Acquisition Behavior Research Articles

Stimulus pairing and verbal behavior acquisition in children with ASD

Muitas das oportunidades de aprendizagem de repertórios verbais ocorrem nas interações cotidianas quando crianças escutam outras pessoas falando sobre os objetos/eventos, sem demandar respostas das crianças. Um procedimento que se assemelha a este tipo de interações é o procedimento de observação de pareamento de estímulos (SPOP). Alguns estudos têm sugerido que a alternância de SPOP e testes (ciclos de SPOP-teste) poderia favorecer a aquisição dos repertórios verbais em crianças e adolescentes com Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA). Este estudo investigou o efeito de ciclos de SPOP-teste comparativamente à implementação do SPOP com testes apenas ao final do treino, na aquisição de respostas de ouvinte e tato de três crianças com TEA. Verificou-se a eficácia do SPOP para induzir estes repertórios em crianças com TEA, e que os ciclos de SPOP-teste podem ser mais eficientes comparativamente à implementação do SPOP com testes no final do treino. Discute-se o papel da alternância dos pareamentos e testes na efetividade do SPOP, a relação entre o nível do repertório verbal de indivíduos com TEA e a efetividade dos ciclos de SPOP-testes, e a importância da realização de pré-testes dos diferentes repertórios de nomeação bidirecional dos indivíduos antes da implementação do SPOP.

Identifying the information behavior in competitive intelligence process: a paradigm model for medical sciences universities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and design a paradigm model for universities' information acquisition behavior in competitive intelligence process.Design/methodology/approachThe sampling has been conducted in two stages. First, purposive sampling has been done among Iranian universities of medical sciences. Second, 20 university staff members were selected using the snowball method. The research was conducted through semi-structured interviews.FindingsThe purpose of acquiring information in competitive intelligence process is to meet organizational and individual information needs in active and passive ways. The characteristics of information acquisition and how to acquire it are varied. Enablers include the information sources, individual, organizational characteristics and environmental pressures. Barriers are individual, organizational, environmental factors. The consequences of information acquisition are success, failure and partial success. Accordingly, a paradigm model of information behavior has been designed.Originality/valueThis is the first study to identify information behavior of universities in competitive intelligence process. In addition to why and how to acquire information, this study also looks at facilitators and barriers factors.

Comparison of ad libitum snack consumption and acquisition between adolescents living with food security and food insecurity: A stage 1 registered report.

Approximately 11% of the U.S. population experiences food insecurity (FI; insufficient access to healthy food due to financial constraints). FI is associated with detrimental health outcomes, including the development of eating disorders (EDs). However, additional studies are needed, particularly in adolescence when EDs are likely to emerge. The current study will utilize an experimental ad libitum snack paradigm to investigate snack consumption, acquisition (i.e., taking snacks home), and associated disordered eating behaviors among racially, ethnically, and financially diverse adolescents living with FI and food security (FS). Sixty-four adolescents will be recruited and randomized into one of two conditions: prior knowledge condition (i.e., participants will know prior to snacking that they can take any remaining food home) and no prior knowledge condition (i.e., participants will not know ahead of time that they can take snacks home). We expect youth with FI to show increased eating and acquisition behaviors compared to youth with FS across both conditions. This study, utilizing a novel experimental design, is an important step in understanding how FI impacts adolescent eating behaviors among youth from marginalized backgrounds, who have historically been excluded from research.

Essential item purchases during COVID-19: A cluster analysis of psychographic traits

ABSTRACT This research seeks to profile consumer segments formed during the COVID-19 pandemic via a set of psychographic consumption traits: Narcissism, Psychological Entitlement, Status Consumption, Fear of Embarrassment, and Fear of Missing Out. Based on a cluster analysis of 281 consumers, the data generated four distinct groups: Egalitarians, Agentic Egoists, Communal Egoists, and Conformists. Further, we compared the segments in their acquisition behavior as it pertains to importance of purchase, quantity of purchase, sharing of purchase, and willingness to pay for essential items. Our results showed that each cluster was associated with a unique set of consumer preferences. For instance, Egalitarians placed less importance on medical items. Conformists placed greater importance on acquiring disposable masks than others. Communal Egoists were interested in food-related items such as bottled waters and snacks. Agentic Egoists reported that they would spend more money on cold/cough medicines than Egalitarians and Conformists. Overall, our findings provide key insights and recommendations to retail managers. Some limitations include our sampling approach (i.e. US consumers) and determining clusters based on select psychographic traits. We acknowledge that there are other characteristics that can differentially influence consumers’ acquisition behavior during the pandemic.

Luxury fashion brand customers’ perceptions of mobile marketing: Evidence of multiple communications and marketing channels

Previous studies have addressed some of the issues of customers' perceptions of mobile marketing, particularly the affordances of multiple communications and channels. Despite a proliferation of studies in this field, the theoretical exploration of luxury fashion customers' perceptions of multiple mobile communications and marketing channels remains at an exploratory stage. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model and a social constructivist perspective, the current study conducted 37 in-depth interviews with Generation Z mobile luxury customers. We specifically examined how customers' emotionally and cognitively based perceptions emerge as they navigate multiple mobile marketing channels and message communications. Our model conceptualizes four elements of customers' perceptions of their mobile marketing journey that can drive mobile customer engagement and acquisition behavior. The integrative model opens up interesting avenues for further research on mobile marketing and luxury fashion consumers’ perceptions of the effects of multiple communications and marketing channels.

Design Techniques for a 6.4–32-Gb/s 0.96-pJ/b Continuous-Rate CDR With Stochastic Frequency–Phase Detector

This article presents design techniques for a continuous-rate reference-free clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit employing a stochastic frequency–phase detector (SFPD). By taking a histogram-based design methodology, optimal weights for both frequency and phase detection are obtained by utilizing the same information as the Alexander phase detector. The design methodology is inductive and stochastic, distinguished from the conventional, deductive, and procedural methods. To verify a robust operation, the effects of varied data patterns, noise, and channel loss are examined, together with the avoidance of harmonic locking. In addition, a consideration of a sample window is analyzed by fast Fourier transform (FFT) simulation. Fabricated in 40-nm low-power (LP) CMOS technology, the proposed CDR circuit achieves a capture range from 6.4 to 32 Gb/s and a lock time of less than <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$11 \mu \text{s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> . The measured frequency acquisition behavior shows that harmonic locking is avoided with a seamless transition to the fundamental mode. The CDR circuit tested over a 10-dB loss channel achieves a bit error rate (BER) less than 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">−12</sup> and energy efficiency of 0.96 pJ/b.

Utilization of e-book 3-dimensions information systems based on google analytics

The use of information and communication technology has become a necessity for people to search for information and information published in 3-dimensional e-book media, which has been widely used in information retrieval. This paper aims to determine the use of 3-dimensional e-Books produced by the Directorate of Repository, Multimedia, and Scientific Publishing-National Information Research Agency. The method used in this research is the Google Analytics method, an application that provides information on the results of data collection (data mining) using the web using page tag techniques. With Google Analytics, the collected data related to acquisition and user behavior on the web can be analyzed to be used as a goal, reference, and reliable data. The results showed that there were 304 (three hundred and four) titles of 3-dimensional E-Books produced, which were grouped into 12 categories. Users of 3-dimensional E-Books are spread across 12 (twelve) countries. The two countries that use the most are Indonesia, with 2,718 users (94.05%), followed by America with 72 users (2.49%). Meanwhile, the two most widely used 3-dimensional e-book categories were the tourism category with 625 (31.2%) and animal husbandry and agriculture 421 (21.0%). Considering that users of this 3-dimensional e-book are scattered in various countries, it is recommended that the production of this 3-dimensional e-book can be continued.

Does High-Speed Railway Opening Improve the M&amp;A Behavior?

High-speed railway (HSR) shortens the spatial and temporal distance between regions and has a profound impact on regional economy and enterprise decision-making. This study investigates the impact of opening a high-speed railway (HSR) on enterprises’ mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;A) behavior in China. Our findings suggest that the opening of HSR promotes the M&amp;A activities of listed companies, and the opening of non-intercity HSR has a more obvious effect on the promotion of M&amp;A decisions of enterprises. The results were robust after a series of robustness checks. Hence, the spatiotemporal squeezing effect generated by opening an HSR significantly improves the efficiency of information exchange and decreases the transaction costs of listed companies, which greatly promotes the M&amp;A decisions of enterprises.

Second‐language acquisition behavior and hegemonic language

AbstractWe construct a game‐theoretic model in which there are multiple countries with their own languages and each citizen can gain from additional communication in her secondarily acquired language. We demonstrate that in any equilibrium, a hegemonic language, which is a language that all citizens in other countries want to study, emerges. Such an equilibrium is more likely to exist if the size of the population of a country that is not the largest increases, or if the ratio of the gain from the additional communication in the second language to the cost of acquisition increases.

Stepping into Ill-Fitting Shoes: Local Status Contrasts and Acquisitiveness of New CEOs

This paper asks what motivates new chief executive officers (CEOs) to engage in an acquisition spree despite the considerable risk it entails to themselves and their firms. Building on status theory and performance feedback theory, we theorized that status distance between new CEOs and their predecessors explains the empire-building behavior of new CEOs early in their tenure. Because of the uncertainty surrounding a CEO’s quality early in the individual’s tenure, status serves as a signal of quality for the new CEO. Hence, CEOs had to rely on status signals to maintain or close the status gap between them and their predecessors. Drawing on performance feedback theory, we theorized that new CEOs’ status contrast relative to their predecessor influences their acquisitive behavior. Our examination of the acquisition behavior of 429 new CEOs of S&amp;P 500 firms in the United States revealed that relatively low-status CEOs engaged in risk-taking to improve their status, but relatively high-status new CEOs engaged in risk-taking to maintain their lead. It also revealed that new CEOs changed their risk-taking behavior when direct evidence of their quality or that of their predecessors deviated from the underlying quality expectations indicated by their relative status position.

How do voice-assisted digital maps influence human wayfinding in pedestrian navigation?

ABSTRACT Voice-assisted digital maps have become mainstream navigation aids for pedestrian navigation. Although these maps are widely studied and applied, it is still unclear how they affect human behavior and spatial knowledge acquisition. In this study, we recruited thirty-three college students to carry out an outdoor wayfinding experiment. We compared the effects of voice-assisted digital maps with those of digital maps without voice instructions and paper maps by using eye tracking, sketch maps, questionnaires and interviews. The results show that, compared to the other map types, voice-assisted digital maps can help users reach their destinations more quickly and pay more attention to moving objects, thereby increasing the comfort levels of participants. However, the efficiency of voice-assisted maps on route memory tasks does not rival that of paper maps. Overall, the use of voice-assisted digital maps saves time but may reduce pedestrians’ spatial knowledge acquisition. The results of this study reveal the influence of voice on pedestrian wayfinding and deepen the scientific understanding of the multimedia navigation mode in shaping human spatial ability.

A multivariate perspective of resource acquisition behaviours in bighorn sheep

Quantifying variation in individual resource acquisition and allocation to costly life-history functions is critical to understand the evolution of life-histories. Individuals should adaptively respond to changes in resource requirements throughout their lifetime through flexibility in resource acquisition behaviours. Empirical investigation of behavioural adjustments in wild settings are scarce and rarely consider more than one behaviour. Resource acquisition, however, involves several behaviours and should be considered in a multivariate framework. We measured four resources acquisition behaviours – bite rate, rumination rate, chews per bolus and bolus processing time in bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis . We then tested whether individuals adjust these behaviours as expected based on individual differences in resource allocation to lactation and annual mass gain. Using a multivariate mixed effects model, we also evaluated the prediction that bite rate and rumination behaviours are repeatable and show strong covariation among individuals. Both bite rate and rumination effort increased with allocation to lactation. Allocation to mass gain, however, was positively correlated with rumination effort but not with bite rate. Rumination behaviours also showed significant variation with sex and mass, suggesting potential morphological and/or physiological constraints. Although all four behaviours were significantly repeatable, contrary to our predictions, bite rate was not significantly correlated with rumination behaviours among individuals. This study highlights strong correlations between expected resource allocation to costly life-history functions and multiple resource acquisition behaviours. There was, however, no evidence that variance in multiple resource acquisition behaviours originates from a single axis of variation among individuals. • Bite rate and rumination effort increased with resource allocation to lactation. • Only rumination effort increased with mass gain. • Individual level repeatability of resource acquisition behaviours was significant. • Resource acquisition behaviours were not correlated among individuals.

Nutrition education incorporation into mainstream primary school curriculum in Ghana: Stakeholders' sources of nutrition information and perceived barriers.

IntroductionNutrition literacy has been cited as a crucial life skill. Nutrition education as a primary school subject has been treated inconsequentially when compared to other subjects. We investigated an aspect of the current state of nutrition education in Ghana by engaging stakeholders about their sources of nutrition information and the perceived barriers in implementing nutrition education in mainstream primary schools.MethodsThree hundred and fifty one (351) primary school children, 121 homebased caregivers, six schoolteachers, two headteachers, two Ghana Education Service (GES) officials, and six school cooks were involved in the study. Surveys were used to collect data on nutrition information acquisition behaviors and to record perceived barriers. Key Informant Interviews were conducted among GES officials, headteachers, schoolteachers and school cooks, while Focus Group Discussions were used among homebased caregivers and children to gather qualitative information.ResultsOnly 36.3% of the primary school children had heard about nutrition, and 71% of those got nutrition information from their family members. About 70% of homebased caregivers had heard or seen nutrition messages, and their source of nutrition information was predominantly traditional media. Schoolteachers mostly received their nutrition information from non-governmental organizations and the Internet, while most of the school cooks stated their main source of nutrition information was hospital visits. Perceived barriers included schoolteachers’ knowledge insufficiency, and lack of resources to adequately deliver nutrition education. Lack of a clear policy appeared to be an additional barrier.ConclusionThe barriers to the implementation of nutrition education in the mainstream curriculum at the primary school level that were identified in this study can be resolved by: providing schoolteachers with learning opportunities and adequate nutrition education resources for practical delivery, having specific national policy framework, and including family members and school cooks in the nutrition education knowledge and information dissemination process.

Entry mode decisions in cross-border acquisitions: the role of strategic consistency and flexibility

This paper is aimed at relating size and strategy of cross-border acquirers to their acquisition behaviour by investigating the choices made by acquirers to take over their targets partially or fully. We divided a sample of Japanese cross-border acquirers into firms with consistent or flexible strategies. Based on various arguments from strategy literature and international business literature, we hypothesised and empirically validated that there was an interaction effect between the size and strategy of the acquirer vis-à-vis its decision to attain full or partial acquisition. Our findings indicated that large acquirers preferred full acquisitions while small firms preferred partial acquisitions. Besides size, business strategy mattered too. For small acquirers that subscribed to a consistent strategy, full acquisitions were preferable, while those with a flexible strategy chose partial acquisitions. Nevertheless, the effect of strategy on acquisition behaviour was weak for large acquirers.

RESOURCE ACQUISITION AND OPPORTUNISTIC BEHAVIOUR IN OPEN INNOVATION RELATIONSHIPS: THE CONTINGENCY EFFECTS OF AN OPEN ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT

To acquire needed resources, companies often build relationships with various types of partners in ‘open innovation’ (OI) relationships. However, such relationships have considerable downsides related to the risk of partners’ opportunistic behaviour, and managers need to know how to manage such behaviours if they are to profit from the external resources that OI relationships offer. Drawing on resource dependency theory, this study investigates how firms can manage their OI relationships effectively to deal with their upsides and downsides in terms of resource acquisition and opportunistic behaviour. Furthermore, this study examines an open organisational context in the form of open strategy as well as open structures and processes as contingency factors. The multisource data for the empirical analyses stem from survey data from managers in 181 companies and secondary data from a financial database. The results reveal that an open strategy facilitates the transformation of acquired resources into OI product performance and market success. However, an open strategy also increases the risk of partners’ opportunistic behaviour and its effect on OI product performance, contrary to the hypotheses. The results indicate that when firms seek to counter the negative impact of opportunistic behaviour, they should implement open structures and processes. Overall, the findings provide guidance for managers about how to ensure that their OI relationships thrive.

Patent- and trademark-seeking outward foreign direct investment by Chinese firms: The role of business group affiliation

AbstractWe examine the relationship between business group affiliation (BGA) of Chinese firms and their foreign acquisitive behavior in terms of technology and brand-oriented strategic assets. Drawing on new internalization, business group, and international business theory, we assert that Chinese business group affiliated firms will more likely pursue foreign acquisitions to seek strategic assets including patents but less likely to pursue foreign acquisitions to seek trademarks. Patents have non-location-bounded (NLB) properties that mean they can be exploited by the business group—not just the firm—back in the domestic market, while trademarks have location bounded (LB) properties that mean they are less easy to exploit by a business group domestically. Using a sample of 779 Chinese cross-border acquisitions between 2006 and 2015, we find support for arguments relating to the differences in relative attractiveness of targets holding patents vs. trademarks for Chinese firms linked to business groups. We discuss how this better helps us understand emerging market MNEs and related theory.

CEO's age and acquisition behaviors of REITs

AbstractThis paper examines how the investment activities of REITs are affected by the age of their CEOs. Tracking the property acquisition activities of 150 REIT CEOs between 1974 and 2017, we find robust evidence of younger CEOs engaging more frequently and spending more monies on property acquisitions. Our results are consistent with younger CEOs being motivated to acquire aggressively to signal their ability to the market. However, due to reputation and career concerns, younger CEOs tend to hedge their acquisition decisions by preferring local assets and following the herd mentality. Older CEOs may engage less frequently in property acquisitions, but this is not attributed to them slowing down. On the contrary, older CEOs appear to be more confident to venture into new and out‐of‐state markets and to engage in out‐of‐wave acquisitions.

Acquisition transparency and induced supplier encroachment

This study investigates a retailer’s incentive of information acquisition when the supplier may encroach the retail channel. We show that a retailer’s acquisition behavior inevitably leaks some information to her upstream supplier, which can be utilized by the supplier to better design his price and encroachment decisions. When acquisition is observable to the supplier, the retailer may voluntarily give up this free option to prevent the supplier’s demand belief updating and also his possible encroachment. When acquisition is unobservable to the supplier, the retailer always undertakes acquisition in equilibrium, which endows her with an information advantage over the supplier. This information advantage, however, also eliminates the deterrence effect of acquisition on supplier encroachment and allows the supplier to encroach more frequently. The retailer may prefer observable acquisition to unobservable acquisition, whereas the supplier’s and the supply chain’s preferences over different acquisition options may vary according to the setup cost.

Economic Behavior of Information Acquisition: Impact on Peer Grading in Massive Open Online Courses

A critical issue in operating massive open online courses (MOOCs) is the scalability of providing feedback. Because it is not feasible for instructors to grade a large number of students’ assignments, MOOCs use peer grading systems. Yoo and Zhan investigate the efficacy of that practice when student graders are considered rational economic agents. Using an economic model that characterizes the behavior of student graders, they analyse the accuracy of current peer grading scheme. Interestingly, they identify a systematic grading bias toward the mean, which discourages students from learning. To improve current practice, they propose a simple scale-shift grading scheme, which can simultaneously improve grading accuracy and adjust grading bias. They discuss how it can be readily implemented in practice with moderate involvement of the instructors and MOOCs.

Analysis on Health Information Acquisition of Social Network Users by Opinion Mining: Case Analysis Based on the Discussion on COVID-19 Vaccinations.

This study aims to explore phenomena and laws that occur when different users on social network platforms obtain health information by constructing an opinion mining model, analyzing the user's position on selected cases, and exploring the reflection of the phenomenon of truth decay on platforms. It selects group posts regarding the COVID-19 vaccination dispute on the Douban platform, analyzes the positions of different users, and explores phenomena related to users obtaining health information on domestic social platforms according to different topics and information behaviors. The results reveal a linear relationship between the negative and neutral attitudes of netizens on social networking platforms. Moreover, netizens tend to hold subjective language when expressing their views and attitudes, and their views on social platforms will not change easily. The study explores the health information acquisition behavior of netizens on social platforms based on the constructed user opinion mining model. The study is helpful for relevant units and platforms to make scientific decisions and provide guidance according to different positions of Internet users.