University of Houston - Clear Lake

The current research systematically develops and empirically validates a scale to measure word-of-mouth communication and investigates two forms of customer commitment and service quality as potential antecedents. The findings support the hypotheses that affective commitment is positively related to word-of-mouth communication but that high sacrifice commitment is not related to word-of-mouth communication. Interestingly, the effect of service quality on word-of-mouth communication appears to be industry dependent. A distinction is made between word-of-mouth activity and word-of-mouth praise.

Knowledge plays a key role in the information revolution. Major challenges are to select the “right” information from numerous sources and transform it into useful knowledge. Tacit knowledge based on common sense, and explicit knowledge based on academic accomplishment are both underutilized. Ways knowledge‐enabled organizations acquire, measure, teach, share and apply knowledge are discussed and illustrated. Methods to balance the use tacit and explicit knowledge at work and practical, proven ways to improve the understanding and use of knowledge are presented. Organizations must begin to create worker‐centered environments to encourage the open sharing and use of all forms of knowledge.

Trust and satisfaction are essential ingredients for successful business relationships in business-to-consumer electronic commerce. Yet there is little research on trust and satisfaction in e-commerce that takes a longitudinal approach. Drawing on three primary bodies of literature, the theory of reasoned action, the extended valence framework, and expectation-confirmation theory, this study synthesizes a model of consumer trust and satisfaction in the context of e-commerce. The model considers not only how consumers formulate their prepurchase decisions, but also how they form their long-term relationships with the same website vendor by comparing their prepurchase expectations to their actual purchase outcome. The results indicate that trust directly and indirectly affects a consumer's purchase decision in combination with perceived risk and perceived benefit, and also that trust has a longer term impact on consumer e-loyalty through satisfaction. Thus, this study extends our understanding of consumer Internet transaction behavior as a three-fold (prepurchase, purchase, and postpurchase) process, and it recognizes the crucial, multiple roles that trust plays in this process. Implications for theory and practice as well as limitations and future directions are discussed.

In this article, we review the literature on interfirm contracting in an effort to synthesize existing research and direct future scholarship. While transaction cost economics (TCE) is the most prominent perspective informing the “optimal governance” and “safeguarding” function of contracts, our review indicates other perspectives are necessary to understand how contracts are structured: relational capabilities (i.e., building cooperation, creating trust), firm capabilities, relational contracts, and the real option value of a contract. Our review also indicates that contract research is moving away from a narrow focus on contract structure and its safeguarding function toward a broader focus that also highlights adaptation and coordination. We end by noting the following research gaps: consequences of contracting, specifically outcome assessment; strategic options, decision rights, and the evolution of dynamic capabilities; contextual constraints of relational capabilities; contextual constraints of contracting capabilities; complements, substitutes, and bundles; and contract structure and social process.

Extensive research on nature-inspired cellular metamaterials has globally inspired innovations using single material and limited multifunctionality. Additive manufacturing (AM) of intricate geometries using multi-materials provides additional functionality, environmental adaptation, and improved mechanical properties. Recently, several studies have been conducted on multi-material additive manufacturing (MMAM) technologies, including multi-materials, methodologies, design, and optimization. However, in the past six years, very few or no systematic and complete reviews have been conducted in this research domain. This review intends to comprehensively summarize MMAM systems and the working principles of its fundamental processes. Herein, the Multi-material combinations and their design, modeling, and analysis strategies have been reviewed systematically. In particular, the focus is on applications and opportunities for using MMAM for several industries and postprocessing MMAM fabricated parts. Furthermore, this review identified the limitations and challenges of existing software packages, MMAM processes, materials, and joining mechanisms, especially at the multi-material interfaces. Finally, we discuss the possible strategies to overcome the aforementioned technological challenges and state the future directions, which will provide insights to researchers and engineers designing and manufacturing complex nature-inspired objects.

Hanley, Iwata, and McCord (2003) reviewed studies published through 2000 on the functional analysis (FA) of problem behavior. We update that review for 2001 through 2012, including 158 more recent studies that reported data from 445 FAs. Combined with data obtained from Hanley et al., 435 FA studies, with line graphs for 981 FAs, have been published since 1961. We comment on recent trends in FA research and introduce the studies in the 2013 special issue of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.

A decision to offer breakfast to homeless people led to radical change in a church and its environment. Existing theories of change do not fully explain observations from our qualitative study; however, complexity theory constructs suggest how and why such change emerged. We offer four key findings. First, the radical change was unintended, emergent, and slow. Second, destabilizing conditions helped small changes to emerge and become radical. Third, subsequent actions amplified an initial small change and, though not intended to do so, promoted radical change. Finally, the dynamic interaction of amplifying actions, contextual conditions, and small changes led to continuous radical change.

Comets harbor the most pristine material in our solar system in the form of ice, dust, silicates, and refractory organic material with some interstellar heritage. The evolved gas analyzer Cometary Sampling and Composition (COSAC) experiment aboard Rosetta's Philae lander was designed for in situ analysis of organic molecules on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Twenty-five minutes after Philae's initial comet touchdown, the COSAC mass spectrometer took a spectrum in sniffing mode, which displayed a suite of 16 organic compounds, including many nitrogen-bearing species but no sulfur-bearing species, and four compounds—methyl isocyanate, acetone, propionaldehyde, and acetamide—that had not previously been reported in comets.

Action research is defined and its scientific basis is noted but not argued. Although its original, classical form established almost a half century ago still exists, there has recently emerged a variety of new models for doing action research today. The basic classical model is described in terms of five elements. These are, in turn, used to introduce the present collection of reports on new, emergent varieties of contemporary action research that complement and extend the classic model. The reports come from projects in hundreds of organizations, in communities and regions, and in numerous countries. The ideas behind the basic model of action research may remain viable today only because they are being practiced in new ways, in innovative research designs, and applied to new problems. The collection of cases presented in this special issue illustrates the rich variety of new thinking available in contemporary action research.

Assuming that general relativity is the correct theory of gravity in the strong field limit, can gravitational wave observations distinguish between black hole and other compact object sources? Alternatively, can gravitational wave observations provide a test of one of the fundamental predictions of general relativity? Here we describe a definitive test of the hypothesis that observations of damped, sinusoidal gravitational waves originated from a black hole or, alternatively, that nature respects the general relativistic no-hair theorem. For astrophysical black holes, which have a negligible charge-to-mass ratio, the black hole quasi-normal mode spectrum is characterized entirely by the black hole mass and angular momentum and is unique to black holes. In a different theory of gravity, or if the observed radiation arises from a different source (e.g., a neutron star, strange matter or boson star), the spectrum will be inconsistent with that predicted for general relativistic black holes. We give a statistical characterization of the consistency between the noisy observation and the theoretical predictions of general relativity, together with a numerical example.

Social exclusion has been shown to produce a number of different responses. This research examines the proposition that social exclusion may produce either self-focused or prosocial responses, depending on which needs are threatened. Dif-ferent types of social exclusion threaten different needs, which in turn produce distinct outcomes (differential needs hypothesis). Social exclusion in the form of being implicitly ignored increased conspicuous consumption, whereas being ex-plicitly rejected increased helping and donation behavior. However, when efficacy needs (power, meaningful existence) were bolstered, the effects of being ignored were eliminated, whereas when relational needs (self-esteem) were bolstered, the effects of being rejected were eliminated. The results indicate that certain types of social exclusion produce prosocial responses, whereas others produce self-focused and attention-getting responses. It is well established that people have a fundamental needto belong (Baumeister and Leary 1995). Forming and maintaining relationships likely have survival benefits through resource sharing and mutual protection (Buss 1990). For this reason, the need to belong is considered to be uni-versal across cultures, and in fact cultures themselves may be considered manifestations of the need to belong. And marketers certainly seem well aware of this tendency toward affiliation. One need only look at the clothing of college

11R19. Introduction to Fuzzy Sets, Fuzzy Logic, and Fuzzy Control Systems. - Guanrong Chen (Univ of Houston, Houston TX) and Trung Tat Pham (Univ of Houston, Clear Lake, Houston TX). CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton FL. 2001. 316 pp. ISBN 0-8493-1658-8. $89.95.Reviewed by NM Boustany (GM Tech Center, General Motors Energy Center, Eng Bldg, 30200 Mound Rd, 480-111-S31, Troy MI 48090).In one of the debates of the 2000 presidential campaign, then Candidate George W Bush described Al Gore’s analysis of his tax refund proposals as Fuzzy Math. It is not clear whether or not Mr Bush was also taking a jab at the field, or even whether or not he was aware of its existence. At any rate, the popular press as well as TV and radio news shows made a lot of hay with the expression: Fuzzy Math, to the extent that Professor Bart Kosko (a major contributor to the field and author of the popular bestseller Fuzzy Thinking, Hyperion Press, NY, 1993) felt compelled to write a short editorial on the subject for the New York Times that same week. The chances are that control theorists of this reviewer’s generation have had to study fuzzy analysis several years after graduating. To this crop of control engineers, fuzzy thinking required quite a paradigm shift. Therefore, the field was not readily accepted and was received, in the early years, with considerable skepticism; all this despite the write-ups in Time Magazine and all the touted successes by Japanese and Korean engineers in their implementations of fuzzy systems. Upon closer scrutiny, these successes did not appear to constitute definitive proof of the superiority of these approaches over the more classical ones. The detractors would always point to a sensor or actuator that had not been used in earlier implementations relying on more conventional techniques. In addition, the claims that the methodology is mathematical model free seemed often exaggerated. Many reports on implementations relied on models for validation. Needless to say, the early years of fuzzy analysis witnessed a polarization of the control community. In recent years, this feud has considerably abated. This could be due to numerous factors such as the Old Guard reaching retirement and the wider acceptance of techniques with the promise of producing “intelligence” and “learning” in control systems. Fuzzy analysis builds on fuzzy logic, which extends the classical logic handed down to us from the early days of Western thinking by Aristotle. In classical logic, something is true or false; there is no in between. An element either belongs to set or to its complement. This “black or white” of classical logic has led to paradoxes. Fuzzy thinking, on the other hand, introduces degrees of grayness, or degrees of belonging to a set. These gray scales have provided possible resolutions to these paradoxes. Quite often these features of fuzzy thinking are compared and likened to elements in Eastern philosophy. This is often cited as the reason why fuzzy thinking has found wider acceptance in the East. Chapters 1 and 2 of this book lay the foundations. After introducing fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory in Chapter 1, some results from measure theory are presented. The section on measure theory makes for difficult reading and could be relegated to an appendix in future editions. Interval arithmetic is then introduced, and many of the results on interval calculus are presented. This chapter is straightforward mathematically, but is nevertheless tedious to work through. The examples at the end do a good job of clarifying the theory. Chapter 2 takes the reader from classical logic to fuzzy logic via 2-valued and n-valued logic. Again, the examples at the end of the chapter do the reader a great service. Chapter 3 builds on the foundations of Chapters 1 and 2 and develops the idea of fuzzy models moving from static models to dynamic models. The notion of least square parameter identification is extended to fuzzy models. In Chapter 4, fuzzy control is introduced beginning with a discussion of programable logic controllers. This provides a good starting point for the ensuing discussions on model-free and model-based fuzzy control methods. In Chapter 5, PID control is extended to the fuzzy case. Chapter 6 builds on the optimal parameter identification techniques developed earlier and extends notions from adaptive control to the fuzzy case. Chapter 7 discusses several case studies in detail. In some cases, the mathematical development is tedious, especially the one on interval calculus which is crucial to the understanding of the rest of the text. This could be laid out in a more user-friendly way. Also, some ideas are presented without much motivation. One example is the discussion on defuzzification. Various alternatives for defuzzification are presented without much discussion on what these are attempting to do or why one would choose one over the other. The above criticisms point to minor shortcomings that are relatively easy to amend in future editions. Overall, the text is very well written and provides a rigorous analytical approach to fuzzy systems. The topics are laid out in a logical sequence where later chapters build on the ideas of the earlier ones. Solved examples at the end of the chapters do a good job of clarifying the concepts in the body of these chapters. This reviewer recommends Introduction to Fuzzy Sets, Fuzzy Logic, and Fuzzy Control Systems either as a textbook on fuzzy control or as a companion reference for a more general course on intelligent control. The book also belongs on the shelves of engineering libraries of both industry and academia.

Executive Summary One of the most frequently reported findings in the leadership literature is the relationship between a leader's self-confidence and successful leadership. Yet, absent from the literature is a theoretical explanation for this long recognized association. A new leadership approach is proposed based on Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory that posits leadership self-efficacy as the key cognitive variable regulating leader functioning in a dynamic environment. The full model considers leader cognitions in addition to leader behaviors and the situation resulting in a broader view of the leadership process. Implications and propositions for leadership research are discussed.

PURPOSE: Excessive, chronic whole-body vibration (WBV) has a number of negative side effects on the human body, including disorders of the skeletal, digestive, reproductive, visual, and vestibular systems. Whole-body vibration training (WBVT) is intentional exposure to WBV to increase leg muscle strength, bone mineral density, health-related quality of life, and decrease back pain. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate vibration exposure and biodynamic responses during typical WBVT regimens. METHODS: Healthy men and women (N = 16) were recruited to perform slow, unloaded squats during WBVT (30 Hz; 4 mm(p-p)), during which knee flexion angle (KA), mechanical impedance, head acceleration (Ha(rms)), and estimated vibration dose value (eVDV) were measured. WBVT was repeated using two forms of vibration: 1) vertical forces to both feet simultaneously (VV), and 2) upward forces to only one foot at a time (RV). RESULTS: Mechanical impedance varied inversely with KA during RV (effect size, eta(p)(2): 0.668, P < 0.01) and VV (eta(p)(2): 0.533, P < 0.05). Ha(rms) varied with KA (eta(p)(2): 0.686, P < 0.01) and is greater during VV than during RV at all KA (P < 0.01). The effect of KA on Ha(rms) is different for RV and VV (eta(p)(2): 0.567, P < 0.05). The eVDV associated with typical RV and VV training regimens (30 Hz, 4 mm(p-p), 10 min.d(-1)) exceeds the recommended daily vibration exposure as defined by ISO 2631-1 (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: ISO standards indicate that 10 min.d(-1) WBVT is potentially harmful to the human body; the risk of adverse health effects may be lower during RV than VV and at half-squats rather than full-squats or upright stance. More research is needed to explore the long-term health hazards of WBVT.

The emergence of the Internet and its communication capabilities has given rise to a number of complaint sites that function as central forums for consumers to share their bad experiences with other consumers. Companies are reacting by adopting anti‐domain sites in an attempt to prevent the creation of such complaint forums. Data from one complaint forum are analyzed to identify the nature of the complaints, whether the complaints were initially voiced to contact personnel, what other attempts were made to resolve the problem, whether the Internet consumer complaint forum was the initial method used for complaining, the responsiveness of the company to non‐Internet complaints as well as Internet complaints, and the demographics of complainers using the Internet complaint forum. The suggestion is made that companies should embrace consumer complaints, and compete with the independent complaint forums (rather than try to block them) on the basis of ease of the complaint process and the likelihood of response. Recommendations are offered that are specific to Internet use and benefits to the company are described.

PURPOSE: Leg muscle strength and power are increased after whole-body vibration (WBV) exercise. These effects may result from increased neuromuscular activation during WBV; however, previous studies of neuromuscular responses during WBV have not accounted for motion artifact. METHODS: Sixteen healthy adults performed a series of static and dynamic unloaded squats with and without two different directions of WBV (rotational vibration, RV; and vertical vibration, VV; 30 Hz; 4 mmp-p). Activation of unilateral vastus lateralis, biceps femoris, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior was recorded using EMG. During RV and VV, increases in EMG relative to baseline were compared over a range of knee angles, contraction types (concentric, eccentric, isometric), and squatting types (static, dynamic). RESULTS: After removing large, vibration-induced artifacts from EMG data using digital band-stop filters, neuromuscular activation of all four muscles increased significantly (P<or=0.05) during RV and VV. Average responses of the extensors were significantly greater during RV than VV, whereas responses of the tibialis anterior were significantly greater during VV than RV. For all four muscles, responses during static squatting were greater than or equal to responses during dynamic squatting, whereas responses during eccentric contractions were equal to or smaller than responses during concentric and isometric contractions. Neuromuscular responses of vastus lateralis, gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior were affected by knee angle, with greatest responses at small knee angles. CONCLUSIONS: Motion artifacts should be removed from EMG data collected during WBV. We propose that neuromuscular responses during WBV may be modulated by leg muscle cocontraction as a postural control strategy and/or muscle tuning by the CNS intended to minimize soft-tissue vibration.

Internet pornography (IP) use has increased over the past 10 years. The effects of IP use are widespread and are both negative (e.g., relationship and interpersonal distress) and positive (e.g., increases in sexual knowledge and attitudes toward sex). Given the possible negative effects of IP use, understanding the definition of IP, the types of IP used, and reasons for IP use is important. The present study reviews the methodology and content of available literature regarding IP use in nondeviant adult populations. The study seeks to determine how the studies defined IP, utilized validated measures of pornography use, examined variables related to IP, and addressed form and function of IP use. Overall, studies were inconsistent in their definitions of IP, measurement, and their assessment of the form and function of IP use. Discussion regarding how methodological differences between studies may impact the results and the ability to generalize findings is provided, and suggestions for future studies are offered.

We examine several psychological antecedents to both short-term and long-term investment intentions, with specific focus on the Big Five personality taxonomy. The effects of specific person- ality traits are evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM). Our results indicate that individ- uals who are more extraverted intend to engage in short-term investing, while those who are higher in neuroticism and/or risk aversion avoid this activity. Risk adverse individuals also do not engage in long-term investing. Individuals who are more open to experience are inclined to engage in long-term investing; however, openness did not predict short-term investing. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Pervasive IoT applications enable us to perceive, analyze, control, and optimize the traditional physical systems. Recently, security breaches in many IoT applications have indicated that IoT applications may put the physical systems at risk. Severe resource constraints and insufficient security design are two major causes of many security problems in IoT applications. As an extension of the cloud, the emerging edge computing with rich resources provides us a new venue to design and deploy novel security solutions for IoT applications. Although there are some research efforts in this area, edge-based security designs for IoT applications are still in its infancy. This paper aims to present a comprehensive survey of existing IoT security solutions at the edge layer as well as to inspire more edge-based IoT security designs. We first present an edge-centric IoT architecture. Then, we extensively review the edge-based IoT security research efforts in the context of security architecture designs, firewalls, intrusion detection systems, authentication and authorization protocols, and privacy-preserving mechanisms. Finally, we propose our insight into future research directions and open research issues.

Since its introduction to the social psychology literature 60 years ago, Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) has been frequently applied to the management literature to explain and predict the motivational nature of dissonance in producing attitude and behavior change in managerial decision making and the broader organizational context. Yet many of the popular constructs that stem from CDT have since lost touch with more recent developments in the field of origin. In this paper, we provide a review of the key constructs and predictions associated with CDT from Festinger’s early work to the latest developments. We then review key management research that has incorporated CDT. Drawing from the latest refinements to CDT, we describe how future management studies could benefit by integrating these refinements into their theoretical frameworks, rather than simply relying on Festinger’s seminal work on the 60th anniversary of its publication (1957).