Detrended Fluctuation analysis of Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias pitches

Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA), suitable for the analysis of nonstationary time series, is used to investigate power law in some of the Bach's pitches series. Using DFA method, which also is a well-established method for the detection of long-range correlations, frequency series of Bach's pitches have been analyzed. In this view we find same Hurts exponents in the range (0.7-0.8) in his Inventions and sinfonia.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Uncertainty in the Fluctuations of the Price of Stocks

We report on a study of the Tehran Price Index (TEPIX) from 2001 to 2006 as an emerging market that has been affected by several political crises during the recent years, and analyze the non-Gaussian probability density function (PDF) of the log returns of the stocks' prices. We show that while the average of the index did not fall very much over the time period of the study, its day-to-day fluctuations strongly increased due to the crises. Using an approach based on multiplicative processes with a detrending procedure, we study the scale-dependence of the non-Gaussian PDFs, and show that the temporal dependence of their tails indicates a gradual and systematic increase in the probability of the appearance of large increments in the returns on approaching distinct critical time scales over which the TEPIX has exhibited maximum uncertainty.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Accepted to appear in IJMP

Non-western contexts: the invisible half

Like many other disciplines within the broad area of social sciences (e.g., anthropology, gender studies, psychology, sociology, etc.), consumer research is also highly navigated by scholars from Western countries. This, however, does not mean, by any means, that consumer research is devoted to studying Western contexts only. As evident from the ever-increasing number of regional conferences (e.g., Asia-Pacific and Latin American conferences of the Association for Consumer Research) and non-Western students' enrolment in doctoral programs at Western universities, there are many more researchers (from non-Western countries) who are entering the field and enriching it by their colourful contributions. Yet, given the low number of publications on consumer research in non-Western contexts, it seems that our current knowledge in these societies has a long way to go to flourish. More specifically, and in the domain of consumption culture research, this gap is even further widened by the fact that the culture of consumption in such contexts is largely interpreted with reference to the 'grand narratives' of Western scholars (e.g., Foucault, Mafessoli, Bourdieu, Deleuze, Baudrillard, Nietzsche, Durkheim, Derrida, etc.). Therefore, from an ontological perspective, it seems that our existing knowledge about non-Western societies lies heavily on the 'theoretical structures' that are 'constructed' by Western philosophy as a set of ideas, beliefs, and practices (Said, 1978). As Belk (1995) reminds us, consumption culture always existed in all human societies. What makes contemporary societies different from that of our predecessors' is not the fact that consumption culture did not exist in those societies, but that consumption culture has become a prevailing feature in modern society (Slater, 1997; Lury, 1996; Fırat and Venkatesh, 1995; McCracken, 1988). Therefore, the nature and dynamics of consumption culture in each society should be studied not only against the sociocultural, historical, and economic background of a given context (Western or non-Western) but also with reference to the philosophical and epistemological viewpoints that analyse and interpret cultural practices of that society from within that culture. Addressing such issues, this paper discusses some of the key reasons for lack of theory development in the field from non-western contexts. The paper invites scholars in non-Western contexts to introduce the less articulated, and sometime hidden, body of knowledge from their own contexts into the field of marketing in general and consumer research in particular

Rights appropriated to a scheme: trusts, partnerships and deceased estates compared

This thesis focusses on English standard fixed trusts, English partnerships and English deceased estates. It examines some similarities and differences. These three institutions share at least two important features. The first is that they all involve rights being appropriated, in the totality of the jural relations to which those rights give rise, to a scheme. The second is that the scheme defines the rights of the beneficiaries in all three cases as subject to the priority claims of the scheme’s managers and the scheme’s creditors. If those claims exceed the assets of the fund, both during the scheme’s existence and at its end, then the beneficiaries will be left with nothing. In this sense, the rights of trust beneficiaries, partners and legatees are residual. They are residual because the scheme beneficiaries’ interests are vindicated after those of the scheme’s manager and the scheme’s creditors. At its core, the interest held by the scheme beneficiaries in these three cases is the same: a right to due administration of the scheme. That right exists because the scheme’s beneficiaries have a practical interest in seeking the scheme’s enforcement. Although the core interest held by trust beneficiaries, partners and legatees is the same, there are important conceptual differences in the nature of these three institutions, which may justify their separate treatment in certain contexts. With partnerships, the doctrine of ostensible authority provides an important difference with the standard fixed trust, whereas the fact that a legatee’s interest is subject to the priority claims of both the deceased’s general creditors and the executor’s scheme creditors offers a valid criterion of distinction with the interest of a standard trust beneficiary

The potential link between corporate innovations and corporate competitiveness:Evidence from IT firms in the UK

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough empirical investigation of the potential link between corporate innovations and corporate competitiveness in the context of the UK IT industry. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses a panel of 216 UK IT firms for the period from 2000 to 2016. The sample data for this study were extracted from the Worldscope, extracted from the Datastream database from Thomson Reuters. For the analysis of the data, the generalised method of moments model is applied. Findings: The results of this study provide empirical evidence that there exists a strong, positive link between corporate innovations and corporate competitiveness. Such evidence further reinforces the common view in the current literature of strategic management that because of the nature of their business, firms in the IT industry need to enhance their innovative capacities on a continual basis because of their critical role on these firms’ success and survival. Also, it is found that when the proxies for corporate innovations are lagged by two periods, their impact on corporate competitiveness becomes relatively more significant. However, when they are further lagged, i.e. by three periods, such an impact turns out to be relatively less pronounced. Research limitations/implications: The data gathered for this paper was restricted to IT-oriented firms in the UK. Using a secondary database (Datastream), the paper considered the period of 2000-2016. Originality/value: The research makes a significant contribution to the current debate on the relationship between information technology, innovation and performance, referred to in the literature as the productivity paradox, by studying the problem in the IT industry. It supports organisations from the sector in their efforts to deal with the dynamic nature of technological innovations and of the context where they operate. Methodologically, the way the study has measured the concepts of innovation and performance and the lessons learned from their analysis has also brought value to the research