Investigating the Level of End‐User Development and Involvement Among Time‐Based Competitors

As global markets and technology change, time‐based competitors create product development and manufacturing practices that reduce response time and enhance customization capabilities. These practices require an information‐rich internal environment that is capable of flexible resource deployment and direct and continuous feedback. To build this environment, time‐based competitors are developing end‐user capabilities and involving them in information systems (IS) activities. Data collected from 265 manufacturers were used to determine if firms with high levels of time‐based product development and time‐based manufacturing practices also have high levels of end‐user involvement in IS‐related activities, end‐user training effectiveness, and end‐user computing skills. The results of this study support that contention.     

High and low levels of adolescent peer status are associated longitudinally with socioevaluative concern

This study examined linear and curvilinear longitudinal associations between peer status (i.e., likeability and popularity) and socioevaluative concern, a socio-cognitive feature characterized by attunement to judgment from peers. A sample of 716 adolescents (M_age = 16.01, SD = 1.25; 54% female; 46.5% White; 69.5% reduced-price lunch) was assessed twice annually. Likeability and popularity were assessed with peer nominations at Time 1. Measures of general (rejection sensitivity, peer importance) and online (digital status seeking, online status importance) socioevaluative concern were obtained at Times 1 and 2. High and low levels of likeability were longitudinally associated with increased peer importance, while high and low levels of popularity were associated with increased digital status seeking, and decreased online status importance for girls.     

Effects of wearing a pressure redistribution belt while lying in a hospital bed

Bedsores (ulcers) are caused by multiple factors which include, but are not limited to; pressure, shear force, friction, temperature, age and medication. Specialised support services, such as specialised mattresses, sheepskin coverings etc., are thought to decrease or relieve pressure, resulting in a lowering of pressure ulcer incidence [3]. The primary aim of this study was to compare the upper/central body pressure distribution between normal lying in a hospital bed versus the use of a pressure redistribution belt. The study involved 16 healthy voluntary subjects lying on a hospital bed with and without wearing the belt. Results showed that the use of a pressure redistribution belt results in reduced pressure peaks and prevents the pressure from increasing over time.     

Workers' Compensation and Family and Medical Leave Act Claim Contagion

At $60 billion per year, the workers' compensation system has come under increased scrutiny as firms, insurers, and researchers study the dynamics of claim filing. The Family and Medical Leave Act also covers most workers, and there has been very little research concerning the effects of FMLA legislation on employment. One hitherto neglected research area in both workers' compensation and FMLA is claim contagion. That is, as a claim is filed within a workgroup, does this increase the likelihood that others within the same workgroup will also file claims? We find the answer to be yes. We also find that this contagion effect is subject to diminishing returns to scale, however, in the sense that the claims probability increases at a decreasing rate as fellow employees' claims frequency increases. We argue that this is consistent with a model in which workers learn about filing a workers' compensation or FMLA claim from other workers.     

The Effects of Early Institutionalization and Foster Care Intervention on Children's Social Behaviors at the Age of Eight

The present study compared the social behaviors of eight‐year‐old previously institutionalized Romanian children from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) in two groups: (1) children randomized to foster care homes (FCG), and (2) children randomized to care as usual (remaining in institutions) (CAUG). Children were observed interacting with an age‐ and gender‐matched unfamiliar, non‐institutionalized peer from the community during six interactive tasks, and their behavior was coded for speech reticence, social engagement, task orientation, social withdrawal, and conversational competence. Group comparisons revealed that FCG children were rated as significantly less reticent during a speech task than CAUG children. For CAUG children, longer time spent in institutional care was related to greater speech reticence and lower social engagement. Using an actor–partner interdependence model, CAUG children's behaviors, but not FCG, were found to influence the behavior of unfamiliar peers. These findings are the first to characterize institutionalized children's observed social behaviors toward new peers during middle childhood and highlight the positive effects of foster care intervention in the social domain.     

Optimal knowledge outsourcing model

Every organization controls its investments in the development and maintenance of internal knowledge (IK) as opposed to outsourcing this effort, namely, consuming external knowledge (EK). A number of factors involved in this decision, such as the IK learning curve, its associated holding cost, value deterioration rate, value of future IK or cost of purchasing EK. This study proposes a dynamic optimal control model for examining the properties of this problem. Optimal control strategies and steady-state conditions are identified for a number of special cases. Some insightful observations are obtained by studying the solution sensitivity to the underlying assumptions.