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The purpose of this paper is to search for the critical-scenarios of autonomous vehicles (AVs) quickly and comprehensively, which is essential for verification and validation (V&V).

The author adopted the index F1 to quantitative critical-scenarios' coverage of the search space and proposed the improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) to enhance exploration ability for higher coverage. Compared with the particle swarm optimization (PSO), there were three improvements. In the initial phase, the Latin hypercube sampling method was introduced for a uniform distribution of particles. In the iteration phase, the neighborhood operator was adapted to explore more modals with the particles divided into groups. In the convergence phase, the convergence judgment and restart strategy were used to explore the search space by avoiding local convergence. Compared with the Monte Carlo method (MC) and PSO, experiments on the artificial function and critical-scenarios search were carried out to verify the efficiency and the application effect of the method.

Results show that IPSO can search for multimodal critical-scenarios comprehensively, with a stricter threshold and fewer samples in the experiment on critical-scenario search, the coverage of IPSO is 14% higher than PSO and 40% higher than MC.

The critical-scenarios' coverage of the search space is firstly quantified by the index F1, and the proposed method has higher search efficiency and coverage for the critical-scenarios search of AVs, which shows application potential for V&V.

Cites research that shows that unfacilitated groups often perform below their potential, but there is always room for improvement in group decision making. Discusses the Delphi technique for forecasting and decision making, which was created as a statistical method of obtaining consensus from a group of experts. Further discusses the electronic meeting systems, pros and cons, set‐up, getting going and scenario construction. Spotlights Hong Kong's business future in a highlighted box using two Figures.

Blockchain technology is predicted to revolutionize the tourism and hospitality industry through peer-to-peer hotel bookings with little or no involvement of intermediaries. Outstanding features of this technology are its distributed form of storing data, its collaborative way of identifying the “true state” of a system and the immutability of data. These features may lead to a perceived loss of controllability among travelers. Based on the Agentic Theory of Human Behavior, the purpose of this study is to propose that this assumed loss of control matters more to travelers with an individualistic rather than a collectivistic predisposition.

In two studies (n = 475 and n = 196) using verbal scenarios, this study manipulates the perceived controllability of a blockchain-enabled hotel booking app by varying the number of additional services linked to the app. This study tests for the interaction of controllability with individual-level measures of individualistic versus collectivistic (I-C) predisposition.

Collectivistic travelers are more willing than individualistic travelers to use blockchain technology for their hotel bookings. This effect can be mitigated by offering additional services that give individualistic travelers an enhanced sense of “being in control”.

Blockchain-enabled applications facilitating direct hotel bookings without any additional intermediary services are more readily accepted by travelers with a collectivistic mindset. Blockchain applications addressing individualistic travelers require added services that establish a sense of controllability.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to investigate the interaction of I-C predisposition with perceived controllability in tourism and hospitality. Furthermore, it is the first in the technology-acceptance literature to test this interaction using individual-level measures of I-C predisposition and an experimental manipulation of perceived controllability.

预计区块链技术将通过点对点酒店预订彻底改变旅游业和酒店业, 而中介机构很少或根本不参与。该技术的突出特点是其存储数据的分布式形式、识别系统“真实状态”的协作方式以及数据的不变性。这些特征可能会导致旅行者感觉失控。基于人类行为的代理理论, 我们提出这种假设的失控对具有个人主义而非集体主义倾向的旅行者更重要。

在两项使用口头场景的研究（n = 475 和 n = 196）中, 我们通过改变与应用程序链接的附加服务的数量来操纵支持区块链的酒店预订应用程序的感知可控性。我们测试了可控性与个人主义与集体主义 (I-C) 倾向的个体水平测量的相互作用。

集体主义旅行者比个人主义旅行者更愿意使用区块链技术进行酒店预订。这种影响可以通过提供额外的服务来减轻个人主义旅行者增强了“掌控感”。

本文首次研究了旅游和酒店业中 I-C 倾向与感知可控性的相互作用。此外, 它是技术接受文献中第一个使用 I-C 倾向的个体水平测量和感知可控性的实验操作来测试这种相互作用。

研究建议具有集体主义心态的旅行者更容易接受支持区块链的应用程序, 无需任何额外的中介服务即可直接预订酒店。针对个性化旅行者的区块链应用程序需要额外的服务来建立可控感。

区块链, 、文化, 、个人主义, 、集体主义, 、自我建构, 、技术接受, 、可控性, 、人类行为的代理理论

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the moderating effect of consumer altruistic values upon two drivers of brand credibility in cause‐related marketing (CrM): cause‐brand fit and consumer attribution of altruistic brand motivations.

This is a quantitative study. Data have been collected through personal interviews at households using the random route sampling technique. The sample is formed by consumers of insurance and personal hygiene products, using different brand‐social cause combinations. Data have been analysed through structural equation modelling and multigroup analysis to test the moderation hypotheses.

Findings show that altruistic consumers use mainly altruistic attribution to form their judgement on brand credibility in CrM messages, whereas non altruistic consumers base their assessment on cause‐brand fit.

Real brands have been used in the empirical study and thus further research should replicate the study with fictional brands in order to avoid the effect of consumer prior information.

The findings have relevant implications for CrM campaign managers in helping them to understand how to increase brand credibility in CrM messages. They should emphasize altruistic motivations if their target comprises more altruists or brand‐cause fit if non‐altruists outweigh.

This study contributes to the literature by making explicit the moderating role of altruistic values on two antecedents of brand credibility (cause‐brand fit and altruistic attributions) in a CrM campaign.

The subject area of the assignment is accounting education and testing techniques.

This paper details an effective method to create individualized assignments and testing materials. Using a spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel), the creation of the unique assignments and answer keys can be semi-automated to reduce the grading difficulties of unique assignments.

Because students are using a unique data set for each assignment, the students are able to more effectively engage in student to student teaching. This process of unique assignments allows students to collaborate without fear that a single student would provide the answers. As tax laws (e.g., credit and deduction phase-outs, tax rates, and dependents) change depending on the level of income and other factors, an individualized test is ideal in a taxation course.

The unique assignments allow instructors to create markedly different scenarios for each student. Using this testing method requires that the student thoroughly understands the conceptual processes as the questions cannot be predicted. A list of supplementary materials is included, covering sample questions, conversion to codes, and sample assignment questions.

This technique creates opportunities for students to have unique assignments encouraging student to student teaching and can be applied to assignments in any accounting course (undergraduate and graduate). This testing method has been used in Intermediate I and II, Individual Taxation, and Corporate Taxation.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of Chinese culture on the information ethics perception gaps between Chinese and American students.

Using a qualitative approach, this study utilizes Kohlberg’s Cognitive Moral Development model and an open-ended questionnaire to measure and analyze the gaps among information ethics perceptions of students from Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and the USA, and to assess the extent to which the gaps are influenced by Chinese culture.

Students’ perceptions of intellectual property, information accuracy, privacy, and accessibility (PAPA) are deeply influenced by national culture. Sub-cultures have significant impact on the perceptions. Political systems, history, and legal environment may also play a role in the differences of PAPA perceptions among the three Chinese societies. The study also revealed that accuracy and intellectual property are the most deficient areas of moral developments in both Chinese and American samples.

The sample sizes from Hong Kong and the USA were relatively small due to resource and time constraints. In addition, the subjects from Hong Kong and the USA were a little bit older than the subjects from Taiwan and Mainland China due to the fact that universities in HK and USA tend to have more non-traditional students than in universities in Mainland China and Taiwan. Second, the questionnaire is a limited means of studying moral reasoning because the results are likely to reflect espoused theory rather than theory-in-use.

The educational implication of this study calls for a renewed approach to educate students on the importance of information ethics for the sake of sustained economic development.

The novelty of this research lies in its interpretation of students’ PAPA perceptions and fresh insights from a Chinese guanxi perspective.

This chapter focuses on individuals’ mental representations of complex decision problems in transportation. An overview of approaches and techniques in this recent area of research is given as well as an illustration. The illustration concerns an application of CNET (causal network elicitation technique) to measure mental representations in a shopping activity scheduling task. The presence of an online shopping alternative is varied to investigate the influence of an online alternative on how individuals represent the choice problem.

Mental-model and means-ends-chain theories are discussed. These theories state that individuals when faced with a decision problem construct a mental representation of the choice alternatives by activating relevant parts of their broader causal knowledge that allow them to evaluate consequences regarding their existing needs. Furthermore, these theories emphasise that situational and person dependence of this process can explain observed variability in preferences of travellers.

The results indicate that considerable variation exists between individuals in terms of both the complexity, and the attributes and benefits that are activated in the mental representation of the choice problem. Presence of an online alternative has an influence on the benefits that individuals consider important. The impact is however small.

The chapter provides an overview of recent developments in the study of mental representations underlying choice behaviour. Traditionally, this has been the exclusive domain of qualitative research methods. The techniques reviewed enable larger samples and a formal representation of mental representations. Thus, the approach can help to better understand preference heterogeneity and incorporate this in (transport) choice models.

High quality healthcare is important to all patients. If healthcare is felt to be high quality, then patients will be satisfied, and the relationship between patients and healthcare providers will improve. Patient satisfaction is among the most commonly used service quality indicators; however, it is not fully known which factors influence satisfaction. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the elements that affect both healthcare quality and patient satisfaction. Nowadays, several methods are used in health economics to assess patient preferences, prioritize them and help health policy makers improve services. Discrete choice experiment (DCE) is one method that is useful to elicit patient preferences regarding healthcare services. The purpose of this paper is to apply DCE and elicit patient preferences in medical centers to rank certain healthcare quality factors.

The descriptive, analytical study used a cross-sectional questionnaire that the authors developed. In total, 12 scenarios were chosen after applying fractional factorials. The questionnaire was completed by patients who were admitted to Kerman General Teaching Hospitals, South-East Iran in 2015. Patient preferences were identified by calculating the characteristics’ marginal effects and prioritizing them. The generalized estimation equation (GEE) model was used to determine attribute effects on patient preferences.

In total, 167 patients completed the questionnaire. Prioritizing the attributes showed that “physical examination” was the most important attribute. Other key features included “cleanliness,” “training after discharging,” “medical staff attention,” “waiting for admission” and “staff attitude.” All attributes were statistically significant (p<0.05) except staff behavior. No demographic characteristic was significant.

To increase hospital patient satisfaction, health policy makers should develop programs to enhance healthcare quality and hospital safety by increasing physical examination quality and other services.

To estimate DCE independent variables, logistic regression models are usually used. The authors used the GEE model to estimate discrete choice experiment owing the explanatory variables’ dependency.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the dual nature of social cause‐brand fit by studying the influence of two cause‐brand fit categories, functional fit and image fit, on the formation of brand corporate social responsibility consumer perception (CSR perception) in a cause‐brand alliance (CBA) context.

A theoretical model is proposed, based on previous research, which explains the effect of functional fit and image fit on altruistic attributions, brand credibility and CSR image; these relationships were assessed through structural equation modelling. The model was estimated with a sample of 299 Spanish consumers of toiletries and cosmetics products, randomly selected. Two newly created, printed CBA advertisements served as the basic stimulus of the study.

This research shows that consumers perceive functional and image fit differently, and each has its own mechanism for influencing brand CSR perception. While functional fit has a direct, although gentle influence on CSR perception, image fit has an indirect influence, as it is used as a cue to evaluate altruistic brand motivations and brand credibility.

The chosen research approach may reduce the generalisability of the results. Further empirical testing using alternative brands and outcome measures is encouraged.

Both types of fit influence the formation of CSR perception, and should therefore be postulated as decision criteria to brand managers for choosing the CBA partner. Specifically, brands which are likely of being perceived as not credible or egoistic when associating with the cause, must pay special attention to image fit.

This work analyses and compares simultaneously the influence of functional fit and image fit on CSR brand perception formation in the context of a CBA strategy.