Search results

The purpose of this paper is to describe a new method to improve the analysis of search engine results by considering the provider level as well as the domain level. This approach is tested by conducting a study using queries on the topic of insurance comparisons.

The authors conducted an empirical study that analyses the results of search queries aimed at comparing insurance companies. The authors used a self-developed software system that automatically queries commercial search engines and automatically extracts the content of the returned result pages for further data analysis. The data analysis was carried out using the KNIME Analytics Platform.

Google’s top search results are served by only a few providers that frequently appear in these results. The authors show that some providers operate several domains on the same topic and that these domains appear for the same queries in the result lists.

The authors demonstrate the feasibility of this approach and draw conclusions for further investigations from the empirical study. However, the study is a limited use case based on a limited number of search queries.

The proposed method allows large-scale analysis of the composition of the top results from commercial search engines. It allows using valid empirical data to determine what users actually see on the search engine result pages.

In vol. 6, 1976, of Advances in Librarianship, I published a review about relevance under the same title, without, of course, “Part I” in the title (Saracevic, 1976). [A substantively similar article was published in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science (Saracevic, 1975)]. I did not plan then to have another related review 30 years later—but things happen. The 1976 work “attempted to trace the evolution of thinking on relevance, a key notion in information science, [and] to provide a framework within which the widely dissonant ideas on relevance might be interpreted and related to one another” (ibid.: 338).

Successful online searching is more than simply a matter of mastering search technique. Emotions, attitudes and environmental factors like stress also play a crucial role in determining whether an online search will be successful or not. Focuses on the important relationship between emotion and cognition, how they affect each other, and what the implications are for online searchers. Investigates how affect and mood influence key cognitive functions and can pose psychological hurdles related to motivation, arousal, attention, concentration, self‐confidence, and self‐efficacy, all of which can be significant factors in determining the effectiveness of a search. Viewing searching behavior as a form of mental and physical performance similar to that of an athlete or performing artist, draws on the growing body of psychological research on performance which suggests that having the proper mindset can make an important difference in whether a searcher is successful.

This study aims to use sensing technology to observe the learning status of learners in a teaching and learning environment. In a general instruction environment, teachers often encounter some teaching problems. These are frequently related to the fact that the teacher cannot clearly know the learning status of students, such as their degree of learning concentration and capacity to absorb knowledge. In order to deal with this situation, this study uses a learning concentration detection system (LCDS), combining sensor technology and an artificial intelligence method, to better understand the learning concentration of students in a learning environment.

The proposed system uses sensing technology to collect information about the learning behavior of the students, analyzes their concentration levels, and applies an artificial intelligence method to combine this information for use by the teacher. This system includes a pressure detection sensor and facial detection sensor to detect facial expressions, eye activities and body movements. The system utilizes an artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm to optimize the system performance to help teachers immediately understand the degree of concentration and learning status of their students. Based on this, instructors can give appropriate guidance to several unfocused students at the same time.

The fitness value and computation time were used to evaluate the LCDS. Comparing the results of the proposed ABC algorithm with those from the random search method, the algorithm was found to obtain better solutions. The experimental results demonstrate that the ABC algorithm can quickly obtain near optimal solutions within a reasonable time.

A learning concentration detection method of integrating context-aware technologies and an ABC algorithm is presented in this paper. Using this learning concentration detection method, teachers can keep abreast of their students' learning status in a teaching environment and thus provide more appropriate instruction.

Firms are increasingly depending on supplier portfolios in the quest for firm innovation. However, whether concentrated supplier portfolios are beneficial to innovation remains highly disputed. This study aims to investigate the effect of supplier portfolio concentration on firm innovation and the contingencies that shape this effect.

The authors build on the knowledge search view to theorize a U-shaped effect of supplier portfolio concentration on firm innovation and further propose that the U-shaped effect is contingent on financial slack and growth opportunities. The authors collected panel data from 1,320 manufacturing firms in China. The negative binomial regression analyses were performed to test the hypotheses.

Supplier portfolio concentration has a U-shaped effect on firm innovation. This U-shaped effect is weakened and flipped by financial slack but strengthened by growth opportunities.

The findings extend current understandings of the influence of supplier portfolio on firm innovation by clarifying the U-shaped effect of supplier portfolio concentration on innovation and the circumstances under which supplier portfolio concentration is more effective for firm innovation.

The purpose of this paper is to articulate whether consumers’ use of music via streaming service benefits niche products and diversified consumption of music. It examines does winner take all or is long tail achieved in the digital music market.

To investigate the degree of concentration in the digital music sales, this study measures multiple concentration metrics using the top 100 songs for 245 weeks listed on the Korean music ranking chart.

Conflicting results are found between the analyses based on short-run and long-run data. When sales distributions are compared weekly or monthly, the results show that streaming services have a less concentrated sales distribution than download services. However, the result becomes the opposite in the long-run analysis (i.e. one year).

This study proposes that the non-technological drivers such as the beneficial addiction of music consumption can be a crucial driver affecting the usage concentration in music industry, coupled with the royalty policy of access-based services.

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

This research aims to empirically analyze the spatial bank branch network in Canada. The authors study the market structure (both industrial and geographic concentrations) via its own or adjacent postal areas. The empirical framework of this study considers branch density (the ratio of the total number of branches to area size) by employing a spatial two-way fixed effects model. The main finding of this study is that there are no effects associated with market structure, however, there are strong spatial within and nearby effects associated with the socioeconomic variables. In addition, the authors also study the effect of spatial competition from rival banks: they find that large banks and small banks tend to avoid markets dominated by their competitors.

Virtual communities are useful sources of travel information for tourists. To better promote the sustainable development of virtual communities and provide theoretical guidance, this study aims to explore how the cognitive load generated by tourists in the information-seeking process facilitates the formation of their continuance intention.

Built on the cognitive load theory and flow theory, this study investigates the formation mechanism of virtual community users’ continuance intention to seek travel information. A total of 328 valid questionnaires were collected and used for hypothesis testing.

The results show that perceived usefulness, perceived information consistency and prior experience positively affect continuance intention. Concentration and time distortion have significant effects on continuance intention. Moreover, concentration and time distortion mediate between prior experience and continuance intention.

This study clarifies the formation mechanism of virtual community users’ continuance intention of travel information seeking from a new perspective. The conclusions enrich the research on consumer behavior in the information search field and provide a reference for virtual communities.

Exposure to poor indoor air in refurbished buildings is a matter of health concern due to the growing concentrations of various contaminants as a result of building airtightness without amendment of ventilation, or the use of building materials such as glue, paint, thinner and varnishes. Recent studies have been conducted to measure indoor air pollutants and assess the health risks affecting the quality of life, productivity and well-being of human beings. However, limited review studies have been recently conducted to provide an overview of the state of knowledge. This study aims to conduct a scoping review of indoor air quality (IAQ) in the context of refurbished or energy-retrofitted buildings.

A systematic screening process based on the PRISMA protocol was followed to extract relevant articles. Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and PubMed were searched using customised search formulas. Among 276 potentially relevant records, 38 studies were included in the final review covering a period from 2015 to 2022.

Researchers mapped out the measured compounds in the selected studies and found that carbon dioxide (CO₂) (11%) and total volatile organic compounds (11%) were among the most commonly measured contaminants. Two trends of research were found including (1) the impact of ventilative properties on IAQ and (2) the impact of introducing building materials on IAQ.

The contribution of this study lies in summarising evidence on IAQ measurements in refurbished buildings, discussing recent advancements, revealing significant gaps and limitations, identifying the trends of research and drawing conclusions regarding future research directions on the topic.