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1 – 10 of 29The initial value problem for a semi-linear high-order heat equation is investigated. In the focusing case, global well-posedness and exponential decay are obtained. In the…
Abstract
The initial value problem for a semi-linear high-order heat equation is investigated. In the focusing case, global well-posedness and exponential decay are obtained. In the focusing sign, global and non global existence of solutions are discussed via the potential well method.
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The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of teachers’ and undergraduate students concerning the provision of written corrective feedback (WCF) in Saudi EFL writing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of teachers’ and undergraduate students concerning the provision of written corrective feedback (WCF) in Saudi EFL writing classrooms in the form of a case study.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample consisted of three teachers and five students, whose views on WCF were recorded via individual semi-structured interviews to gather qualitative data.
Findings
The results revealed some divergent viewpoints between students and teachers and among peers in both groups.
Originality/value
By offering the best WCF practice and considering students' interests, this research is important for improving the pedagogical approaches used by EFL instructors for teaching writing to university learners. It will, therefore, have more of an impact on EFL writing instruction.
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The purpose of this study is to explore the role of gold as a hedge against inflation in the case of the United Arab Emirates.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of gold as a hedge against inflation in the case of the United Arab Emirates.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilizes monthly data on the local sharia-compliant spot gold contract traded on the Dubai Gold and Commodity Exchange (DGCX) and the corresponding consumer price index series over the period December 2015 to January 2021. The econometric approach employed by the study involves a unit root testing procedure that allows the timing of significant breaks to be estimated. A cointegration analysis is then conducted using a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model, taking into consideration the presence of structural breaks in addition to short- and long-run asymmetries.
Findings
The results reveal that consumer and gold prices are cointegrated, which implies that investing in gold can hedge against inflation in the long run. No sufficient evidence, nonetheless, is found in support of the ability of gold to serve as a hedge against inflation in the short run.
Originality/value
The findings have several important policy implications for policymakers and investors that are further discussed in the study.
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This study investigated the factors that influence customer satisfaction with AI-driven services by focusing on chatbot agents. The conceptual model included psychological and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated the factors that influence customer satisfaction with AI-driven services by focusing on chatbot agents. The conceptual model included psychological and social factors, such as trust, perceived social presence, competence perception, social-oriented communication style, warmth perception, subjective norms and attachment anxiety.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative methodology was employed utilising a survey conducted among 525 consumers who interacted with chatbot services. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling (Smart-PLS 4.0) to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The study revealed that social-oriented communication, perceptions of competence and warmth, trust and subjective norms significantly enhanced customer satisfaction with chatbots. Trust was critical in fostering satisfaction, whereas perceived social presence and attachment anxiety had minimal impact. The findings suggest that despite the emphasis on social presence, its influence on satisfaction may depend on contextual factors that were not captured in this study.
Originality/value
This study extended the Technology Acceptance Model and Stereotype Content Model by integrating factors such as perceived social presence, trust, competence perception, social-oriented communication style, warmth perception, subjective norm and attachment anxiety. Challenging conventional assumptions on the role of social presence and attachment anxiety, the study provides new insights into the complex dynamics of human–chatbot interactions, offering practical implications for improving chatbot design and enhancing user experience that emphasise the importance of trust, competence and social-oriented communication in customer satisfaction.
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This study attempts to identify and analyze the pragmatic functions of religious expressions, that is, invocations that include the name of Allah (God), in naturally occurring…
Abstract
Purpose
This study attempts to identify and analyze the pragmatic functions of religious expressions, that is, invocations that include the name of Allah (God), in naturally occurring social interactions in Najdi Arabic, which is spoken in Central Saudi Arabia.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the speech act theory and politeness model, an analysis of the data illustrates that religious expressions, in addition to their prototypical religious meanings and uses in everyday interactions, are employed to communicate a wide range of pragmatic functions.
Findings
These include signaling the end of a conversation, persuading, mitigating and hedging, showing agreement and approval, reinforcing emphasis, expressing emotions, seeking protection from the evil eye, conveying skepticism and ambiguity, expressing humor and sarcasm, and showing respect and honor. The embedded multifunctional dimension of religious expressions in the present data is interpreted as serving as a politeness marker with which speakers promote both positive politeness (by showing solidarity, claiming common grounds, and building rapport) and negative politeness (by reducing imposition and emphasizing personal autonomy).
Originality/value
This study further highlights the interplay between religion, culture, and language use in Najdi Arabic.
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Investigating the dialogistic resources within a multiplicity of popularized disciplines shall provide further insight into the interpersonal status of popular science book…
Abstract
Purpose
Investigating the dialogistic resources within a multiplicity of popularized disciplines shall provide further insight into the interpersonal status of popular science book writing, which can be converted into transferrable writing skills to (post)graduate students in the Saudi educational context. This study aims to investigate the representation of authorial and external voice in popular science book writing (PSBW), exemplified by the lexico-grammatical resources that make up a proposition (i.e. the statement or the argument by which the author conveys their voice) within the writer’s discourse.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a mixed-method approach to analyze how authorial and external voice is represented through the lexico-grammatical resources from a 93,078-word corpus extracted from various popular science book writings. The authorial and external voice is analyzed by the UAM CorpusTool3.
Findings
The results suggest significant differences between hard and soft disciplines, suggesting that popular science book writings employ discipline-specific lexico-grammatical phrases appropriate to projecting both the authorial voice and that of the external one. The scalability of projecting authorial and external voices seems to depend on whether the topic belongs to a hard or soft discipline. Hard science disciplines tend to insert their voices assertively, while more authors of soft science disciplines tend to treat the proposition in a spectrum of possibilities and give more affordances to the external voice with which they interact.
Research limitations/implications
Part of this analysis was to interpret the analyzed popular science corpus in the context of writing pedagogy and realize this interpretation within the most recently reported state on scientific writing in Saudi higher education. The literature presently shows a scarcity of English writing programs across Saudi universities. Not all programs have made it mundane to teach scientific writing to (post)graduate students from various scientific disciplines. Designing long-term scientific writing programs is of utmost importance to tackle the writing difficulties, as reported by researchers such as Al-Harbi (2021), who also train students to develop audience-oriented writing skills.
Practical implications
Integrating popular science text in scientific writing programs should be in the early stages and should not remain constant throughout the duration of the course because it is meant as a timely intervention to help (post)graduate students cross over from one genre to the scientific writing genre. It should ideally provide them with the ability to shift the orientation of their writing, accordingly, making them, for example, mindful of the targeted reader. Depending on the type of reader, whether an expert or otherwise, the student-constructed discourse should naturally align with the conventions and the discourse of the discipline.
Originality/value
In multiple reports within the literature, Saudi university students face writing difficulties not only at the undergraduate level but also at the (post)graduate level. Reportedly, they are marred by the lack of communicative, rhetorical function and discourse knowledge, along with linguistic issues in employing appropriate hedging or conjugating a justification for a claim while constructing an academic discourse. Therefore, this study brings an analysis of popular science books and interprets them in light of their viability as teaching materials, in the hope that they diversify the EAP content, ameliorate the writing deficiencies and elicit audience-oriented writing and thinking skills.
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Svetlin Georgiev, Aissa Boukarou, Keltoum Bouhali and Khaled Zennir
This paper is devoted to the generalized Kadomtsev–Petviashvili I equation. This study aims to propose a new approach for investigation for the existence of at least one global…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is devoted to the generalized Kadomtsev–Petviashvili I equation. This study aims to propose a new approach for investigation for the existence of at least one global classical solution and the existence of at least two nonnegative global classical solutions. The main arguments in this paper are based on some recent theoretical results.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is devoted to the generalized Kadomtsev–Petviashvili I equation. This study aims to propose a new approach for investigation for the existence of at least one global classical solution and the existence of at least two nonnegative global classical solutions. The main arguments in this paper are based on some recent theoretical results.
Findings
This paper is devoted to the generalized Kadomtsev–Petviashvili I equation. This study aims to propose a new approach for investigation for the existence of at least one global classical solution and the existence of at least two nonnegative global classical solutions. The main arguments in this paper are based on some recent theoretical results.
Originality/value
This article is devoted to the generalized Kadomtsev–Petviashvili I equation. This study aims to propose a new approach for investigation for the existence of at least one global classical solution and the existence of at least two nonnegative global classical solutions. The main arguments in this paper are based on some recent theoretical results.
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Khaled Hamad Almaiman, Lawrence Ang and Hume Winzar
The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of sports sponsorship on brand equity using two managerially related outcomes: price premium and market share.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of sports sponsorship on brand equity using two managerially related outcomes: price premium and market share.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a best–worst discrete choice experiment (BWDCE) and compares the outcome with that of the purchase intention scale, an established probabilistic measure of purchase intention. The total sample consists of 409 fans of three soccer teams sponsored by three different competing brands: Nike, Adidas and Puma.
Findings
With sports sponsorship, fans were willing to pay more for the sponsor’s product, with the sponsoring brand obtaining the highest market share. Prominent brands generally performed better than less prominent brands. The best–worst scaling method was also 35% more accurate in predicting brand choice than a purchase intention scale.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could use the same method to study other types of sponsors, such as title sponsors or other product categories.
Practical implications
Sponsorship managers can use this methodology to assess the return on investment in sponsorship engagement.
Originality/value
Prior sponsorship studies on brand equity tend to ignore market share or fans’ willingness to pay a price premium for a sponsor’s goods and services. However, these two measures are crucial in assessing the effectiveness of sponsorship. This study demonstrates how to conduct such an assessment using the BWDCE method. It provides a clearer picture of sponsorship in terms of its economic value, which is more managerially useful.
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Abdelkader Derbali, Lamia Jamel, Monia Ben Ltaifa, Ahmed K. Elnagar and Ali Lamouchi
This paper provides an important perspective to the predictive capacity of Fed and European Central Bank (ECB) meeting dates and production announcements for the dynamic…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper provides an important perspective to the predictive capacity of Fed and European Central Bank (ECB) meeting dates and production announcements for the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) between Bitcoin and energy commodities returns and volatilities during the period from August 11, 2015 to March 31, 2018.
Design/methodology/approach
To assess empirically the unanticipated component of the US and ECB monetary policy, the authors pursue the Kuttner's approach and use the federal funds futures and the ECB funds futures to assess the surprise component. The authors use the approach of DCC as introduced by Engle (2002) during the period from August 11, 2015 to March 31, 2018.
Findings
The authors’ results suggest strong significant DCCs between Bitcoin and energy commodity markets if monetary policy surprises are incorporated in variance. These results confirmed the financialization of Bitcoin and commodity energy markets. Finally, the DCC between Bitcoin and energy commodity markets appears to respond considerably more in the case of Fed surprises than ECB surprises.
Originality/value
This study is a crucial topic for policymakers and portfolio risk managers.
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