Global Software Development: Commitment,Trust and Cultural Sensitivity in Strategic Partnerships

Much research has studied off-shore outsourcing from a Western client perspective. This article tries to shed light on what an Indian vendor perceives as important to manage large and complex strategic partnerships in IT outsourcing, and in particular how mutually profitable, long-term relationships with European clients are created and maintained, both at company and project levels. We investigate this issue through qualitative interviews with various vendor representatives in offshore and on-site teams in a top tier multinational company of Indian origin.In the analysis of interview accounts of close collaboration processes in two large and complex projects, where off-shoring of software development is moved to a strategic level, we found that the vendor was able to establish a strategic partnership through long-term engagement with the field of banking and insurance as well as through conscious relationship management with the clients. Three major themes describe important aspects of the strategic partnerships: 1) senior management commitment and employee identification with the projects, 2) mutual trust and transparency, and 3) cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity. The article draws attention to the important collaborative work done by people who are able to span boundaries in the complex organizational set-up of global IT development projects.     

A Predictive Model for Survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Generic E. coli in Soil Amended with Untreated Animal Manure

This study aimed at developing a predictive model that captures the influences of a variety of agricultural and environmental variables and is able to predict the concentrations of enteric bacteria in soil amended with untreated Biological Soil Amendments of Animal Origin (BSAAO) under dynamic conditions. We developed and validated a Random Forest model using data from a longitudinal field study conducted in mid-Atlantic United States investigating the survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and generic E. coli in soils amended with untreated dairy manure, horse manure, or poultry litter. Amendment type, days of rain since the previous sampling day, and soil moisture content were identified as the most influential agricultural and environmental variables impacting concentrations of viable E. coli O157:H7 and generic E. coli recovered from amended soils. Our model results also indicated that E. coli O157:H7 and generic E. coli declined at similar rates in amended soils under dynamic field conditions.The Random Forest model accurately predicted changes in viable E. coli concentrations over time under different agricultural and environmental conditions. Our model also accurately characterized the variability of E. coli concentration in amended soil over time by providing upper and lower prediction bound estimates. Cross-validation results indicated that our model can be potentially generalized to other geographic regions and incorporated into a risk assessment for evaluating the risks associated with application of untreated BSAAO. Our model can be validated for other regions and predictive performance also can be enhanced when data sets from additional geographic regions become available.     

On Variance Upper Bounds for Unimodal Distributions

We obtain upper bounds on the variance of discrete unimodal distributions. The alternative proofs of the corresponding bounds for the continuous unimodal distributions are also given.     

A birth and death process with logistic mean population

An example of density dependent-birth and death process whose mean satisfies the logistic equation as proposed by Gompertz is given. Explicit expressions for the probability generating function and non-trivialstationarydistribution are obtained.     

外包趋势不可逆 奥巴马的政治限制影响甚微

自从奥巴马接任美国总统以来，严重依赖美国的印度外包产业一度感到胆战心惊：首先，奥巴马大幅减少了允许外国工人在美国本土就业的H-1b工作签证；接着奥巴马又在2月24日的国会讲话中宣布“终止美国公司外包业务的减税优惠”。     

Estimation of the mean of the selected gamma population

Let л₁ and л₂ denote two independent gamma populations G(α₁, p) and G(α₂, p) respectively. Assume α(i=1,2)are unknown and the common shape parameter p is a known positive integer. Let Y_i denote the sample mean based on a random sample of size n from the i-th population. For selecting the population with the larger mean, we consider, the natural rule according to which the population corresponding to the larger Y_i is selected. We consider? in this paper, the estimation of M, the mean of the selected population. It is shown that the natural estimator is positively biased. We obtain the uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator(UMVE) of M. We also consider certain subclasses of estikmators of the form c₁x₍₁₎ +c₁x₍₂₎ and derive admissible estimators in these classes. The minimazity of certain estimators of interest is investigated. Itis shown that p(p+1)^-1x₍₁₎ is minimax and dominates the UMVUE. Also UMVUE is not minimax.     

Semiparametric estimation for the dispersion parameter in the analysis of over- or underdispersed count data

This paper investigates several semiparametric estimators of the dispersion parameter in the analysis of over- or underdispersed count data when there is no likelihood available. In the context of estimating the dispersion parameter, we consider the double-extended quasi-likelihood (DEQL), the pseudo-likelihood and the optimal quadratic estimating (OQE) equations method and compare them with the maximum likelihood method, the method of moments and the extended quasi-likelihood through simulation study. The simulation study shows that the estimator based on the DEQL has superior bias and efficiency property for moderate and large sample size, and for small sample size the estimator based on the OQE equations outperforms the other estimators. Three real-life data sets arising in biostatistical practices are analyzed, and the findings from these analyses are quite similar to what are found from the simulation study.     

Social Context of Smoking Hookah Among College Students: Scale Development and Validation

Abstract

Objective: To develop an instrument that measures the social context of hookah use among college students. Participants: A pool of 50 potential items, based on 44 in-depth interviews with regular college hookah smokers, was administered to a sample of 274 hookah users between October and December 2011. Methods: Participants were approached in hookah bars and asked to complete the survey. Results: A principle components analysis revealed 3 reliable factors: social facilitation, family/cultural influence, and alternative to smoking cigarettes and drinking. These were examined across different categories of hookah use: Weekly hookah users were more likely to smoke in a context of social facilitation than the other 2 groups. Similar effects were observed for family/cultural influence. Asians were more likely to smoke in a context of family and cultural influence than non-Asians. Conclusions: This scale has potential for identifying situation-specific contexts of hookah use that may help in designing effective interventions for college students.     

Subsidiary power,cultural intelligence and interpersonal knowledge transfer between subsidiaries within the multinational enterprise

We propose that individual-level knowledge transfer between subsidiaries within a multinational enterprise depends on the perceived relative power of the subsidiary and the cultural intelligence of individuals. Using a sample of 333 research and development (R&D) subsidiary employees of foreign Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) in India, we find that the perceived subsidiary power has a direct positive significant effect on knowledge sharing, and an indirect significant effect, through organizational identification, on knowledge seeking. Further, cultural intelligence moderates the effect of organizational identification on knowledge seeking, and the indirect effect of the perceived subsidiary power on it. The findings highlight the role of organizational identification and cultural intelligence in explaining the impact of the perceived subsidiary power on interpersonal knowledge transfer within the MNE.     

The Effects of Modern Treaties and Opt-In Legislation on Household Incomes in Aboriginal Communities

This paper investigates the influence of country risks, including economic, financial, and political risks, on income inequality for a broad sample of 110 countries. Our empirical results reveal that higher economic and political risks generally lead to higher inequality. Lower income country appears to have higher income inequality. Furthermore, with the consideration of the non-monotonic effect of country risk, the improvement of income distribution is only sustainable dynamically after a certain threshold level of country risk has been brought down. Policymakers should improve the level of country stability by exploring the benefits of country risk reduction in order to improve income distribution.