06161 Abstracts Collection -- Simulation and Verification of Dynamic Systems

From 17.04.06 to 22.04.06, the Dagstuhl Seminar 06161 ``Simulation and Verification of Dynamic Systems\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Management: A bibliography for NASA managers (supplement 21)

This bibliography lists 664 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in 1986. Items are selected and grouped according to their usefulness to the manager as manager. Citations are grouped into ten subject categories: human factors and personnel issues; management theory and techniques; industrial management and manufacturing; robotics and expert systems; computers and information management; research and development; economics, costs, and markets; logistics and operations management; reliability and quality control; and legality, legislation, and policy

Space station systems: A bibliography with indexes (supplement 9)

This bibliography lists 1,313 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between January 1, 1989 and June 30, 1989. Its purpose is to provide helpful information to researchers, designers and managers engaged in Space Station technology development and mission design. Coverage includes documents that define major systems and subsystems related to structures and dynamic control, electronics and power supplies, propulsion, and payload integration. In addition, orbital construction methods, servicing and support requirements, procedures and operations, and missions for the current and future Space Station are included

Bibliography of Lewis Research Center technical publications announced in 1986

This compilation of abstracts describes and indexes the technical reporting that resulted from the scientific and engineering work performed and managed by the Lewis Research Center in 1986. All the publications were announced in the 1986 issues of Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports (STAR) and/or International Aerospace Abstracts (IAA). Included are research reports, journal articles, conference presentations, patents and patent applications, and theses

A cumulative index to a continuing bibliography on aeronautical engineering

This bibliography is a cumulative index to the abstracts contained in NASA-SP-7037(184) through NASA-SP-7037(195) of Aeronautical Engineering: A Continuing Bibliography. NASA SP-7037 and its supplements have been compiled through the cooperative efforts of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This cumulative index includes subject, personal author, corporate source, foreign technology, contract, report number, and accession number indexes

Motives for corporate mergers and takeovers : an investigation of the `failing company' hypothesis and of post-merger performance

The overall objective of the study was to determine the financial characteristics of companies involved in merger activity. More specifically, the study aims to determine: (a) whether acquired companies possessed financial characteristics similar to previous failed companies (the 'failing-company' hypothesis); (b) whether acquiring companies possessed financial characteristics similar to previous failed companies and (c) the impact of acquisition on the post-acquisition performance of acquiring companies, and particularly to consider whether their performance differs according to the financial characteristics of the companies they acquired. A new "bankruptcy prediction" model, contemporary with the acquisition data, was derived, tested for robustness, and applied to samples of acquired and acquiring companies. An indirect test of the 'failing-company' hypothesis was carried out by comparison with the results obtained on application of the model to control groups of non-acquired and non-acquiring companies. The test indicated that a higher proportion of acquired companies possessed financial characteristics similar to failed companies than the control group of non-acquired companies. This evidence tends to support the 'failing-company' hypothesis as a motive for mergers for acquired companies. Conversely, there was no such evidence in support of the hypothesis for acquiring companies. The approach adopted also allowed the dichotomy of acquired companies (failing vs. non-failing) which made it possible to test for differential post-acquisition performance of the acquiring companies. In order to evaluate the post-acquisition performance of acquiring companies, three different measurement criteria were adopted. They were: (a) accounting-based profitability and gearing ratios (b) industry-standardardised profitability measure (Meeks (1977)) and (c) performance analysis-scores (PAS-score) (Taffler (1983)). The results indicated that the acquiring companies generally incurred a decline in their post-acquisition profitability measures, while they increased their gearing ratios. Generally, the group acquiring potentially failing companies exhibited 'superior' post-acquisition performance compared with the group acquiring "non-failing" companies. These findings support the managerial motives for mergers since there appears to be little evidence that mergers are undertaken to increase profitability as implied in neoclassical motives. They also suggest the possible need for a review of public policy towards mergers; perhaps mergers ought to be encouraged only if they prevent impending bankruptcy by the acquisition of failing companies

06161 Executive Summary -- Simulation and Verification of Dynamic Systems

Simulation is widely used for modeling engineering artifacts and natural phenomena to gain insight into the operation of those systems. Formal verification is concerned with proving or disproving the correctness of a system with respect to a certain property. Despite of these different objectives, the fields of simulation and verification address similar research challenges. Particularly, in the application area systems biology simulation and verification are moving together. The Dagstuhl Seminar was dedicated to intensifying this dialogue, and stimulating the exchange of ideas. Three working groups discussed questions: Why are biological systems difficult to model?, What role does refinement and abstraction play in combining simulation and verification?, What is the role of communication and composition in simulating and analysing dynamic systems? The results of the working groups can be found in the working groups\u27 report