Vol. 2 No. 6 (2011)

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The major aim of this paper is to compare the explanatory power of risk measures versus performance measures in different life-cycle stages. To test the hypotheses, first, sample firms were classified into three life-cycle stages (Growth, Mature and Decline). Then, using regression models and Vuong's Z-statistic, the hypotheses were investigated. In this study, financial information of 75 firms which were accepted at Tehran’s Stock Exchange (TSE) from 2003 to 2008 (450 firm-years) was examined. The results of this study show that in growth and decline stages, the explanatory power of risk measures is significantly higher than performance measures and in mature stage, the opposite is true.

The purpose of this study is to analyze to what extent communities of practice influence improved academic performance as well as faster adaptability to online classroom settings among U.S. active military students. The study is related to college-level business education courses that were conducted in hybrid online/in-class environment. It provides general insights into how different elements of communities of practice, such as use of collaborative tools, project/time management, knowledge base access, and participation in various student-based organizations at universities are used among military online students to achieve improved overall academic performance in terms of better final grades and course assessment results compared to traditional, non-military students in similar online classrooms.

Traditional manner for making information from data was laid on handy interpret and analyzing. This kind of analyzing of data is so slow and also expensive and objective. It hopes computer technology helps when data using and analyzing is above humane ability. Knowledge exploration emphasizes on understandable patterns. Totally, it can be said that rising to the upward knowledge is from raw data that are down knowledge.