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This study proposed a new topic in exploring what factors cause most Chinese customers not continue to use their healthcare wearables after purchasing. Based on the framework of “the self-regulation of attitudes, intentions, and behavior” (Bagozzi, 1992), which is used to determine what factors impact satisfaction and how satisfaction can in turn impact stickiness, this study developed a new research model and proposed seven hypotheses. And based on the theories, firstly, this study used interview technique to understand what practical factors people think about would affect consumers’ satisfaction and stickiness towards healthcare wearables in China. Secondly, combined theories with all the hypotheses and the interview results, this study applied survey method to collect empirical data. As all the constructs were validated with exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis, then the model was tested with linear multiple regression. The findings showed that the proposed research model fits in testing in this study, as three factors (value, quality and trust) have significant effects on Chinese consumers' satisfaction and stickiness towards healthcare wearables consumption. This study suggested that healthcare wearable companies need to put more emphasis on maintaining and increasing consumers’ trust, should continually improve consumers’ satisfaction, and should emphasize more on how to improve consumers’ attitudes of value and trust instead of putting more efforts on quality. These study results can help healthcare wearables companies make correct marketing strategies by putting efforts and resources on more valuable aspects, meanwhile, can help Chinese people to really improve health by using healthcare wearables.

Stickiness is a ubiquitous property of dynamical systems. However, recognizing whether an orbit is temporarily `stuck' (and therefore very nearly quasiperiodic) is hard to detect. Outlined in this thesis is an approach to quantifying stickiness in area-preserving maps based on a tool called recurrence plots that is not very commonly used. With the analyses presented herein it is shown that recurrence plot methods can give very close estimates to stickiness exponents that were previously calculated using Poincare recurrence and other methods. To capture the dynamics, RP methods require shorter data series than more conventional methods and are able to represent a more-global analysis of recurrence. A description of stickiness of the standard map for a wide array of parameter strengths is presented and a start at analyzing the standard nontwist map is presented. / text

The study examines knowledge transfer between firms by using the concept of stickiness to conceptualise problems with knowledge transfer. The concept of stickiness is sub-divided into “macro” and “micro” levels stickiness. As for “macro” level stickiness, the study uses literature in the field of innovation studies, in which governments have been identified as major contributors to macro level stickiness. The study uses literature in the economics of knowledge and evolutionary economics to develop the concept of “micro” level stickiness, which refers to firms’ contributions to stickiness. Four factors are used to examine micro stickiness: transfer mechanisms, types of transfer, knowledge barriers, and transfer contexts. After explaining the concept of stickiness and providing a background to technology parks policy, the study examines the perceptions of a variety of informants of stickiness in knowledge transfer among ICT firms in Malaysian technology parks. The study approached seven (out of eleven) Malaysian technology parks, over a period of three months in 2005 (May-July 2005) and a month in 2007 (August 2007). It interviewed fifty (50) informants, who included policy makers, government officers, and executives of ICT firms in Malaysian technology parks. With respect to “macro” level stickiness, policy makers and government confirmed that the government cannot exclude previous policy documents that contained three major elements: national unity, foreign direct investment and sound economic growth to formulate policy for Malaysian technology parks, which does not solely encourage knowledge transfer because the policy documents permitted short term profit taking by ICT firms. With respect to “micro” level stickiness, the results suggest that transfer mechanisms, types of transfer, knowledge barriers, and transfer contexts are costly; thus, impede ICT firms from participating actively in knowledge transfer between ICT firms. This study suggests that the government and ICT firms should work closely to facilitate knowledge transfer between ICT firms in Malaysian technology parks.

A sticky coating composed of dairy proteins and bioactive peptides (caseinophosphopeptides, CPPs) to prevent dental caries was formulated. The coating consisted of 10% CPPs, 70% glycerol and 20% casein (or hydrolysate) and/or whey in ratios from 0:100 to 100:0 casein:whey. Sodium caseinate was hydrolysed with three different enzymes, Alcalase, trypsin and α-chymotrypsin, yielding three hydrolysates classified as CN-A, CN-T and CN-C, respectively. The degree of hydrolysis reached levels of 18.04, 13.63 and 11.40% for CN-A, CN-T and CN-C respectively. Degree of hydrolysis was proportional to molecular weight determined by FPLC. CN-C coatings were the stickiest based on probe-tack test and capable of withstanding up to 22.46 N of force. Attempts to correlate glass transition temperatures to stickiness of the coatings proved inconclusive. All coatings were capable of binding enough calcium to remineralise tooth enamel. Results indicated that 100:0 CN-C:whey produced the stickiest coating; however this combination also increased bacterial adhesion. / February 2016

Nesta Tese de Doutoramento investigamos a influência das órbitas em regime de stickiness, para com a dinâmica de alguns sistemas dinâmicos clássicos. Tais órbitas são caracterizadas como aprisionamentos de tempo finito ao redor de estrututas de regularidade no espaço de fases. Esse comportamento ao longo da dinâmica, pode afetar propriedades estatísticas, de difusão e de transporte, dependendo do ensemble de condições iniciais e parâmetros de controle. Caracterizamos a influência deste fenômeno em três sistemas dinâmicos: (i) modelo Fermi-Ulam (FUM), onde órbitas em regime de stickiness produzem decaimento de correlações em forma de exponencial esticada e de lei de potência, e toda uma análise estatística ao longo da dinâmica é feita, tanto analítica quanto numericamente; (ii) no modelo Bouncer, essas órbitas são caracterizadas via expoentes de Lyapunov e decaimento de correlações, onde elas funcionam como um mecanismo para atrasar a difusão ilimitada de energia; e finalmente (iii) no bilhar Stadium, onde aliado a ressonância, o stickiness atua como um facilitador na troca de comportamento de órbitas, onde as mesmas sofrem uma transição de difusão ilimitada, para platô estacionário, perto da criticalidade ressonante. / In this Doctorate Thesis we investigate how the sticky orbits influence the dynamics of some classical dynamical systems. These orbits are characterized as finite-time trapping around stability islands in the phase space. This behaviour along the dynamics, may affect statistical properties, diffusion and transport, depending on the ensemble of energies, initial conditions and control parameters. We characterize this stickiness influence in three dynamical systems: (i) in the Fermi-Ulam Model (FUM), where orbits in sticky regime produce a decay of correlations, of a stretched exponential and power law kinds and a whole statistics analysis is made concerning numerical and analytical approaches; (ii) in the Bouncer model, these orbits are characterized along the dynamics via Lyapunov exponents and decay of correlations, where they play the role of a mechanism to slow down the unlimited diffusion of energy; and finally (iii) in the Stadium billiard, where allied with the resonance, stickiness allows a change in the orbits behaviour, where we can set a transition from unlimited diffusion to stationary state, near the critical resonance.

Nesta Tese de Doutoramento investigamos a influência das órbitas em regime de stickiness, para com a dinâmica de alguns sistemas dinâmicos clássicos. Tais órbitas são caracterizadas como aprisionamentos de tempo finito ao redor de estrututas de regularidade no espaço de fases. Esse comportamento ao longo da dinâmica, pode afetar propriedades estatísticas, de difusão e de transporte, dependendo do ensemble de condições iniciais e parâmetros de controle. Caracterizamos a influência deste fenômeno em três sistemas dinâmicos: (i) modelo Fermi-Ulam (FUM), onde órbitas em regime de stickiness produzem decaimento de correlações em forma de exponencial esticada e de lei de potência, e toda uma análise estatística ao longo da dinâmica é feita, tanto analítica quanto numericamente; (ii) no modelo Bouncer, essas órbitas são caracterizadas via expoentes de Lyapunov e decaimento de correlações, onde elas funcionam como um mecanismo para atrasar a difusão ilimitada de energia; e finalmente (iii) no bilhar Stadium, onde aliado a ressonância, o stickiness atua como um facilitador na troca de comportamento de órbitas, onde as mesmas sofrem uma transição de difusão ilimitada, para platô estacionário, perto da criticalidade ressonante. / In this Doctorate Thesis we investigate how the sticky orbits influence the dynamics of some classical dynamical systems. These orbits are characterized as finite-time trapping around stability islands in the phase space. This behaviour along the dynamics, may affect statistical properties, diffusion and transport, depending on the ensemble of energies, initial conditions and control parameters. We characterize this stickiness influence in three dynamical systems: (i) in the Fermi-Ulam Model (FUM), where orbits in sticky regime produce a decay of correlations, of a stretched exponential and power law kinds and a whole statistics analysis is made concerning numerical and analytical approaches; (ii) in the Bouncer model, these orbits are characterized along the dynamics via Lyapunov exponents and decay of correlations, where they play the role of a mechanism to slow down the unlimited diffusion of energy; and finally (iii) in the Stadium billiard, where allied with the resonance, stickiness allows a change in the orbits behaviour, where we can set a transition from unlimited diffusion to stationary state, near the critical resonance.

Thesis advisor: Fabio Ghironi / Thesis advisor: Susanto Basu / The present dissertation is composed by three essays. The first essay is titled ``Comparative Advantage, Service Trade, and Global Imbalances''. The large current account deficit of the U.S. is the result of a large deficit in the goods balance and a modest surplus in the service balance. The opposite is true for Japan, Germany and China. Moreover, I document the emergence from the mid-nineties of a strong negative relation between specialization in export of services and current account balances in a large sample of OECD and developing countries. Starting from these new stylized facts, I propose in this essay a ``service hypothesis'' for global imbalances, a new explanation based on the interplay between the U.S. comparative advantage in services and the asymmetric trade liberalization process in goods trade versus service trade that took place in the last 15 years. I use a structural gravity model to quantify the extent of this asymmetry. I show that a simple two-period model can rationalize the emergence of current account deficits in the presence of such asymmetric liberalization. The key inter-temporal mechanism is the asymmetric timing of trade policies, which affects savings decisions. Finally, I explore the quantitative relevance of this explanation for global imbalances. A multi-period version of the model, fed with the asymmetric trade liberalization path found in the data, generates a current account deficit of about 1% of GDP (roughly 20% of what was observed in the U.S. in 2006). The policy implications of the analysis proposed could be relevant for the evolution of the WTO DOHA Development Round. A major focus on services, in fact, could help expanding the ``policy space'' faced by the negotiators, possibly increasing the likelihood of a successful conclusion of the round. Moreover, this paper inform also the recent debate about the need of a revaluation of the yuan. Allowing the U.S. to increase its exports of services (not necessarily to China) might help alleviating global imbalances even without movements in the exchange rates. The second essay is titled ``Estimating Trade and Investment Flows: Partners and Volumes''. I present empirical evidence from a large sample of countries for the period 2000-2006. Bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) flows are almost never observed in the absence of bilateral trade flows, thus configuring an order of trade and investment flows. I document a similar pattern using bilateral foreign affiliate sales (FAS), aggregating them up from a large firm level dataset (ORBIS), which includes over 45,000 firms. I propose a model where heterogeneous firms face a proximity-concentration tradeoff when they decide whether to serve foreign markets through export or FDI. I derive theory-based gravity-type equations for the aggregate bilateral trade and foreign affiliate sales (FAS) flows. I then suggest a two-stage estimation procedure. In the first stage, a ordered Probit model is used to retrieve consistent estimates of the terms needed to correct the flows equations for heterogeneity and selection. In the second stage, a maximum likelihood estimator is applied to the corrected trade and FAS equations. The main results of the analysis are as follows: 1) The impact of distance, border and regional trade agreements on bilateral foreign affiliate sales becomes substantially smaller after controlling for selection and firms' heterogeneity (hence separating the impact on the extensive versus the intensive margin). 2) The same ``attenuation'' result is found also for the trade equations, consistently with HMR. 3) When FAS are observed, failing to take this into account when correcting for heterogeneity and selection in the trade equations leads to differences in the estimated coefficients. The third essay is titled ``Some Evidence on the Importance of Sticky Wages'', and is co-authored with Susanto Basu and Peter Gottshalk. Nominal wage stickiness is an important component of recent medium-scale structural macroeconomic models, but to date there has been little microeconomic evidence supporting the assumption of sluggish nominal wage adjustment. We present evidence on the frequency of nominal wage adjustment using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) for the period 1996-1999. The SIPP provides high-frequency information on wages, employment and demographic characteristics for a large and representative sample of the US population. The main results of the analysis are as follows. 1) After correcting for measurement error, wages appear to be very sticky. In the average quarter, the probability that an individual will experience a nominal wage change is between 5 and 18 percent, depending on the samples and assumptions used. 2) The frequency of wage adjustment does not display significant seasonal patterns. 3) There is little heterogeneity in the frequency of wage adjustment across industries and occupations 4) The hazard of a nominal wage change first increases and then decreases, with a peak at 12 months. 5) The probability of a wage change is positively correlated with the unemployment rate and with the consumer price inflation rate. To a certain extent, the three essays presented here are self-contained and deal with three different issues regarding international economics and macroeconomics. Going to a deeper level, however, the essays are linked by a common feature: they are three examples of economic research across fields. The first essay, in fact, is an example of the growing fields at the edge between international trade and international macroeconomics. While the trade of goods and services and the dynamics of macroeconomic variables such as the current account are highly interconnected in the real world, these two fields have been characterized by a large divide in the last thirty years in the economic literature. The second essay is an example of a joint study of international trade and investment flows. Also in this case, while conceptually clearly interconnected, these topics have been usually studied separately by the economic literature. Finally, the third essay is an example of research across fields (labor economics and macroeconomics) and techniques (micro-level analysis informing macroeconomic models). In this last case, macroeconomists were interested in estimating certain wage dynamics parameters highly used in macro models. However, they were largely unaware of the fact that labor economists had the data to answer those research questions. On the other hand, the labor economists had the data, but not the questions. I hope that these essays might help increasing further the awareness that more communication between economists working in different fields can bring to valuable insights. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

The explosive proliferation of Internet usage has enabled a number of new online communities to be established. Among them, online games have been representing the leading technological edge of the entertainment sector and the trend is expected to continue. The nature of Internet has enabled its users easy to hop from one website to another only several clicks away with very little cost. While website stickiness is regarded as a significant factor to e-commerce success, how to attract the attention of gamers and make them stick around has become a big challenge for both online game developers and providers. Based on the uses and gratification theory, this study proposed a model which integrated use and gratification with service mechanism (i.e. fairness, security, and incentive) and media factor (i.e. spatial presence and social presence) to investigate what determines player¡¦s online game stickiness. The partial least squares method was applied to empirically evaluate the proposed model using survey data collected from 274 online gamers. Our findings indicate that all variables except presence have positive significant effects on continuance motivation (CM), and CM also significantly affects gamers¡¦ stickiness. The implications of this work to both researchers and practitioners are discussed.

The literature on price setting has developed extensively in the last decade; albeit predominantly focused on the price setting behaviour of developed countries. This study reviews the survey results of price setting behaviours in the manufacturing sector within a developing economy. More than two thirds of manufacturing firms in South Africa purely follow time-dependent pricing rules; which, when compared to the results of surveys conducted in other international studies is almost three times as much, approximately one third of firms allow for components of state-dependent pricing rules.Higher input costs (cost of raw materials and labour costs) are the most important driver behind price increases. Declining market share is the most important factor behind price reductions. Firms review their prices more often than they actually change them. The median firm in this study has only adjusted its prices twice in the last 12 months.Co-ordination failure and temporary shocks are the most important sources of price stickiness. Mark-up pricing and price discrimination are common practices amongst South African manufacturing firms. The quality of a firm‟s product followed by its price is most important in determining the firm‟s level of competitiveness. Manufacturing firms in South Africa generally adopt a barometric price leadership strategy when setting their prices. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted