The Effects of the Facial Expression of Beneficiaries in Charity Appeals and Psychological Involvement on Donation Intentions

To increase the effectiveness of fundraising campaigns, many human‐need charities include pictures of beneficiaries in their ads. However, it is unclear when and why the facial expression of these beneficiaries (sad versus happy) may influence the effectiveness of charity ads. To answer these questions, an experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the facial expression on donation intentions, while considering the moderating role of psychological involvement with charities. It found that psychological involvement with charities moderated the impact of the facial expression on donation intentions in that seeing a picture of a sad versus happy person increased intentions to give among participants with lower levels of psychological involvement, whereas the reverse was true for highly involved participants. The moderating effect of psychological involvement was fully explained by the perceived efficacy of one's donation. The findings not only contribute to our understanding of the effect of the facial expression of people pictured in charity appeals on donation behavior, but also suggest that nonprofits should tailor their ads to target potential donors with various levels of psychological involvement with charities.     

Hazards regression for freemium products and services: a competing risks approach

We propose a competing risks approach to analyse customer behaviours in freemium products and services. The event of interest is when a customer starts to pay for additional features or functionalities. The observation of such an event may be preempted by an event where the customer quits using the product before paying and consuming the additional features or functionalities. One such freemium service is the online game category. The Fine-Gray regression model was implemented for an online game player activity data to study how covariates affect the paying hazard. Some covariates are hypothesized to have different discrete effects at multiple change points. We extend the model to allow for possible change points in the analysis.     

The Value of Weather Information for E‐Commerce Operations

To be efficient, logistics operations in e‐commerce require warehousing and transportation resources to be aligned with sales. Customer orders must be fulfilled with short lead times to ensure high customer satisfaction, and the costly under‐utilization of workers must be avoided. To approach this ideal, forecasting order quantities with high accuracy is essential. Many drivers of online sales, including seasonality, special promotions and public holidays, are well known, and they have been frequently incorporated into forecasting approaches. However, the impact of weather on e‐commerce operations has not been rigorously analyzed. In this study, we integrate weather data into the sales forecasting of the largest European online fashion retailer. We find that sunshine, temperature, and rain have a significant impact on daily sales, particularly in the summer, on weekends, and on days with extreme weather. Using weather forecasts, we have significantly improved sales forecast accuracy. We find that including weather data in the sales forecast model can lead to fewer sales forecast errors, reducing them by, on average, 8.6% to 12.2% and up to 50.6% on summer weekends. In turn, the improvement in sales forecast accuracy has a measurable impact on logistics and warehousing operations. We quantify the value of incorporating weather forecasts in the planning process for the order fulfillment center workforce and show how their incorporation can be leveraged to reduce costs and increase performance. With a perfect information planning scenario, excess costs can be reduced by 11.6% compared with the cost reduction attainable with a baseline model that ignores weather information in workforce planning.     

Counter-geographies: The campaign against rationalisation of agricultural research stations in New South Wales, Australia

This paper discusses an example of community action mounted in a rural region of New South Wales, Australia, in response to proposals by the State Government to rationalise agricultural research stations operated by the Department of Primary Industries. Informed by a Foucaultian understanding of power and the concept of governmentality, neoliberalism is theorised as being the broad governmental context in which rationalisation proposals were put forward. Recent literature drawing on this theoretical perspective has emphasised that neoliberalism is enacted through a relationship of power, and is not monolithic or inevitable. Neoliberalism is always negotiated by those seeking to govern and those who are the object of such governmental actions. This paper analyses how plans to rationalise publicly funded agricultural research stations were opposed by those seeking to keep research facilities open in the case study area. The paper discusses the methods and scope of community action and, drawing on interviews, identifies a series of discourses articulated by campaigners. Non-local actors were depicted as uncaring and insensitive. In contrast, campaigners discussed the emergence of a ‘city-country divide’ in domestic politics; the need for specialist agricultural knowledge given the region's unique geographical location; and local impacts of an economic, social and emotional nature. Central were discourses of maintaining community, tradition, and continuity in unique local places defined by their climate, biophysical environment and economy. These were ‘counter-geographies’ that sought (successfully, it would transpire) to disrupt the state's imagined geography of a homogenous and flexible administrative space in which research services could be relocated wherever most efficient. Important too were embodied resistances to the way rural industries and people were subjected. Campaigners refused to accept preferred codes of neoliberal behaviour (particularly mobility and rationality) and instead demanded respect for their careers, families and communities. Important considerations are suggested for further research on impacts and negotiations of neoliberalism. This study particularly highlights the successes—as well as contradictions and limitations—of arguments that construct rural places as socialised, unique and unfairly treated (by governments), in opposition to metropolitan dominance and ‘placeless’ neoliberalism.     

WTO司法程序创新中的正当程序偏离——以法庭之友意见书为核心

在WTO长期的司法实践中,与法庭之友有关的法律问题主要涉及专家组和上诉机构能否接受未经请求的法庭之友主动提交的信息。对此,有不少学者认为法庭之友参与争端解决机制,能提升WTO的透明度和民主性,是正当程序的体现。但发展中国家认为上诉机构在若干案例中接受未经请求的法庭之友意见书,不符合WTO协议下的授权范围,是司法立法的体现。     

对网络交际的思考

网络交际现今已经成为很多人生活的一部分,通过网络空间人们交流更加便捷,更加丰富。网络交际对我们的现实社会文化和人际交流有着深刻的影响和冲击。网络交际弱化了文化因素对交际主体角色的制约和影响;网络交际的开放性使不同文化的人更容易交流和相互认同,弱化了本土文化对人际交往的影响;网络交际形成的特殊文化,引起了文化的碰撞和交融;网络交际的不真实性加剧了人与人的信任危机;网络交际信息与真实信息的差异,及网络上对他人隐私的侵害给日常生活交际带来了不利的影响。     

Neighborhood Quality, Environmental Hazards, Personality Traits, and Resident Actions

A survey of 798 New Jersey residents examined relationships among residents' neighborhood activities, perceptions of neighborhood quality, trust of experts, support for rebuilding cities and equal rights, and degree of optimism. Neighborhood activities increased with lack of trust and optimism. These personality characteristic measures were folded into multidimensional constructs that included local environmental hazards, respondents' ratings of their previous neighborhoods, and some demographic variables. Pessimism and values that support equal rights and rebuilding cities were weakly associated with poor quality neighborhood ratings.     

网络游戏产业的发展与管理研究

网络游戏在中国发展大约只有七、八年时间,但其产值增长和社会影响都使人们不得不将它上升到了一个产业的高度去看待和研究。本文从我国网络游戏市场规模入手,对网络游戏的产业链、产业带动性、文化内涵等问题进行讨论,最后指出我国在网络游戏管理中应注意的若干问题并提出建议对策。     

网络教育中消除人际交互障碍的策略

首先从目前网络教育中人际交互现状的调查结果出发,分析了人际交互障碍的严重性及其研究的意义;然后从社会心理学的角度分析了网络教育中人际交互障碍的产生原因;最后针对网络教育的特点,给出了消除网络教育中人际交互障碍的部分策略,希望能够帮助网络学习者更快地适应网络学习过程.同时为提高网络教育的整体质量提供启发.     

Safeguarding young people from cyber pornography and cyber sexual predation: a major dilemma of the internet

Over the past 20 years, the internet has provided an expedient mode of communication and access to a wealth of information. The internet is a valuable tool; however, it can also be detrimental to the wellbeing of children due to numerous online hazards. There is the potential for children to be abused via cyberspace through online sexual solicitation and access to pornography. Indeed, the internet is replete with inappropriate material, including pornography, chatrooms with adult themes and access to instant messaging wherein others could misrepresent themselves. Because children are actively utilizing the internet where unknown others can have access to them or where they can be exposed to inappropriate sexual materials, they require safeguarding and education in safe internet use. The purpose of this article is to provide a discussion of how to safeguard children from and educate them about online sexual solicitation and pornography. We contend that society needs an overall conceptual shift in its attitude towards young people's internet use. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.