4,105 research outputs found
Nuclear technology and the space exploration missions
The strategy for a major exploration initiative leading to permanent human presence beyond earth orbit is still being developed; however enough is known to begin defining the role of nuclear technologies. Three broad areas are discussed: low power (less than 10 kWe) rover/vehicle power systems; integrated, evolutionary base power systems (25 to 100 kW) and nuclear energy for electric propulsion (2 to 100 MWe); and direct thermal propulsion (1000s MW). A phased, evolutionary approach is described for both the moon and Mars, and the benefits of nuclear technologies relative to solar and their integration are described
Innovation Initiatives in Large Software Companies: A Systematic Mapping Study
To keep the competitive advantage and adapt to changes in the market and
technology, companies need to innovate in an organised, purposeful and
systematic manner. However, due to their size and complexity, large companies
tend to focus on maintaining their business, which can potentially lower their
agility to innovate. This study aims to provide an overview of the current
research on innovation initiatives and to identify the challenges of
implementing the initiatives in the context of large software companies. The
investigation was performed using a systematic mapping approach of published
literature on corporate innovation and entrepreneurship. Then it was
complemented with interviews with four experts with rich industry experience.
Our study results suggest that, there is a lack of high quality empirical
studies on innovation initiative in the context of large software companies. A
total of 7 studies are conducted in such context, which reported 5 types of
initiatives: intrapreneurship, bootlegging, internal venture, spin-off and
crowdsourcing. Our study offers three contributions. First, this paper
represents the map of existing literature on innovation initiatives inside
large companies. The second contribution is to provide an innovation initiative
tree. The third contribution is to identify key challenges faced by each
initiative in large software companies. At the strategic and tactical levels,
there is no difference between large software companies and other companies. At
the operational level, large software companies are highly influenced by the
advancement of Internet technology. Large software companies use open
innovation paradigm as part of their innovation initiatives. We envision a
future work is to further empirically evaluate the innovation initiative tree
in large software companies, which involves more practitioners from different
companies
Preferential Property Tax Treatment of Farmland and Open Space Under Michigan Law
This note will attempt to explain the new Michigan statute and evaluate the effectiveness of this type of legislation as a means of preserving open space and farmland from conversion to more intensive use
On the sum-of-squares degree of symmetric quadratic functions
We study how well functions over the boolean hypercube of the form
can be approximated by sums of squares of low-degree
polynomials, obtaining good bounds for the case of approximation in
-norm as well as in -norm. We describe three
complexity-theoretic applications: (1) a proof that the recent breakthrough
lower bound of Lee, Raghavendra, and Steurer on the positive semidefinite
extension complexity of the correlation and TSP polytopes cannot be improved
further by showing better sum-of-squares degree lower bounds on
-approximation of ; (2) a proof that Grigoriev's lower bound on
the degree of Positivstellensatz refutations for the knapsack problem is
optimal, answering an open question from his work; (3) bounds on the query
complexity of quantum algorithms whose expected output approximates such
functions.Comment: 33 pages. Second version fixes some typos and adds reference
Macroeconomic Switching Regimes and Monetary Policy in Canada
This study examines the behaviour of monetary policy in Canada over the last 40 years using a Markov-switching VAR model of the macroeconomy. The Markov-switching estimates capture three continuous regimes that are interpreted as the ‘surprise’ regime from 1972Q1 to 1982Q2, the ‘recovery’ regime from 1982Q3 to 1991Q3 and the ‘target’ regime from 1991Q4 to 2014Q4. Monetary policy multipliers for the output gap are greater than one for all three regimes, suggesting that the central bank does not accommodate any expected changes in inflation over the long-run due to the domestic relationship between the output gap and future inflation. The long-run multipliers for inflation are equal to one in the surprise and recovery regimes, indicating that monetary policy also responds to offset inflation shocks. Overall, the policy multipliers and impulse response functions indicate a proactive central bank that responds systematically to movements in the output gap in order to control expected future inflation and to inflation surprises in the three regimes. The regime-dependent behaviour of monetary policy indicates a central bank pursuing an implicit form of inflation targeting as a means of achieving a nominal anchor for policy. The implicit inflation tarÂgets are consistent with historical episodes of inflation in Canada over the past 40 years
Help for the Emotional Religious Doubter: Divine Revelation as an Epistemic Axiom and Its Significance Upon the Implementation of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
This study addresses the concept of religious doubt concerning those who embrace the Christian tradition, i.e., those who embrace the words and works of Christ, specifically the reality of the Resurrection, as true and efficacious for both salvation and spiritual formation. The existential crisis of doubting these truths is a consistent and significant issue addressed in both religious and secular circles driven by the desire to help the individual overcome the emotional distress associated with this phenomenon. This study is designating doubt that creates an existential crisis as emotional religious doubt (ERD), i.e., it is a species/variety of doubt that requires a specific approach for better treatment/counseling. Few studies, however, have addressed the species/varieties doubt concept and the significance of these designations to help both the counsellor and individual better navigate the anxiety produced by ERD. This study examines the literature surrounding religious doubt, the use of cognitive therapy (particularly REBT methodology), the importance of divine revelation as an epistemic axiom for the emotional religious doubter, and brings into question ability of REBT to produce long-term effects in the life of a believer. In doing so, it has argued that the best methodology for dealing with ERD requires the proper understanding and implementation of divine revelation as an epistemic axiom within the cognitive therapy approach of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT)
The 1% Solution: American Judges Must Enter the Internet Age
The internet has made it easier and affordable to share information than ever before. Many legal institutions have taken advantage of this innovation by using the internet to disseminate decisions and other legal texts or for rulemaking. Most legal institutions, however, only use the internet for approximately 1% of adjudication
- …