะห์หาค่าความน่าจะเป็นของแต่ละคำด้วยตามหลักทฤษฏีนาอีฟเบย์ (Naïve Bayes) ซึ่งเป็นวิธีที่ดีที่สุดสำหรับการศึกษาด้านพฤติกรรม จากผลการศึกษาข้อความในโพสต์บนเฟซบุ๊กเพจพบว่าค่าความถูกต้องของการแยกเพจวิเคราะห์ตามกลุ่มอุตสาหกรรมจะให้ผลที่ดีกว่าการนำผลการวิเคราะห์มาประมวลผลรวมกัน และเมื่อทดลองนำโมเดลที่ได้มาพัฒนาระบบทำนายพฤติกรรมจากการโพสต์ข้อความเพื่อตรวจสอบการยอมรับนวัตกรรมโดยผู้ใช้จำนวน 30 คนซึ่งเป็นเจ้าของเพจและทำธุรกิจออนไลน์พบว่าการประเมินนวัตกรรมด้าน ประสิทธิภาพ และความพึงพอใจโดยรวมของระบบอยู่ในเกณฑ์ดีมาก ส่วนความง่ายในการใช้งานและโอกาสในเชิงธุรกิจของนวัตกรรมดังกล่าวอยู่ในเกณฑ์ดี

An Analysis Of Long-Term Effects Of Climate Change And Socioeconomic Activities On Grassland Productivity Of Inner Mongolia, Siyu Fan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, researchers have recognized the complexity of the interactions between the ecological system and the economic development of human society. However, the complicated relationships overwhelm traditional statistical procedures and require an innovative approach to investigate their dynamics. We proposed this study to provide a unique perspective in analyzing the long-term causal relationships between the grassland productivity, climate change, and socioeconomic development of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) of China. Our attempt began with acquiring remotely sensed satellite imagery, climatic variations, and aggregated annual reports of the socio-economy of the IMAR in vegetation growing seasons for 15 years. The …

Utilizing New York State’S Distributive Generation Laws For Affordable Housing Organizations, Reuben Jaffe Goldstein

Bard Center for Environmental Policy

The focus of this report is to assist in the deployment of renewable energy in New York City by creating a framework that affordable housing organizations can use to navigate evolving New York regulations to deploy solar PV to their tenants and reduce their tenants’ utility bills. New York’s regulatory environment is trying to make it easier to deploy solar PV through programs such as Shared Solar Program and Remote Net Metering that provide guidance to those who are currently unable to access solar PV. However, incentivizing Solar PV and distributed generation have disproportionately increased costs for utilities, which has …

Applying User Experience (Ux) Design In Interior Space For Art, Science Museums, And Learning Environments, Zainab Al-Hajji

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research study explores the role of user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) in educational spaces: museums, science centers, galleries, libraries, and classrooms. This study examines the effects of enhancing displays in learning spaces and focuses on users’ interactions and experiences. This project observes the effectiveness of learning modes and styles applied in different museums and focuses on the users’ experiences in an educational environment, which was measured through student users’ impressions, behaviors, and performance. It was hypothesized that students would retain more information through the experience. The concepts covered included using UX/UI on websites and small devices. Results …