Logistic Regression Analysis of Customer Satisfaction Data

Variation exists in all processes. Significant work has been done to identify and remove sources of variation in manufacturing processes resulting in large returns for companies. However, business process optimization is an area that has a large potential return for a company. Business processes can be difficult to optimize due to the nature of the output variables associated with them. Business processes tend to have output variables that are binary, nominal or ordinal. Examples of these types of output include whether a particular event occurred, a customer's color preference for a new product and survey questions that assess the extent of the survey respondent's agreement with a particular statement. Output variables that are binary, nominal or ordinal cannot be modeled using ordinary least‐squares regression. Logistic regression is a method used to model data where the output is binary, nominal or ordinal. This article provides a review of logistic regression and demonstrates its use in modeling data from a business process involving customer feedback. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implicit processing in the cued recall of young and old adults.

Reports 2 cued recall experiments in which younger and older Ss studied target words varying in number of preexperimental associates. In Exp 1, targets were studied in either the absence or presence of meaning-related context cues, with recall always prompted by the cues. In the absence of context, words with smaller sets of associates were easier to recall than those with larger sets, but this effect was reduced for older Ss. The presence of a study context cue facilitated recall and eliminated the effect of associative set size for both ages. In Exp 2, targets were studied and tested in the presence of unrelated words. In this situation, words with smaller sets of associates were less likely to be recalled than words with larger sets; again the effect was reduced for older Ss. The results are interpreted as an age decrement in processing implicitly activated information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The framing of relative performance feedback: Seeing the glass as half empty or half full.

It was proposed that individuals' responses to information regarding their relative position in a performance distribution would depend on how they frame the information. To the degree that they focus selectively on the positive features of the feedback (i.e., the number of others who performed worse than them) rather than the negative features (i.e., the number of others who performed better than them) they should report higher ability levels and more positive affective reactions. In Study I, Ss received feedback indicating that they occupied a particular percentile standing in either a large or small distribution. Individuals with negative orientations (depressives and pessimists) reported lower ability levels as a function of increases in comparison group size, whereas individuals with positive orientations (nondepressives and optimists) reported higher ability levels. Presumably, these effects occurred because negatively oriented persons focused on the negative features of the feedback and positively oriented persons focused on the positive features of the feedback. The results of Study 2 support this explanation. Implications for the social comparison literature are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Substitution of the human beta-spectrin promoter for the human agamma-globin promoter prevents silencing of a linked human beta-globin gene in transgenic mice

During development, changes occur in both the sites of erythropoiesis and the globin genes expressed at each developmental stage. Previous work has shown that high-level expression of human beta-like globin genes in transgenic mice requires the presence of the locus control region (LCR). Models of hemoglobin switching propose that the LCR and/or stage-specific elements interact with globin gene sequences to activate specific genes in erythroid cells. To test these models, we generated transgenic mice which contain the human Agamma-globin gene linked to a 576-bp fragment containing the human beta-spectrin promoter. In these mice, the beta-spectrin Agamma-globin (betasp/Agamma) transgene was expressed at high levels in erythroid cells throughout development. Transgenic mice containing a 40-kb cosmid construct with the micro-LCR, betasp/Agamma-, psibeta-, delta-, and beta-globin genes showed no developmental switching and expressed both human gamma- and beta-globin mRNAs in erythroid cells throughout development. Mice containing control cosmids with the Agamma-globin gene promoter showed developmental switching and expressed Agamma-globin mRNA in yolk sac and fetal liver erythroid cells and beta-globin mRNA in fetal liver and adult erythroid cells. Our results suggest that replacement of the gamma-globin promoter with the beta-spectrin promoter allows the expression of the beta-globin gene. We conclude that the gamma-globin promoter is necessary and sufficient to suppress the expression of the beta-globin gene in yolk sac erythroid cells.     

An order-picking operations system for managing the batching activities in a warehouse

Nowadays, customer orders with high product variety in small quantities are often received and requested for timely delivery. However, the order-picking process is a labour-intensive and costly activity to handle those small orders separately. In such cases, small orders are often grouped into batches so that two or more orders can be served at once to increase the picking efficiency and thus reduce the travel distance. In this paper, an order-picking operations system (OPOS) is proposed to assist the formulation of an order-picking plan and batch-handling sequence. The study integrates a mathematical model and fuzzy logic technique to divide the receiving orders into batches and prioritise the batch-handling sequence for picking, respectively. Through the proposed system, the order-picking process can be managed as batches with common picking locations to minimise the travel distance, and the batch-picking sequence can be determined as well. To demonstrate the use of the system, a case study in a third-party logistics warehouse is presented, and the result shows that both the order-picking activity and labour utilisation can be better organised.     

Chemical beneficiation of coal with aqueous hydrogen peroxide/sulphuric acid solutions

The removal of sulphur and ash from coal treated with aqueous hydrogen peroxide/sulphuric acid solutions has been studied at ambient temperature, under a variety of experimental conditions. Almost complete elimination of the sulphate and the pyritic sulphur was observed in most cases, as well as substantial reduction in the ash content. The other components of the organic coal matrix were not affected to a significant extent, indicating high selectivity of the $\text{H}{}_2\text{O}{}_2\text{H}{}_2\text{SO4}$ system towards sulphur oxidation. An optimal H₂SO₄ concentration was established, above which the acid was found to have an adverse effect on the oxidation of pyrite by hydrogen peroxide.     

Smooth Transition Quantile Capital Asset Pricing Models with Heteroscedasticity

Capital asset pricing model (CAPM) has become a fundamental tool in finance for assessing the cost of capital, risk management, portfolio diversification and other financial assets. It is generally believed that the market risks of the assets, often denoted by a beta coefficient, should change over time. In this paper, we model timevarying market betas in CAPM by a smooth transition regime switching CAPM with heteroscedasticity, which provides flexible nonlinear representation of market betas as well as flexible asymmetry and clustering in volatility. We also employ the quantile regression to investigate the nonlinear behavior in the market betas and volatility under various market conditions represented by different quantile levels. Parameter estimation is done by a Bayesian approach. Finally, we analyze some Dow Jones Industrial stocks to demonstrate our proposed models. The model selection method shows that the proposed smooth transition quantile CAPM?CGARCH model is strongly preferred over a sharp threshold transition and a symmetric CAPM?CGARCH model.     

Older Adults as Adaptive Decision Makers: Evidence From the Iowa Gambling Task.

Older adults process emotional information differently than younger adults and may demonstrate less of a negativity bias on cognitive tasks. The Iowa Gambling Task designed by A. Bechara, H. Damasio, D. Tranel, and A. R. Damasio (1997) has been used to examine the integration of emotion and cognition in a risky-choice decision task and may give insight into differences in the decision-making strategies in younger and older adults. Eighty-eight younger adults (18-34 years) and 67 older adults (65-88 years) completed the Iowa Gambling Task. Using a theoretical decomposition of the task designed by J. R. Busemeyer and J. C. Stout (2002), the authors found that both groups were successful at solving the task but used very different strategies that reflected each group's strength. For younger adults, that strength was learning and memory. For older adults, that strength was an accurate representation of wins and losses (valence). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health burden of road traffic accidents,an analysis of clinical data on disability and mortality exposure rates in Flanders and Brussels

Statistics on road traffic accidents (RTAs) mainly come from police records. The police reported RTA statistics however are known to have a large degree of under-registration, underestimating the true risk of being injured in traffic accidents. The use of medical based datasets can provide a more accurate estimate of the actual traffic accident health risk. Exposure-based rates of the actual burden from Flanders and Brussels were calculated, comparing differences between road user, age, gender and type of injury sustained. Minimal Clinical Data (MCD) was selected for the years 2003–2007, as well as data from the mortality statistics. Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) were calculated and put into perspective with the passenger kilometres travelled.