FIRM SIZE AND MONITORING

We present a model of optimal monitoring expenditures. For any technology that yields a conventional ``S-shaped''' production function for monitoring, the optimal level of monitoring is shown to be higher in medium-sized firms than in both small and large firms. Further, the interaction between specialization and agency are shown to lead to an ``S-shaped'''' production function.

RURAL POLICY AFTER THE RENAISSANCE: WESTERN EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Validating plans with continuous effects

A critical element in the use of PDDL2.1, the modelling language developed for the International Planning Competition series, has been the common understanding of the semantics of the language. The fact that this has been implemented in plan validation software was vital to the progress of the competition. However, the validation of plans using actions with continuous effects presents new challenges (that precede the challenges presented by planning with those effects). In this paper we review the need for continuous effects, their semantics and the problems that arise in validation of plans that include them. We report our progress in implementing the semantics in an extended version of the plan validation software

IC-processed micro-motors: design, technology, and testing

Micro-motors having rotors with diameters between 60 and 120 μm have been fabricated and driven electrostatically to continuous rotation. These motors were built using processes derived from IC (integrated circuit) microcircuit fabrication techniques. Initial tests on the motors show that friction plays a dominant role in their dynamic behavior. Observed rotational speeds have thus far been limited to several hundred r.p.m., which is a small fraction of what would be achievable if only natural frequency were to limit the response. Experimental starting voltages are at least an order of magnitude larger than had been expected (60 V at minimum and above 100 V for some structures). Observations of asynchronous as well as synchronous rotation between the driving fields and the rotors can be explained in terms of the torque/rotor-angle characteristics for the motors

Integrated movable micromechanical structures for sensors and actuators

Movable pin-joints, gears, springs, cranks, and slider structures with dimensions measured in micrometers have been fabricated using silicon microfabrication technology. These micromechanical structures, which have important transducer applications, are batch-fabricated with an IC-compatible process. The movable mechanical elements are built on layers that are later removed so that they are freed for translation and rotation. An undercut-and-refill technique, which makes use of the high surface mobility of silicon atoms undergoing chemical vapor deposition, is used to refill undercut regions in order to form restraining flanges. Typical element sizes and masses are measured in micrometers and nanograms. The process provides the tiny structures in an assembled form avoiding the nearly impossible challenge of handling such small elements individually

Employee Ownership and Attitudes Toward the Union: An Empirical Study

Bien que l'Amérique du Nord connaisse un regain d'intérêt pour la formation d'entreprises qui soient partiellement ou totalement la propriété des employés, il n'existe à peu près pas d'études concrètes sur les répercussions de cette forme de propriété sur les syndicats et sur les dispositions des travailleurs-propriétaires envers le syndicat. Cette étude veut combler cette lacune. Elle donne les résultats d'une enquête auprès du personnel d'une entreprise de transport, où existait un syndicat, qui fut achetée par ses salariés et ses cadres.Aux fins de cette enquête, on a utilisé deux questionnaires comprenant sept attitudes ou réactions possibles des travailleurs à l'endroit du syndicat six mois et dix-huit mois après l'achat de l'entreprise. Les résultats indiquent que la plupart des salariés, qu'ils soient ou non membres du syndicat, ne croyaient pas que la syndicalisation étaient incompatible avec ce type de propriété et une minorité d'entre eux seulement estimaient que le syndicat n'était pas nécessaire. Ce qui est plutôt surprenant, il y avait peu de différence entre les attitudes des salariés-propriétaires et ceux qui ne l'étaient pas. Ces dispositions d'esprit ont peu changé avec le temps. Bien que cela ne soit pas absolument clair, le rôle du syndicat, tel qu'il est perçu par les salariés, est d'être un chien de garde destiné à faire contrepoids au pouvoir possiblement accru de la direction.De l'enquête, il ressort aussi que l'achat de l'entreprise par les employés a eu une influence bénéfique sur les relations professionnelles, influence attribuable à une information plus considérable et à une plus grande ouverture d'esprit de la part de la direction ainsi qu'à des rapports plus harmonieux entre les parties. Cependant, les répercussions sur le rôle futur du syndicat dans l'entreprise apparaissaient moins clairement.L'auteur conclut en signalant les limites de l'enquête et en insistant sur la nécessité d'une recherche plus approfondie dans un plus grand nombre d'établissements pour en arriver à une compréhension meilleure de l'influence de ce type d'entreprises sur les syndicats.This article explores the relationship between employee ownership and attitudes toward the union by reporting the results of an empricial study of a unionized Canadian trucking company recently purchased from it s former corporate owner by most of its workers and managers. Results indicated that most workers— both union and non-union— did not believe that unionization was either incompatible with employee ownership or unnecessary

Plan validation and mixed-initiative planning in space operations

Bringing artificial intelligence planning and scheduling applications into the real world is a hard task that is receiving more attention every day by researchers and practitioners from many fields. In many cases, it requires the integration of several underlying techniques like planning, scheduling, constraint satisfaction, mixed-initiative planning and scheduling, temporal reasoning, knowledge representation, formal models and languages, and technological issues. Most papers included in this book are clear examples on how to integrate several of these techniques. Furthermore, the book also covers many interesting approaches in application areas ranging from industrial job shop to electronic tourism, environmental problems, virtual teaching or space missions. This book also provides powerful techniques that allow to build fully deployable applications to solve real problems and an updated review of many of the most interesting areas of application of these technologies, showing how powerful these technologies are to overcome the expresiveness and efficiency problems of real world problems