18,718 research outputs found

    Cumulative sum algorithms for automatic detection of gas well parameter changes

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    The problem of the change point detection in a sequence of random variables is considered. The task arises in control of technological processes, particularly, in oil and gas production management. Some equipment parameters are to be controlled in order to detect a change of the equipment characteristics and, consequently, a breakdown of its technological regime. As a rule, the data observed are stochastic with the unknown distribution

    R & D Activities and the Technology Game: A Dynamic Model of U.S.-JapanCompetition

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    This paper presents an international comparison of R&D activities in basic and applied research. The commonly-held view that Japan is not spending much on basic technology development cannot be empirically substantiated from the study of the historical trends. However, the fact that in the U.S.A. the largest proportion of industrial R&D expenditures is spent on the defense and aero-space related industries (60%) ,while Japan is spending the largest proportion (60%) on the chemical, electronics, communication and automobile industries, may indicate that in effect Japan emphasizes the development of applied technology.The second part of the paper is to show how two countries, one with heavy R&D activities in basic technology (the U.S.A.)and the other with heavy R&D activities in applied technology(Japan), can compete in the world market with their productivity differences in basic and applied fields. A simple model of differential game is presented to explain how Japan can increase the market share by utilizing both the informational and productivity efficiencies.

    Optimizing of the Balanced Scorecard method for management of mining companies with the use of factor analysis

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    The managers of information age companies cannot rely merely on data derived from past activities of the company and focus on improving existing processes. They need a frame for measuring values that result from strategic goals of the company, a tool, which is focusing on obtaining information about company's current success, as well as finding new driving forces to ensure the future competitiveness of the company. Strategic business performance measurement system the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a suitable tool for improving the competitiveness of industrial companies. During its implementation, however, there is a conflict of perception of the importance of individual goals and measurable characteristics in partial perspectives of the BSC and its actual enforcement of the various strategic objectives in companies. The aim of this article is to verify the accuracy of BSC settings in an environment of selected companies in the Moravian-Silesian region with the emphasis placed on mining companies with the help of multidimensional statistics - factor analysis. The research took place in 2015 in cooperation with managers from the Moravian-Silesian Region (MSR), and it was divided into two kinds of research - quantitative and qualitative.Web of Science22444743

    AIR POLLUTION AND FARM-LEVEL CROP YIELDS: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF CORN AND SOYBEANS

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    While many studies have estimated the impacts of air pollution on crop yields on experimental plots, few have estimated these impacts under actual farm production conditions. This study econometrically estimates the impact of air pollution on corn and soybean yields, controlling for weather, soil quality and management practices, using farm-level data for the eastern United States. Ozone pollution was found to reduce yields for both crops. The mean elasticity of yield with respect to ozone exposure was -0.19 for corn and -0.54 for soybeans. The benefits of ozone standards to protect crops, measured in terms of crop revenues, range from 17to17 to 82 million depending on the stringency of the standard. Over 85 percent of the revenue gains are captured by three states: Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia.Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy,

    Sums of three cubes, II

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    Estimates are provided for ssth moments of cubic smooth Weyl sums, when 4s84\le s\le 8, by enhancing the author's iterative method that delivers estimates beyond classical convexity. As a consequence, an improved lower bound is presented for the number of integers not exceeding XX that are represented as the sum of three cubes of natural numbers.Comment: 25 page

    Firm’s innovative capabilities influence on innovation performance : differences between firm’s age and size

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    Mestrado em Economia e Gestão de Ciência, Tecnologia e InovaçãoEsta tese estuda a associação entre as ?innovative capabilities? das empresas e a performance em inovação das mesmas, e se estas variam consoante a idade e dimensão da empresa. O problema é saber quais as variáveis que devem ser incluídas de modo a que se quantifique todas as dimensões discutidas na literatura, e como se deve organizar estas variáveis para que se avalie de forma completa as "firm's innovative capabilities". Este trabalho segue o modelo desenvolvido por Zawislak et al. 2012 focando-se apenas naquelas "capabilities"? que são dinâmicas (Alves et al. 2017). É o principal contributo, pois permitiu a inclusão de muitas variáveis e permitiu perceber como estas variam em relação à idade e dimensão das empresas. O modelo teórico consiste em 17 variáveis distribuídas por 4 factores: "capability" de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico, Estratégico, Transacional e de Gestão. Para ir de encontro aos objectivos de investigação, um questionário foi enviado para empresas da Indústria Transformadora Portuguesa e foram obtidas 381 respostas. A Análise Fatorial Exploratória originou resultados estatisticamente significativos para três factores, enquanto que a "Capability" de gestão não é significativo sobre as "innovative capabilities" (IC) e sobre a performance da inovação (IP) para as empresas da amostra. A associação entre IC e IP é fraca, mas positiva e, através dos testes não paramétricos, descobriu-se que existem diferenças na distribuição dos factores para as empresas tendo em conta as suas características.The aim of this thesis is to study the association between firm's innovative capabilities and innovation performance and whether they vary according to certain firm's characteristics. However, one of the major setbacks relies on the choice of variables required to measure all the dimensions discussed in the literature and on how to ensure that these variables represent reliable and interpretable factors in order to obtain a complete assessment of firm's innovative capabilities. Thus, this thesis follows the complementary model developed by Zawislak et al. 2012 but is only focused on dynamic capabilities (Alves et al 2017). The contribution of this thesis is the inclusion of many variables that enable the assessment of how firm's innovative capabilities differ according to their age and size. The theoretical model consisted of 17 variables distributed into 4 factors: Development of Technology, Strategy, Transactional and Management capability. To meet research objectives, a questionnaire was sent to firms in the Portuguese Manufacture Industry and 381 responses were collected. An Exploratory Factor Analysis led to three statically significant factors but the Management Capability is not significant on firms' Innovative Capabilities (IC) and Innovation Performance (IP). The association between IC and IP was weak but positive and nonparametric tests revealed significant differences in distribution of the factors according to firm's age and size.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    An emerging paradigm or just another trajectory? Understanding the nature of technological changes using engineering heuristics in the telecommunications switching industry

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    The theoretical literature on technological changes distinguishes between paradigmatic changes and changes in trajectories. Recently several scholars have performed empirical studies on the way technological trajectories evolve in specific industries, often by predominantly looking at the artifacts. Much less - if any - empirical work has been done on paradigmatic changes, even though these have a much more profound impact on today's industry. It follows from the theory that such studies would need to focus more on the knowledge level than on the artifact level, raising questions on how to operationalize such phenomena. This study aims to fill this gap by applying network-based methodologies to knowledge networks, represented here by patents and patent citations. The rich technological history of telecommunications switches shows how engineers in the post-war period were confronted with huge challenges to meet drastically changing demands. This historical background is a starting point for an in-depth analysis of patents, in search of information about technological direction, technical bottlenecks, and engineering heuristics. We aim to identify when such changes took place over the seven different generations of technological advances this industry has seen. In this way we can easily recognize genuine paradigmatic changes compared to more regular changes in trajectory.technological trajectories; patents; network analysis; telecommunication manufacturing industry

    Diagnosing performance management and performance budgeting systems: A case study of the U.S. Navy

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    We present here a case study of an organization within the U.S. Navy that created a new organizational construct and performance management system. We explore the issues faced by naval leaders as they attempt to use their performance information to make resource allocation decisions at the sub-organization level, and base budgets at the organization and service (navy) level. We attempt to diagnose many of the practical problems a government organization encounters when implementing a performance management system, to include trying to inform budgets, and make recommendations on actions that would improve the strength of the performance system. We find in the organization a good conceptual framework, organizational enthusiasm, and reasonable attempts to link disparate information systems into a coherent whole. The good intentions are hindered, however, by inadequate accounting systems, a lack of understanding of cost accounting methods, weak use of terminology and longstanding institutional attitudes. This case confirms challenges associated with both performance management systems and performance budgeting found in the literature, and we offer recommendations for public officials considering such endeavors

    How predictable is technological progress?

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    Recently it has become clear that many technologies follow a generalized version of Moore's law, i.e. costs tend to drop exponentially, at different rates that depend on the technology. Here we formulate Moore's law as a correlated geometric random walk with drift, and apply it to historical data on 53 technologies. We derive a closed form expression approximating the distribution of forecast errors as a function of time. Based on hind-casting experiments we show that this works well, making it possible to collapse the forecast errors for many different technologies at different time horizons onto the same universal distribution. This is valuable because it allows us to make forecasts for any given technology with a clear understanding of the quality of the forecasts. As a practical demonstration we make distributional forecasts at different time horizons for solar photovoltaic modules, and show how our method can be used to estimate the probability that a given technology will outperform another technology at a given point in the future
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