Search results for "reach"
showing 10 items of 152 documents
Does competition enhance the double-bottom-line performance of microfinance institutions?
2020
Abstract This paper investigates how competition affects the double-bottom-line performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). While classical economic theory highlights that competition enhances efficiency and benefits both customers and firms, we argue that this is unlikely to apply to institutions operating in socially oriented industries, such as microfinance. Using a cross-country dataset of 4576 MFI-year observations (1139 unique MFIs) operating in 59 countries over a 10-year period (2005-2014), we find that competition has an adverse effect on MFIs’ economic sustainability and that competition undermines their breadth of outreach but enhances their depth of outreach. These results …
La vulgarisation scientifique et les doctorants : mesure de l'engagement, exploration d'effets sur le chercheur
2018
We ask two questions: what are the factors that influence researchers’ public engagement activities (PEA)? And what are the impacts of these activities on the researcher? After presenting a historical overview of PEA, we analyze 20 surveys carried out between 1967 and 2014. We identify some global trends: PEA is generally positively perceived, researcher’s engagement is occasional but robust. Besides those trends some differences appear between studies based on theoretical models and empirical studies: the latter report complaints such as lack of time or lack of recognition, whereas theoretical-based ones challenge these statements.To further explore our two questions, we used two approache…
Robust control of stochastic systems against bounded disturbances with application to flight control
2014
This paper investigates the problems of state observer design and observer-based integral sliding-mode control (SMC) for a class of Itô stochastic systems subject to simultaneous input and output disturbances. A new type of sliding-mode-based descriptor observer method is developed to approximate the system state and disturbance vectors. An integral-type SMC scheme is proposed based on the state estimation to stabilize the overall system. The main contributions of this approach are as follows: 1) The desired estimations of state and disturbance vectors can be obtained simultaneously, and 2) in the designed sliding-mode observer, the integral term of the Itô stochastic noise is eliminated …
A study of mobility and reachability in ad hoc networks using stochastic activity networks
2006
The integration of ad-hoc networks into real environments is now becoming more and more common and supervision and control systems are no exception. The efficiency of the communication in these networks as well as various other factors, are governed by the working area, the number of nodes, mobility, transmission power, etc. In this paper, the mobility and reachability of mobile nodes appearing spontaneously in a large installation such as can be found in a water purification system are studied. These nodes form an ad-hoc network and communicate between each other in order to finally reach a fixed node which can offer them information from the rest of the system in real time or act as a gat…
Finite automata on timed ω-trees
2003
AbstractIn the last decade Alur and Dill introduced a model of automata on timed ω-sequences which extends the traditional models of finite automata. In this paper, we present a theory of timed ω-trees which extends both the theory of timed ω-sequences and the theory of ω-trees. The main motivation is to introduce a new way of specifying real-time systems and provide tools for studying decidability problems in related fields. We focus on the decision problems and their applications in system verification and synthesis.
Le fondazioni dei frati predicatori in Sicilia tra XIII e XVIII secolo: un primo bilancio storiografico
2021
The historiographical literature dedicated to the architecture of the Friar Preachers in Sicily, if one excludes the few studies on the complexes in Palermo, which are anyhow focussed on the churches only, is still substantially limited to the sporadic studies by local scholars or members of the Order on the history of the Dominicans in Sicily. The aim of our research, therefore, was to outline a general framework that could serve as a stepping stone for further research. It was first of all necessary to carry out a census of all the Dominican architectural complexes in Sicily, in order to determine the overall dimensions of the phenomenon and its chronological and territorial articulation,…
Identifying Pathways to Computer Science : The Long-Term Impact of Short-Term Game Programming Outreach Interventions
2019
Short-term outreach interventions are conducted to raise young students’ awareness of the computer science (CS) field. Typically, these interventions are targeted at K–12 students, attempting to encourage them to study CS in higher education. This study is based on a series of extra-curricular outreach events that introduced students to the discipline of computing, nurturing creative computational thinking through problem solving and game programming. To assess the long-term impact of this campaign, the participants were contacted and interviewed two to five years after they had attended an outreach event. We studied how participating in the outreach program affected the students’ perceptio…
Does leader–member exchange buffer or intensify detrimental reactions to psychological contract breach? The role of employees' career orientation
2018
There is an ongoing debate about two contradictory moderating effects of leader–member exchange (LMX) on the relationship between psychological contract breach (PCB) and work outcomes. Whereas some studies demonstrated LMX to be a social support resource capable of buffering the negative effects of PCB, findings from other research suggest that employees show stronger negative reactions to PCB when the quality of relationships with leaders is high. The present study addresses how these contradictory results can be explained by individuals' career orientations. We surveyed a representative random sample of 954 employees from various organizations and occupations to test whether employees wit…
Engaging People and Co-Producing Research with Persons and Communities to Foster Person-Centred Care: A Meta-Synthesis
2021
Introduction: Engagement and co-production in healthcare research and innovation are crucial for delivering person-centred interventions in underserved communities, but the knowledge of effective strategies to target this population is still vague, limiting the provision of person-centred care. Our research aimed to identify essential knowledge to foster engagement and co-production. Materials and Methods: A meta-synthesis research design was used to compile existing qualitative research papers on health communication, engagement, and empowerment in vulnerable groups in high-income countries (HICs) from 2008 to 2018. A total of 23 papers were selected and analysed. Results: ‘Design and recr…
Joan Roís de Corella, la seua vida i el seu entorn: noves dades per a la història de la cultura en la València del segle xv
2014
This article offers a full updating of the biographical records of the writer Joan Roís de Corella (1435-1497) and his family: his great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, siblings and children. All data are presented in a systematic way, generation by generation, and a new vision of the writer himself is offered. In its documentary section, 432 documents are transcribed or summarised, dating from 1373 to 1516. A broad range of new archival data is presented; other previously known data are corrected or improved. Some examples: Joan Roís de Corella had four children: Magdalena (born 1459), Maria, Joan and Estefania, the latter two by Isabel Martínez de Vera. Joan Roís de Corella was widel…