Media Economics

A concise introduction to the key ideas and issues in the study of media economics, drawing on a broad range of case studies - from Amazon and Twitter, to Apple and Netflix - to illustrate how economic paradigms are not just theories, but provide important practical insights into how the media operates today. Understanding the economic paradigms at work in media industries and markets is vitally important for the analysis of the media system as a whole. The changing dynamics of media production, distribution and consumption are stretching the capacity of established economic paradigms. In addition to succinct accounts of neo-classical and critical political economics, the text offers fresh perspectives for understanding media drawn from two 'heterodox' approaches: institutional economics and evolutionary economics. Applying these paradigms to vital topics and case studies, Media Economics stresses the value – and limits – of contending economic approaches in understanding how the media operates today. It is essential reading for all students of Media and Communication Studies, and also those from Economics, Policy Studies, Business Studies and Marketing backgrounds who are studying the media. Table of Contents: 1. Media Economics: The Mainstream Approach 2. Critical Political Economy of the Media 3. Institutional Economics 4. Evolutionary Economics 5. Case Studies and Conclusions

Tendering theory revisited

This paper discusses the content, origin and development of Tendering Theory as a theory of price determination. It demonstrates how tendering theory determines market prices and how it is different from game and decision theories, and that in the tendering process, with non-cooperative, simultaneous, single sealed bids with individual private valuations, extensive public information, a large number of bidders and a long sequence of tendering occasions, there develops a competitive equilibrium. The development of a competitive equilibrium means that the concept of the tender as the sum of a valuation and a strategy, which is at the core of tendering theory, cannot be supported and that there are serious empirical, theoretical and methodological inconsistencies in the theory.

Cooperative multi-AUV tracking of phytoplankton blooms based on ocean model predictions

In recent years, ocean scientists have started to employ many new forms of technology as integral pieces in oceanographic data collection for the study and prediction of complex and dynamic ocean phenomena. One area of technological advancement in ocean sampling if the use of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) as mobile sensor plat- forms. Currently, most AUV deployments execute a lawnmower- type pattern or repeated transects for surveys and sampling missions. An advantage of these missions is that the regularity of the trajectory design generally makes it easier to extract the exact path of the vehicle via post-processing. However, if the deployment region for the pattern is poorly selected, the AUV can entirely miss collecting data during an event of specific interest. Here, we consider an innovative technology toolchain to assist in determining the deployment location and executed paths for AUVs to maximize scientific information gain about dynamically evolving ocean phenomena. In particular, we provide an assessment of computed paths based on ocean model predictions designed to put AUVs in the right place at the right time to gather data related to the understanding of algal and phytoplankton blooms.

Integrating the resource-based view and transaction cost economics in immigrant business performance

This paper presents a new integrated framework that integrates the resource-based view and transaction cost economics to explain the phenomenon of immigrant entrepreneurship. We extend the existing literature on immigrant entrepreneurship by identifying different types of ethnic network resources and demonstrating how these resources interact with transaction costs in the context of Chinese immigrants. Thus, our study contributes to the literature by providing a theoretical framework which identifies mechanisms immigrant entrepreneurs use to strategically deploy resources to minimize costs and maximize performance outcomes.

Robust mean super-resolution for less cooperative NIR iris recognition at a distance and on the move

Less cooperative iris identification systems at a distance and on the move often suffers from poor resolution. The lack of pixel resolution significantly degrades the iris recognition performance. Super-resolution has been considered to enhance resolution of iris images. This paper proposes a pixelwise super-resolution technique to reconstruct a high resolution iris image from a video sequence of an eye. A novel fusion approach is proposed to incorporate information details from multiple frames using robust mean. Experiments on the MBGC NIR portal database show the validity of the proposed approach in comparison with other resolution enhancement techniques.

By the day nurses bank up in a casual pool!

We suspect that the array of silly names used to refer to temporary staff worldwide may be indicative of the extent to which these nurses have been relegated to, and we would argue, remain in, a type of underclass – relatively unsupported by employers in terms of professional practice and ipso facto excluded from contributing professionally to team work, practice development, clinical governance and evidence based practice. This may be acceptable to some but in a climate of risk averseness and in the interests of strategic planning we would suggest it is an accident waiting to happen. The recent UK Royal College of Nursing (RCN) (Ball & Pike, 2006) survey of bank and agency nurses brings a welcome focus on a group of nurses that make a significant contribution to the smooth running of health services in many countries.

Validating a model of cooperative procurement in the construction industry

Project management in the construction industry involves coordination of many tasks and individuals, affected by complexity and uncertainty, which increases the need for efficient cooperation. Procurement is crucial since it sets the basis for cooperation between clients and contractors. This is true whether the project is local, regional or global in scope. Traditionally, procurement procedures are competitive, resulting in conflicts, adversarial relationships and less desirable project results. The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test an alternative procurement model based on cooperative procurement procedures that facilitates cooperation between clients and contractors in construction projects. The model is based on four multi-item constructs – incentive-based compensation, limited bidding options, partner selection and cooperation. Based on a sample of 87 client organisations, the model was empirically tested and exhibited strong support, including content, nomological, convergent and discriminant validity, as well as reliability. Our findings indicate that partner selection based on task related attributes mediates the relationship between two important pre-selection processes (incentive-based compensation and limited bid invitation) and preferred outcome of cooperation. The contribution of the paper is identifying valid and reliable measurement constructs and confirming a unique sequential order for achieving cooperation. Moreover, the findings are applicable for many types of construction projects because of the similarities in the construction industry worldwide.

Resource allocation and scheduling of multiple composite web services in cloud computing using cooperative coevolution genetic algorithm

In cloud computing, resource allocation and scheduling of multiple composite web services is an important and challenging problem. This is especially so in a hybrid cloud where there may be some low-cost resources available from private clouds and some high-cost resources from public clouds. Meeting this challenge involves two classical computational problems: one is assigning resources to each of the tasks in the composite web services; the other is scheduling the allocated resources when each resource may be used by multiple tasks at different points of time. In addition, Quality-of-Service (QoS) issues, such as execution time and running costs, must be considered in the resource allocation and scheduling problem. Here we present a Cooperative Coevolutionary Genetic Algorithm (CCGA) to solve the deadline-constrained resource allocation and scheduling problem for multiple composite web services. Experimental results show that our CCGA is both efficient and scalable.

Scaffolding techniques : a teacher training for cooperative learning in Thailand primary education

In general, the benefits of using cooperative learning include academic achievement, communication skills, problem-solving, social skills and student motivation. Yet cooperative learning as a Western educational concept may be ineffective in a different learning system. The study aims to investigate scaffolding techniques for cooperative learning in Thailand primary education. The program was designed to foster Thai primary school teachers’ cooperative learning implementation that includes the basic tenets of cooperative learning and socio-cognitive based learning. Two teachers were invited to participate in this experimental teacher training program for one and a half weeks. Then the teachers implemented a cooperative learning in their mathematics class for six weeks. The data from teacher interview and classroom observation indicated that the both teachers are able to utilise questions to scaffold their students’ engagement in cooperative learning. This initiative study showed that difficulty or failure of implementing cooperative learning in Thailand education may not be derived from cultural difference. The paper discussed the techniques the participant teachers applied with proactive scaffolding, reactive scaffolding and scaffolding questions that can be used to facilitate the implementation of cooperative learning in Thai school.