Business Analytics Commons^™

Modeling Private Debt Using U.S. Consumer Expenditure Data, Stsiapan Dziamentsyeu

Honors Capstones

This project models private household debt among U.S. consumers using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) between 2013 and 2023. The analysis focuses on identifying how demographic and economic characteristics, such as income, housing expenditures, education, and occupation, relate to non-mortgage “other” loan balances. After initial model development produced poor residual behavior due to zero-inflation from imputed debt values, the analysis was refined to include only households reporting verifiable debt. Multiple modeling techniques, including AIC-based variable selection and Lasso regularization, were compared under a five-fold cross-validation framework. The Lasso model achieved superior predictive accuracy (RMSE = 1.55, MAE = …

An Assessment And Comparison Of Expert System Performance And Large Language Model Performance, Carter A. Lange

ATU Honors Projects

This study compares the performance of knowledge-based expert systems (KBES) and large language models (LLMs) in narrow-domain tasks. Using Akinator as the representative KBES and ChatGPT as the representative LLM, fifty character-identification trials were conducted. Results show that both systems ultimately succeeded in identifying all characters, but their efficiency and accuracy differ. Akinator required fewer incorrect guesses and produced no identifiable total failures, or “errors,” while ChatGPT occasionally erred beyond possible continuation despite similar average guess counts. Statistical analysis revealed no significant difference in the number of questions required before success, but McNemar’s test indicated that ChatGPT made significantly more …

The Impact Of Parking Services On Mental Health At Bowling Green State University, Callie Oyster

Honors Projects

The current research investigates the effects of parking on daily stress and emotional stability and perceptions of equity at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). It draws from the perspective of students, faculty, and staff via a quantitative survey of over 500 respondents that assessed parking behaviors, mental health indicators, and institutional trust. The results indicate that unpredictability, rather than simply lack of space, is the largest source of stress related to parking. Commuter and resident students reported arriving at least 20-30 minutes earlier than expected. Faculty, staff, and students reported feelings of anticipatory anxiety about driving to BGSU, with emotional …

The Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Economy In The Mountain West, 2025, Dre Boyd-Weatherly, Sean Curry, Krish Sharma, Kristian Thymianos, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet reports on the artificial intelligence (AI) readiness of five Mountain West metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ; Salt Lake City-Murray, UT; Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO; Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV; and Albuquerque, NM. Using data from the Brookings Institution's “Mapping the AI Economy” report, the MSAs are benchmarked based on their overall population, employment, talent, adoption, and innovation.

Beyond Compliance: Rethinking Ethical Accounting Through Ai And Esg, Rafael L. Portillo

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

With the increasing adoption of these modern technologies in world markets while maintaining these ethical principles, there is an increasing need for alignment between technology development and ethical responsibility. For instance, in the world of accounting, there is an increasing demand to maintain alignment between technology development and ethics. It is for this reason that these researchers have chosen to explore the link between Artificial Intelligence, ESG, and financial reporting ethics.

The goal of this study is to look at new concerns and moral risks that appear when ESG expectations, AI systems, and accounting practices interact. Earlier research usually studies …

Integrating Data Analytics: Exploring The Best Methods To Evaluate Players’ Performance To Help Gain A Competitive Advantage On The Football Field, Tanner F. Fountain

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

To succeed in the world of sports, leaders need to uncover and utilize any advantage possible in order to gain a competitive advantage over their competition. I discuss how leaders of a sports organization, specifically within the Arkansas Razorback football program, implement the use of analytics on and off the field, as well as how they use their data to create visuals, find potential strengths and weakness, and ultimately help them be more prepared for gameday. Using my personal experience as a Student Analyst for the Razorbacks, along with supplementary information, I share the latest tactics and the strategies for …

Fragmentation In The U. S. Fed Cattle Market: Implications For Price Transparency And Discovery, Taralee M. Hudson

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

The U.S. fed cattle market is one plagued by recurring stakeholder concern. Market participants frequently raise questions about the transparency of fundamental information under existing reporting frameworks, and the extent to which Private Negotiation, the dominant trading institution, effectively facilitates price discovery. Although extensive research has sought to address these issues, much of it has failed to account for the market’s increasingly fragmented structure. This thesis is comprised of three chapters that collectively examine price transparency and discovery through the lens of market fragmentation. Each chapter presents research related to the fed cattle market and is intended to stand …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On National Hockey League Fan Attendance, Ramon E. Rivera

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic struck swiftly around the world, causing several societal functions and normalcies to adapt or shut down completely. This culminating project explores the effects of COVID-19 on arena fan attendance of the National Hockey League (NHL). This project was guided by the following three research questions: Q1 – How did the NHL arena closures affect fan attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic? Q2 – What factors influenced NHL fan arena attendance before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? Q3 – What factors impacted the NHL arena fan attendance after the conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic? An empirical model developed …

Feedback Strategies In The Market With Uncertainties, Mustapha Nyenye Issah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This paper explores how established firms use strategic advertising to deter new competitors in uncertain markets. Specifically, it models a situation where market demand evolves unpredictably - captured by the CKLS stochastic process, and the incumbent firm may be either strong or weak, a fact hidden from potential entrants. For a company already in the market, advertising is not just about driving immediate sales, it is a strategic tool to project an image of strength and deter potential new competitors. On the other side, a business thinking about entering that market faces a high-stakes, irreversible decision. It will typically hold …

Is Complexity Virtuous?, Ryan Elmore, Jack Strauss

Business Information and Analytics: Faculty Scholarship

(Kelly et al., 2024) show that increasing complexity in linear models, with potentially thousands of predictors, is "virtuous". Their work contradicts the dogma of model selection, including the Principles of Parsimony and Occam's Razor. They find that when the number of predictors far exceeds the number of observations, the bias-variance trade-off breaks down, the variance declines, and the Sharpe ratio increases. In the context of ridge regression, we find that very high complexity coupled with large penalty terms (excessive shrinkage) generate forecasts that converge to a rolling window of past returns. For example, we show the past twelve-month moving average …

Do Growth Partnerships Improve Early-Stage Startup Performance? An Investigation Into Revenue Growth, Operational Efficiency, And Investor Attraction, Brendan P. Drew

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This research investigates how teaming up with seasoned advisors affects young startups’ success, judged by sales gains, smoother operations, or drawing in backers. New companies tend to spark innovative ideas and hiring, but a sizable chunk fails before standing on their own. Weak planning, tight funds, or struggling to impress investors usually spell trouble early on. While programs like startup boosters got loads of attention in past reports, deeper ongoing alliances - where founders partner firsthand with outside mentors, are still barely touched upon in scholarly work.

The study uses both numbers and personal views, pulling data from eight new …

Cv: Apostolos Xanthopoulos (Business Analytics), Apostolos Xanthopoulos

Accounting, Business Analytics, Economics, and Finance Department Faculty Curricula Vitae

No abstract provided.

Keurig Dr Pepper Strategic Audit, Huy Le, Ethan Zen, Sierra Perkins, Jack Hudson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

We analyze Keurig Dr Pepper's current strategic position following its acquisition of JDE Peat's. We determine its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within its market share and make recommendations for future business ventures and strategic positioning.

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Localized Nuclear Utility For Erau Environmental Improvement, Timothy Schroeder, Jacob Blanton, Christopher Anderson

Sustainability Conference

The reliance of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) on energy supplied by Florida Power & Light (FPL), which currently draws large amounts of power from fossil fuel sources, is continuously suboptimal both environmentally and financially. This study proposes assessing the feasibility of deploying a campus scale nuclear reactor tailored to ERAU’s power consumption profile. This serves as a path toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting dependence on external fossil fuel generation. The methods used are primarily literature review(s), and numerical analysis on comparable use cases. The literature reviews focused on design theory and yield of nuclear reactors on a …

Utilizing A Virtual Firewall Appliance For Introducing And Reinforcing The Concepts And Implementation Of Devices To Improve Security In A Computing Environment, Stanley Mierzwa, Christopher Eng

Center for Cybersecurity

The educational realm of higher education cybersecurity curriculum continues to evolve to provide more opportunities for experiential hands-on and work role-related practical applications of technology solutions. Gaining greater competencies is quickly becoming a normal requirement for such programs that are designated by the National Security Agency Center of Academic Excellence programs. The work roles of cybersecurity include a variety of knowledge, skills, and abilities, depending on the category of the activity or task. Firewalls have been a staple cybersecurity, network security, and information security device and strategy to protect organization networks and computing environments. This paper will provide details and …

Pause For Thought – Exploring Ai Error In The Assessment Of Industrial Sustainability Reports, Jake Mooney, Colm Tormey, Cillian Gleeson, Shane Hoban, Dylan Kirby, Christine Nangle

SURE Journal: Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Live Shopping On Consumer Purchase Decisions: Analysing The Role Of Social Commerce In Indonesia’S Retail Sector, Andi Irfan, Andi Nur Yadin S, Hafipah Hafipah, Yusram Adi

The South East Asian Journal of Management

Research Aims: This study examines the influence of live shopping on consumer purchase decisions in Indonesia, focusing on key features such as interactivity, promotional urgency, and influencer marketing. It also investigates the mediating effect of consumer trust and the moderating role of social commerce experience.

Design/Methodology/Approach: A quantitative approach was employed, using survey data from 265 Indonesian consumers who engage in live shopping. The analysis was conducted using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS.

Research Findings: Interactivity, promotional urgency, and influencer marketing significantly impact consumer purchase decisions, both directly and indirectly through consumer trust. Promotional urgency …

Understanding Film Tax Credits In Nevada And Nationally, Michael J. Brown, David F. Damore, William E. Brown Jr.

Policy Briefs and Reports

This policy primer provides an overview of Nevada’s transferable tax credit program for film and other productions and reviews articles, reports, audits, and studies of film tax credits as a tool for economic development in the United States. This review considers a significant body of work analyzing the use of film tax credits in support of economic development. Studies and state audits often show that because film tax credits do not create the number and quality of full-time jobs necessary to merit their costs and do little to stimulate other related industries, they are a poor financial choice for state …

Skill Evolution In The Age Of Ai-Utilizing Text Analytics For Skill Gap Analysis To Prepare Women For Leadership Roles, Blenda G. Mutuma, Marcelline Ouma, Beth Kanyiri

Communications of the IIMA

ABSTRACT
The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the global workforce, presenting both opportunities and challenges for leadership development, particularly for women. As AI automates routine tasks and redefines skill requirements, there is a growing demand for uniquely human capabilities such as emotional intelligence, creativity, and strategic thinking, qualities that are inherently strong and often highly associated with women. Research indicates that women typically score higher in emotional intelligence, particularly in areas such as empathy and relationship management, which are critical for effective leadership (Goleman, 2020). Furthermore, studies by McKinsey & Company (2022) highlight that gender-diverse leadership teams, …

Enhancing Sarcasm Detection With Contextual Factors For Improved Model Robustness Based On Bmlrf, Walter O. Yodah, Alice S. Mataruse, Never O. Kangara

Communications of the IIMA

Detecting sarcasm in text remains a critical yet challenging task in natural language processing (NLP). Despite significant advances through deep learning, particularly the use of transformer-based architecture like BERT, sarcasm detection models still face challenges in achieving high accuracy. A major limitation lies in their insufficient incorporation of contextual awareness, including conversational history, social inter- actions, emotional cues, and cultural factors. To address this, this paper proposes the BERT with Meta-Feature Logistic Regression Fusion (BMLRF) model, which in- tegrates sentence-level embeddings from a pre-trained transformer with meta-features capturing social, emotional, and cultural contexts. The model also leverages multi-turn dialogue history …

Time Travel Validation For Time Series Data, Thomas Tiahrt

Mountain Plains Business Conference

Model validation is necessary to evaluate the predictive effectiveness of time series forecasts. The standard validation method is to start at the earliest point in the data, train on two of the minimum meaningful number of periods or cycles of periods (i.e., two or more blocks) then test on the next block. Subsequent models are tested by extending the training period one block at a time and testing on the following block. Alternatively, the last block can be substituted for the following block. Other forward progressions can be used including forms of cross validation. In any case, the forecaster chooses …

When Generative Ai Helps Too Much: Engagement, Learning, And Student Outcomes In Business Statistics, Bruce A. Reinig

Mountain Plains Business Conference

After two decades of teaching business statistics, first in person, then online, and now in the era of generative AI, I have observed substantial shifts in how students approach learning. Many rely on ChatGPT and similar tools to produce assignment answers, sometimes at the expense of genuine understanding, which may lead to lower exam scores. Using LMS analytics, I track students’ engagement with video lectures and find this behavior more predictive of exam success than assignment completion. This presentation reports on an ongoing observational study and seeks feedback to strengthen its design and effectiveness in supporting authentic student learning.

Sentiment Analysis Of Public Commentary On U.S. Farm Bills, Frank Tenkorang, Fletcher Ziwoya

Mountain Plains Business Conference

This study applies sentiment analysis to public commentary on U.S. farm bills to assess patterns of support and opposition. Using Reddit posts from relevant subreddits, we employed two natural language processing models, VADER and RoBERTa, to evaluate sentiment over time. While both models yielded differing sentiment distributions, they revealed increased public engagement during farm bill years, particularly in 2018. Most sentiments were neutral, but negative opinions outweighed positive ones. Posts with stronger sentiments tended to attract more user interaction, especially controversial ones. These findings highlight the polarized yet active public discourse surrounding agricultural policy and the potential for data-driven policy …

Passenger Delight In Liminal Spaces: Uncovering The Dynamics Of Airport Airside F&B, Thorsten Merkle, Sushanta Das

ICHRIE Research Reports

The airport airside environment is a unique and highly consequential setting for consumer behavior, where passengers’ food and beverage (F&B) decisions are shaped by time pressure, emotional states, and spatial constraints. This study empirically validates two complementary frameworks - the CX Delightors Framework and the Airport Airside Consumption Model - in the U.S. context to deepen understanding of passenger behavior in this liminal space. Using survey data from 1,374 passengers across three major U.S. hub airports (DEN, PHX, SLC), we conducted principal component analyses to refine the original nine CX Delightors attributes into five robust dimensions: Hospitality & Ambiance, Value …

Does Idiosyncratic Volatility Follow A Random-Walk? Evidence From U.S. Stocks, Zihan Cao, Ossama Elhadary

Publications and Research

In asset pricing literature, idiosyncratic volatility (IVOL) measures the firm-specific risk that is not explained by broader market movements. In this study, I investigate whether the idiosyncratic volatility (IVOL) of individual stocks follows a random-walk. Using monthly residuals from the Fama-French three-factor model (Fama & French, 1993), I estimate IVOL for more than 11,000 U.S. stocks, and apply the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test (Said & Dickey, 1984) to determine whether IVOL behaves like a random-walk. While most stocks display random-walk behavior, the proportion varies across industries, with some sectors showing deviations from random-walk behavior. Stocks with different levels of average return …

An Analysis Of Consumer Behavior In The Brazilian E-Commerce Market: An Investigation Of Customer Loyalty, Seasonality, And Regional Preferences, Hai Doan

Student Publications

This paper investigates key drivers of consumer behavior within Brazil's emerging e-commerce market by analyzing the Olist Public Dataset. As technology increasingly allows for data-driven marketing strategies, understanding the nuanced behaviors of diverse consumer bases, especially in an emerging market like Brazil, is critical for firm success. This study tests three hypotheses regarding the relationship between positive customer reviews and e-loyalty, the fluctuation of seasonal sales during holiday periods, and the influence of geographic urbanization on product preferences. Utilizing regression analyses on 100,000 orders from 2016 to 2018, the results showed no significant relationship between positive review scores and repeat …

Federal Funding In The Mountain West, 2021-2024, Isabelle G. Graham, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Elections & Governance

This fact sheet presents data on the number of federal funding awards granted to the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah between 2021 and 2024. These awards include investments authorized under major federal legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), CHIPS and Science Act, and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), among other programs tracked by Invest.gov. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will see funding for these programs sunsetted (terminated as the above legislation expires).

Analisis Dampak Kebijakan Insentif Fiskal Terhadap Tingkat Komponen Dalam Negeri (Tkdn) Industri Manufaktur Di Indonesia, Muhammad Muhammad, Riyanto Riyanto

Jurnal Kebijakan Ekonomi

Over the last decade, the manufacturing sector's contribution to Indonesia's economy has declined. In 2010, it was 29.10% of GDP, but by 2022, it had dropped to 19.14%. Employment in the sector also fell, from 14.91% of the workforce in 2010 to 13.80% in 2022. To reverse this trend, the government introduced a policy to boost the Domestic Component Level (DCL) in manufacturing. By offering fiscal incentives to industries meeting certain DCL targets, the government aims to drive economic growth and job creation. A study using BPS data from 2008-2019 shows that this policy raised DCL by 23.5%.

Applying Detective Analytics For Mitigating Financial Crime In An Organisation, Nontobeko Mlambo, Tiko Iyamu

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

Despite the growing popularity of detective analytics, it is consistently challenging to understand the factors that influence the adoption. This is increasingly discouraging organisations, even though the tool is important for tracing, tracking, and mitigating financial crime. This study applied concepts of ‘follow the actors’ and shifting negotiation of actor-network theory (ANT) to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence the adoption of detective analytics in a qualitative case study using a South African-based financial organisation. From the analysis, integration of analytics tools, integration of detective analytics with other systems and processes, development of a template for each …