Application Of Factor Analysis Research Articles

Comparative advantage as a success factor in football clubs: Evidence from the English Premier League (EPL)

As in international trade, football clubs can benefit more if they specialize in what they have or can create comparative advantage. In a world of scarce resources, clubs need to identify what makes them successful and invest accordingly. The main objective of this study is to understand what influences the success of football teams in the English Premier League (EPL) championship games. Based on Ricardo’s model of comparative advantage and applying Factor analysis as well as Panel data approach, this study investigates the need for specialization and tradeoffs between defensive and offensive patterns of the game in order for EPL clubs to be more successful. The data used in this study covers the period 2010-2017 of the EPL data. The results reveal that, in general, a better defense is slightly more important for success. The outcomes were different for the top- and bottom-ranking clubs. We found that it is more important for bottom-ranking teams to play better defensively than offensively, while for top-performing teams, the probability of success is more affected by offensive style. In addition, there is a tradeoff between these two styles of play; when bottom-ranking teams try to play better defensively, it often comes at the expense of a poor offensive pattern, but almost no one plays offense at the expense of a poor defense. Unlike the bottom-ranking teams, the top-ranking teams did not face tradeoffs, but they were able to improve both their defensive and offensive patterns. The recommendation put forward by this study argue that bottom-ranking clubs should specialize first in defense.

A Hesitant Fuzzy Model for Ranking Maintenance Strategies in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Presently, the topic of ranking is very significant. Most of real world affairs can be solved by using decision-making techniques. Selecting and ranking of maintenance strategies are sometimes complicated. They have no proper structure and also have multi-criteria viewpoint. Hence, proper selecting and ranking could be considered as a multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM). Consequently, the main goal of this research is selecting the best maintenance strategy by applying factor analysis (FA) technique and also decision-making methods in the hesitant fuzzy domain. In this study firstly by applying literature and experts' viewpoints on maintenance, the variables and their sub-variables were identified. Then, to reduce the number of variables, the factor analysis method was used. Additionally, to calculate the weights of sub-variables De Luca-Termini, which is a normalised hesitant entropy method, was applied. Finally, the strategies were ranked by using hesitant fuzzy VIKOR method. According to this research, the maintenance strategy based on reliable has higher priority in comparison with the others.

Regional health inequalities explained: empirical evidence from Czechia

Health outcomes in Central and Eastern Europe have been generally improving over the last two decades. However, in Czechia, similar to other countries, the outcomes vary significantly across the regional dimension. In 2016, life expectancy at birth ranged from between 75.5 to 80 years – across 77 districts. This article empirically analyses the determinants of these differences using a wide range of explanatory variables that are available on a district level. Applying factor analysis, our findings indicate that the socio-economic situation within a district is the main driver – explaining a difference of up to four years in life expectancy at birth. Further, controlling for gender specific variables, the results suggest that for men alcohol consumption significantly reduces life expectancy. Both factors capturing the socio-economic situation and alcohol consumption exceed the impact of health care accessibility or environmental causes on life expectancy. The results remain robust when using more disaggregated information on 206 administrative districts – per geographic scale.

Developing and Validating Measurement Instrument for Various Aspects of Digital economy

ICT-driven innovations affect all sectors of economy and society where trends like adaptability, remote workforce, augmented reality/virtual reality, internet of things, smart machines and artificial intelligence run the core of digital transformation of every aspect of a business. This article introduces the measurement instrument that was created and validated with intention of questioning certain aspects of digital economy from the user point of view. The validation of the proposed measurement instrument was conducted by applying factor analysis (Principal component analysis - PCA) which revealed critical factors affecting certain aspects of digital economy: e-commerce, e-banking, e-work (telework) and e-employment. Measurement instruments were tested on 197 respondents from two Croatian counties. To maximise the benefits that can be derived from digital transformation it is essential to overcome all barriers and force employment of opened opportunities. Business alignment with IT remains a challenge; therefore, presented results are valuable input in the discussed domain.

The Recommendation Model of MiaoPai Short Video Based on Microblog

Analyzing and evaluating popularity of short video and then recommending it is beneficial for scientific marketing and optimizing marketing effectiveness. The article takes the microblogs with short video on the Sina Weibo as the research object and apply factor analysis for data analysis to obtain a recommendation model for short video, then analyzes and tests the model by RS score ranking method. Through this model, scientific recommendations can be made based on short video popularity to improve the audience’s viewing interest and achieve better marketing results. The result shows that the model constructed by factor analysis and RS score ranking method can effectively recommend the short video.

The Virtual Container Yard: Identifying the Persuasive Factors in Container Interchange

The virtual container yard is an effective solution to the container inventory imbalance problem which is a global issue. It causes substantial cost to carriers which inadvertently adds to the prices of consumer goods. The virtual container yard is rooted in the fundamentals of container interchange between carriers. If carriers opt to interchange their excess containers with those who are deficit, a substantial part of the empty reposition cost could be eliminated. Unlike in other types of ships, cargo cannot be directly loaded to a container ship. Slots and containers are supplementary components; thus, without containers, a carrier cannot ship cargo if the containers are not available and vice versa. Few decades ago, carriers recognized slot (the unit of space in a container ship) interchange as a viable solution for the imbalance of shipping space. Carriers interchange slots among them and it also increases the advantage of scale of economies in container shipping. Some of these service agreements between mega carriers have provisions to interchange containers too. However, the interchange mechanism is still not popular among carriers for containers. This is the paradox that prevails in the liner shipping industry. At present, carriers re position their excess empty containers to areas where they are in demand. This research applied factor analysis statistical method. The paper reveals that five major components may influence the virtual container yard namely organization, practice and culture, legal and environment, international nature, and marketing. There are 12 variables that may impact the virtual container yard, and these are explained in the paper.

Linguistic Proficiency: A Quantitative Approach to Immigrant and Heritage Speakers of Danish

Abstract This paper presents a corpus-based quantitative study on linguistic proficiency of approx. 300 immigrant and heritage speakers of Danish in North America and Argentina, aiming at the question whether linguistic proficiency is connected to ‘immigrant generation’ (i.e. the difference between speakers who migrated as adults with a fully acquired language competence and foreign-born heritage speakers) or the sociocultural setting, or both. The large data base at hand provides a rare opportunity to compare developments within the same minority language in different places, representing different sociocultural settings for the immigrant or heritage speakers and, accordingly, different language ecologies. The study relies on the Corpus of American Danish (1.6 million tokens, including both words and non-word utterances). Based on this data set, the paper explores the distribution of 13 linguistic and non-linguistic variables representing linguistic proficiency (i.e. Danish words, L2 words, word-internal codeswitching, type-token ratio, empty and filled pauses, self-interruption, lengthening, speech rate, word length, runlength and the ratio of main and subclauses) by applying Factor Analysis as a statistical tool. On an empirically solid basis, the paper concludes that (a) the sociolinguistic setting is the crucial factor in the development of linguistic proficiency and (b) linguistic proficiency is a non-universal cognitive phenomenon.

The development of measurement scale for entertainment tourism experience: a case study in Macau

ABSTRACTTourism and entertainment industry is an important component in the world’s service sector. Entertainment tourism is receiving more attention, not only from practitioners, but also from academics. This study develops a scale to measure entertainment tourism experience in Macau from the consumers’ perspective. Entertainment tourism in this study is operationalized by Learning, Enjoyment, Escape, Refreshment, Novelty, Involvement, and Local culture. After examining the reliability of the measurement scale, this study applies factor analysis and multi-dimensional scaling to establish survey instrument. The reliability and validity of the scale are confirmed through the first- and the second-order confirmatory factor analysis. This study provides theoretical and practical implications and recommendations to entertainment stakeholders, including entertainment suppliers and government, to promote entertainment tourism practices in Macau.

FTIR and TG analyses coupled with factor analysis in a compatibility study of acetazolamide with excipients.

A compatibility study of drug substance with excipients is a crucial step in the drug development process in order to generate potent final drug formulations for efficient and safe therapy for various diseases. Thus, the development of new methods for compatibility studies is a great challenge. For this reason, a new approach based on improvement of FTIR spectra and TG curves interpretation using factor analysis (FA) was developed as a screening technique for assessing the compatibility of acetazolamide with selected excipients. This multivariate method demonstrates that in some cases acetazolamide and mixtures with high acetazolamide content formed one cluster, while a second cluster consisted of excipient and mixtures with high excipient content. Such clustering of the analyzed samples (drug substance, excipient and their mixtures) demonstrates the compatibility between ingredients. This in turn means that the FTIR spectra and TG curves of mixtures are the sum of absorption bands or of the thermal profiles of ingredients. In the case of incompatibility, the FTIR spectra and TG curves of mixtures differ from those of ingredients. The FA score scatter plot shows that clusters consist of mixtures which differ with respect to ingredient content. In conclusion, FA proved the incompatibility of acetazolamide mixtures with β-cyclodextrin, chitosan, lactose, mannitol, meglumine and starch. This was also confirmed by complementary techniques such as DSC and PXRD. Hence, the application of FA can be helpful for better comprehension of data obtained from FTIR spectra and TG curves.

La satisfacción de los usuarios de actividades dirigidas de los Centros deportivos municipales de Barcelona

El objetivo de este trabajo es el de identificar y analizar los factores que subyacen en el nivel de satisfacción de los usuarios de centros deportivos municipales que realizan actividades dirigidas y compararlo con aquellos usuarios que no hacen uso de este servicio. Los datos fueron recogidos de una encuesta entre los clientes de centros deportivos municipales, de los que 536 sujetos manifestaron realizar actividades dirigidas en el centro. Las mujeres y los usuarios con un nivel de estudios secundarios son los que más utilizan estos servicios. Un análisis factorial aplicado revela tres dimensiones que contribuyen a la satisfacción, en ambos casos, pero la composición de cada uno de ellos es diferente. Finalmente, del análisis de regresión múltiple se desprende que un gerente debe prestar atención, en primer lugar, a la calidad de las instalaciones y la comunicación ya que fueron el mejor predictor de la satisfacción. The aim of this work is to identify and analyze the factors that underlie the level of satisfaction of users of municipal sports centers that conduct directed activities and compare it with those users who do not use this service. Data were collected in a survey among users of municipal sports centers, of which 536 subjects stated that they carried out directed activities at the center. Women and users with a high school level are the ones who use these services the most. An applied factor analysis reveals three dimensions that contribute to satisfaction, in both cases, but the composition of each of them is different. Finally, the multiple regression analysis shows that a manager must pay attention, first of all, to the quality of the facilities and communication since they were the best predictor of satisfaction.

Application of fuzzy preference relation for evaluating success factors of construction organisations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate and rank the success attributes and success factors of the construction organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe viewpoints of the experts engaged in Indian construction industry were used to apply factor analysis and fuzzy preference relation with the help of a questionnaire survey.FindingsThe findings indicate that project factor is the most important factor, whereas favourable market and marketing team is the least important factor. Among the success attributes, the availability of qualified staff is the most important attribute, and health and safety management plan is the least important attribute.Research limitations/implicationsFindings of this study are based on the viewpoint of the experts of construction organisations engaged in building projects in India.Practical implicationsThe study can be used as a yardstick for the top management of construction organisations to manage their resources efficiently and to develop a strategy to be successful in this business.Social implicationsIndian construction industry provides direct and indirect employment to the people of India. Hence, the success of construction organisation will contribute to the development of the society and ultimately the nation.Originality/valueIn the earlier studies, researchers have used various statistical tools to identify and evaluate the alternatives for the success factors of construction organisations, but very few of them have tried to assign weights to those alternatives. The simple ranking of alternatives using various statistical analyses, such as mean and standard deviation, relative importance index, etc., is not much useful unless their relative weights are known. With the help of the present study, the authors have tried to overcome the shortcomings of the previous research works.

Protesting iconic megaprojects. A discourse network analysis of the evolution of the conflict over Stuttgart 21

The past decades witnessed enormous transformations in the built environment of cities, and one of these trends is the development of iconic megaprojects. Public protests against these projects occur frequently, and scholars in urban governance have diagnosed this as an emerging ‘post-political’ condition, that is, as a sign of a deficient democratic politics. Others criticise this kind of reasoning as a ‘post-political-trap’ (Beveridge and Koch, 2017), and demand more research. This article responds to this debate with an empirical study of the popular protests against the infrastructural public transport project Stuttgart 21 in Germany. We apply discourse network analysis to investigate the evolution of the discourse, illuminate multiple dynamic connections between issues and actors, and apply factor analysis to identify the key issues of the conflict. Our study complicates and qualifies the arguments for a ‘post-political’ state of urban politics.

The Impact of Economic and Financial Management Practices on the Performance of Mexican Micro-Enterprises: A Multivariate Analysis

Purpose – The goal of this paper is to characterize the economic and financial management (EFM) practices in Mexican micro-enterprises and determine their impact on business performance under the hypothesis that EFM practices focused on achieving the optimal level of liquidity and profitability positively affect the performance of micro-enterprises. Design/methodology/approach – The study applies factor analysis,including both exploratory and confirmatory techniques, as well as linear regression models. Findings – The econometric analysis shows that both economic and financial management are statistically significant in explaining microenterprise performance, although only the effect of the latter is positive, whereas that of the former is negative. Originality/value – The paper’s findings could guide training and microcredit programs focused on micro-enterprise owners in developing countries and help to improve decision-making processes.

Vineyard zonation based on natural terroir factors using multivariate statistics – Case study Burgenland (Austria)

Aim: The aim of the study was to explicitly develop a methodology of delineation of natural Protected Designation of Origins (PDO) terroir regions for Austria, where PDO viticulture regions reflect natural conditions only in a formal manner.Methods and results: There is increasing competition in the wine market from globalized trends, where the European Union (EU) and non-EU wine producers have adopted different market strategies to promote their wines and gain larger market share. The EU has therefore established protective agricultural product categories such as PDO and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) based on the terroir concept which contrasts with USA strategies. Here, we first collected and derived as many as possible relevant physical geographical data for a total of 66,673 officially registered vineyard areas in Burgenland (Austria). Next, we applied factor analysis to these data with the aim to shrink their size and reduce their dimensionality. For each vineyard plot was derived a factor score which was used for performing k-means clustering. The best count of clusters, k-parameter, was estimated using five internal validity indices. Five homogenous management zones were created as a result of clustering. Correctness and accuracy of the clustering was evaluated by multidimensional discriminant analysis. The final zones were compared to current Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) of Burgenland.Conclusion: It was found by the comparison of DAC regions of Burgenland and our drafted zones that some of the DAC regions do not respect natural terroir zones, while these regions were created as PDO regions which should respect their natural terroir.Significance and impact of the study: The presented methodology can be applied all over Austria and, with some modifications caused by different input data, to each EU member country where it is necessary to revise PDO regions’ borders.

Implementation of Brain Breaks® in the Classroom and Effects on Attitudes toward Physical Activity in a Macedonian School Setting.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of Brain Break® activities on interest and motivation for physical activity among schoolchildren and the contribution of such activities on learning for health and holistic development. The study sample was comprised of 283 participants, primary school students from 3rd to 5th grades from two public schools in the Republic of Macedonia. Six experimental and six control groups were included in the study. Interventions in classroom settings—based Brain Break® video exercises were introduced in the experimental group during a period of three months. Students’ attitudes toward physical activity were tested using a self-report survey instrument entitled “Attitudes toward Physical Activity Scale (APAS)” before and after intervention. Applied factor analyses were completed and the results of these analysis support APAS validity and the successful use of this application in the measurement of the learning experience, self-awareness, self-efficacy, and self-confidence in developing physical fitness. Learning was enhanced by using video exercises. Information presented in this paper is meaningful for the promotion of better exercise habits and the holistic approach to better health by using personal motivation and motivation provided by others. The results from repeated ANCOVA suggest positive effects of the applied Brain Break® video exercises as an interventional program. The study confirms the effect of application of Brain Break® video exercises on children’s attitudes for physical activity, motivation for PA, internalization of movement habits as personal good.

Specific serum and CSF microRNA profiles distinguish sporadic behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia compared with Alzheimer patients and cognitively healthy controls.

Information on circulating miRNAs in frontotemporal lobar degeneration is very limited and conflicting results have complicated an interpretation in Alzheimer’s disease thus far. In the present study we I) collected samples from multiple clinical centers across Germany, II) defined 3 homogenous patient groups with high sample sizes (bvFTD n = 48, AD n = 48 and cognitively healthy controls n = 44), III) compared expression levels in both CSF and serum samples and IV) detected a limited set of miRNAs by using a MIQE compliant protocol based on SYBR-green miRCURY assays that have proven reliable to generate reproducible results. We included several quality controls that identified and reduced technical variation to increase the reliability of our data. We showed that the expression levels of circulating miRNAs measured in CSF did not correlate with levels in serum. Using cluster analysis we found expression pattern in serum that, in part, reflects the genomic organization and affiliation to a specific miRNA family and that were specifically altered in bvFTD, AD, and control groups. Applying factor analysis we identified a 3-factor model characterized by a miRNA signature that explained 80% of the variance classifying healthy controls with 97%, bvFTD with 77% and AD with 72% accuracy. MANOVA confirmed signals like miR-320a and miR-26b-5p at BH corrected significance that contributed most to discriminate bvFTD cases with 96% sensitivity and 90% specificity and AD cases with 89% sensitivity and specificity compared to healthy controls, respectively. Correlation analysis revealed that miRNAs from the 3-factor model also correlated with levels of protein biomarker amyloid-beta1-42 and phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain, indicating their potential role in the monitoring of progressive neuronal degeneration. Our data show that miRNAs can be reproducibly measured in serum and CSF without pre-amplification and that serum includes higher expressed signals that demonstrate an overall better ability to classify bvFTD, AD and healthy controls compared to signals detected in CSF.

City-level urban form and traffic safety: A structural equation modeling analysis of direct and indirect effects

While most existing studies have examined the impact of the community- and street-level built environment on traffic safety, few have provided empirical evidence on the associations between urban form characteristics and traffic safety at the city level. To this end, this article first created a detailed list of 23 variables to measure city-level urban form of 100 major Urban Areas (UAs) in the United States and then applied factor analysis to construct five latent variables which describe urban form. Factor analysis is also used to define mediator variables reflecting citywide transportation network features and dependent variable of traffic safety. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is then used to investigate how city-level urban form, directly and indirectly (through mediators of transportation network features), affects traffic safety. Based on the statistical results, urban traffic is safer in UAs with more uniform job-housing balance among their different tracts, more polycentric design, and less low-density sprawl. In addition to spatial variation in employment and urban density that have significant direct effect on traffic safety, improving transportation network connectivity and increasing the supply of public transit facilities and upper-level transport infrastructures can decrease traffic fatalities indirectly, through encouraging the use of non-driving transport modes. It is estimated that a 10% increase in urban density as well as a 10% increase in even spatial distribution of employment can reduce the rate of fatal crashes by >15%, on average. These findings demonstrate the importance of incorporating city-level land-use policies into the planning practices, in terms of traffic safety.

Applying Factor Analysis to Pre-Service Teachers Re-Constructed Self-Concept/Intrinsic Motivation Inventory

The objective of the study was to find out if significant number of items and the internal consistency for each sub-scale (and the combined scale) will be enough to support the theoretical frame work of a bigger study. To do this a survey was conducted among pre-service teachers in university settings to ascertain whether their feedback will support the research. A multi-dimensional two-in-one instrument containing 40 Likert Scale items and administered to 96 pre-service teachers was used for this study known as the SCIMOT questionnaire. Based on the analysis conducted, it can be concluded that, the instrument had required significant number of items and that, the internal consistency for each sub-scale and the combined scale are sufficient to support the theoretical frame work of the bigger study. It is recommended that its continuous use is relevant across context and cultures irrespective of time.

Real Estate Market Stability: Evaluation of the Metropolitan Areas Using Factor Analysis

This article is a modern approach to analysing real estate market stability in today’s era. Since economic collapse in 2008, sustainable growth in real estate sector has become a major discussion and avoidance of another housing market bubble is a priority. Although certain measures have been taken by the governments to control economic direction, most recent analysis showed that home prices in San Francisco, New York, Vancouver and other cities are soaring up, leading to new unprecedented historic highs. Whether this price growth is another bubble risk factor is still negotiable, since more scientific evidence needs to be presented. Therefore, this paper develops a “bubble” measure which gives additional insights in trying to assess the current market situation in a more broader perspective. The empirical research was conducted on four different metropolitan areas around the world which demonstrated an outstanding home price growth in the time period of 2008 – 2017. By applying factor analysis to seven different sub-indexes, aggregating them all into one and using benchmark tools this methodological framework allowed researchers to see whether there is an under/over value situation in the real estate market and whether this growth is sustainable. The research results have confirmed that indeed 4 metropolitan areas (San Francisco, Vancouver, London and Sydney) are in the bubble risk zones that could lead to a market correction or even a new recession. Research suggest that growth is no longer sustainable from within the cities natural demand since average income/mortgage ratio has surpassed its normal levels. As the markets become more unstable a price drop should be expected in the near future.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.29.2.19380

The informativeness of impression management − financial analysts and rhetorical style of CEO letters

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the informativeness of rhetorical impression management patterns of CEO letters and examines whether these rhetorical features affect financial analysts’ forecasting behaviour. Design/methodology/approach The authors use textual analysis on a sample of 526 CEO letters of US firms and apply factor analysis on individual linguistic style measures to identify co-occurrence patterns of style features. Findings The authors identify three holistic style patterns (assertive acclaiming, cautious plausibility-based framing and logic-based rationalizing) and find that assertive rhetorical feature in CEO letters is negatively related with the dispersion of financial analysts’ earnings forecasts and positively associated with earnings forecast accuracy. CEOs’ use of a rationalizing rhetorical pattern tends to decrease the dispersion of financial analysts’ earnings, whereas a cautious plausibility-based rhetorical position is only marginally instrumental in getting more accurate earnings predictions. Practical implications Whilst impression management communication is often theorized as manipulative and void of real information content, the findings suggest that impression management serves both self-presentation and information-sharing purposes. Originality/value This paper elaborates on the co-occurrence of style characteristics in management communication and is a first attempt to validate the external ramifications of holistic style profiles of corporate narratives by focusing on an economic target audience.