Purpose
This study aims to identify the antecedent factors influencing consumer attitudes and patronage intentions toward an intelligent unmanned convenience store (IUCVS) in Taiwan. The IUCVS is a ...new smart service that offers customers a novel shopping experience, given that it avoids queues and physical contacts with cashiers. However, studies discussing IUCVS remain scant owing to its brief history.
Design/methodology/approach
This research develops a synergistic model combining original unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) constructs with perceived risk and value to test differences between unexperienced and experienced customers’ attitudes and patronage intentions toward IUCVSs. Data collected from 268 experienced and 156 unexperienced consumers were tested against the proposed research model using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis (PLS-MGA).
Findings
In line with expectations, three UTAUT variables (i.e. performance, effort expectancy and social influence) and perceived value significantly and positively influence consumer attitudes toward IUCVSs. This research confirms the significant and negative direct effect of perceived risk on consumers’ patronage intentions toward IUCVSs. Furthermore, the PLS-MGA results unveil that a significant difference exist in the effects of perceived convenience value on attitudes toward IUCVS between consumers who had experience of using self-service machines and those who have not.
Originality/value
This research successfully fills the research gap by offering a synergistic model for evaluating consumers’ attitudes and patronage intentions toward a new smart service. Several important theoretical and practical implications are provided to help retail managers develop service strategies.
Autonomous robots heavily rely on simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) techniques and sensor data to create accurate maps of their surroundings. When multiple robots are employed to expedite ...exploration, the resulting maps often have varying coordinates and scales. To achieve a comprehensive global view, the utilization of map merging techniques becomes necessary. Previous studies have typically depended on extracting image features from maps to establish connections. However, it is important to note that maps of the same location can exhibit inconsistencies due to sensing errors. Additionally, robot-generated maps are commonly represented in an occupancy grid format, which limits the availability of features for extraction and matching. Therefore, feature extraction and matching play crucial roles in map merging, particularly when dealing with uncertain sensing data. In this study, we introduce a novel method that addresses image noise resulting from sensing errors and applies additional corrections before performing feature extraction. This approach allows for the collection of features from corresponding locations in different maps, facilitating the establishment of connections between different coordinate systems and enabling effective map merging. Evaluation results demonstrate the significant reduction of sensing errors during the image stitching process, thanks to the proposed image pre-processing technique.
Accurate distance estimation is a requirement for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to provide drivers with safety-related functions such as adaptive cruise control and collision avoidance. ...Radars and lidars can be used for providing distance information; however, they are either expensive or provide poor object information compared to image sensors. In this study, we propose a lightweight convolutional deep learning model that can extract object-specific distance information from monocular images. We explore a variety of training and five structural settings of the model and conduct various tests on the KITTI dataset for evaluating seven different road agents, namely, person, bicycle, car, motorcycle, bus, train, and truck. Additionally, in all experiments, a comparison with the Monodepth2 model is carried out. Experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms Monodepth2 by 15% in terms of the average weighted mean absolute error (MAE).
It has been known that the COVID-19 pandemic severely damaged the hotel industry. However, it is not clear whether hotels with different characteristics are affected equally. Using data collected ...from the hospitality industry in Taiwan and panel data estimation methods, we examine whether different hotel characteristics moderate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hotel performance. We contribute to the literature by explicitly identifying different hotel characteristics as moderating factors for the effect of COVID-19 on hotel performance. Specifically, we find that international tourist hotels with high product varieties and five-star hotels suffered a greater loss in revenue than other types of hotels while hotels located in scenic areas and international chain hotels were less affected. An important managerial implication is that among various quarantine and hygiene measures adopted by hoteliers to fight or contain the pandemic, putting emphasis on social distancing and hygiene measures is particularly important for hoteliers to regain confidence from their customers.
AbstractContemporary educational reform discourses in Taiwan call for the modernization of education to meet the needs of society of the 21st century. The principles and rules of ‘reason’ that ...historically order educational discourses can’t be taken for granted. This article uses Popkewitz’s notion of alchemy to think about the principles. The notions of democracy and globalization provide the analytic ‘tools’ to consider the processes of translation from political programs to educational reform discourses. It is argued that ironically the translation models of educational reform require a particular epistemological structuring of agency, but while recognizing how it does not produce harmony of what is being told in political programs. Three ways of thinking about the alchemy of political in educational reform discourses are offered. It then turns to the delineation of the changing role of teachers, students, and the textbooks that mapped the ‘modern’ child in educational reform discourses. The apparent paradox that evidences the limits of current discourses about democracy and globalization, then, has a critical reflection.
Although board‐level corporate social responsibility (CSR) committees have been discussed extensively, we know relatively little about how CSR committees affect companies' water conservation and the ...contingencies that influence this relationship, specifically in emerging markets. In Taiwan, industrial water conservation is an imperative climate change adaptation given the elevating incidence of floods and droughts brought on by climate change. This study extensively hand‐collects data on water usage, the existence of CSR committees from CSR reports, and the annual reports of companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and Taipei Exchange companies during 2017–2020. Our findings support the stakeholder theory that the existence of CSR committees likely set water use reduction targets and facilitated water usage reduction. Moreover, this relationship is stronger in water consumption industries. In summary, the memberships in water consumption industries and CSR committees are complements rather than substitutes.
Due to the popularity of smart devices, traditional one-way teaching methods might not deeply attract school students' attention, especially for the junior high school students, elementary school ...students, or even younger students, which is a critical issue for educators. Therefore, we develop an
, which leverages wearable devices (smart watches) to accurately capture hand gestures of school students and respond instantly to teachers so as to increase the interaction and attraction of school students in class. In addition, through multiple physical information of school students from the smart watch, it can find out the crux points of the learning process according to the deep data analysis. In this way, it can provide teachers to make instant adjustments and suggest school students to achieve multi-learning and innovative thinking. The system is mainly composed of three components: (1) smart interactive watch; (2) teacher-side smart application (App); and (3) cloud-based analysis system. Specifically, the smart interactive watch is responsible for detecting the physical information and interaction results of school students, and then giving feedback to the teachers. The teacher-side app will provide real-time learning suggestions to adjust the teaching pace to avoid learning disability. The cloud-based analysis system provides intelligent learning advices, academic performance prediction and anomaly learning detection. Through field trials, our system has been verified that can potentially enhance teaching and learning processes for both educators and school students.
Evidence is reviewed for the role of glutathione in providing a ligand for the cytosolic iron pool. The possibility of histidine and carnosine forming ternary complexes with iron(II)glutathione is ...discussed and the physiological significance of these interactions considered. The role of carnosine in muscle, brain, and kidney physiology is far from established and evidence is presented that the iron(II)-binding capability of carnosine relates to this role.
Purpose Despite the well-recognized importance of recycled water, the study of industry-peer pressure on recycled water is relatively new. This study investigates how organizations experience and ...react to industry-peer pressure to set recycled water targets. Additionally, this study investigates the role of board chairs involved in sustainability committees in contributing to responses to industry-peer pressure. Design/methodology/approach Using Eviews 12, this study employed a pooled logistic regression model to analyze data from 1,346 firms on Taiwan and Taipei exchanges (2017–2020). Findings The findings revealed that frequency-based imitation drives recycled water target-setting diffusion. However, there is no direct relationship between outcome-based imitation and recycled water target-setting. Notably, outcome-based imitation drives the adoption of recycled water target-setting of firms with board-chair membership in sustainability committees. Research limitations/implications This study faces certain data limitations. First, this study primarily focuses on water recycling. Future research could explore other ways to reduce water usage, such as using water-efficient equipment. Second, this study gathered information solely on the presence or absence of a board chairperson on the sustainability committee. Future researchers could explore the impact of the composition of sustainability committee on recycled water target-setting. Lastly, the sample used in this study is restricted to Taiwan's corporations that existed during 2017–2020. Future researchers may consider adopting a longitudinal design in other economies to address this limitation. Practical implications The findings of this study offer several guidelines and implications for recycled water target-setting and the composition of sustainability committees. It responds to an urgent call for solutions to water shortages when pressure from governments and nongovernmental organizations is relatively absent. The number of industry peers that have already set recycled water targets is indispensable for motivating firms to set their own recycled water targets. In terms of insufficient water-related regulatory pressure and normative pressure, this study found evidence suggesting that the direct motivation for setting recycled water targets stems from mimetic pressures via frequency-based imitation. The evidence in this study suggests that policymakers should require companies to disclose their peers’ recycled water target information, as doing so serves as an alternative means to achieving SDG 6.3. Social implications Recycled water target-setting might be challenging. Water recycling practices may face strong resistance and require substantial additional resources (Zhang and Tang, 2019; Gao et al ., 2019; Gu et al ., 2023). Therefore, this study suggests that firms should ensure the mindfulness of board members in promoting the welfare of the natural environment when making recycled water target-setting decisions. To reap the second-mover advantage, firms must consider the conditions in which board members can more effectively play their role. Corporations may help their chairpersons in setting recycled water targets by recruiting them as members of sustainability committees. Meanwhile, chairpersons tend to activate accurate mental models when the water conservation performance of pioneering industry peers is strong enough to indicate the potential benefits of adopting recycled water target-setting. Investors’ and stakeholders’ understanding of how the composition of sustainability committees is related to recycled water target-setting may help to identify the potential drivers of firms’ water responsibility. Investors and stakeholders should distinguish firms in terms of the board chair’s membership of their sustainability committee and focus on water-use reduction outcomes in the industry. This study provides insights into circumstances whereby chairpersons help to restore the water ecosystem. Originality/value This study explains how frequency-based and outcome-based imitation are two prominent mechanisms underlying the industry-peer pressure concerning recycled water target-setting. Moreover, this study fills literature gaps related to the moderating roles of board-chair membership in sustainability committees concerning industry-peer pressure on recycled water target-setting.
ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: Mandatory audit partner rotation has been adopted in some countries while audit firm rotation is still being debated in many places. Most of the extant research on the relation ...between auditor tenure and earnings quality provides evidence at the audit firm level. However, since audit firm tenure is correlated with partner tenure and audit firm rotation is more costly than partner rotation, it is important to know whether earnings quality is related to audit firm tenure, partner tenure, or both. We investigate this issue using a sample of Taiwanese companies for which the audit report must be signed by two partners with their names disclosed in the report. Using performance-adjusted discretionary accruals as a proxy for earnings quality, we find that the absolute and positive values of discretionary accruals decrease significantly with partner tenure. After controlling for partner tenure, we find that absolute discretionary accruals decrease significantly with audit firm tenure. Our findings are not consistent with the arguments that earnings quality decreases with extended audit partner tenure and that audit firm rotation in addition to partner rotation would improve earnings quality. Our results are robust to alternative ways of measuring partner tenure under the dual signature system. However, since the audit reports do not disclose which partner is responsible for maintaining the auditor - client relationship, measurement errors in partner tenure remain an issue that cannot be fully addressed in the context of our study. // ABSTRACT IN FRENCH: Certains pays ont adopté la rotation obligatoire des associés en vérification, alors que la rotation des cabinets de vérification fait toujours l'objet de débats en maints endroits. La plupart des études existantes sur la relation entre l'affectation du vérificateur et la qualité des résultats fournissent des données relatives aux cabinets de vérification. Toutefois, puisque l'affectation des cabinets de vérification est en corrélation avec l'affectation de l'associé et que la rotation du cabinet de vérification est plus onéreuse que celle de l'associé, il importe de déterminer si la qualité des résultats est liée à l'affectation du cabinet de vérification, à l'affectation de l'associé ou aux deux. Les auteurs se penchent sur cette question en analysant un échantillon de sociétés taiwanaises dont le rapport des vérificateurs doit être signé par deux associés dont les noms doivent aussi figurer dans le rapport. En se servant des régularisations discrétionnaires ajustées pour tenir compte de la performance comme indicateur de la qualité des résultats, ils constatent que les valeurs absolues et positives des régularisations discrétionnaires diminuent de mainère appréciable avec l'affectation de l'associé. Une fois contrôlée la variable de l'affectation de l'associé, les auteurs constatent que la valeur absolue des régularisations discrétionnaires diminue sensiblement avec l'affectation du cabinet de vérification. Ces constatations ne confirment pas les hypothèses selon lesquelles la qualité des résultats diminue avec la durée de l'affectation de l'associé en vérification, et la rotation du cabinet de vérification, en plus de la rotation de l'associé, améliore la qualité des résultats. Les conclusions des auteurs résistent à l'application de différents modes d'appréciation de l'affectation de l'associé sous le régime de la double signature. Cependant, étant donné que les rapports des vêrificateurs n'indiquent pas quel associé assume la responsabilité du mantien de la relation vérificateur-client, les erreurs d'appréciation dans l'affectation de l'associé soulèvent toujours un problème qui ne peut être entièrement résolu dans le contexte de la présente étude.
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