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The purpose of this paper is to revisit the question of whether analysts anticipate accruals’ predicted reversals (or persistence) of future earnings. Prior evidence documents that analysts who provide information to investors are over optimistic about firms with high working capital (WC) accruals. The authors propose that empirical models using WC accruals alone may be incomplete and hence not entirely appropriate to assess the level of analysts’ understanding of accruals. The authors argue that analysts’ optimism about WC accruals might not be due to their lack of sophistication, but rather driven by incomplete accrual information embedded in forecast accuracy tests.

The authors use non-financial US firms for the period between 1976 and 2013. The authors define earnings forecast errors as the analysts’ consensus earnings forecasts minus the actual earnings provided by IBES deflated by share price from CRSP. The authors carry out forecast error regressions on individual accrual components by decomposing total accruals into categories. The authors perform the tests across 12 months starting from the initial analysts’ forecasts, which are generally issued in the first month after the prior period earnings announcement date. The final sample contains 48,142 firm–year observations per month.

The empirical tests show no correlation between analysts’ forecast errors and revised total accruals. The findings are robust to different samples, periods, model specifications, decile ranked accruals, high accruals, absolute forecast errors, controlling for cash flows (CF) and high accounting conservatism. The findings imply that if analysts are to achieve more accurate forecasts, they should be considering all rather than some accrual components. The authors interpret this evidence as an indication of analysts’ relative sophistication with respect to accruals.

The authors recognise that analysts’ correct anticipation of accruals’ persistence does not mean that their earnings forecasts are entirely free of bias. Analysts can make forecast errors for various reasons including strategic biases. For instance, the tests show pessimistic forecast errors with respect to CF, which is in line with similar findings in prior research (Drake and Myers, 2011). Hence, the authors suggest that future research examine this correlation in greater depth as CF components are with the highest level of persistence, and hence should be predicted most accurately.

The results imply that the argument about analysts’ lack of sophistication with respect to accruals’ persistence is not warranted. The results imply that forecasts appear to contribute to market efficiency. Another implication is that analysts seem to utilise all relevant accrual information in their forecasts, hence traditional accrual definition should be revised in future studies. Key inferences of the paper imply that the growing use of analysts’ reports by institutional investors and money managers in their decision-making processes is justified despite the debate in the prior literature on the role and the reputation of analysts as surrogates of market expectations.

The research sheds a new light on the question whether sell-side security analysts are able to anticipate the persistence of accruals in future earnings.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the numerical solution of the Burgers' equation is obtained using the methods of cubic B‐spline collocation and quadratic B‐spline Galerkin over the geometrically graded mesh.

The spatial domain is partitioned into geometrically graded mesh. The finite element methods are constructed within the Galerkin and collocation methods using an expansion of the quadratic and cubic B‐splines as an approximate function, respectively, over this mesh.

When the higher errors are observed at near boundaries for shock‐like and travelling wave solutions of the Burgers' equation, accuracy of the defined methods increase by using finer mesh at near this boundary.

Over the geometrically graded mesh definitions of the quadratic B‐spline Galerkin and cubic B‐spline collocation are given.

The purpose of this paper is to provide numerical solutions of the time‐dependent advection‐diffusion problem by using B‐spline finite element methods in which Taylor series expansion is used for the related time discretization.

The solution domain is partitioned into uniform mesh. The collocation and the Galerkin methods where B‐spline functions are used as base functions are applied to advection‐diffusion equation.

Given methods are unconditionally stable and the obtained results are comparable with some earlier studies in terms of accuracy.

Quadratic and cubic B‐spline base functions are used with Taylor series expansion for the discretization of the equation.

This paper seeks to develop an efficient B‐spline Galerkin scheme for solving the Fisher's equation, which is a nonlinear reaction diffusion equation describing the relation between the diffusion and nonlinear multiplication of a species.

The solution domain is partitioned into uniform mesh and, using the quartic B‐spline functions, the Galerkin method is applied to the Fisher's equation.

The method yields stable accurate solutions. Obtained results are acceptable and in unison with some earlier studies.

Using the uniform mesh, quartic B‐spline Galerkin method is employed for finding the numerical solutions of Fisher's equation.

The purpose of this study is to examine the influences of transformational leadership behaviors on followers’ task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors, the potential mediating role of affective trust and moderating effect of follower tenure with leader in these relationships.

The authors collected survey data from 197 employees from various organizations in Turkey, operating in several sectors. To test the relationships among study variables, the authors followed the moderated mediation procedure suggested by Hayes (2013).

The findings indicated that transformational leadership behaviors have significant positive effects on both followers’ task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Furthermore, mediational analyses showed that affective trust mediated the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and followers’ task performance. Moreover, the moderation analysis shows that the effect of transformational leadership behaviors on affective trust depended on leader–follower dyadic tenure, with the effect of transformational leadership behaviors being greater at high level of leader–follower dyadic tenure.

This study provides evidence of the positive relationship of transformational leadership behaviors with followers’ affective trust at work and task performance. Such knowledge suggests that improving leaders’ skills and capabilities in terms of transformational leadership through training might lead organizations to work more effectively.

This study contributes to the existing literature by showing the importance of affective trust, explaining why transformational leaders can motivate and influence followers to achieve a higher performance. In addition, this research provides knowledge about transformational leadership effectiveness in developing countries, mainly in Turkey.

The purpose of this study was to investigate eVisa applications. eVisa is a service that falls under eTourism, whose growing use can be attributed to its ability to simplify the process of obtaining a visa. The objectives of this study were twofold: to explore the eVisa experience of tourists who have previously visited Turkey by using the service and to analyse the perceptions of stakeholders who have contributed to eVisa.

The present research has utilised two methodologies within the context of qualitative research methods. Data were gathered from tourists by using reviews (n = 1690) and in-depth interviews key actors (n = 4), which represent consumers and contributors’ perspectives on the eVisa system, respectively. While consumers dictate the demand of the service, contributors control its supply. The contributors referenced herein are relevant eVisa stakeholders in Antalya.

The research findings revealed eVisa facilitation’s positive effects on a destination’s image and tourists’ intentions to revisit destinations compared to when they use traditional visa-obtaining processes. The research findings then present suitable data for destination managers and policymakers regarding eVisa facilitation, followed by this study’s conclusions and implications.

eVisa facilitation can foster demand for travel and tourism while maintaining bureaucratic elements of the traditional visa procedure. From a psychological perspective, eVisa facilitation can positively affect travel motivation to certain destinations where eVisas are applicable, as well as positively influence intentions to revisit tourist destinations.

The originality and uniqueness of the present study lies in its contribution to the increasing recognition of the significance and positive impacts of eVisa facilitation on travel and tourism demand.

本论文采用定性研究方法, 旨在探索电子签证的各种应用。电子签证属于电子化旅游范畴, 使申请签证的过程简化便捷。本研究目的共有两方面：探索土耳其游客的电子签证的旅游体验; 以及分析各方利益相关者对于电子签证所持的态度感知。

本论文主要采用定性研究方法。研究样本构成为游客评论（样本数据：1690条）和关键利益相关者的深度访谈（样本数据：4人）, 分别代表消费者和管理者对于电子签证系统的态度和观点。其中关键利益相关者是安塔利亚省的电子签证官员。

本研究结果表明电子签证, 相比对传统签证申请过程, 对于旅游目的地形象和游客再次访问动机有着积极作用。因此本研究结果对于旅游目的地管理人员和政策制定者有着重要启示作用。

本研究表明电子签证在保留传统签证申请程序的行政性能的同时, 还有助于促进旅游需求。从心理学角度, 电子签证对特定目的地的旅游动机有着积极影响, 此外, 电子签证还对游客的再次访问动机有着显著作用。

本研究结果对于电子签证在旅游需求和旅游业发展方面有着积极的贡献。

This study produced epoxy-filled urea-formaldehyde (UF) microcapsules (MCs) and T-403 amine MCs using the in situ technique. The Taguchi method was used to determine the effects of the control factors (temperature, stirring speed, core-shell ratio and surfactant concentration) affecting MCs’ core diameter and core content and optimizing their optimum levels with a single criterion. Optimum control factor levels, which simultaneously provide maximum core diameter and core content of MCs, were determined by the PROMETHEE-GAIA multi-criteria optimization method. In addition, the optimized MC yield was analyzed by thermal camera images and compression test.

Microcracks in materials used for aerospace vehicles and automotive parts cause serious problems, so research on self-healing in materials science becomes critical. The damages caused by micro-cracks need to heal themselves quickly. The study has three aims: (1) production of self-healing MCs, mechanical and chemical characterization of produced MCs, (2) single-criteria and multi-criteria optimization of parameters providing maximum MC core diameter and core content, (3) investigation of self-healing property of produced MCs and evaluation. Firstly, MCs were produced to achieve these goals.

The optimized micro cures are buried in the epoxy matrix at different concentrations. Thermal camera images after damage indicate the presence of healing. An epoxy-amine MC consisting of a 10% by weight filled aluminum sandwich panel was prepared and subjected to a quasi-static compression test. It was determined that there is a strong bond between the UF shell and the epoxy resin.

The optimization of production factors has been realized to produce the most efficient MCs that heal using less expensive and more accessible methods.

By solving a long-wave evolution model numerically for power-law fluids, the authors aim to investigate the hydrodynamic and thermal characteristics of thermocapillary flow in an evaporating thin liquid film of pseudoplastic fluid.

The flow reversal attributed to the thermocapillary action is manifestly discernible through the streamline plots.

The thermocapillary strength is closely related to the viscosity of the fluid, besides its surface tension. The thermocapillary flow prevails in both Newtonian and pseudoplastic fluids at a large Marangoni number and the thermocapillary effect is more significant in the former. The overestimate in the Newtonian fluid is larger than that in the pseudoplastic fluid, owing to the shear-thinning characteristics of the latter.

This study provides insights into the essential attributes of the underlying flow characteristics in affecting the thermal behavior of thermocapillary convection in an evaporating thin liquid film of the shear-thinning fluids.

The purpose of this paper is to achieve the acceleration of 3D object transformation using parallel techniques such as multi-core central processing unit (MC CPU) or graphic processing unit (GPU) or even both. Generating 3D animation scenes in computer graphics requires applying a 3D transformation on the vertices of the objects. These transformations consume most of the execution time. Hence, for high-speed graphic systems, acceleration of vertex transform is very much sought for because it requires many matrix operations (need) to be performed in a real time, so the execution time is essential for such processing.

In this paper, the acceleration of 3D object transformation is achieved using parallel techniques such as MC CPU or GPU or even both. Multiple geometric transformations are concatenated together at a time in any order in an interactive manner.

The performance results are presented for a number of 3D objects with paralleled implementations of the affine transform on the NVIDIA GPU series. The maximum execution time was about 0.508 s to transform 100 million vertices using LabVIEW and 0.096 s using Visual Studio. Other results also showed the significant speed-up compared to CPU, MC CPU and other previous work computations for the same object complexity.

The high-speed execution of 3D models is essential in many applications such as medical imaging, 3D games and robotics.