Showing papers by "Boston College published in 2010"
Posted Content•
TL;DR: The concept of customer engagement behaviors (CEB) as mentioned in this paper is defined as the customers' behavioral manifestation toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers, which includes a vast array of behaviors including word-of-mouth (WOM) activity, recommendations, helping other customers, blogging, writing reviews, and even engaging in legal action.
Abstract: This article develops and discusses the concept of customer engagement behaviors (CEB), which we define as the customers’ behavioral manifestation toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers. CEBs include a vast array of behaviors including word-of-mouth (WOM) activity, recommendations, helping other customers, blogging, writing reviews, and even engaging in legal action. The authors develop a conceptual model of the antecedents and consequences — customer, firm, and societal — of CEBs. The authors suggest that firms can manage CEBs by taking a more integrative and comprehensive approach that acknowledges their evolution and impact over time.
2,291 citations
TL;DR: The concept of customer engagement behaviors (CEB) as discussed by the authors is defined as the customers' behavioral manifestation toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers, which includes a vast array of behaviors including word-of-mouth (WOM) activity, recommendations, helping other customers, blogging, writing reviews, and even engaging in legal action.
Abstract: This article develops and discusses the concept of customer engagement behaviors (CEB), which we define as the customers’ behavioral manifestation toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers. CEBs include a vast array of behaviors including word-of-mouth (WOM) activity, recommendations, helping other customers, blogging, writing reviews, and even engaging in legal action. The authors develop a conceptual model of the antecedents and consequences—customer, firm, and societal—of CEBs. The authors suggest that firms can manage CEBs by taking a more integrative and comprehensive approach that acknowledges their evolution and impact over time.
2,180 citations
TL;DR: It is shown experimentally that κ of monolayer graphene exfoliated on a silicon dioxide support is still as high as about 600 watts per meter per kelvin near room temperature, exceeding those of metals such as copper.
Abstract: The reported thermal conductivity (κ) of suspended graphene, 3000 to 5000 watts per meter per kelvin, exceeds that of diamond and graphite. Thus, graphene can be useful in solving heat dissipation problems such as those in nanoelectronics. However, contact with a substrate could affect the thermal transport properties of graphene. Here, we show experimentally that κ of monolayer graphene exfoliated on a silicon dioxide support is still as high as about 600 watts per meter per kelvin near room temperature, exceeding those of metals such as copper. It is lower than that of suspended graphene because of phonons leaking across the graphene-support interface and strong interface-scattering of flexural modes, which make a large contribution to κ in suspended graphene according to a theoretical calculation.
1,708 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the effect of a firm's intangible resources in mediating the relationship between corporate responsibility and financial performance and concluded that there is no direct relationship between corpora responsibility and performance.
Abstract: This paper examines the effects of a firm's intangible resources in mediating the relationship between corporate responsibility and financial performance. We hypothesize that previous empirical findings of a positive relationship between social and financial performance may be spurious because the researchers failed to account for the mediating effects of intangible resources. Our results indicate that there is no direct relationship between corporate responsibility and financial performance—merely an indirect relationship that relies on the mediating effect of a firm's intangible resources. We demonstrate our theoretical contention with the use of a database comprising 599 companies from 28 countries. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
1,420 citations
TL;DR: This work demonstrates, for the first time, a spatially dependent metamaterial perfect absorber operating in the infrared regime, and achieves an experimental absorption of 97% at a wavelength of 6.0 μm.
Abstract: We demonstrate, for the first time, a spatially dependent metamaterial perfect absorber operating in the infrared regime We achieve an experimental absorption of 97% at a wavelength of 60 microns, and our results agree well with numerical full-wave simulations By using two different metamaterial sublattices we experimentally demonstrate a spatial and frequency varying absorption which may have many relevant applications including hyperspectral sub-sampling imaging
1,045 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the Tersoff and Brenner empirical interatomic potentials were used in the context of phonon dispersions in graphene, and a parameter set for each empirical potential was found that provides improved fits to some structural data and to the in-plane phonon dispersion data for graphite.
Abstract: We have examined the commonly used Tersoff and Brenner empirical interatomic potentials in the context of the phonon dispersions in graphene. We have found a parameter set for each empirical potential that provides improved fits to some structural data and to the in-plane phonon-dispersion data for graphite. These optimized parameter sets yield values of the acoustic-phonon velocities that are in better agreement with measured data. They also provide lattice thermal conductivity values in single-walled carbon nanotubes and graphene that are considerably improved compared to those obtained from the original parameter sets.
965 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conclude that efforts to manage the liquidity crisis by banks led to a decline in credit supply, and that off-balance-sheet liquidity risk materialized on the balance sheet and constrained new credit origination.
Abstract: Liquidity dried up during the financial crisis of 2007-2009. Banks that relied more heavily on core deposit and equity capital financing – stable sources of financing – continued to lend relative to other banks. Banks that held more illiquid assets on their balance sheets, in contrast, increased asset liquidity and reduced lending. Off-balance-sheet liquidity risk materialized on the balance sheet and constrained new credit origination as increased take down demand displaced lending capacity. We conclude that efforts to manage the liquidity crisis by banks led to a decline in credit supply.
855 citations
TL;DR: This paper studied the sources and consequences of fluctuations in the US housing market and showed that the spillovers are nonnegligible, concentrated on consumption rather than business investment, and have become more important over time.
Abstract: We study sources and consequences of fluctuations in the US housing market. Slow technological progress in the housing sector explains the upward trend in real housing prices of the last 40 years. Over the business cycle, housing demand and housing technology shocks explain one-quarter each of the volatility of housing investment and housing prices. Monetary factors explain less than 20 percent, but have played a bigger role in the housing cycle at the turn of the century. We show that the housing market spillovers are nonnegligible, concentrated on consumption rather than business investment, and have become more important over time.
822 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the synthesis process and the relationship between the microstructures and the thermoelectric properties of the nanostructured bulk materials with an enhanced ZT value are reviewed.
Abstract: Recently a significant figure-of-merit (ZT) improvement in the most-studied existing thermoelectric materials has been achieved by creating nanograins and nanostructures in the grains using the combination of high-energy ball milling and a direct-current-induced hot-press process. Thermoelectric transport measurements, coupled with microstructure studies and theoretical modeling, show that the ZT improvement is the result of low lattice thermal conductivity due to the increased phonon scattering by grain boundaries and structural defects. In this article, the synthesis process and the relationship between the microstructures and the thermoelectric properties of the nanostructured thermoelectric bulk materials with an enhanced ZT value are reviewed. It is expected that the nanostructured materials described here will be useful for a variety of applications such as waste heat recovery, solar energy conversion, and environmentally friendly refrigeration.
802 citations
TL;DR: Results show substantial individual differences among children, and indicate that diversity of earlier caregiver speech significantly predicts corresponding diversity in later child speech, and that demographic factors, notably SES, are related to language growth, and are, at least partially, mediated by differences in caregiverspeech.
730 citations
TL;DR: This article studied the evolution of the U.S. satellite radio market over its initial sixteen years and found that the legitimation of a new market category precipitates shifts in the focus of market actors' attention from the category as a whole to the differentiation of firms within.
Abstract: We theorize how new market categories emerge and are legitimated through a confluence of factors internal to the category (entrepreneurial ventures) and external to the category (interested audiences). Using qualitative and quantitative analyses and multiple data sources overtime, we study the evolution of the U.S. satellite radio market over its initial sixteen years. We offer convergent evidence to show that the legitimation of a new market category precipitates shifts in the focus of market actors' attention from the category as a whole to the differentiation of firms within. This effect was demonstrated for entrepreneurial identity claims, linguistic frames, and announcements of interorganizational affiliations and endorsements, as well as in the focal attention of media and financial audiences. We synthesize these findings to offer an integrated theoretical framework on new market category emergence and legitimation.
TL;DR: This study reveals that plural logics of care and science in medical education are supported by distinct groups and interests, fluctuate over time, and create dynamic tensions about how to educate future professionals.
Abstract: Although most studies underscore institutional change as replacement of one dominant logic for another and assume that professions are guided by a single logic, professions that operate in multiple...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that the lattice thermal conductivity of graphene is dominated by contributions from the out-of-plane or flexural phonon modes, previously thought to be negligible.
Abstract: We show through an exact numerical solution of the phonon Boltzmann equation that the lattice thermal conductivity of graphene is dominated by contributions from the out-of-plane or flexural phonon modes, previously thought to be negligible. We connect this unexpected result to the anomalously large density of states of flexural phonons compared to their in-plane counterparts and to a symmetry-based selection rule that significantly restricts anharmonic phonon-phonon scattering of the flexural modes. The result is found to hold in the presence of the ripples known to occur in graphene, phonon-isotopic impurity scattering, and rigidity of the flexural phonon branch arising from the long-wavelength coupling between flexural and in-plane modes. Finally, accurate inclusion of the momentum conserving Normal phonon-phonon scattering processes within the context of a full solution of the phonon Boltzmann equation are shown to be essential in accurately describing the graphene thermal conductivity, in contrast to the more commonly used relaxation time and long wavelength approximations.
TL;DR: Evidence is reviewed supporting a general hypothesis that genomic instability and essentially all hallmarks of cancer, including aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect), can be linked to impaired mitochondrial function and energy metabolism.
Abstract: Emerging evidence indicates that impaired cellular energy metabolism is the defining characteristic of nearly all cancers regardless of cellular or tissue origin. In contrast to normal cells, which derive most of their usable energy from oxidative phosphorylation, most cancer cells become heavily dependent on substrate level phosphorylation to meet energy demands. Evidence is reviewed supporting a general hypothesis that genomic instability and essentially all hallmarks of cancer, including aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect), can be linked to impaired mitochondrial function and energy metabolism. A view of cancer as primarily a metabolic disease will impact approaches to cancer management and prevention.
TL;DR: In this article, the peak dimensionless thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) of Bi2Te3-based n-type single crystals is about 085 in the ab plane at room temperature.
Abstract: The peak dimensionless thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) of Bi2Te3-based n-type single crystals is about 085 in the ab plane at room temperature, which has not been improved over the last 50 years due to the high thermal conductivity of 165 W m−1 K−1 even though the power factor is 47 × 10−4 W m−1 K−2 In samples with random grain orientations, we found that the thermal conductivity can be decreased by making grain size smaller through ball milling and hot pressing, but the power factor decreased with a similar percentage, resulting in no gain in ZT Reorienting the ab planes of the small crystals by repressing the as-pressed samples enhanced the peak ZT from 085 to 104 at about 125 °C, a 22% improvement, mainly due to the more increase on power factor than on thermal conductivity Further improvement is expected when the ab plane of most of the small crystals is reoriented to the direction perpendicular to the press direction and grains are made even smaller
Book•
14 Jan 2010TL;DR: A Qualitative Approach to Mixed Methods Design, Analysis, Interpretation, Writing Up, and Validity as discussed by the authors is a qualitative approach to mixed method design, analysis, interpretation, writing up, and validation.
Abstract: 1 Introduction to Mixed Methods Research 2 Formulating Questions, Conducting a Literature Review, Sampling Design, and the Centrality of Ethics in Mixed Methods Research 3 A Qualitative Approach to Mixed Methods Design, Analysis, Interpretation, Writing Up, and Validity 4 Interpretative Approaches to Mixed Methods Research 5 Feminist Approaches to Mixed Methods Research 6 C Kelly, Postmodernist Approaches to Mixed Methods Research 7 Putting It Together: Qualitative Approaches to Mixed Methods Research Praxis 8 Conclusion: The Prospects and Challenges of Mixed Methods Praxis
TL;DR: In this article, a dual band metamaterial absorber with two distinct absorption peaks of 0.85 at 1.4 THz and 0.94 at 3.0 THz is presented.
Abstract: We present the design, fabrication and characterization of a dual band metamaterial absorber which experimentally shows two distinct absorption peaks of 0.85 at 1.4 THz and 0.94 at 3.0 THz. The dual band absorber consists of a dual band electric-field-coupled (ELC) resonator and a metallic ground plane, separated by an 8 µm dielectric spacer. Fine tuning of the two absorption resonances is achieved by individually adjusting each ELC resonator geometry.
University of California, Riverside1, University of Geneva2, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics3, University of Notre Dame4, J. Craig Venter Institute5, University of Santiago de Compostela6, Iowa State University7, Colorado State University8, Harvard University9, Indiana University10, University of Barcelona11, Broad Institute12, University of Texas at Arlington13, University of Maryland, Baltimore14, Max Planck Society15, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine16, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences17, Hoffmann-La Roche18, Virginia Tech19, University of Wisconsin-Madison20, Kansas State University21, Auburn University22, University of A Coruña23, International Livestock Research Institute24, University of Maryland, College Park25, National Institutes of Health26, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign27, University of Göttingen28, Imperial College London29, University of Texas Medical Branch30, Johns Hopkins University31, University of California, Davis32, George Washington University33, Boston College34
TL;DR: The genomic sequence of C. quinquefasciatus is described, which reveals distinctions related to vector capacities and habitat preferences, and confirmed that inoculation with unfamiliar bacteria prompted strong immune responses in Culex.
Abstract: Culex quinquefasciatus (the southern house mosquito) is an important mosquito vector of viruses such as West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus, as well as of nematodes that cause lymphatic filariasis. C. quinquefasciatus is one species within the Culex pipiens species complex and can be found throughout tropical and temperate climates of the world. The ability of C. quinquefasciatus to take blood meals from birds, livestock, and humans contributes to its ability to vector pathogens between species. Here, we describe the genomic sequence of C. quinquefasciatus: Its repertoire of 18,883 protein-coding genes is 22% larger than that of Aedes aegypti and 52% larger than that of Anopheles gambiae with multiple gene-family expansions, including olfactory and gustatory receptors, salivary gland genes, and genes associated with xenobiotic detoxification.
Book•
01 Jan 2010TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a universal method for the resolution of a class of singularities in algebraic geometry, which brings together ideas from algebraic geometrical, differential geometry, representation theory and number theory.
Abstract: The new edition of this celebrated and long-unavailable book preserves the original book's content and structure and its unrivalled presentation of a universal method for the resolution of a class of singularities in algebraic geometry. At the same time, the book has been completely re-typeset, errors have been eliminated, proofs have been streamlined, the notation has been made consistent and uniform, an index has been added, and a guide to recent literature has been added. The book brings together ideas from algebraic geometry, differential geometry, representation theory and number theory, and will continue to prove of value for researchers and graduate students in these areas.
TL;DR: This article found that managers who make campaign donations to Democrats hold less of their portfolios (relative to non-donors or Republican donors) in industries that are deemed socially irresponsible (e.g. tobacco, guns and defense, natural resources).
Abstract: Do political values influence investing? We answer this question using data on the political contributions and stock holdings of US investment magers. We find that mutual fund managers who make campaign donations to Democrats hold less of their portfolios (relative to non-donors or Republican donors) in industries that are deemed socially irresponsible (e.g. tobacco, guns and defense, natural resources). Although a higher fraction of Democrat-run mutual funds are socially responsible (SRI), this result holds for non-SRI funds and after controlling for other fund and manager characteristics. The effect is more than one-half of the under-weighting observed for SRI funds. Using the KLD score to measure firm responsibility, we find that Democrat managers also tilt towards firms with positive social features such as excellent employee relations and clean environmental records. We document similar results among a smaller sample of hedge fund managers, suggesting that lax corporate governance in the mutual fund industry is not the main driver of our results. We discuss how political values influence investing and the implications of our findings for the growing SRI movement and stock prices. A simple calibration shows that the pricing implications of Democrat managers' preference for social responsibility are similar in magnitude to the S&P 500 inclusion effect.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: There is no direct relationship between corporate responsibility and financial performance—merely an indirect relationship that relies on the mediating effect of a firm's intangible resources.
Abstract: This paper examines the effects of a firm’s intangible resources in mediating the relationship between corporate responsibility and financial performance. We hypothesize that previous empirical findings of a positive relationship between social and financial performance may be spurious because the researchers failed to account for the mediating effects of intangible resources. Our results indicate that there is no direct relationship between corporate responsibility and financial performance — merely an indirect relationship that relies on the mediating effect of a firm’s intangible resources. We demonstrate our theoretical contention with the use of a database comprising 599 companies from 28 countries.
TL;DR: In this paper, a learning progression for scientific argumentation is described to understand both students' work and the ways in which the instructional environment can support students in that practice, and the learning progression describes three dimensions: instructional context, argumentative product, and argumentative process.
Abstract: Argumentation is a central goal of science education because it engages students in a complex scientific practice in which they construct and justify knowledge claims. Although there is a growing body of research around argumentation, there has been little focus on developing a learning progression for this practice. We describe a learning progression to understand both students' work in scientific argumentation and the ways in which the instructional environment can support students in that practice. This learning progression describes three dimensions: (1) instructional context, (2) argumentative product, and (3) argumentative process. In this paper, we compare four examples from elementary, middle, and high school science classrooms to explore the ways in which students' arguments vary in complexity across grade level and instructional contexts. Our comparisons suggest that simplifying the instructional context may facilitate students in engaging in other aspects of argumentation in more complex ways. The instructional context may also be used as a tool to support students in argumentation in new content areas and to increase the complexity of their written arguments, which may be weaker than their oral arguments. Furthermore, classroom norms play an important role in supporting students of all ages, including elementary students, in argumentation. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed94:765–793, 2010
TL;DR: The authors argue that there is a "methodological orthodoxy" in how mixed methods is practiced that currently favors quantitative methodologies, with a mixed methods praxis that positions qualitative methods second and quantitative methods as primary with an overall mixed methods design that is in the service of testing out quantitatively generated theories about the social world.
Abstract: This article discusses how methodological practices can shape and limit how mixed methods is practiced and makes visible the current methodological assumptions embedded in mixed methods practice that can shut down a range of social inquiry. The article argues that there is a “methodological orthodoxy” in how mixed methods is practiced that currently favors quantitative methodologies, with a mixed methods praxis that positions qualitative methods second and quantitative methods as primary with an overall mixed methods design that is in the service of testing out quantitatively generated theories about the social world. This article upends the current methodological focus on positivism by centering qualitative approaches to mixed methods practice. A qualitative approach seeks to empower individuals’ stories with the goal of understanding how they how make meaning within their social world. Through intensive case studies this article demonstrates the synergy of combining methods in the service of qualitative...
TL;DR: Detailed all‐atom molecular dynamics simulations are used to study a series of stapled α‐helical peptides and find significant variation in local structural flexibility of the peptides with the position of the linker, which appears to be more closely related to the observed differences in activity than the absolute α‐ Helical stability.
Abstract: Reactivation of the p53 cell apoptosis pathway through inhibition of the p53-hDM2 interaction is a viable approach to suppress tumor growth in many human cancers and stabilization of the helical structure of synthetic p53 analogs via a hydrocarbon cross-link (staple) has been found to lead to increased potency and inhibition of protein-protein binding (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 129: 5298). However, details of the structure and dynamic stability of the stapled peptides are not well understood. Here, we use extensive all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to study a series of stapled alpha-helical peptides over a range of temperatures in solution. The peptides are found to exhibit substantial variations in predicted alpha-helical propensities that are in good agreement with the experimental observations. In addition, we find significant variation in local structural flexibility of the peptides with the position of the linker, which appears to be more closely related to the observed differences in activity than the absolute alpha-helical stability. These simulations provide new insights into the design of alpha-helical stapled peptides and the development of potent inhibitors of alpha-helical protein-protein interfaces.
TL;DR: For instance, a survey conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that participation in political activities such as contributing to candidates, contacting officials, signing a political petition, or communicating with political groups is as stratified socio-economically when done on the web as when done offline as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: What is the impact of the possibility of political participation on the Internet on long-standing patterns of participatory inequality in American politics? An August 2008 representative survey of Americans conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project provides little evidence that there has been any change in the extent to which political participation is stratified by socio-economic status, but it suggests that the web has ameliorated the well-known participatory deficit among those who have just joined the electorate. Even when only that subset of the population with Internet access is considered, participatory acts such as contributing to candidates, contacting officials, signing a political petition, or communicating with political groups are as stratified socio-economically when done on the web as when done offline. The story is different for stratification by age where historically younger people have been less engaged than older people in most forms of political participation. Young adults are much more likely than their elders to be comfortable with electronic technologies and to use the Internet, but among Internet users, the young are not especially politically active. How these trends play out in the future depends on what happens to the current Web-savvy younger generation and the cohorts that follow and on the rapidly developing political capacities of the Web. Stay logged on …
TL;DR: The interactions between emotion and autobiographical memory are reviewed, focusing on two broad ways in which these interactions occur, and the behavioral manifestations of each of these types of interactions are discussed.
02 Mar 2010
TL;DR: The Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative (BWLI) as discussed by the authors was a pilot program that provided 1:1 technology access to all students and teachers across five public and private middle schools in western Massachusetts.
Abstract: This paper examines the educational impacts of the Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative (BWLI), a pilot program that provided 1:1 technology access to all students and teachers across five public and private middle schools in western Massachusetts. Using a pre/post comparative study design, the current study explores a wide range of program impacts over the three years of the project’s implementation. Specifically, the current document provides an overview of the project background, implementation, research design and methodology, and a summary of the quantitative results. The study details how teaching and learning practices changed when students and teachers were provided with laptops, wireless learning environments, and additional technology resources. The results found that both the implementation and outcomes of the program were varied across the five 1:1 settings and over the three years of the student laptop implementation. Despite these differences, there was evidence that the types of educational access and opportunities afforded by 1:1 computing through the pilot program led to measurable changes in teacher practices, student achievement, student engagement, and students’ research skills.
TL;DR: This paper found that the males in the sample played video games at twice the weekly average of females, were consistently stronger in all measured motives than the females, and preferred physically oriented video games over the females preference for more traditional, thoughtful games.
Abstract: Questionnaires were completed by 5th-, 8th-, and 11th-grade public schools students in rural and suburban school districts and by undergraduates at two universities in the United States (n = 1,242). They were asked about their orientation to video gamesâthe amount of time they played, their motives for doing so, and the game types they preferredâto better understand the context in which effects research might be organized. The conceptual schema for this research was the uses-and-gratifications perspective. The males in the sample played video games at twice the weekly average of the females, were consistently stronger in all measured motives than the females, and preferred physically oriented video games over the femalesâ preference for more traditional, thoughtful games. Younger players opted for the fantasy motive in their playing and older players more so for competition. Preference for physical games declined among the older males, and generally motives were stronger in the middle years of playing for both males and females than in the youngest and oldest age groups. Regression analyses explained considerably more variance in game playing for males than for females.
TL;DR: In this paper, the intrinsic phonon relaxation times in semiconductors were derived using a first-principles approach, which properly reflect the physically distinct behaviors of the normal and umklapp scattering processes.
Abstract: Using a first-principles approach, we present forms for the intrinsic phonon relaxation times in semiconductors, which properly reflect the physically distinct behaviors of the normal and umklapp scattering processes. We find that accurate representation of the phonon-phonon scattering strength and inclusion of scattering of acoustic phonons by optic phonons are essential ingredients, which are missing from the decades old derivations of commonly used intrinsic relaxation times. We also assess the validity of the relaxation time approximation itself for silicon and germanium.
TL;DR: Arrays of carbon-nanotube tips with an imprinted non-conducting polymer coating can recognize proteins with subpicogram per litre sensitivity using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and this ultrasensitive, label-free electrochemical detection of proteins offers an alternative to biosensors based on biomolecule recognition.
Abstract: Carbon nanotube tips containing imprints within a non-conducting polymer coating can detect proteins with high sensitivity, offering a label-free alternative to sensors based on biomolecule recognition.