Diversification Preferences in the Theory of Choice

Diversification represents the idea of choosing variety over uniformity. Within the theory of choice, desirability of diversification is axiomatized as preference for a convex combination of choices that are equivalently ranked. This corresponds to the notion of risk aversion when one assumes the von-Neumann-Morgenstern expected utility model, but the equivalence fails to hold in other models. This paper studies axiomatizations of the concept of diversification and their relationship to the related notions of risk aversion and convex preferences within different choice theoretic models. Implications of these notions on portfolio choice are discussed. We cover model-independent diversification preferences, preferences within models of choice under risk, including expected utility theory and the more general rank-dependent expected utility theory, as well as models of choice under uncertainty axiomatized via Choquet expected utility theory. Remarks on interpretations of diversification preferences within models of behavioral choice are given in the conclusion

Shape memory effect of NiTi alloy processed by equal-channel angular pressing followed by post deformation annealing

Processing by Equal-Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) is generally considered superior to most other SPD techniques because it uses relatively large bulk samples. However, due to their low deformability it has proven almost impossible to successfully process NiTi alloys by ECAP at room temperature and therefore the processing is conducted at elevated temperatures. Recently, a new billet design was introduced and it was used to achieve the successful processing of NiTi shape memory alloys by ECAP. In this procedure, a NiTi alloy was inserted as a core within an Fe sheath to give a core-sheath billet. In this research, a NiTi was processed by one pass ECAP with this new billet design at room temperature. The structural evolution during annealing was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and microhardness measurements. Post deformation annealing (PDA) was carried out at 400°C for 5 to 300 min and the results indicate that the shape memory effect improves by PDA after ECA

ABC Diffusion in the Age of Digital Economy: the UK Experience

Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a call for further research to trace the effects of the speedy changes in business environment on management accounting practices. This study assesses the impact of different information technologies on ABC adoption and implementation. It uses a cross-sectional survey of financial directors and controllers in the UK firms. Postal and electronic questionnaires have been used in order to collect the empirical data. The findings revealed that the rate of ABC adoption has shown a number of changes between 1999 and 2005. The proportions of ABC users and those currently assessing it have dramatically fallen. The percentage of firms rejecting ABC has slightly fallen as well. However, there has been a considerable increase in the number of firms that abandoned ABC implementation and those firms that gave no consideration for its implementation. These results indicate a decrease in the popularity of ABC. ERP systems seem to have a slightly low significant impact on the initial decision of ABC adoption in those firms that do not have any consideration for ABC and firms that have an ERP system before ABC adoption. Furthermore, the results indicate that firms use different information technologies in the ABC assessment and implementation. For ABC assessment, general software applications are the most preferable software packages while a mix of different ABC software packages is the most popular in the case of ABC implementation. Finally, the findings of this study provide an indication on the nature of the possible effect of general IT-related problems on ABC implementation

A low-delay 8 Kb/s backward-adaptive CELP coder

Code excited linear prediction coding is an efficient technique for compressing speech sequences. Communications quality of speech can be obtained at bit rates below 8 Kb/s. However, relatively large coding delays are necessary to buffer the input speech in order to perform the LPC analysis. A low delay 8 Kb/s CELP coder is introduced in which the short term predictor is based on past synthesized speech. A new distortion measure that improves the tracking of the formant filter is discussed. Formal listening tests showed that the performance of the backward adaptive coder is almost as good as the conventional CELP coder

Učinak mehaničke uzbude na preko-oporavak unutarnjeg trenja legura Al-16 Wt% Ag i Al-16 Wt% Ag-0.28 Wt% Fe

The phenomenon of internal friction (IF) of Al-16 wt% Ag and Al-16 wt% Ag-0.28 wt% Fe alloys aged at 428 and 523 K was studied at different testing temperatures using the free-decay method. The wire specimens were investigated for IF recovery under two different conditions of excitation. In the first, the specimens were continuously excited and in the other, they were subjected to normal condition of restrictive excitation. Under certain conditions of heat treatment and mode of excitation, an anomalous behaviour of IF recovery has been observed. TEM investigations confirmed that addition of Fe to Al-Ag alloy accelerates the precipitation of metastable phases. The mean values of the excitation energy of both alloys were found to be equal to that quoted for precipitate-dislocation interactions.Proučavali smo pojavu unutarnjeg trenja (UT) u slitinama Al-16 wt% Ag i Al-16 wt% Ag-0.28 wt% Fe starenim na 428 i 523 K, metodom slobodnih oscilacija na nizu mjernih temperatura. UT uzoraka žice ispitivali smo dvama načinima uzbude. U prvom s neprekidnom uzbudom, a u drugom smo uzorke podvrgavali normalnim uvjetima ograničene uzbude. U nekim uvjetima toplinske obrade i načina uzbude, opazili smo anomalan oporavak UT. Ispitivanja pomoću TEM potvrdila su da dodavanje Fe slitini Al-Ag ubrzava precipitaciju metastabilnih faza. Našli smo da je srednja energija uzbudne energije obje slitine jednaka onoj koja se navodi za interakcije dislokacija s precipitatima

Učinak mehaničke uzbude na preko-oporavak unutarnjeg trenja legura Al-16 Wt% Ag i Al-16 Wt% Ag-0.28 Wt% Fe

The phenomenon of internal friction (IF) of Al-16 wt% Ag and Al-16 wt% Ag-0.28 wt% Fe alloys aged at 428 and 523 K was studied at different testing temperatures using the free-decay method. The wire specimens were investigated for IF recovery under two different conditions of excitation. In the first, the specimens were continuously excited and in the other, they were subjected to normal condition of restrictive excitation. Under certain conditions of heat treatment and mode of excitation, an anomalous behaviour of IF recovery has been observed. TEM investigations confirmed that addition of Fe to Al-Ag alloy accelerates the precipitation of metastable phases. The mean values of the excitation energy of both alloys were found to be equal to that quoted for precipitate-dislocation interactions.Proučavali smo pojavu unutarnjeg trenja (UT) u slitinama Al-16 wt% Ag i Al-16 wt% Ag-0.28 wt% Fe starenim na 428 i 523 K, metodom slobodnih oscilacija na nizu mjernih temperatura. UT uzoraka žice ispitivali smo dvama načinima uzbude. U prvom s neprekidnom uzbudom, a u drugom smo uzorke podvrgavali normalnim uvjetima ograničene uzbude. U nekim uvjetima toplinske obrade i načina uzbude, opazili smo anomalan oporavak UT. Ispitivanja pomoću TEM potvrdila su da dodavanje Fe slitini Al-Ag ubrzava precipitaciju metastabilnih faza. Našli smo da je srednja energija uzbudne energije obje slitine jednaka onoj koja se navodi za interakcije dislokacija s precipitatima

The Effect of Judgmental/Subjective Measures on Implementing Balanced Scorecard in Bahrain Firms

Very little attention has been paid to study the judgmental effects of the balanced scorecard (BSC) in the developing countries, particularly in the Gulf area. This paper analyzes survey data from forty Bahrain firms in order to examine the extent to which these firms use of judgmental/subjective measures in evaluating their performance. The findings reject the null hypothesis and report statistically significant differences between Bahrain firms in using judgmental, /subjective measures in their balanced scorecards. However, data are analyzed by Paired t tests and ANOVA; significant differences are found between both types of firms with and without subjective measures in the use of BSC, particularly in cost measures and internal process measures.  Furthermore, the study reports various types of measures have different impacts on the performance evaluation in these firms. Keywords: balanced scorecard, performance measurement, subjective measures