Search results for "working"
showing 10 items of 2747 documents
Selfish vs. Unselfish Optimization of Network Creation
2005
We investigate several variants of a network creation model: a group of agents builds up a network between them while trying to keep the costs of this network small. The cost function consists of two addends, namely (i) a constant amount for each edge an agent buys and (ii) the minimum number of hops it takes sending messages to other agents. Despite the simplicity of this model, various complex network structures emerge depending on the weight between the two addends of the cost function and on the selfish or unselfish behaviour of the agents.
Hard-Core Thinnings of Germ‒Grain Models with Power-Law Grain Sizes
2013
Random sets with long-range dependence can be generated using a Boolean model with power-law grain sizes. We study thinnings of such Boolean models which have the hard-core property that no grains overlap in the resulting germ‒grain model. A fundamental question is whether long-range dependence is preserved under such thinnings. To answer this question, we study four natural thinnings of a Poisson germ‒grain model where the grains are spheres with a regularly varying size distribution. We show that a thinning which favors large grains preserves the slow correlation decay of the original model, whereas a thinning which favors small grains does not. Our most interesting finding concerns the c…
Separation of Uncorrelated Stationary time series using Autocovariance Matrices
2015
Blind source separation (BSS) is a signal processing tool, which is widely used in various fields. Examples include biomedical signal separation, brain imaging and economic time series applications. In BSS, one assumes that the observed $p$ time series are linear combinations of $p$ latent uncorrelated weakly stationary time series. The aim is then to find an estimate for an unmixing matrix, which transforms the observed time series back to uncorrelated latent time series. In SOBI (Second Order Blind Identification) joint diagonalization of the covariance matrix and autocovariance matrices with several lags is used to estimate the unmixing matrix. The rows of an unmixing matrix can be deriv…
Fourth Moments and Independent Component Analysis
2015
In independent component analysis it is assumed that the components of the observed random vector are linear combinations of latent independent random variables, and the aim is then to find an estimate for a transformation matrix back to these independent components. In the engineering literature, there are several traditional estimation procedures based on the use of fourth moments, such as FOBI (fourth order blind identification), JADE (joint approximate diagonalization of eigenmatrices), and FastICA, but the statistical properties of these estimates are not well known. In this paper various independent component functionals based on the fourth moments are discussed in detail, starting wi…
Ligand effects on the dimensionality of oxamato-bridged mixed-metal open-framework magnets
2012
Increasing dimensionality [from 2D (1) to 3D (2)] and T(C) [from 10 (1) to 20 K (2)] in two new oxamato-bridged heterobimetallic Mn(II)(2)Cu(II)(3) open-frameworks result from the steric hindrance provided by the different alkyl substituents of the N-phenyloxamate bridging ligands.
Productivity change of the Spanish Port System: impact of the economic crisis
2016
The main goal of this study was to assess the impact of the economic crisis on the productivity growth of the Spanish Port System (SPS). The Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) was estimated for the 28 Port Authorities of the SPS, for a 'non-crisis period' (2005-2008) and a 'crisis period' (2008-2011). From a policy perspective, the MPI is a very useful approach for assessing the productivity change because it can be decomposed into the catching-up index and the frontier productivity index. The results showed that the economic crisis did not impact all of the Spanish Port Authorities equally. Some Port Authorities presented higher productivity growth during the crisis period than in the non-…
Business agreements objectives and decisions: a field research
2013
PurposeMany research studies in operations management (OM) and strategic management (SM) investigate how different kinds of firm decisions regarding business relationships can positively affect a firm's operations performance, resource endowment, and competitive position. Very few studies exist, however, that have attempted to illuminate the actual behaviors of managers when making strategic decisions about their intercompany relationships; rather, most existing studies focus on normative theory. The purpose of this paper is to explore linkages between the “set” of strategic objectives that managers are willing to pursue, the “set” of networking decisions they make, and the “set” of busines…
Public Service Media’s Funding Crisis in the Face of the Digital Challenge
2020
The funding crisis of Public Service Media (PSM) is also a crisis affecting its legitimacy, business model, audience, innovation and transformation required to adapt to the current digital ecosystem, which is dominated by the changes in the access and consumption ways available to citizens, as well as by the new telecommunications global players. Eleven European countries have cut back the budgets of their public service media organizations during the past five years, and those which haven’t done it yet are facing adjustment plans until 2020. Besides financial pressures, European PSM is also facing increasing opposition from private operators, populist parties and the constant appetite for …
Stress transfer mechanism investigation in hybrid steel trussed-concrete beams by push-out tests
2014
Abstract Results of push-out tests carried out on Hybrid Steel Trussed–Concrete Beams (HSTCBs) before and after the concrete casting are presented and interpreted. Firstly, in order to check the ability of weldings before casting, tensile tests were performed on specimens reproducing different types of welded joints. Simplified design formulae were used to predict their ultimate strength. Secondly, results obtained by push-out tests on specimen representative of the beam before and after the concrete casting are presented and discussed. Finally, simplified analytical models proposed by the current European building code were adapted to the specific typology to roughly predict the ultimate s…