scholarly journals Modeling the Taxi Drivers’ Customer-Searching Behaviors outside Downtown Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenbo Zhang ◽  
Satish Ukkusuri ◽  
Chao Yang
Keyword(s):  
Latent Class ◽  
System Modeling ◽  
Latent Class Model ◽  
Discrete Choice Models ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Latent Classes ◽  
Taxi Drivers ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Internal And External Factors ◽  
Taxicab Drivers

A popular phenomenon in the street-hailing taxi system is the imbalanced mobility services between city central and outside downtown areas, which leads to unmet demand outside downtown areas and competitions in city central areas. Understanding taxi drivers’ customer-searching behaviors is crucial to addressing the phenomenon and redistributing the taxi supply. However, the current literature ignores or simply models the taxi drivers’ behaviors, in particular, lacks the in-depth discussions on individuals’ heterogeneity. This study introduces the latent class model to identify the internal and external factors influencing the taxi drivers’ destination choice after the last drop-offs. Beyond the influencing factors, the modeling structure captures the heterogeneity in vacant taxicab drivers through introducing latent classes. The proposed model outperforms other discrete choice models, for instance, multinomial logit, nested logit, and mixed logit, based on the two study cases developed from the New York City yellow taxicab system. The empirical results first statistically indicate the existence of latent classes, which further empirically prove the heterogeneity in the choices by vacant taxicab drivers while searching customers. Moreover, we obtain a set of internal and external factors influencing the customer searching behaviors. For example, the taxicab drivers are sensitive to the demand at the search destination areas and the distance from the last drop-off location to the search destination areas and behave identically in particular under the conditions of high demand and short search distance. On the other hand, the external variables have different impacts on customer searching behaviors across the different groups of drivers in the both study cases, including peak hours, weekday, holiday, earned fare from last occupied trip, raining hours, and flight arrivals at airports. In final, the proposed modeling structure and findings are useful as a sub-model of taxi system modeling while developing strategies, as well as as a regional planning tool for taxi supply estimations.

Bayesian nonparametric latent class model for longitudinal data

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 3381-3395
Author(s):  
Wonmo Koo ◽  
Heeyoung Kim
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Data ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Latent Class Model ◽  
Latent Class Models ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Latent Classes ◽  
Bayesian Nonparametric ◽  
Class Model ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Class Models

Latent class models have been widely used in longitudinal studies to uncover unobserved heterogeneity in a population and find the characteristics of the latent classes simultaneously using the class allocation probabilities dependent on predictors. However, previous latent class models for longitudinal data suffer from uncertainty in the choice of the number of latent classes. In this study, we propose a Bayesian nonparametric latent class model for longitudinal data, which allows the number of latent classes to be inferred from the data. The proposed model is an infinite mixture model with predictor-dependent class allocation probabilities; an individual longitudinal trajectory is described by the class-specific linear mixed effects model. The model parameters are estimated using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The proposed model is validated using a simulated example and a real-data example for characterizing latent classes of estradiol trajectories over the menopausal transition using data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation.

scholarly journals Beyond Grantmaking

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heng Qu ◽  
Una Osili
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Executive Leadership ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Peer Networks ◽  
Economic Environment ◽  
Internal Revenue Service ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Leadership Changes ◽  
Internal And External Factors ◽  
Qualitative Analyses

This study investigates program-related investments (PRIs), which are mechanisms that foundations can use to achieve charitable purposes while generating moderate financial returns. There is a growing interest in PRIs and other similar market-based approaches among practitioners of philanthropy recently. We examine the internal and external factors that influence PRIs by U.S. foundations through both quantitative and qualitative analyses. By analyzing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Foundation Center data, we find that foundations with more financial and human resources are more likely to adopt PRIs initially and also more intensively engage in PRIs. Foundations of 25 years or older invest less money in PRIs than younger foundations. Findings from the interviews with eight foundations reveal additional factors influencing foundations’ PRI activities, including staffing and expertise, the board and executive leadership, changes in the legal and economic environment, sectoral trends and peer networks, and the interests and needs of PRI recipients.

scholarly journals Towards a successful centralization of municipal procurement: A case of KwaZulu-Natal province

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-703
Author(s):  
Zwelihle Wiseman Nzuza ◽  
Lawrence Mpele Lekhanya
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Data ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Knowledge Management Theory ◽  
Internal And External Factors

Centralization of municipal procurement in the KwaZulu-Natal Province is faced with several challenges. There were two aims for this study: to identify factors influencing municipal procurement and to design a model of the factors influencing municipal procurement, in an attempt to improve the understanding of municipal procurement. The proposed model is based on sound theoretical frameworks like knowledge management theory and the application of theory and practice ethics as well as the secondary data. The study found that the biographic factors as well as internal and external factors have strong influences on the success or failure of municipal procurement. The significance of these factors formed the basis for a proposed model and is subject to further experiments by other scholars

scholarly journals Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Behavior in Indonesia: Internal and External Factors Influencing

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (E) ◽  
pp. 516-520
Author(s):  
Deswinda Deswinda ◽  
Rizanda Machmud ◽  
Yusrawati Yusrawati ◽  
Ahmad Syafruddin Indrapriyatna ◽  
Bayhakki Bayhakki
Keyword(s):  
Adolescent Pregnancy ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Teenage Pregnancy ◽  
Life Skills ◽  
Pregnancy Prevention ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Prevention Behavior ◽  
Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention ◽  
Internal And External Factors

BACKGROUND: The reasons behind teenage pregnancy and marriage in Indonesia are the lack of life skills and low self-efficacy. Teenagers with a lack of life skills are more likely to be influenced by their peers, in this case, to have sex before marriage. Teenage pregnancy often leads to a high rate of maternal and infant mortality and high-risk infants. AIM: This study aimed to identify internal and external factors influencing adolescent pregnancy prevention behavior. METHODS: This quantitative study with a cross-sectional design recruited 398 adolescents using a multistage sampling technique. Chi-square test and logistic regression test were employed with p < 0.05. RESULTS: The odds ratio (OR) value from the exponent β with confidence interval 95%. More than half of respondents (64%) have behavior that might lead to teenage pregnancy, with both male and female respondents having equal risk (p = 0.920). Variables of knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, life skills, and peer influence were associated with adolescent pregnancy prevention behavior as all of them have a p = 0.000. Moreover, peers were found to be the most influential variable of teenage pregnancy prevention behavior with the OR value of 3.84, the highest among other variables which meant adolescents receiving negative influence from their peers are 3.84 times more likely to conceive at a young age. Peers become the most dominant factor in determining adolescent behavior in preventing pregnancy. CONCLUSION: Among the variables related to prevention behavior, peers were found to be the one that will primarily determine adolescent behavior in terms of pregnancy prevention.

scholarly journals Factors Influencing HEIs to Adopt Social Media as a Marketing Communication Tool

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-154
Author(s):  
Muhammad Awais Mehmood ◽  
Qaiser Janjua ◽  
Muhammad Akram ◽  
Syed Harris Laeeque ◽  
Faisal Aftab
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Marketing Communication ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Internal And External Factors

This research aims to identify the factors influencing Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to adopt Social Media (SM) for marketing communication. The research was conducted through a qualitative study by interviewing SM managers of selected Pakistani HEIs. Data was analyzed using NVivo 11 to identify emerging themes. The findings revealed several internal and external factors encouraging HEIs to adopt SM marketing. Internal factors reflected the internal dynamics or beliefs within the HEIs that encouraged them to use SM for their marketing communication, whereas external factors were environmental changes, not in direct control of HEIs, but believed to contribute towards their decision to use SM. The internal factors included the belief of applicants, increased interest of senior management towards SM, perception of cost-effective promotional tool, induction of young staff, perception of SM as a modern communication tool and move towards paperless communication. The external factors included SM preference as a mode of communication, declining value of traditional marketing communication tools, E-Life inclination, presence of competitors & unofficial SM accounts of HEIs and their self-driven nature. This study draws focus towards the underlying intentions of HEIs for their SM presence and compares these motivations with other organizations. This has enabled filling in the gaps in the literature regarding the roots of SM marketing in the context of HEIs. From a practical perspective, the findings of this study will enable HEIs to compare their SM motives with other industries. A major difference found was the absence of motivation on the part of HEIs to use SM. This is in contradiction to other industries that put relationship building with customers as one of the primary motives to use SM.

scholarly journals Regularized Latent Class Analysis for Polytomous Item Responses: An Application to SPM-LS Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Robitzsch
Keyword(s):  
Latent Class ◽  
Latent Class Model ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Latent Class Models ◽  
Latent Classes ◽  
Polytomous Item ◽  
Item Functioning ◽  
Item Responses ◽  
Polytomous Item Responses ◽  
Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices

The last series of Raven’s standard progressive matrices (SPM-LS) test was studied with respect to its psychometric properties in a series of recent papers. In this paper, the SPM-LS dataset is analyzed with regularized latent class models (RLCMs). For dichotomous item response data, an alternative estimation approach based on fused regularization for RLCMs is proposed. For polytomous item responses, different alternative fused regularization penalties are presented. The usefulness of the proposed methods is demonstrated in a simulated data illustration and for the SPM-LS dataset. For the SPM-LS dataset, it turned out the regularized latent class model resulted in five partially ordered latent classes. In total, three out of five latent classes are ordered for all items. For the remaining two classes, violations for two and three items were found, respectively, which can be interpreted as a kind of latent differential item functioning.

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