Search results for "Lever"
showing 10 items of 191 documents
A dynamic life-cycle model for the provisioning of software testing services
2014
Information and communications technology (ICT)-enabled international sourcing of software-intensive systems and services (eSourcing) is a powerful strategy for managing businesses more effectively. China is becoming a superpower for eSourcing service provisioning, but most Chinese providers are small- or medium-sized and leverage the mediated eSourcing model, delivering services to foreign ICT clients who interface with end-clients onshore. This model restricts the providers to low-value projects. This paper probes eSourcing of software testing services within the Chinese market because testing is one of the best ICT services small- and medium-sized providers can provide to develop domain …
Theta and gamma oscillations in the rat hippocampus during attentive lever pressing
2018
AbstractThe hippocampus is known to be pivotal for spatial memory but emerging evidence suggests its contribution to temporal memories as well. However, it is not clear how the hippocampus represents time and how it synchronizes spatial and temporal presentations into a coherent memory. We assessed the specific role of hippocampal theta and gamma oscillations and their interaction in short-term timing of motor reactions. Rats were trained to maintain lever pressing for 2.5 s and then to quickly release the lever and retrieve water reward from a nearby water port guided by a cue light. In essence, this task allows observation of hippocampal rhythms during timed anticipation when no overt mov…
Polish highlander jokes and their targets
2017
The aim of the paper is to identify the characteristic features of jokes about Polish highlanders and analyse them to isolate the comic script of a highlander. This group of jokes is treated as a good illustration of Christie Davies’s ethnic jokes theory concerning canny versus stupid and centre versus periphery oppositions, as well as mind over matter. A particular type of reasoning and the use of regional dialect are distinctive features of the joke targets that make it possible to perceive these jokes as a culturally specific phenomenon. The head shepherd (called baca) is the key character of the cycle. He is a very down-to-earth person, who is proud of his practical wisdom and has a ver…
Regression diagnostics applied in kinetic data processing: Outlier recognition and robust weighting procedures
2010
An efficient protocol, based on advanced statistical diagnostics and robust fitting techniques applied to the least-squares processing of kinetic data of chemical reactions, is presented and discussed. The procedure, which is aimed at obtaining highly accurate estimation of the fitting parameters, consists of the identification of the outliers that remarkably impair the fitting by means of the so-called “leverage analysis” and some related diagnostics. This approach allows the elimination of the actually aberrant observations from the data set and/or their robust weighting to inhibit the negative effects induced on the data fitting, with consequent reduction of the bias introduced into the …
OpenHVSR - Processing toolkit: Enhanced HVSR processing of distributed microtremor measurements and spatial variation of their informative content
2018
Abstract The investigation of seismic ambient noise (microtremor) in spectral ratio form, known as the Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratio technique, is extremely popular nowadays both to investigate large areas in a reduced amount of time, and to leverage a wider choice of low cost equipment. In general, measurements at multiple locations are collected to generate multiple, individual spectral ratio curves. Recently, however, there has been an increasing interest in spatially correlating informative content from different locations. Accordingly, we introduce a new computer program, “OpenHVSR – Processing Toolkit”, developed in Matlab (R2015b), specifically engineered to enhance data proc…
Relaciones entre gestión corporativa y crisis financiera en el mercado de capitales español
2015
ResumenLa crisis financiera internacional impulsada por las noticias vertidas en agosto de 2007 ha tenido efectos devastadores sobre los mercados de capitales internacionales. El objetivo de este artículo se centra en verificar, en este contexto de crisis, si las empresas del mercado continuo español generan rendimientos anormales negativos, a la par que investigar qué factores ligados al gobierno corporativo podrían justificar estas anomalías. Nuestros resultados confirman que: a)cuando un mismo sujeto asume dirección ejecutiva y presidencia de la junta, en contra de todo pronóstico, ha tenido efectos beneficiosos sobre la gestión corporativa, permitiendo que esas anomalías se vayan diluye…
Preliminary results on the electrostatic double-layer force between two surfaces with high surface potentials
1998
Abstract The aim of this study is to measure interaction forces between surfaces with high electric potentials in aqueous electrolyte solutions. Therefore the force between a gold sample and a gold sphere attached to the end of an atomic force microscope cantilever was measured. Gold sample and sphere were electrically connected and served as the working electrode. A potential was applied via a platinized platinum electrode. Experimental results are compared to forces approximated with the Poisson-Boltzmann theory.
Key advantages of the leverage points perspective to shape human-nature relations
2021
This perspective paper synthesises the special issue 'Human-nature connectedness as a leverage point for sustainability transformation'. Based on the articles in this special issue, we aim to foster the operationalisation of the leverage points perspective to shape human-nature relations to enable sustainability transformations. Specifically, we draw on four key advantages of the leverage points perspective: (i) the explicit recognition of deep leverage points; (ii) the ability to examine the interactions between shallow and deep system changes; (iii) the combination of causal and teleological modes of research; and (iv) the ability to function as a methodological boundary object. The contr…
Scope of Negative Integration: A Comparative Analysis of Post, Public Transport and Port Services
2014
There is extensive literature that explains how liberalization policy deepens and widens. In the literature of European integration such reform is commonly considered to be the result of a bias towards liberalization in the treaties, thereby giving the European Commission and the European Court of Justice wide-ranging leverage to enforce such reform. However, such approaches have been criticized for being de-politicized – for failing to understand the conflicts inherent in controversial policies. It is therefore of interest to explore the scope conditions of this constitutional bias assumption in areas where liberalization policy is disputed. This article analyzes the EU decision-making pro…
Household debt and labor market fluctuations
2011
Abstract The co-movements of labor productivity with output, total hours, vacancies and unemployment have changed since the mid 1980s. This paper offers an explanation for the sharp break in the fluctuations of labor market variables based on endogenous labor supply decisions following the mortgage market deregulation. We set up a search model with efficient bargaining and financial frictions, in which impatient borrowers can take an amount of credit that cannot exceed a proportion of the expected value of their real estate holdings. When borrowers' equity requirements are low, the impact of a positive technology shock on the marginal utility of consumption is strengthened, which in turn re…