Business Commons^™

Mda Insurance: At Last – A Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance Policy That Can Help Pay For Catastrophic Care, Craig Start

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Families face tough caregiving decisions due to high custodial care costs, often resulting in financial and emotional strain. MDA Insurance offers an affordable whole life insurance policy with a catastrophic loss rider, providing $2,000 monthly for up to 12 months for those unable to perform daily living activities. This policy, issued by Boston Mutual Life Insurance, is available on a guaranteed-issue basis and accumulates cash value. Apply by Aug. 30 for an Oct. 1 effective date. Contact MDA Insurance for more information.

Locum Tenens Dentists: You May Need One, Or You May Be One, Angie Kanazeh

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Locum tenens dentists temporarily fulfill the duties of an absent or short-staffed dentist. This practice is beneficial for both hiring dentists and those serving as locum tenens. For hiring dentists, considerations include ensuring the locum tenens dentist is properly licensed, credentialed with insurance networks, and adequately insured. For locum tenens dentists, benefits include flexible schedules, diverse experiences, networking opportunities, and potential higher earnings. Both parties should have clear agreements and consult with healthcare attorneys. The demand for locum tenens dentists is growing, offering valuable support in the dental community.

Volume 26, Issue 2 (Special Issue) -- Full Contents

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Visitor Experience Through Marketing For The Mayflower Bocawina National Park, Samantha O'Flaherty

Supply Chain Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis outlines a summer internship in Dangriga, Belize, where the author worked with Mayflower Bocawina National Park facilitated by Dr. Amy Farmer and Steve Darr. Dangriga faces challenges in the tourism industry due to competition from larger entities who have more resources and infrastructure. The author and their partner developed a marketing strategy for the park's new glamping experience and mountain bike trail, evolving into a comprehensive plan encompassing SEO, website management, and operational optimization. The project aimed to enhance the park's competitiveness, generate sustainable revenue, and support its growth and improvement initiatives.

Hold Tightly To The Human Touch, Michelle C. Dziurgot Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

In this editorial, Dr. Dziurgot reflects on the diminishing human interaction in various services, from ordering food to medical appointments. The editorial emphasizes the importance of maintaining personal communication in dentistry, arguing that patient care should remain personalized and compassionate. The author reminisces about the personalized service of the past, stressing the need for dentists to engage directly with patients, understand their unique needs, and provide a welcoming environment. The piece calls for a return to human touch in professional practices, despite the convenience of modern technology.

The New Professional: Mastering Those Awkward Moments With Patients, Amrita Patel Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Navigating awkward moments in a dental office is essential for positive patient experiences. Establish rapport with patients, use active listening, and avoid jargon. Prepare for common scenarios, communicate clearly, and address fears. Stay calm with difficult questions and provide honest answers. Train staff through role-play and feedback, and cultivate a positive, empathetic environment. Regularly solicit patient feedback to improve. These strategies ensure patients feel valued and supported.

Dentistry And The Law: Don’T Overlook Corporate Transparency Act Compliance, Daniel Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), entities existing as of January 1, 2024, must report beneficial ownership to FinCEN by December 31, 2024. Beneficial owners include those with 25% ownership or substantial control. Required information includes legal name, birthdate, address, and ID details. Non-compliance can result in severe civil and criminal penalties. Exceptions may apply for tax-exempt entities and large companies. Legal challenges to the CTA are ongoing, but compliance is advised.

Staff Matters: Assessing Health Benefits For Lgbtq+ Employees, Jodi Schafer Sphr, Shrm-Scp

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

To support LGBTQ+ employees, understand your health benefits by asking key questions about domestic partner coverage, mental health benefits, transgender healthcare, IVF, and surrogacy coverage, and identifying LGBTQ+-friendly providers. Regularly check in with staff to ensure benefits meet their needs and consider making changes if necessary. Proactively share benefit information throughout the year to enhance employee recruitment, retention, and engagement.

Mda Foundation Mission Of Mercy: Transforming Lives, Relieving Pain, Anne Berquist

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

The MDA Foundation's Mission of Mercy (MOM) dental clinic in Flint provided free dental care to 659 patients over June 14-15, delivering 6,678 procedures valued at $1,156,285. The 120-chair clinic, set up by volunteers, saw patients from 35 Michigan counties and neighboring states. Patients, many of whom queued overnight, received an average of ten procedures each. Volunteers, including retired dentists, performed a wide range of services, from cleanings to complex surgeries. Translators were available to assist non-English speakers, and patients were informed about ongoing free or reduced-cost care options. The event, supported by local donations and community services, will continue …

J Mich Dent Assoc August 2024

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Every month, The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association provides news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. It stands as the primary publication reaching Michigan dentists.

In the August 2024 issue, the Journal focuses on the 2024 Mission of Mercy event held in Flint Original content includes:

• A cover story on the MOM

• A feature article on Locum Tenens Dentists

• A New Professional Column

• News You Need, an editorial, and regular department articles covering MDA Foundation activities, MDA Services, Dentistry and the Law, and Staff Matters.

Additional feature article …

N Y State Dent J August-September 2024

The New York State Dental Journal

In the August-September 2024 issue, the reader will find the following feature articles:

• Success of Implant Placement in Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus
• Effects of Mandatory COVID-19 Testing Policy on No-Show Rates for Aerosol-Generating Procedures
• Heterotopic Bone Formation after TMJ Surgery
• Rural Oral Health Access Disparities in New York State

This issue includes regular columns with regional news impacting the New York membership including editorial and perspectives columns, legal, association activities, component news, continuing education opportunities, and classifieds.

Managing Tourist Booking Intentions: A Study Of Hotel Marketing Strategies During The Covid-19 Crisis In Cyprus, Chrystalla Markou, Giannis Theofanous, Doros Michael

Journal of Global Hospitality and Tourism

This study investigates the impact of specific marketing strategies on tourist booking intentions during the COVID-19 crisis in Cyprus, aiming to understand the effectiveness of these strategies in maintaining booking intentions. The study also investigates the challenge of maintaining tourists’ booking intentions during the financial impact of COVID-19. A quantitative, non-experimental correlational study examined the existence, strength, and direction of the relationship between all-inclusive holiday packages, room discounts, and special hotel amenities and hotel accommodations as measured by intentions to select a hotel in the Cyprus hotel industry. For the purpose of this study, 161 tourists who stayed in Cyprus …

Predicting Personality Or Prejudice? Facial Inference In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Shilpa Madan, Gayoung Park

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Facial inference, a cornerstone of person perception, has traditionally been studied through human judgments about personality traits and abilities based on people's faces. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have introduced new dimensions to this field, employing machine learning algorithms to reveal people's character, capabilities, and social outcomes based just on their faces. This review examines recent research on human and AI-based facial inference across psychology, business, computer science, legal, and policy studies to highlight the need for scientific consensus on whether or not people's faces can reveal their inner traits, and urges researchers to address the critical concerns …

Understanding The Motivations Behind Engaging With Hospitality-Related Facebook Fan Pages, Kunsoon Park, Xu Li

Journal of Global Hospitality and Tourism

Understanding the motivations behind social media participation is crucial for brand managers looking to enhance customer loyalty and attract new customers. This study explores the factors driving consumer engagement with hospitality brand Facebook pages, identifying key motivations and engagement patterns. Utilizing a comprehensive multi-phased methodology—descriptive analysis, factor analysis, canonical correlation analysis, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis—data were gathered from a survey of 501 adults engaging with the Facebook page. The results show that consumers prioritize brand interaction, social integration, and information-seeking over entertainment or rewards. Two distinct consumer groups emerged: passive observers and active participants, with a preference for contributing …

Championing Retention In The Hospitality Industry – Leveraging The Strengths Of A Multigenerational Workforce, Laur-Ann Daley

Journal of Global Hospitality and Tourism

The hospitality and tourism industry has a long history of high turnover rates and businesses are constantly scrambling to fill vacancies. With four generations occupying the industry’s workforce, leaders are further challenged with fostering harmony in an attempt to increase their retention rates. Despite the challenges in leading a generationally diverse team, given their unique values, businesses can realize strategic advantages. This opinion paper highlights the strengths of multigenerational teams and how they can be leveraged for competitive benefits.

Linking Risk Preference, Women’S Empowerment, Farm Investment And Household Well-Being, Samuel Olusesi Olumide

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A nuanced understanding of intra-household dynamics can inform the design of more effective empowerment and agricultural investment policies. By integrating household risk preferences and empowerment dynamics, this work offers valuable insights into the complex mechanisms driving household welfare and provides a framework for future interventions to promote gender equality and economic development in rural settings. This thesis addresses three core hypotheses: first, that the spouses of risk-seeking male heads are more likely to be disempowered compared to those of risk-averse male heads; second, that households with risk-seeking male heads and disempowered spouses are likely to invest more in farming activities; …

Balancing The Scales: Evaluating Variables Of Greatest Impact To Profit Margins When Finishing Cattle, Ryan Bake

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This study examines the risk associated with finishing cattle in a feedlot, specifically in the context of historically high cattle prices and quality grade grid marketing systems that have not adjusted to these elevated prices. The analysis also looks at performance factors that drive profitability differences in pens of cattle in a commercial feedlot, and how market factors also impact profitability. Regression analysis determines the significance of performance variables such as days on feed, average daily gain, feed conversion rates, and carcass characteristics on pen profitability. The impact of cattle breeding and pre-feedlot management of the cattle are also considered …

Mission And Editorial Policy

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

The Moderating Role Of Cost And Convenience On The Relationship In The Utaut Model To Adopt E- Payment Services, Essia Ries Ahmed, Brahim Zirari, Imane Tabet Derraz

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Many emerging economies are on the brink of a major digital revolution as a result of the disruptive and game-changing wave of digitization that aims to create a financial ecosystem that will make the transition from a cash-based economy to a cashless (digital) economy the easiest way by making reliable and secure networks, Seamless payment solutions, ensuring large transactions at lightning speeds are a reality. Most studies using UTAUT are cross-sectional, capturing data at a single point in time. Longitudinal studies are needed to observe changes in behavioural intention and actual adoption of e-payment services over time, particularly in response …

It's Just A Game! Effects Of Fantasy In A Storified Test On Applicant Reactions, Marie L. Ohlms, Klaus G. Melchers, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There is increasing attention to storification of assessments (i.e., embedding a storyline into a non-storified assessment) in research and practice and to gamified and game-based assessment in general. However, there is a surprising lack of agreement and of recommendations regarding what level of fantasy of the storyline one should choose for the storification from the perspective of applicant reactions. A distinction is typically made between fantasy (e.g., fighting aliens) and realistic (e.g., workday simulations) storylines, with both choices having their advantages and disadvantages. In this study, a sample of 195 participants was shown either a storified realistic test, a storified …

Foreign Director Exit In The Midst Of Deteriorating Bilateral Political Relations, Xiaocong Tian, Yuehua Xu, Daphne W. Yiu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Amid global geopolitical realism pushing for a race of hegemonic rivalry nowadays, an outflow of global human talents is a pressing organizational concern. Our study draws attention to the underexamined phenomenon of the exit of foreign directors from their host countries during geopolitical tensions. Theorizing from a sensemaking logic, we posit that the deterioration of bilateral political relations serves as an unexpected event that activates foreign directors’ schemas for dual identity conflict, propelling them to react behaviorally to such identity threats by exiting the board in the host country. In addition, we further posit that the sensemaking process is contingent …

Empirical Studies On Flexible And Renewable Investment Interaction In The Modernizing Electricity Grid, Seyed Amin Seyed Haeri

All Dissertations

The U.S. electricity generation portfolio is transitioning from fossil fuels to renewables like solar and wind, posing challenges due to renewable intermittency. The first chapter examines the relationship between renewable and conventional generation technologies, focusing on operational flexibility. Using panel data from 2002 to 2019, our empirical strategy reveals that flexible generation investments stimulate future wind and solar capacity and respond to current renewable penetration, especially wind energy. This dynamic highlights flexible generation's role in ensuring grid reliability. We also analyze the influence of renewable portfolio standards, market competition, and natural gas infrastructure on investment dynamics.The second chapter explores the …

Essays On Retail Operations, Yao Chen

All Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays examining various aspects of retail operations. The first essay explores the strategic implementation of free in-store pickup services. Motivated by the rise of omni-channel strategies, it analytically models how a profit-maximizing retailer decides to adopt free ship-to-store services for online-exclusive products. The analysis reveals the effects on pricing, shipping fees, and customer behavior, as well as how these services attract foot traffic and boost in-store sales. Prescriptive models are provided to help retailers assess the potential value and customer response to ship-to-store services.

The second essay investigates the impact of negative environmental, social, and …

Unexpected Defaults: The Role Of Information Opacity, Aytekin Ertan, Yun Je Lee, Regina Wittenberg-Moerman

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Bond defaults are undesirable yet natural outcomes of risky investments. What is also crucial but hitherto underexplored is the unexpectedness of defaults. We develop a parsimonious measure of default unexpectedness and highlight its economic importance by demonstrating that unexpected defaults are associated with unfavorable recovery outcomes and adverse price changes in peer firm bonds. We then examine how default unexpectedness relates to information opacity. We find that firms with opaque financial reporting and weak voluntary disclosure experience more unexpected defaults. Defaults also occur more unexpectedly when the external information environment is opaque—when rating agencies disagree on a firm’s credit risk …

Analyzing The Message Complexity, Signal Words, And Readability Of Medical Tourism Warning Messages, Alicia Mason, Sakshi Bhati

Faculty Submissions

Medical tourists are deemed to be a vulnerable patient population because they often have limited knowledge of the specialized health care treatment and services they seek. They are also frequently unfamiliar with the medical tourism physicians, providers, and facilitators with whom they interact. As a result, travel, biomedical, and procedural risks are often difficult to define and estimate. This analysis uses computer-automated technology to analyze the risk and warning messages distributed by government and private medical associations to medical tourists. Results show these messages are often complex and highly textual with little visual graphic elements. The messages frequently lack key …

Evaluating The Cost Of Gain And Financial Returns Of Cattle Fed Hydroponically Produced Barley Fodder, Lex Peterson

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Hydroponically produced fodder continues to garner attention as a feed source within livestock production. This attention in part is due to a belief that hydroponically produced fodder is more efficient in its use of inputs such as water when compared to conventional feeds. Water efficiency is especially appealing in areas like the Intermountain West region of the U.S where water availability is often constrained. This analysis looks to understand how using hydroponically produced barley fodder to finish steers compares economically to finishing steers on a nutritionally equivalent conventional finishing ration. To do so, a stochastic simulation model is constructed to …

Analyzing Market Dynamics: Effects On Quality Grade Premiums And Discounts For Alfalfa Hay, Colby Wilkins

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This paper looks at how market strength affects the price premiums and discounts associated with alfalfa hay quality grades. Previous research has mainly focused on how attributes of alfalfa hay influence the price received. In this study, we use ordinary least squares linear regression and visual data representations to examine the effects of market strength on price received in conjunction with hay quality. The results demonstrate that during periods of relatively high average prices of alfalfa hay there is no significant impact on the average premiums and discounts associated with hay quality. However, during periods of relatively low average prices, …

Unveiling Key Features: A Comparative Study Of Machine Learning Models For Alzheimer's Detection, Cailean Bushnell

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis rigorously evaluates the application of an array of natural language processing (NLP) techniques and machine learning models to identify linguistic signatures indicative of dementia, as sourced from the DementiaBank Pitt corpus. Utilizing a binary classification paradigm, this study meticulously integrates sophisticated embedding methods—including Doc2Vec, Word2Vec, GloVe, and BERT—with traditional machine learning algorithms such as Random Forest, Multinomial Naïve Bayes, ADA boost, KNN classifier, and Logistic Regression, alongside deep learning architectures like LSTM, Bi-LSTM, and CNN-LSTM. The efficacy of these methodologies is evaluated based on their capacity to differentiate between transcribed speech impacted by dementia and that from control …

Displacement, Social Justice, And The Right To The City: A Review And Critical Reflections In The 21st Century, Tara Fitzgerald, Brij Maharaj

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

This paper aims to review the literature and themes relating to displacement, social justice, and the right to the city in the 21st century. Displacement, in its various forms, is central to understanding the human rights abuses and livelihood implications when urban rights are revoked, forcing inhabitants to the periphery, and is the focus of this paper. Whereas the city’s services, resources, and opportunities should be a collective right advanced by local authorities for all who occupy urban space, displacements lead to resettlement and impoverishment, especially as livelihoods are disrupted. Urban renewal, through mega-projects, clean-up campaigns, and speculative gentrification processes, …

Covid-19: Change In Adjusted Gross Income From Net Migration In Nevada, 2020-2021, Ayda Atici, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines data on changes in taxable income and net average income as a result of net migration for each county in Nevada during the COVID-19 pandemic (from 2020 to 2021). The data illustrate which Nevada counties experienced increases in taxable income and average income, and which counties experienced losses. The data are retrieved from “Tax Data Reveals Large Flight of High Earners from Major Cities During the Pandemic,” an interactive data report by the Economic Innovation Group.