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Search Effort (search + effort)
Selected AbstractsA Contingency Perspective of Communication, Conflict Resolution and Buyer Search Effort in Buyer-Supplier RelationshipsJOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2004Cindy Claycomb SUMMARY This study investigates the moderating effects of buying context on the relationship between communication elements and the effort buyers exert while searching for new suppliers throughout a buyer-supplier relationship development process. A mail survey of members of the Institute for Supply ManagementÔ was conducted and the data were analyzed using moderated regression. The results suggest that company size, buyer experience, relationship duration and relationship importance affect the association between a buyer's search effort and the communication elements. Interestingly, the buying context affects the relationship between search effort and the communication elements in different ways and to a different extent in each stage of the relationship development process. [source] Handling constraints using multiobjective optimization conceptsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 15 2004Arturo Hernández Aguirre Abstract In this paper, we propose a new constraint-handling technique for evolutionary algorithms which we call inverted-shrinkable PAES (IS-PAES). This approach combines the use of multiobjective optimization concepts with a mechanism that focuses the search effort onto specific areas of the feasible region by shrinking the constrained search space. IS-PAES also uses an adaptive grid to store the solutions found, but has a more efficient memory-management scheme than its ancestor (the Pareto archived evolution strategy for multiobjective optimization). The proposed approach is validated using several examples taken from the standard evolutionary and engineering optimization literature. Comparisons are provided with respect to the stochastic ranking method (one of the most competitive constraint-handling approaches used with evolutionary algorithms currently available) and with respect to other four multiobjective-based constraint-handling techniques. Copyright© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Sexually selected behaviour: red squirrel males search for reproductive successJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Jeffrey E. Lane Summary 1Differential male reproductive success is commonplace in mammals and frequently attributed to variation in morphological traits that provide individuals with a competitive advantage in female defence mating systems. Other mammalian mating systems, however, have received comparatively little attention and correlates of male reproductive success in them are less well understood. 2We studied a free-ranging population of North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus Erxleben) exhibiting year-round individual territoriality. Males must temporarily vacate their territories to locate spatially dispersed receptive females, thereby setting the stage for a scramble competition mating system. 3We predicted that both male annual mating success (measured as the number of females copulated with) and annual reproductive success (measured as the number of offspring sired) would be positively correlated with both search ability (measured as the number of oestrous females located over the mating season) and effort (measured as mating season home range size), generating directional sexual selection on these two metrics. 4Mating season home ranges of males showed, on average, an almost 10-fold increase relative to those measured during the nonmating season, while those of females showed a more moderate twofold increase and both annual mating and reproductive success of males was positively correlated with search ability and search effort. 5The spatial dispersion of females, resulting from the strict territorial social structure of red squirrels, gave rise to a predicted scramble competition mating system. Furthermore, the strength of sexual selection on behavioural traits in this mating system equalled previous estimates for morphological traits in female defence mating systems. [source] At-sea distribution and scale-dependent foraging behaviour of petrels and albatrosses: a comparative studyJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2007DAVID PINAUD Summary 1In order to study and predict population distribution, it is crucial to identify and understand factors affecting individual movement decisions at different scales. Movements of foraging animals should be adjusted to the hierarchical spatial distribution of resources in the environment and this scale-dependent response to environmental heterogeneity should differ according to the forager's characteristics and exploited habitats. 2Using First-Passage Time analysis, we studied scales of search effort and habitat used by individuals of seven sympatric Indian Ocean Procellariiform species fitted with satellite transmitters. We characterized their search effort distribution and examined whether species differ in scale-dependent adjustments of their movements according to the marine environment exploited. 3All species and almost all individuals (91% of 122 individuals) exhibited an Area-Restricted Search (ARS) during foraging. At a regional scale (1000s km), foraging ranges showed a large spatial overlap between species. At a smaller scale (100s km, at which an increase in search effort occurred), a segregation in environmental characteristics of ARS zones (where search effort is high) was found between species. 4Spatial scales at which individuals increased their search effort differed between species and also between exploited habitats, indicating a similar movement adjustment for predators foraging in the same habitat. ARS zones of the two populations of wandering albatross Diomedea exulans (Crozet and Kerguelen) were similar in their adjustments (i.e. same ARS scale) as well as in their environmental characteristics. These two populations showed a weak spatial overlap in their foraging distribution, with males foraging in more southerly waters than females in both populations. 5This study demonstrates that predators of several species adjust their foraging behaviour to the heterogeneous environment and these scale-dependent movement adjustments depend on both forager and environment characteristics. [source] A Contingency Perspective of Communication, Conflict Resolution and Buyer Search Effort in Buyer-Supplier RelationshipsJOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2004Cindy Claycomb SUMMARY This study investigates the moderating effects of buying context on the relationship between communication elements and the effort buyers exert while searching for new suppliers throughout a buyer-supplier relationship development process. A mail survey of members of the Institute for Supply ManagementÔ was conducted and the data were analyzed using moderated regression. The results suggest that company size, buyer experience, relationship duration and relationship importance affect the association between a buyer's search effort and the communication elements. Interestingly, the buying context affects the relationship between search effort and the communication elements in different ways and to a different extent in each stage of the relationship development process. [source] Discrete search allocation game with false contactsNAVAL RESEARCH LOGISTICS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2007Ryusuke Hohzaki Abstract This paper deals with a two-person zero-sum game called a search allocation game, where a searcher and a target participate, taking account of false contacts. The searcher distributes his search effort in a search space in order to detect the target. On the other hand, the target moves to avoid the searcher. As a payoff of the game, we take the cumulative amount of search effort weighted by the target distribution, which can be derived as an approximation of the detection probability of the target. The searcher's strategy is a plan of distributing search effort and the target's is a movement represented by a path or transition probability across the search space. In the search, there are false contacts caused by environmental noises, signal processing noises, or real objects resembling true targets. If they happen, the searcher must take some time for their investigation, which interrupts the search for a while. There have been few researches dealing with search games with false contacts. In this paper, we formulate the game into a mathematical programming problem to obtain its equilibrium point. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007 [source] The influence of need for closure and perceived time pressure on search effort for price and promotional information in a grocery shopping contextPSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 1 2005Iris Vermeir Need for closure (NFC) is introduced as a variable of individual difference that shows promise to help the understanding of a consumers' effort to search for price and promotional information in the context of retail grocery shopping. Results showed that NFC and perceived time pressure (PTP) are important determinants of search effort for price and promotional information (e.g., searching for coupons, looking for in-store promotions, switching stores to find lowest prices, and comparing unit prices). Moreover, an interaction effect was found between NFC and PTP. Future research and theoretical and practical implications are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Stories about firms: boundaries, structures, strategies, and processesMANAGERIAL AND DECISION ECONOMICS, Issue 4-5 2001Mark Addleson This paper explores contemporary efforts to enrich the economic theory of firms. Its theme is the search for a postmodern approach to the firm, and it explores how those search efforts are reshaping the narrative of conventional neoclassical economic theory. My main interests are the concepts of firms and markets that emerge from a line of inquiry which views firms as social institutions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||