Gaining a Competitive Edge through Action Design Research

Science.gov (United States)

Alexa, L.; Alexa, M.; Avasilcăi, S.

2016-08-01

The current business environment is characterized by increased competition and highly innovative approach, in order to create products and services to better respond to the costumers’ needs and expectations. In this specific context, the research approaches need to be more flexible and business oriented and so, throughout the paper we have used a research method that combines design research and action research, named Action Design Research which is a research method used for generating prescriptive design knowledge through building and evaluating IT artifacts in an organizational setting [1]. Following the Action Design Research stages and principles: problem identification, building, intervention and evaluation, reflection and learning and formalization of learning, the research team has developed an online instrument used to actively involve the consumer in the product development process, in order to generate a better consumers insight regarding their needs and desires and to design and/or adjust the product accordingly. The customer engagement IT tool created and tested by using Action Design Research, E-PICUS, has been developed within the framework of the research project „E-solutions for innovation through customer pro-active involvement in value creation to increase organisational competitiveness (E-PICUS)”, PN- II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-1811, currently undergoing.

A research model of health-care competition and customer satisfaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Asoh, Derek A; Rivers, Patrick A

2007-11-01

In all industries, competition among businesses has long been encouraged as a mechanism to increase value for customers. In other words, competition ensures the provision of better products and services to satisfy the needs of customers. Various perspectives of competition, the nature of service quality, health-care system costs and customer satisfaction in health care are examined. A model of the relationship among these variables is developed. The model depicts customer satisfaction as an outcome measure directly dependent on competition. Quality of care and health-care system costs, while also directly dependent on competition, are considered as determinants of customer satisfaction as well. The model is discussed in the light of propositions for empirical research.

World competitiveness and agriculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. van Zyl

1997-07-01

Full Text Available Against the background of a changing environment in which market factors and greater world trade and competitiveness are increasingly becoming the only criteria for success, a framework for the analysis of world competitiveness is initially developed. This is followed by a discussion on the growth of productivity in agriculture, as well as an exposition of the role of agricultural research. Thirdly, price factors and the terms of trade are discussed, followed by a summary of policy implications.

CASE STUDY: Uzbekistan — Competition research improves services

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2010-12-22

Dec 22, 2010 ... Small Grants Competition for Distribution Sector Research ... restrictive business practices in international money transfer services and find ways to .... through its own methodology on analyzing the financial services market [.

The legacy of the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI).

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Robert E

2016-06-01

Under the Global Forum for Health Research, the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) began its operations in 1999 and became a Swiss foundation in 2006. The vision of CHNRI was to improve child health and nutrition of all children in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) through research that informs health policy and practice. Specific objectives included expanding global knowledge on childhood disease burden and cost-effectiveness of interventions, promoting priority setting in research, ensuring inclusion of institutions and scientists in LMIC in setting priorities, promoting capacity development in LMIC and stimulating donors and countries to increase resources for research. CHNRI created a knowledge network, funded research through multiple rounds of a global competitive process and published research papers and policy briefs. A signature effort was to develop a systematic methodology for prioritizing health and nutrition research investments. The "CHNRI method" has been extensively applied to global health problems and is now the most commonly used method for prioritizing health research questions.

Resource competition in plant invasions: emerging patterns and research needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Gioria, Margherita; Osborne, Bruce A

2014-01-01

Invasions by alien plants provide a unique opportunity to examine competitive interactions among plants. While resource competition has long been regarded as a major mechanism responsible for successful invasions, given a well-known capacity for many invaders to become dominant and reduce plant diversity in the invaded communities, few studies have measured resource competition directly or have assessed its importance relative to that of other mechanisms, at different stages of an invasion process. Here, we review evidence comparing the competitive ability of invasive species vs. that of co-occurring native plants, along a range of environmental gradients, showing that many invasive species have a superior competitive ability over native species, although invasive congeners are not necessarily competitively superior over native congeners, nor are alien dominants are better competitors than native dominants. We discuss how the outcomes of competition depend on a number of factors, such as the heterogeneous distribution of resources, the stage of the invasion process, as well as phenotypic plasticity and evolutionary adaptation, which may result in increased or decreased competitive ability in both invasive and native species. Competitive advantages of invasive species over natives are often transient and only important at the early stages of an invasion process. It remains unclear how important resource competition is relative to other mechanisms (competition avoidance via phenological differences, niche differentiation in space associated with phylogenetic distance, recruitment and dispersal limitation, indirect competition, and allelopathy). Finally, we identify the conceptual and methodological issues characterizing competition studies in plant invasions, and we discuss future research needs, including examination of resource competition dynamics and the impact of global environmental change on competitive interactions between invasive and native species.

Resource competition in plant invasions: emerging patterns and research needs

Science.gov (United States)

Gioria, Margherita; Osborne, Bruce A.

2014-01-01

Invasions by alien plants provide a unique opportunity to examine competitive interactions among plants. While resource competition has long been regarded as a major mechanism responsible for successful invasions, given a well-known capacity for many invaders to become dominant and reduce plant diversity in the invaded communities, few studies have measured resource competition directly or have assessed its importance relative to that of other mechanisms, at different stages of an invasion process. Here, we review evidence comparing the competitive ability of invasive species vs. that of co-occurring native plants, along a range of environmental gradients, showing that many invasive species have a superior competitive ability over native species, although invasive congeners are not necessarily competitively superior over native congeners, nor are alien dominants are better competitors than native dominants. We discuss how the outcomes of competition depend on a number of factors, such as the heterogeneous distribution of resources, the stage of the invasion process, as well as phenotypic plasticity and evolutionary adaptation, which may result in increased or decreased competitive ability in both invasive and native species. Competitive advantages of invasive species over natives are often transient and only important at the early stages of an invasion process. It remains unclear how important resource competition is relative to other mechanisms (competition avoidance via phenological differences, niche differentiation in space associated with phylogenetic distance, recruitment and dispersal limitation, indirect competition, and allelopathy). Finally, we identify the conceptual and methodological issues characterizing competition studies in plant invasions, and we discuss future research needs, including examination of resource competition dynamics and the impact of global environmental change on competitive interactions between invasive and native species. PMID

Outline of research proposals selected in the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iwamura, Takamichi; Okubo, Tsutomu; Usui, Shuji

1999-08-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) created a new R and D program called Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI)' in FY 1999 with the appropriation of $19 million. The major objectives of the NERI program is to preserve the nuclear science and engineering infrastructure in the U.S. and to maintain a competitive position in the global nuclear market in the 21st century. In may, 1999, the DOE selected 45 research proposals for the first year of the NERI program. The proposals are classified into the following five R and D areas: Proliferation Resistant Reactors and/or Fuel Cycles, New Reactor Designs, Advanced Nuclear Fuel, New Technology for Management of Nuclear Waste, Fundamental Nuclear Science. Since the NERI is a very epoch-making and strategic nuclear research program sponsored by the U.S. government, the trend of the NERI is considered to affect the future R and D programs in Japanese nuclear industries and research institutes including JAERI. The present report summarizes the analyzed results of the selected 45 research proposals. Staffs comments are made on each proposal in connection with the R and D activities in JAERI. (author)

Environmental Economics Research Competition for the Middle East ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

, to extend its work in environmental economics by supporting a series of small research projects in the Middle East and North Africa. Project proposals will be solicited through two competitions: one with and one without a specific theme.

Reflections between CSR and international human rights in EU initiatives for a competitive inclusive society

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buhmann, Karin

: The paper aims to contribute to our understanding of whether a shift is taking place in societal attitudes towards a perception that corporations have duties based on international law. This is assessed on the basis of EU initiatives on inclusiveness and responsible competitiveness, particularly...... the EU Multistakeholder Forum and the Lisbon Strategy, with a particular focus on goals or views related to the human rights of non-discrimination and rights to work, education and vocational training, and network governance in (soft) law creation. It is found that despite obvious links, international...... law does not serve as a clear source of inclusiveness or responsible competitiveness. It is also found that the initiatives assessed do not indicate a shift at EU institutional level towards a perception that business holds duties under international law. International law seems at the most to be seen...

Research Programs & Initiatives

Science.gov (United States)

CGH develops international initiatives and collaborates with other NCI divisions, NCI-designated Cancer Centers, and other countries to support cancer control planning, encourage capacity building, and support cancer research and research networks.

[Research on ginseng trade competitiveness between China and Korea].

Science.gov (United States)

Xin, Min-Tong; Yang, Guang; Tang, Xiao-Jing

2017-05-01

Ginseng is one of China's valuable Chinese herbal medicines, with a long using history. Ginseng has worldwide reputation, and widely used in food, medicine, health products, cosmetics and other production. China and South Korea have a big ginseng industrial, and sharing half of the export market. The ginseng export competitiveness analysis seems important and necessary between China and South Korea. In this paper, the data of customs and trade of ginseng in COMTRADE database were studied, and ginseng export competitiveness was analyzed between China and Korea. The results showed that the ginseng export competitiveness of Korean more competitive than China. Contrast with China, South Korea using only 15% total amount of ginseng exports and produced the same total export amount. This article has the reference value to the traditional Chinese medicine resources management and the economics research. On this basis, this paper further discusses the problems that should be paid attention to in the development of ginseng industry in China. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Research of Competitive Orientation Among Secondary School Seniour Students: Current Trends and Prospects for Nurturing (Case Study of Tyumen Region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gennady F. Shafranov-Kutsev

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: the priorities of socio-economic development facing our country set new requirements to secondary education; a graduate should not only have a certain amount of knowledge, but also be able to build an effective communication strategy, to be prepared for constant professional self-development, to take the initiative, to interact under conditions of rivalry, in other words, to be competitive. Addressing these issues will contribute to the creation of conditions in which objective requirements of the social system would have found understanding among secondary school students, therefore it is necessary to form competitive thinking. The aim of the study was to consider the factors enabling secondary school students to accept knowledge, values and skills of a competitive person needed for further su stainable development. Materials and Methods: a questionnaire survey of high school students was selected for its reliability and validity in studying competitive skills. The design of the questionnaire was developed by the team of the Sociological Laboratory of the Chair of General and Economic Sociology at Tyumen State University. IBM SPSS Statistics 23 software product was used to process and ana lyse the obtained data. Results: the research provides important insights into the dynamics of the social well-being of secondary school students, defines the main determinants of the formation of skills in competitive environment. The results of this study highlight obstacles to this process as well. Discussion and Conclusions: this paper argues that self-dependent decision-making, critical perception of information, willingness to compete enable to form a competitive personality. The findings from this study have significant potential implications for future educational practice. These research materials are relevant for improving the methods and skills of teaching activities and for development of youth policy. Possible areas for further

The Trade Practices Act, Competitive Neutrality and Research Costing: Issues for Australian Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Bezzobs, Tania

2009-01-01

Increasingly universities are becoming commercial enterprises and their core activities of teaching and research subject to business imperatives. This paper reviews the research costing methodologies of 17 Australian universities. Tension between Competition Law and Competitive Neutrality exists which could be resolved through improved costing and…

The legacy of the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert E Black

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Under the Global Forum for Health Research, the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI began its operations in 1999 and became a Swiss foundation in 2006. The vision of CHNRI was to improve child health and nutrition of all children in low– and middle–income countries (LMIC through research that informs health policy and practice. Specific objectives included expanding global knowledge on childhood disease burden and cost-effectiveness of interventions, promoting priority setting in research, ensuring inclusion of institutions and scientists in LMIC in setting priorities, promoting capacity development in LMIC and stimulating donors and countries to increase resources for research. CHNRI created a knowledge network, funded research through multiple rounds of a global competitive process and published research papers and policy briefs. A signature effort was to develop a systematic methodology for prioritizing health and nutrition research investments. The “CHNRI method” has been extensively applied to global health problems and is now the most commonly used method for prioritizing health research questions.

Pay attention to the enterprise competitive intelligence analysis research promotion enterprise scientific research production and product development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Yan

2014-01-01

This article covers the competitive intelligence content and five characteristics, and on the American Competitive intelligence Outstanding Company's place situation, shows fully the competitive intelligence constructs the core competitive power regarding the enterprise to have the significant function, Its contribution has already hold the pivotal status in the world famous enterprise. It is an important cornerstone for enterprises which construct the core competitive power. Along with the enterprise competition environment rapid change, the competitive intelligence importance suddenly to reveal day by day. Just like the world richest family Microsoft Corporation president Bill. Gates asserted that, How to collect, How to analysis, how to manage and how to use information, lt will decide the enterprise victory and loss. And unified the enterprise scientific research production the special details, take 'To develop the SF_6 New Product' to introduce as the example how did the enterprise competition intelligence, as well as how did the information development and using in it. (author)

Health care competition, strategic mission, and patient satisfaction: research model and propositions.

Science.gov (United States)

Rivers, Patrick A; Glover, Saundra H

2008-01-01

In all industries, competition among businesses has long been encouraged as a mechanism to increase value for patients. In other words, competition ensures the provision of better products and services to satisfy the needs of customers This paper aims to develop a model that can be used to empirically investigate a number of complex issues and relationships associated with competition in the health care industry. A literature review was conducted. A total of 50 items of literature related to the subject were reviewed. Various perspectives of competition, the nature of service quality, health system costs, and patient satisfaction in health care are examined. A model of the relationship among these variables is developed. The model depicts patient satisfaction as an outcome measure directly dependent on competition. Quality of care and health care systems costs, while also directly dependent on the strategic mission and goals, are considered as determinants of customer satisfaction as well. The model is discussed in the light of propositions for empirical research. Empirical studies based on the model proposed in this paper should help identify areas with significant impact on patient satisfaction while maintaining high quality of service at lower costs in a competitive environment. The authors develop a research model which included propositions to examine the complex issues of competition in the health care industry.

Demolishing the competition: the longitudinal link between competitive video games, competitive gambling, and aggression.

Science.gov (United States)

Adachi, Paul J C; Willoughby, Teena

2013-07-01

The majority of research on the link between video games and aggression has focused on the violent content in games. In contrast, recent experimental research suggests that it is video game competition, not violence, that has the greatest effect on aggression in the short-term. However, no researchers have examined the long-term relationship between video game competition and aggression. In addition, if competition in video games is a significant reason for the link between video game play and aggression, then other competitive activities, such as competitive gambling, also may predict aggression over time. In the current study, we directly assessed the socialization (competitive video game play and competitive gambling predicts aggression over time) versus selection hypotheses (aggression predicts competitive video game play and competitive gambling over time). Adolescents (N = 1,492, 50.8 % female) were surveyed annually from Grade 9 to Grade 12 about their video game play, gambling, and aggressive behaviors. Greater competitive video game play and competitive gambling predicted higher levels of aggression over time, after controlling for previous levels of aggression, supporting the socialization hypothesis. The selection hypothesis also was supported, as aggression predicted greater competitive video game play and competitive gambling over time, after controlling for previous competitive video game play and competitive gambling. Our findings, taken together with the fact that millions of adolescents play competitive video games every day and that competitive gambling may increase as adolescents transition into adulthood, highlight the need for a greater understanding of the relationship between competition and aggression.

Using action research for complex research initiatives

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Greeff, M

2009-12-01

Full Text Available the research process of such a complex research initiative. Action research is one research method that lends itself to these complex projects. The paper uses the Ability Based Technology Interventions (AbTi) research project as a case study to analyse...

The mechanism of building competitiveness through strategic partnering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adamik Anna

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The paper assumes that strategic partnering, as one of the more mature forms of inter-organisational cooperation, is also an effective method of support for strategic activities of enterprises. In the light of the above, the use of strategic partnering in processes aimed at enhancing their competitiveness was proposed. The aim of the analyses is to identify and systematise the key actions in the mechanism of building competitiveness through strategic partnering of enterprises. For its implementation, a review of literature in the field of theory of organisation, theory of cooperation and partnering as well as theory of competitiveness was carried out. Empirical research to verify the initial theoretical assumptions was also conducted. Quantitative research (surveys and qualitative research (extended case studies was carried out. The study was based on the research procedure modelled on forecasting methods of searching for solutions to organisational problems, i.e. on creative (lateral thinking. As a result, the algorithm of building competitiveness through mature strategic partnering was formulated and recommendations were made as to the possibility of its practical use.

COMPETITIVENESS AND COMPETITIVE ORIENTATIONS: EVALUATION OF STUDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Z. Efimova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Education of a competitive student is a strategically significant problem of the system of higher education in modern social and economic conditions. Personal competitiveness and competitive orientations – priority quality of future expert for successful future professional experience.The aim of the present research is to study factors of competitive orientations formation and criteria for evaluation of competitiveness of student’s youth in the Russian society.Methodology and research methods. Results of theoretical researches of Russian and foreign researchers are generalized; secondary analysis of data based on results of sociological researches and analysis of official statistical data are carried out. The results of the sociological survey undertaken in 2017 on the basis of statistical methods were processed and studied by the instrumentality of IBM SPSS Statistics 23 program; 1196 students of institutions of higher and secondary vocational education of the Tyumen region took part.Results and scientific novelty. It is stated that senior students feel themselves more competitive. It is revealed that a quarter of students who took part in the survey, generally men, count themselves competitive. A continuous distance of goal-setting is recorded among these respondents; in every third case they have plans of professional growth for five and more years that allows them to build attractive competitive strategy.The level of the competitiveness is directly connected with such indicators as “social stratum”, “overall life satisfaction”, “self-esteem of health”, “tendency to lead a healthy lifestyle” and “the level of trust in the surrounding people”. Mostly the students oriented on competition look into the future with confidence and optimism.Respondents focused on the competitiveness were more tend to demonstrate their abilities and cause admiration, have a creative approach towards work, be ready for surprises

Competition of two supply chains with different risk structures: applying market research option

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Hafezolkotob

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Demand uncertainty obliges all participants through a supply chain to make decisions under uncertainty. These decisions extend across price, investment, production, and inventory quantities. We take account of competition between two supply chains under demand uncertainty. These chains internally are involved in vertical pricing competition; however, they externally participate in horizontal pricing and service level competitions by offering a single-type product to the market. Since firms may have various attitudes against demand uncertainty and its related risks, different risk structures for competitive supply chains are considered. We assume that risk-averse firms are able to decrease demand uncertainty by information gathered from market research. For risk-averse participants in a chain, market research investment is an appropriate ground for vertical coordination, which diminishes risk through a supply chain. Optimal strategies based on game theory are obtained for different risk structures; furthermore, for each structure the effects of risk sensitivity as well as market research efficiency on these optimal strategies are investigated. Finally, we propose two scenarios for information sharing between risk-averse participants.

The research of tactics of the competitive activity of the qualified sportswomen in long jumps

OpenAIRE

Grebenyuk, Oleg

2016-01-01

Grebenyuk A. Purpose: to research features of competitive tactics of the qualified sportswomen in long jumps from the running start. Material & Methods: such methods were applied the in researches: analysis of scientific and methodical literature, pedagogical supervision, content analysis (analysis of protocols of competitions). Results of 152 jumpers in length, who executed 886 attempts, are analyzed for the solution of the stated purpose. Results: options of competitive tactics of the q...

Research award: Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2017-09-06

Sep 6, 2017 ... The Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) builds resilience in these hot spots by supporting collaborative research on climate change adaptation to inform adaptation policy and practice. Specifically, CARIAA supports four consortia that research geographic and social ...

How much would each researcher receive if competitive government research funding were distributed equally among researchers?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krist Vaesen

Full Text Available Scientists are increasingly dissatisfied with funding systems that rely on peer assessment and, accordingly, have suggested several proposals for reform. One of these proposals is to distribute available funds equally among all qualified researchers, with no interference from peer review. Despite its numerous benefits, such egalitarian sharing faces the objection, among others, that it would lead to an unacceptable dilution of resources. The aim of the present paper is to assess this particular objection. We estimate (for the Netherlands, the U.S. and the U.K. how much researchers would receive were they to get an equal share of the government budgets that are currently allocated through competitive peer assessment. For the Netherlands, we furthermore estimate what researchers would receive were we to differentiate between researchers working in low-cost, intermediate-cost and high-cost disciplines. Given these estimates, we then determine what researchers could afford in terms of PhD students, Postdocs, travel and equipment. According to our results, researchers could, on average, maintain current PhD student and Postdoc employment levels, and still have at their disposal a moderate (the U.K. to considerable (the Netherlands, U.S. budget for travel and equipment. This suggests that the worry that egalitarian sharing leads to unacceptable dilution of resources is unjustified. Indeed, our results strongly suggest that there is room for far more egalitarian distribution of funds than happens in the highly competitive funding schemes so prevalent today.

Research on Development Mode of Foreign Competitive Basketball

Science.gov (United States)

Xianjiang, Zhou; Bin, Zong; Xianwu, Wu

Adopting literature material method, survey and comparative method, the paper studies foreign competitive basketball, foreign competitive basketball on behalf of the State management system model, competitive basketball reserve personnel training and development mode system. Rely on different powers of the foreign competitive basketball from amateur to professional development; different modes of foreign competitive basketball management system; foreign competitive basketball back-up personnel training mode, the model on school training in America and other countries, mainly the club training mode in European countries; foreign model of development of competitive basketball, different from social guidance, in the combination operation mode of market regulation and government administrative intervention.

Competition in hospital and health insurance markets: a review and research agenda.

Science.gov (United States)

Morrisey, M A

2001-04-01

To review the empirical literature on the effects of selective contracting and hospital competition on hospital prices, travel distance, services, and quality; to review the effects of managed care penetration and competition on health insurance premiums; and to identify areas for further research. Selective contracting has allowed managed care plans to obtain lower prices from hospitals. This finding is generalizable beyond California and is stronger when there is more competition in the hospital market. Travel distances to hospitals of admission have not increased as a result of managed care. Evidence on the diffusion of technology in hospitals and the extent to which hospitals have specialized as a result of managed care is mixed. Little research on the effects on quality has been undertaken, but preliminary evidence suggests that hospital quality has not declined and may have improved. Actual mergers in the hospital market have not affected hospital prices. Much less research has been focused on managed care markets. Greater market penetration and greater competition among managed care plans are associated with lower managed care premiums. Greater HMO penetration appears to be much more effective than PPO penetration in leading to lower premiums. While workers are willing to change plans when faced with higher out-of-pocket premiums, there is little evidence of the willingness of employers to switch plan offerings. Preliminary evidence suggests that greater managed care penetration has led to lower overall employer premiums, but the results differ substantially between employers with and without a self-insured plan. Much more research is needed to examine all aspects of managed care markets. In hospital markets, particular attention should be focused on the effects on quality and technology diffusion.

Experimental program to stimulate competitive energy research in North Dakota: Summary and significance of DOE Trainee research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boudjouk, Philip

1999-07-01

The general goals of the North Dakota DOE/EPSCoR Program are to enhance the capabilities of North Dakota's researchers to conduct nationally competitive energy-related research and to develop science and engineering human resources to meet current and future needs in energy-related areas. Doctoral students were trained and energy research was conducted.

Government`s response to the competitiveness problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gover, J.; Huray, P.; Carayannis, E.

1997-11-01

This paper presents an analysis of how the US government responded to the concern in the 1980`s that US companies were experiencing problems of competitiveness in international markets. By the mid 1980`s there was great and growing concern throughout the US that US companies were experiencing difficulties in international competition. Pressure on Congress to take action came from constituents seeking jobs and companies that would directly benefit (this usually means receive public money) from programs that Congress might initiate. The fact that most constituent calls to Congress were about job creation was lost in the on-rush of R&D performers seeking funds for their favorite R&D project. In response, Congress created the Advanced Technology Program, the Technology Transfer Initiative, and the Technology Reinvestment Project, expanded the responsibilities of ARPA/DARPA, increased funding for the Small Business Initiative, expanded the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, funded SEMATECH, and increased NSF funding for basic research at universities. Many of these programs were later criticized for being industrial welfare and several were cut-back or stopped. Retrospective analysis shows that few of these programs addressed the root cause of competitiveness difficulties. In fact, by the time most of these programs were in place, US companies were well on their way to correcting their competitiveness problems. In addition, few were relevant to companies` often expressed concerns about workforce training, regulatory costs, and access to foreign markets. Twenty percent reductions in health care costs, regulatory costs, and education costs could annually pump $500 billion into the US economy and make companies operating in the US much more competitive in international markets.

Multidisciplinary European Low Dose Initiative (MELODI). Strategic research agenda for low dose radiation risk research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kreuzer, M. [Federal Office for Radiation Protection, BfS, Department of Radiation Protection and Health, Neuherberg (Germany); Auvinen, A. [University of Tampere, Tampere (Finland); STUK, Helsinki (Finland); Cardis, E. [ISGlobal, Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Barcelona (Spain); Durante, M. [Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications, TIFPA, Trento (Italy); Harms-Ringdahl, M. [Stockholm University, Centre for Radiation Protection Research, Stockholm (Sweden); Jourdain, J.R. [Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, IRSN, Fontenay-aux-roses (France); Madas, B.G. [MTA Centre for Energy Research, Environmental Physics Department, Budapest (Hungary); Ottolenghi, A. [University of Pavia, Physics Department, Pavia (Italy); Pazzaglia, S. [Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Rome (Italy); Prise, K.M. [Queens University Belfast, Belfast (United Kingdom); Quintens, R. [Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, SCK-CEN, Mol (Belgium); Sabatier, L. [French Atomic Energy Commission, CEA, Paris (France); Bouffler, S. [Public Health England, PHE, Chilton (United Kingdom)

2018-03-15

MELODI (Multidisciplinary European Low Dose Initiative) is a European radiation protection research platform with focus on research on health risks after exposure to low-dose ionising radiation. It was founded in 2010 and currently includes 44 members from 18 countries. A major activity of MELODI is the continuous development of a long-term European Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) on low-dose risk for radiation protection. The SRA is intended to identify priorities for national and European radiation protection research programs as a basis for the preparation of competitive calls at the European level. Among those key priorities is the improvement of health risk estimates for exposures close to the dose limits for workers and to reference levels for the population in emergency situations. Another activity of MELODI is to ensure the availability of European key infrastructures for research activities, and the long-term maintenance of competences in radiation research via an integrated European approach for training and education. The MELODI SRA identifies three key research topics in low dose or low dose-rate radiation risk research: (1) dose and dose rate dependence of cancer risk, (2) radiation-induced non-cancer effects and (3) individual radiation sensitivity. The research required to improve the evidence base for each of the three key topics relates to three research lines: (1) research to improve understanding of the mechanisms contributing to radiogenic diseases, (2) epidemiological research to improve health risk evaluation of radiation exposure and (3) research to address the effects and risks associated with internal exposures, differing radiation qualities and inhomogeneous exposures. The full SRA and associated documents can be downloaded from the MELODI website (http://www.melodi-online.eu/sra.html). (orig.)

Analysis of the JSF Engine Competition

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-01

development and planned production relative to the F136, the differences were not significant enough to saddle the F136 with a competitive disadvantage ... disadvantage of the F136 at the first competitive lot to be smaller than those calculated for earlier successful competition programs. Once we...SDD contracts by evaluating F135 and F136 schedule projections  Focused on Initial Flight Release ( IFR ) and Initial Service Release (ISR

Debiasing egocentrism and optimism biases in repeated competitions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jason P. Rose

2012-11-01

Full Text Available When judging their likelihood of success in competitive tasks, people tend to be overoptimistic for easy tasks and overpessimistic for hard tasks (the shared circumstance effect; SCE. Previous research has shown that feedback and experience from repeated-play competitions has a limited impact on SCEs. However, in this paper, we suggest that competitive situations, in which the shared difficulty or easiness of the task is more transparent, will be more amenable to debiasing via repeated play. Pairs of participants competed in, made predictions about, and received feedback on, multiple rounds of a throwing task involving both easy- and hard-to-aim objects. Participants initially showed robust SCEs, but they also showed a significant reduction in bias after only one round of feedback. These and other results support a more positive view (than suggested from past research on the potential for SCEs to be debiased through outcome feedback.

RESEARCH OF COMPETITION IN DEPOSIT MARKET OF UKRAINE BASED ON THE PANZAR-ROSSE MODEL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iryna Didenko

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The problem in an adequate assessment of the level of competition in the banking market has prompted researchers to search constantly some new methods. The most famous of them were later successfully adapted to the banking market, are a models of Bresnahan, Panzar-Rosse, Bertrand, Iwat, Monti-Klein-Modesto Barros and others. In Ukraine, the process of assessing the level of competition in the banking sector is very relevant, in line with the recent reforms of particular relevance and distribution. Regarding the domestic deposit market, there is a shortage of qualitative analysis of this issue, unlike foreign practice. Therefore this study we try to solve this problem. The key goal of researchers in this study is in a detailed analysis to identify the important factors which make influence on the allocated markets, in particular on lending and deposit rates. Based on these factors there could be implemented internal adjustment processes taking place in the markets. The purpose of the article is to determine the level of competition in the deposit market of Ukraine in 2006-2015 basing on nonstructural Panzar- Rosse model and identify key factors that affect this level. Methodology. To research the level of competition in the deposit market of Ukraine the Panzar-Rosse model was used, in which separate 11 models were built using the integrated tool “Multiple regression” in the software package of statistics analysis STATISTICA. The input data in the model was presented with the information on financial performance of Ukrainian banks during ten years from 01.01.2005 till 01.01.2015. Results of this research showed that in Ukrainian deposit market there is a monopolistic competition, as proved by the calculated values of H-statistics index. The year of 2008, in the context of the global economic crisis, was marked as an unbalanced period for deposit market of Ukraine. Practical implications. Knowing the current state of competition level in the

Improving powerlifters’ technical preparedness at initial training stage using a device for remote control of competitive exercises technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

А. Власов

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The objective is to improve powerlifters’ technical preparedness at the initial training stage using a device for remote control of the competitive exercises technique. Materials and methods. The study relied on the following methods used: theoretical analysis and collation of data of scientific and methodological literature and internet; pedagogical observation; pedagogical experiment; methods of mathematical statistics. Results. We have designed an algorithmic structure for teaching squats with a barbell on shoulders in powerlifting and a device for remote control of the competitive exercises technique. We used the pedagogical experiment and pedagogical observation of the competitive activity to reveal reliable deviations (p > 0.05 in the number of mistakes made by the athletes of the reference and experimental groups during the competitive activity. The reference group powerlifters made the mistake “no straight angle between the knee and the hip joints when performing the third stage” twelve times, while the experimental group athletes — seven times. Conclusions. The results obtained allow to maintain that the experimental group athletes have more rationally mastered the competitive exercises technique and made fewer mistakes compared to the control group powerlifters. This confirms the effectiveness of the designed algorithmic structure for teaching squats with a barbell on shoulders.

Joint Research and Development under US Antitrust and EU Competition Law

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundqvist, Björn

This fascinating new book dissects, from a Competition law perspective, how Research and Development collaborations operate under both US and EU antitrust law. Analyzing the evolution of this innovation landscape from the 1970s to the present day, Blomqvist details the modifications and amendments...... made over this time to the relevant legal acts and guidelines. In doing to, the author picks up on the slow shift that has taken place in both the antitrust laws of the USA and the Competition Rules of the EU. The book concludes by discussing the necessity for a stringent attitude towards the antitrust...

EDITORIAL: Physics competitions Physics competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Jordens, H.; Mathelitsch, L.

2009-11-01

less are invited to present their research and results as a paper, in the style typically published by scientific journals. The student is allowed to choose a topic within the broad scope of physics, including cross-over fields such as astro- or biophysics. In 2008 over 2000 papers were submitted and 25 awards were given. In line with 'First Step' is the International Conference for Young Scientists (ICYS) [7]. The conference started in 1994 in Viségrad, Hungary. Here too, the participants present the results of their research, not by submitting a research paper but by giving a presentation to an audience of peers and a jury of specialists. The subjects of the presentations are in physics, mathematics, computer science, environmental sciences, engineering or life sciences. The jury awards the presentations according to the level of the content and the presentation. The last three competitions presented here are younger and did not start within Eastern European countries. The International Olympics of Astrophysics and Astronomy (IOAA) was organized for the second time in Bandung, Indonesia in 2008 and 24 countries participated [8]. As the title of the competition indicates, problems are directed towards theoretical and experimental aspects of astronomy. A little bit older is the European Union Science Olympiad (EUSO) [9]. This started in 2001, but the first competition took place in Dublin, Ireland, in 2003. The last competition was organized in March-April 2009 in Murcia, Spain. This competition addresses younger students, aged 17 years or less. It tries to combine biology, chemistry and physics. Although the problems are formulated in an interdisciplinary way, the students remain specialists, one in physics and the others in biology and chemistry. For even younger students, there is the International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) [10]. This competition started in December 2004 on the initiative of Professor Masno Ginting from Indonesia. The last competition took

Interspecific competition in plants: how well do current methods answer fundamental questions?

Science.gov (United States)

Connolly, J; Wayne, P; Bazzaz, F A

2001-02-01

Accurately quantifying and interpreting the processes and outcomes of competition among plants is essential for evaluating theories of plant community organization and evolution. We argue that many current experimental approaches to quantifying competitive interactions introduce size bias, which may significantly impact the quantitative and qualitative conclusions drawn from studies. Size bias generally arises when estimates of competitive ability are erroneously influenced by the initial size of competing individuals. We employ a series of quantitative thought experiments to demonstrate the potential for size bias in analysis of four traditional experimental designs (pairwise, replacement series, additive series, and response surfaces) either when only final measurements are available or when both initial and final measurements are collected. We distinguish three questions relevant to describing competitive interactions: Which species dominates? Which species gains? and How do species affect each other? The choice of experimental design and measurements greatly influences the scope of inference permitted. Conditions under which the latter two questions can give biased information are tabulated. We outline a new approach to characterizing competition that avoids size bias and that improves the concordance between research question and experimental design. The implications of the choice of size metrics used to quantify both the initial state and the responses of elements in interspecific mixtures are discussed. The relevance of size bias in competition studies with organisms other than plants is also discussed.

An Analysison Provincial Medical Science Basic Research Competitiveness Based on the National Natural Science Foundation of China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xing Xia

2017-06-01

Full Text Available [Purpose/significance] The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC is one of the most important channels to support basic research in China. Competition for funding by the NSFC has been a very important indicator to measure the basic research level of various province and scientific research institutions. [Method/process] By combing and analyzing the status quo of NSFC in medical science, it is helpful to narrow the provincial gap and improve the basic research of medical science in China. Based on the project information of NSFC and previous scholars’ research, the paper update the index of basic research competitiveness, and analyzes project number and project funding of medical science during 2006-2016. At the same time, the competitiveness of medical science basic research and its changing trend in 31 provinces of China are analyzed. [Result/conclusion] The result shows that, in recent years, China’s basic scientific research has greatly improved, but there is a large gap between the provinces.

The International Permafrost Association: current initiatives for cryospheric research

Science.gov (United States)

Schollaen, Karina; Lewkowicz, Antoni G.; Christiansen, Hanne H.; Romanovsky, Vladimir E.; Lantuit, Hugues; Schrott, Lothar; Sergeev, Dimitry; Wei, Ma

2015-04-01

The International Permafrost Association (IPA), founded in 1983, has as its objectives to foster the dissemination of knowledge concerning permafrost and to promote cooperation among persons and national or international organizations engaged in scientific investigation and engineering work on permafrost. The IPA's primary responsibilities are convening International Permafrost Conferences, undertaking special projects such as preparing databases, maps, bibliographies, and glossaries, and coordinating international field programs and networks. Membership is through adhering national or multinational organizations or as individuals in countries where no Adhering Body exists. The IPA is governed by its Executive Committee and a Council consisting of representatives from 26 Adhering Bodies having interests in some aspect of theoretical, basic and applied frozen ground research, including permafrost, seasonal frost, artificial freezing and periglacial phenomena. This presentation details the IPA core products, achievements and activities as well as current projects in cryospheric research. One of the most important core products is the circumpolar permafrost map. The IPA also fosters and supports the activities of the Global Terrestrial Network on Permafrost (GTN-P) sponsored by the Global Terrestrial Observing System, GTOS, and the Global Climate Observing System, GCOS, whose long-term goal is to obtain a comprehensive view of the spatial structure, trends, and variability of changes in the active layer thickness and permafrost temperature. A further important initiative of the IPA are the biannually competitively-funded Action Groups which work towards the production of well-defined products over a period of two years. Current IPA Action Groups are working on highly topical and interdisciplinary issues, such as the development of a regional Palaeo-map of Permafrost in Eurasia, the integration of multidisciplinary knowledge about the use of thermokarst and permafrost

Promoting Technology-Based Enterprise in Higher Education: The Role of Business Plan Competitions

Science.gov (United States)

McGowan, Pauric; Cooper, Sarah

2008-01-01

The research discussed in this paper explores the impact of a higher education initiative targeted at developing entrepreneurial capability and encouraging student technology venturing activity in Northern Ireland. The initiative in question is the 25,000 British Pounds enterprise competition run by the Northern Ireland Centre for Entrepreneurship…

Science Granting Councils Initiative: Research uptake | CRDI ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The initiative's activities include training, regional exchanges and forums, online training, on-site coaching, and collaborative research. The initiative was developed jointly by IDRC, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development, and South Africa's National Research Foundation. Its ultimate goal is ...

77 FR 2676 - Competitive Postal Products

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-19

... could give the Postal Service an artificial competitive advantage. The Commission gave considerable... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION 39 CFR Part 3015 [Docket No. RM2012-3; Order No. 1108] Competitive... Commission is initiating a review to determine whether competitive products provide the appropriate minimum...

Using Patent Development, Education Policy and Research and Development Expenditure Policy to Increase Technological Competitiveness of Small European Union Member States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferraro Simona

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative will open new trade routes between China and the European Union (EU and increase competition pressures on smaller EU member states. This article ranks where states like Estonia stand internationally in terms of innovativeness (and consequent competitiveness by conducting an econometric study of patent development, education policy and research and development (R&D expenditure policy. The authors claim that small member states such as Estonia should follow the example of countries such as Germany and adopt policies which focus more on increased public spending on R&D and innovation in public universities of science and technology, and raise support for high tech startups with a strong focus on international patenting. Member States must go further and subsidise R&D activities by focusing, inter alia, on filing of foreign patents such as triadic patents.

Power generation planning: a survey from monopoly to competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kagiannas, A.G.; Askounis, D.T.; Psarras, J.

2004-01-01

During the last two decades electric power generation industry in many countries and regions around the world has undergone a significant transformation from being a centrally coordinated monopoly to a deregulated liberalized market. In the majority of those countries, competition has been introduced through the adoption of a competitive wholesale electricity spot market. Short-term efficiency of power generators under competitive environment has attracted considerable effort from researchers, while long-term investment performance has received less attention. In this context, the paper aims to serve as a comprehensive review basis for generation planning methods applied in a competitive electric power generation market. The traditional modeling techniques developed for generation expansion planning under monopoly are initially presented in an effort to assess the evolution of generation planning according to the evolution of the structure of the electric power market. (author)

[Support Team for Investigator-Initiated Clinical Research].

Science.gov (United States)

Fujii, Hisako

2017-07-01

Investigator-initiated clinical research is that in which investigators plan and carry out their own clinical research in academia. For large-scale clinical research, a team should be organized and implemented. This team should include investigators and supporting staff, who will promote smooth research performance by fulfilling their respective roles. The supporting staff should include project managers, administrative personnel, billing personnel, data managers, and clinical research coordinators. In this article, I will present the current status of clinical research support and introduce the research organization of the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN) study, an investigator-initiated international clinical research study, with particular emphasis on the role of the project management staff and clinical research coordinators.

Competitive Priorities and Competitive Advantage in Jordanian Manufacturing

OpenAIRE

Awwad, Abdulkareem S.; Al Khattab, Adel A.; Anchor, J.R

2013-01-01

The purpose of this research was to explore and predict the relationship between the competitive priorities (quality, cost, flexibility and delivery) and the competitive advantage of firms in the Jordanian Industrial Sector. A population of 88 Jordanian manufacturing firms, registered on the Amman Stock Exchange, was targeted using a cross-sectional survey employing a questionnaire method of data collection. The results of the data analysis indicate a significant relationship between competit...

Effect of mode–mode competition on atom–atom entanglement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin, Wu; Mao-Fa, Fang; Jian-Wu, Cai

2010-01-01

A system consisting of two atoms interacting with a two-mode vacuum is considered, where each atom is resonant with the two cavity modes through two different competing transitions. The effect of mode–mode competition on the atom–atom entanglement is investigated. We find that the entanglement between the two atoms can be induced by the mode–mode competition. For the initial atomic state |Ψ(0)}, whether the atoms are initially separated or entangled, a large or even maximal entanglement between them can be obtained periodically by introducing the mode–mode competition. For the initial atomic state |Φ(0)}, the strong mode–mode competition can prevent the two atoms entangled initially from suffering entanglement sudden death; besides, it makes them in a more stable and longer-lived entanglement than in the non-competition case. (classical areas of phenomenology)

Proposing a Qualitative Approach for Corporate Competitive Capability Modeling in High-Tech Business (Case study: Software Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahmoud Saremi Saremi

2010-09-01

Full Text Available The evolution of global business trend for ICT-based products in recent decades shows the intensive activity of pioneer developing countries to gain a powerful competitive position in global software industry. In this research, with regard to importance of competition issue for top managers of Iranian software companies, a conceptual model has been developed for Corporate Competitive Capability concept. First, after describing the research problem, we present a comparative review of recent theories of firm and competition that has been applied by different researchers in the High-Tech and Knowledge Intensive Organization filed. Afterwards, with a detailed review of literature and previous research papers, an initial research framework and applied research method has been proposed. The main and final section of paper assigned to describing the result of research in different steps of qualitative modeling process. The agreed concepts are related to corporate competitive capability, the elicited and analyzed experts Cause Map, the elicited collective causal maps, and the final proposed model for software industry are the modeling results for this paper.

International Research Chairs Initiative | IDRC - International ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The International Research Chairs Initiative (IRCI) is a seven-year, CA$8 million research program that pairs top research talent from universities in Canada with their counterparts in developing countries to address key ... The results of this joint effort: world-class discoveries and healthier, wealthier, fairer societies.

Crowdfunding for cardiovascular research.

Science.gov (United States)

Krittanawong, Chayakrit; Zhang, HongJu Janet; Aydar, Mehmet; Wang, Zhen; Sun, Tao

2018-01-01

The competition for public cardiovascular research grants has recently increased. Independent researchers are facing increasing competition for public research grant support and ultimately may need to seek alternative funding sources. Crowdfunding, a financing method of raising funds online by pooling together small donations from the online community to support a specific initiative, seems to have significant potential. However, the feasibility of crowdfunding for cardiovascular research remains unknown. Here, we performed exploratory data analysis of the feasibility of online crowdfunding in cardiovascular research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Research of competition in the function of positioning the organization in the business market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jovičić Dragoljub

2014-01-01

Full Text Available All marketers tend to position their company and its products and/or services in the market the best they could. In this context, they must develop and implement in practice a complete marketing strategy, which is undoubtedly based on three concepts: segmentation, targeting and positioning. If marketers want to successfully separate the image of their company and its brand in the minds of potential customers and users in business market it is necessary to obtain and analyze a sufficient number of accurate and relevant information from the environment. Although pieces of information about customers, suppliers and other participants in the marketing channel are significant, latterly information about competition are more important. Without a thorough and continuous research and monitoring of competition, marketers could not provide management of the company with relevant information about competing organizations, which would result in an absolutely negative impact on the quality of future management decisions. In this context, the subject of this paper is theoretical analysis of competition, and the aim of the research is to assess the real attitudes of managers in the Serbian market of styrofoam and styrodur, about the most relevant characteristics of the competition - which have a strong impact on organization's operations.

Improving Competitiveness of U.S. Coal Dialogue

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kokkinos, Angelos [Energetics, Inc., Colubmia, MD (United States)

2018-02-01

The Improving Competitiveness of U.S. Coal Dialogue held in September 2017 explored a broad range of technical developments that have the potential to improve U.S. coal competitiveness in domestic and overseas markets. The workshop is one in a series of events hosted by DOE to gather expert input on challenges and opportunities for reviving the coal economy. This event brought together coal industry experts to review developments in a broad range of technical areas such as conventional physical (e.g. dense-medium) technologies, and dry coal treatments; thermal, chemical, and bio-oxidation coal upgrading technologies; coal blending; and applications for ultrafine coal and waste streams. The workshop was organized to focus on three main discussion topics: Challenges and Opportunities for Improving U.S. Coal Competitiveness in Overseas Markets, Mineral Processing, and Technologies to Expand the Market Reach of Coal Products. In each session, invited experts delivered presentations to help frame the subsequent group discussion. Throughout the discussions, participants described many possible areas of research and development (R&D) in which DOE involvement could help to produce significant outcomes. In addition, participants discussed a number of open questions—those that the industry has raised or investigated but not yet resolved. In discussing the three topics, the participants suggested potential areas of research and issues for further investigation. As summarized in Table ES-1, these crosscutting suggestions centered on combustion technologies, coal quality, coal processing, environmental issues, and other issues. The discussions at this workshop will serve as an input that DOE considers in developing initiatives that can be pursued by government and industry. This workshop generated strategies that described core research concepts, identified implementation steps, estimated benefits, clarified roles of government and industry, and outlined next steps. While

Towards equitable access to medicines for the rural poor: analyses of insurance claims reveal rural pharmacy initiative triggers price competition in Kyrgyzstan.

Science.gov (United States)

Waning, Brenda; Maddix, Jason; Tripodis, Yorghos; Laing, Richard; Leufkens, Hubert Gm; Gokhale, Manjusha

2009-12-14

A rural pharmacy initiative (RPI) designed to increase access to medicines in rural Kyrgyzstan created a network of 12 pharmacies using a revolving drug fund mechanism in 12 villages where no pharmacies previously existed. The objective of this study was to determine if the establishment of the RPI resulted in the unforeseen benefit of triggering medicine price competition in pre-existing (non-RPI) private pharmacies located in the region. We conducted descriptive and multivariate analyses on medicine insurance claims data from Kyrgyzstan's Mandatory Health Insurance Fund for the Jumgal District of Naryn Province from October 2003 to December 2007. We compared average quarterly medicine prices in competitor pharmacies before and after the introduction of the rural pharmacy initiative in October 2004 to determine the RPI impact on price competition. Descriptive analyses suggest competitors reacted to RPI prices for 21 of 30 (70%) medicines. Competitor medicine prices from the quarter before RPI introduction to the end of the study period decreased for 17 of 30 (57%) medicines, increased for 4 of 30 (13%) medicines, and remained unchanged for 9 of 30 (30%) medicines. Among the 9 competitor medicines with unchanged prices, five initially decreased in price but later reverted back to baseline prices. Multivariate analyses on 19 medicines that met sample size criteria confirm these findings. Fourteen of these 19 (74%) competitor medicines changed significantly in price from the quarter before RPI introduction to the quarter after RPI introduction, with 9 of 19 (47%) decreasing in price and 5 of 19 (26%) increasing in price. The RPI served as a market driver, spurring competition in medicine prices in competitor pharmacies, even when they were located in different villages. Initiatives designed to increase equitable access to medicines in rural regions of developing and transitional countries should consider the potential to leverage medicine price competition as a means

Towards equitable access to medicines for the rural poor: analyses of insurance claims reveal rural pharmacy initiative triggers price competition in Kyrgyzstan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leufkens Hubert GM

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A rural pharmacy initiative (RPI designed to increase access to medicines in rural Kyrgyzstan created a network of 12 pharmacies using a revolving drug fund mechanism in 12 villages where no pharmacies previously existed. The objective of this study was to determine if the establishment of the RPI resulted in the unforeseen benefit of triggering medicine price competition in pre-existing (non-RPI private pharmacies located in the region. Methods We conducted descriptive and multivariate analyses on medicine insurance claims data from Kyrgyzstan's Mandatory Health Insurance Fund for the Jumgal District of Naryn Province from October 2003 to December 2007. We compared average quarterly medicine prices in competitor pharmacies before and after the introduction of the rural pharmacy initiative in October 2004 to determine the RPI impact on price competition. Results Descriptive analyses suggest competitors reacted to RPI prices for 21 of 30 (70% medicines. Competitor medicine prices from the quarter before RPI introduction to the end of the study period decreased for 17 of 30 (57% medicines, increased for 4 of 30 (13% medicines, and remained unchanged for 9 of 30 (30% medicines. Among the 9 competitor medicines with unchanged prices, five initially decreased in price but later reverted back to baseline prices. Multivariate analyses on 19 medicines that met sample size criteria confirm these findings. Fourteen of these 19 (74% competitor medicines changed significantly in price from the quarter before RPI introduction to the quarter after RPI introduction, with 9 of 19 (47% decreasing in price and 5 of 19 (26% increasing in price. Conclusions The RPI served as a market driver, spurring competition in medicine prices in competitor pharmacies, even when they were located in different villages. Initiatives designed to increase equitable access to medicines in rural regions of developing and transitional countries should consider the

Research on Initiation Sensitivity of Solid Explosive and Planer Initiation System

OpenAIRE

N Matsuo; M Otuka; H Hamasima; K Hokamoto; S Itoh

2016-01-01

Firstly, recently, there are a lot of techniques being demanded for complex process, various explosive initiation method and highly accurate control of detonation are needed. In this research, the metal foil explosion using high current is focused attention on the method to obtain linear or planate initiation easily, and the main evaluation of metal foil explosion to initiate explosive was conducted. The explosion power was evaluated by observing optically the underwater shock wave generated ...

Competition Advocacy: the Italian Experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salvatore Rebecchini

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Competition advocacy is considered, together with enforcement, the core business of an antitrust authority. Broadly speaking there are at least three main tasks regularly performed by most, if not all, antitrust agencies that are amenable to the advocacy function: addressing laws and regulations in order to remove unnecessary impediments to competition; engaging in sector enquiries to understand markets behavior and identify critical issues; explaining the benefits of open competitive markets to the public opinion. This article examines these three main tasks and outlines the challenges for competition agencies, with references to the experience of the Italian Competition Authority (ICA and the initiatives undertaken at international level.

Competition, Regulation and Development Research Forum ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

... Forum : Competition and Regulatory Implementation Issues in Developing Countries ... create challenges that influence the operation of regulatory institutions. ... IWRA/IDRC webinar on climate change and adaptive water management.

Competition for public project funding in a small research system: the case of Estonia

OpenAIRE

Jaan Masso; Kadri Ukrainski

2009-01-01

The extensive literature that deals with competition for research funding has focused on the mechanisms and outcomes of funding, but has not systematically studied the allocation of funding among research performers across different financing instruments. The analysis of a small research system on the basis of funding volumes disaggregated according to beneficiaries and funding instruments showed a very high and growing degree of market concentration strengthening existing dominant research i...

A Conceptual Mapping Resource Advantage Theory, Competitive Advantage Theory, and Transient Competitive Advantage

OpenAIRE

Jasanta PERANGINANGIN

2015-01-01

Competitive advantage is the main purposed of the business entity focusing on market base view. Resource advantage theorists put their concern to empowering resources development with resources based view, in the other side needs to redefining competitive advantage. All the competitive advantage are transient, concluded the end of competitive advantage. Redefining competitive advantage by selling migration and shrewdness outward. This research to emphasize innovation capability rarely appears...

Competition in a Business Network

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ellegaard, Chris; Medlin, Christopher J

Competition and cooperation stabilize and structure business networks. In business research there is little focus on network based competition between firms and on how firms compete to gain network position. We review a range of conceptualizations of competition and cooperation and work towards...... research and also managerial thinking about network strategy and implementation....

Technical Efficiency and Port Competition: Revisiting the Bohai Economic Rim, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grace Wang

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The Bohai Economic Rim plays an important role in supporting China’s economic growth. For this research, we selected nine main ports in the region to study whether intra-port competition or corporatization would improve efficiency. Using a panel fixed effect model and stochastic frontier model, we found that the technical efficiency of selected ports is significantly influenced by the time of the initial public offering than by regional competition. The results are supportive and encouraging for policy makers to move toward the decentralized port governance in China.

Getting Competitive: Competitive Intelligence Is a Smart next Step for Information Pros

Science.gov (United States)

Correia, Cynthia Cheng

2006-01-01

Competitive Intelligence (CI) has become an attractive concept for Library and Information Science professionals, as information and research functions have become commoditized by end users, and financial, competitive, and performance pressures increase the need to demonstrate value. In the current competitive and cost-cutting environment,…

Media Competition Implementation for the Massachusetts Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration Study (MA-CORD: Adoption and Reach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaniece Criss

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The Massachusetts Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration Study (MA-CORD was a multi-level, multi-sector community intervention with a media competition component to provide an overarching synergy and promote awareness of target behaviors to reduce childhood obesity. Students participating in the media competition were tasked with developing videos, song/rap lyrics, and artwork that reflected the goals. The aim of this study is to document the process used to develop and implement the media competition along with its reach and adoption. An adapted version of Neta and colleagues’ 2015 framework on dissemination and implementation was used to summarize the process by which the media competition was developed and implemented. Adoption was defined by whether eligible schools or afterschool programs decided to implement the media competition. Reach was defined by student participation rates within schools/programs and the number of votes cast for the finalists on the coalition website and students’ paper ballots. A total of 595 students participated in the media competition from 18 school and afterschool programs in two communities. Adoption of the media competitions ranged from 22% to 100% in programs and reach ranged from 3% to 33% of the student population. The documentation of the implementation should contribute to the replication of the media competition.

Research and assessment of competitiveness of large engineering complexes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krivorotov V.V.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The urgency of the problem of ensuring the competitiveness of manufacturing and high-tech sectors is shown. Substantiated the decisive role of the large industrial complexes in the formation of the results of the national economy; the author’s interpretation of the concept of “industrial complex” with regard to current economic systems. Current approaches to assessing the competitiveness of enterprises and industrial complexes are analyzed; showing their main advantages and disadvantages. Provides scientific-methodological approach to the study and management of competitiveness of a large industrial complex; the description of its main units is provided. As a Central element of the scientific methodology approach proposed the methodology for assessing the competitiveness of a large industrial complex based on the Pattern-method; a modular system of indicators of competitiveness is developed and its adaptation to a large engineering complexes is made. Using the developed methodology the competitiveness of one of the largest engineering complexes of the group of companies Uralelectrotyazhmash, which is the leading enterprises in electrotechnical industry of Russia is assessed. The evaluation identified the main problems and bottlenecks in the development of these enterprises, and their comparison with leading competitors is provided. According to the results of the study the main conclusions and recommendations are formed.

Strategic use of preference confirmation in group decision making: the role of competition and dissent.

Science.gov (United States)

Toma, Claudia; Gilles, Ingrid; Butera, Fabrizio

2013-03-01

The present research investigates the moderating role of goal interdependence and dissent on individual preference confirmation in hidden-profile tasks. We propose that preference confirmation can be used strategically to deal with competition and dissent likely to arise in group decision making. In two studies, participants first received incomplete information about a car accident investigation, and then read a fictitious discussion with two other participants containing full information. The interaction with the fictitious participants was presented either as cooperative or competitive. We predicted and found preference confirmation to be higher in competition than cooperation, when initial preferences were dissenting (Studies 1 & 2), but to be higher in cooperation than in competition, when initial preferences were consensual (Study 2). Also, the increased versus decreased preference confirmation in competition with, respectively, dissent and no dissent were found to be predicted by self-enhancement strategies (Study 2). These findings contribute to a better understanding of the boundary conditions of preference confirmation in hidden profiles and shed a new light on the role of motivated information processing in these tasks. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

MONTANA PALLADIUM RESEARCH INITIATIVE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peters, John; McCloskey, Jay; Douglas, Trevor; Young, Mark; Snyder, Stuart; Gurney, Brian

2012-05-09

Project Objective: The overarching objective of the Montana Palladium Research Initiative is to perform scientific research on the properties and uses of palladium in the context of the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program. The purpose of the research will be to explore possible palladium as an alternative to platinum in hydrogen-economy applications. To achieve this objective, the Initiatives activities will focus on several cutting-edge research approaches across a range of disciplines, including metallurgy, biomimetics, instrumentation development, and systems analysis. Background: Platinum-group elements (PGEs) play significant roles in processing hydrogen, an element that shows high potential to address this need in the U.S. and the world for inexpensive, reliable, clean energy. Platinum, however, is a very expensive component of current and planned systems, so less-expensive alternatives that have similar physical properties are being sought. To this end, several tasks have been defined under the rubric of the Montana Palladium Research Iniative. This broad swath of activities will allow progress on several fronts. The membrane-related activities of Task 1 employs state-of-the-art and leading-edge technologies to develop new, ceramic-substrate metallic membranes for the production of high-purity hydrogen, and develop techniques for the production of thin, defect-free platinum group element catalytic membranes for energy production and pollution control. The biomimetic work in Task 2 explores the use of substrate-attached hydrogen-producing enzymes and the encapsulation of palladium in virion-based protein coats to determine their utility for distributed hydrogen production. Task 3 work involves developing laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) as a real-time, in situ diagnostic technique to characterize PGEs nanoparticles for process monitoring and control. The systems engineering work in task 4

View all initiatives | IDRC - International Development Research ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The International Research Chairs Initiative pairs top research talent from universities in Canada with their counterparts in developing countries to address key development challenges. We fund researchers driving global change. Careers · Contact Us · Subscribe · Unsubscribe · Site map. Follow us; Facebook · Twitter ...

Corporate competitiveness and sustainability risks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Udo Braendle

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at providing a theoretical analysis of the existing research on corporate competition and sustainability risks that occur when companies aspire to reach maximum competitive advantages and gain competitive benefits compared to their rivals. Competitiveness has been described as a multidimensional, theoretical and relative concept linked with the market mechanism. The concept of competitiveness may refer to different levels of aggregation: national, regional, industrial and individual companies. This paper contributes to the theoretical research on corporate competitiveness by the analysis of old and new definitions of this category. It also notes that the sustainability risks connected to competition can be divided into several groups where the authors highlight environmental, legal, financial risks, behaviour risks and state-related risks as the most crucial ones. For companies to be fit for the competitive challenge, the paper identifies main characteristics of such risks and gives policy guidance for their avoidance

Trade Liberalization and the Degree of Competition in International Duopoly

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ashournia, Damoun; Hansen, Per Svejstrup; Hansen, Jonas Worm

2013-01-01

This paper analyzes how a reduction in trade costs influences the possibility for firms to engage in international cartels, and hence how trade liberalization affects the degree of competition. We consider a particular intra-industry trade model amended to allow for firms producing differentiated...... products. Our main finding is that trade liberalization may have an anti-competitive effect. We find that there is no unique relation between a reduction in trade costs and the degree of competition. When products are differentiated, a lowering of trade costs is pro-competitive if trade costs are initially...... high, but anti-competitive if trade costs initially are low. Hence, trade policy is not necessarily a substitute for competition policy...

View all initiatives | IDRC - International Development Research ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Initiative. The Cultivate Africa's Future research partnership is designed to support applied research to combat hunger in sub-Saharan Africa by harnessing the potential for innovation among the region's smallholder farmers, the majority of whom are women. We fund researchers driving global change. Careers · Contact Us ...

Exploring Market and Competitive Intelligence Research as a Source for Enhancing Innovation Capacity

Science.gov (United States)

Bajaj, Deepak

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the role of Competitive and Market Intelligence (CI/MI) Research as a potential source for improving the innovation capability of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME's) leading to successful new product/services/processes/capabilities development (Cooper & Edgett, 2002). This report highlights the…

Sperm Competition Risk and Sexual Coercion Predict Copulatory Duration in Humans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole Barbaro

2015-12-01

Full Text Available A man whose romantic partner is sexually unfaithful is at risk of sperm competition and cuckoldry—unwitting investment in offspring to whom he is genetically unrelated. Men, therefore, may have evolved mechanisms to solve the adaptive problems of sperm competition and cuckoldry. The current research investigates another potential anti-cuckoldry tactic: reducing in-pair copulation (IPC duration, thereby more quickly placing his sperm into competition. We hypothesize that IPC duration will be negatively correlated with female infidelity (Hypothesis 1. We further hypothesize that IPC duration will be negatively correlated with sexual coercion (Hypothesis 2. Results of Study 1 (men’s reports, n = 410 indicate that both men’s perceptions of female infidelity and men’s sexual coercion predict shorter IPC duration. Results of Study 2 (women’s reports, n = 455 did not provide statistical support for the study hypotheses. The current research provides an initial investigation of men’s adjustment of copulatory duration and suggests that men reduce IPC duration and ejaculate more quickly at the couple’s most recent copulation, in response to greater risk of sperm competition and in the context of sexual coercion.

75 FR 53667 - Space Coast Regional Innovation Cluster Competition

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-01

... Coast Regional Innovation Cluster Competition AGENCY: Economic Development Administration (EDA... upcoming availability of funding for the Space Coast Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) Competition under... economic development initiatives aligned with regional cluster and competitiveness analyses to sustain the...

Initiation to research in Brazil: p olicies for educating young researchers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucídio Bianchetti

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Scientific Initiation (SI is a process which, through universities, challenges young people and provides them a set of attitudes and knowledge that is indispensable to their initiation to research, and the production and socializing of knowledge. Situated in the context of our broader research, this text is based on bibliographic research. It critically analyzes the importance of SI to qualify the approximation between basic education and undergraduate and graduate studies, given that the range of options of this mode of education has significantly expanded in recent years. Entrance into SI contributes in particular to theoretical grounding and to developing a familiarity with research methodology, complementing the academic training of young students with a process in which knowledge, in addition to being constructed in relation to teaching-research, comes to be re-evaluated and recreated, challenging young people to become researchers. Finally, we detect an increasingly evident instrumentalization of this locus of education and research by CAPES and CNPq, to improve evaluation indicators for undergraduate courses.

Summative report of the public competition research and development on nuclear science and technology in the fiscal year 1998 through 2003

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-09-01

Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute started the public competition research and development on nuclear science and technology in 1998, and closed it in 2003. This report describes the system of the competition research and development, application situations, R and D subjects adopted, evaluation findings, outputs produced, achievements and problems, as a summative report of practice of the system for six years. (author)

Quality and Competition

OpenAIRE

Rajiv D. Banker; Inder Khosla; Kingshuk K. Sinha

1998-01-01

In recent years, the practitioner literature in operations management has seen a dramatic surge in articles on quality management. It reflects the increased emphasis on quality by U.S. firms, which has been attributed largely to increased competition faced by them. The question of how quality is influenced by competitive intensity, however, has not received much attention, either in the practitioner or the academic research literatures. The notion of competitive intensity itself has not been ...

Based on the core competitiveness of enterprise innovation culture research

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

韩 军

2017-01-01

In the spring tide of market economy at present, the enterprise is a must to survive in order to achieve innovation, promote enterprise's core competitiveness. Enterprise innovation culture, the promotion enterprise's core competitiveness plays an important role in promoting, therefore must complete enterprise innovation culture. Therefore, put forward by enterprise innovation culture, promote enterprise's core competitiveness.

Establishing a research agenda for Foundation Phasei initial ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

USER

2016-08-19

Aug 19, 2016 ... This paper profiles empirical research relating to initial ... post-1994 democratic government chose to locate all initial teacher education in higher education institutions .... philosophical aspects of teacher education, issues.

Competitive Dynamics in Micro: Analysis of Perception About Competition in Unitomo Street Food Business

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bambang Raditya Purnomo

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the study this is to explore small and micro businesses in their connections with competitors and the competitive force in the market. This study uses the information processing approach to examine three activities, scanning the competitive environment, the interpretation of competitive actions, and reactions based on that assessment. This research is motivated by the lack of competitiveness of micro businesses, especially those engaged in the culinary field. This study uses qualitative approach with phenomenological methods, in which researchers try to explain or reveal the meaning of a concept or phenomenon of experience based on the awareness that occurs in some individuals. In this study, researchers collect, summarize and interpret the data obtained, which is then processed back in order to obtain a clear, directed and thorough pictures of the problem which become the object of research. Phenomenological approach is used to analyze the original data collected from interview with the informant. Structural interpretation of the experience described by researchers in the description of the participants.

The competitiveness of national tourism industry

OpenAIRE

Rūtelionė, Aušra

2005-01-01

The purpose of the scientific research is to suggest the model of national tourism industry competitiveness and determine the main factors that increase national tourism industry competitiveness basing on fundamental national competitiveness theories and national tourism industry competitiveness conceptions.

Impact of Pre-Initiators on PSA in Research Reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ochirbat, Chimedtseren [KAIST, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Sok Chul [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-10-15

Most of nuclear power plants had already conducted PSA work to examine their plant safety for identifying vulnerability and preparing the mitigating strategies for severe accident. However, the PSA for research reactor has been conducted limitedly comparing with nuclear power plants due to lack of awareness and resources. Most of PSA results demonstrated that human failure events (HFEs) take a major role of risk contributor in terms of core damage frequency. HFEs are categorized as the following three types: pre-initiating event interaction (e.g., maintenance of errors, testing errors, calibration errors), initiating event related interactions (e.g., human error causing loss of power, human error causing system trip), and post-initiating event (e.g., all action actuating manual safety system backup of an automatic system). Lack of resources and utilization of research reactor calls a vicious circle in terms of safety degradation. The safety degradation poses the vulnerability of human failure during research reactor utilization process. Typically, evaluation of pre-initiators related to test and maintenance are not taking into account in PSA for research reactors. This paper aims to investigate the impact of pre-initiating events related to test and maintenance activities on PSA results in terms of core damage frequency for a research reactor.

Impact of Pre-Initiators on PSA in Research Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ochirbat, Chimedtseren; Kim, Sok Chul

2014-01-01

Most of nuclear power plants had already conducted PSA work to examine their plant safety for identifying vulnerability and preparing the mitigating strategies for severe accident. However, the PSA for research reactor has been conducted limitedly comparing with nuclear power plants due to lack of awareness and resources. Most of PSA results demonstrated that human failure events (HFEs) take a major role of risk contributor in terms of core damage frequency. HFEs are categorized as the following three types: pre-initiating event interaction (e.g., maintenance of errors, testing errors, calibration errors), initiating event related interactions (e.g., human error causing loss of power, human error causing system trip), and post-initiating event (e.g., all action actuating manual safety system backup of an automatic system). Lack of resources and utilization of research reactor calls a vicious circle in terms of safety degradation. The safety degradation poses the vulnerability of human failure during research reactor utilization process. Typically, evaluation of pre-initiators related to test and maintenance are not taking into account in PSA for research reactors. This paper aims to investigate the impact of pre-initiating events related to test and maintenance activities on PSA results in terms of core damage frequency for a research reactor

Demolishing the Competition: The Longitudinal Link between Competitive Video Games, Competitive Gambling, and Aggression

Science.gov (United States)

Adachi, Paul J. C.; Willoughby, Teena

2013-01-01

The majority of research on the link between video games and aggression has focused on the violent content in games. In contrast, recent experimental research suggests that it is video game competition, not violence, that has the greatest effect on aggression in the short-term. However, no researchers have examined the long-term relationship…

Competitiveness in Emerging Markets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

This book presents a collection of interrelated research advances in the field of technological entrepreneurship from the perspective of competition in emerging markets. Featuring contributions by scholars from different fields of interest, it provides a mix of theoretical developments, insights...... and research methods used to uncover the unexplored aspects of competitiveness in emerging markets in an age characterized by disruptive technologies....

Competitive Intelligence and Social Advantage.

Science.gov (United States)

Davenport, Elisabeth; Cronin, Blaise

1994-01-01

Presents an overview of issues concerning civilian competitive intelligence (CI). Topics discussed include competitive advantage in academic and research environments; public domain information and libraries; covert and overt competitive intelligence; data diversity; use of the Internet; cooperative intelligence; and implications for library and…

Active Initiatives and ICT Innovations for the Formation of Competitive Advantage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Janakova

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The paper is centered on the active initiatives from the ICT (information and communication technology field using analysis and comparison of adopted solutions in ICT products for the support of competitive advantages. Confrontation of existing options is demonstrated on a security layer of selected products. This wider analysis brings an overview via operating and database systems, BI, and CRM products. A good starting point is an analysis of selected products by Petri Nets with simulation using a multidimensional and object approach. The realized analysis shows ways of security resolution in selected products and a mutual comparison of these solutions leads to an improved design of solutions in individual implementations. For example, Sugar CRM offers an optimal way of restricting access by date for access control to tabs and visible records for the user. Other positive options are advanced security (validation of IP address, maximum upload file size or logging slow queries. Improvement requires restricted access for the system administrator (inspired by the Oracle database system or transparent user identification (as in operating systems. Another benefit would be to simplify the overall concept of the accepted security layer from five components to four by merging the user account and system administrator area or audit and logging with an advanced security area.

View all initiatives | IDRC - International Development Research ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The Science Granting Councils Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa is focused on strengthening the capacities of science granting councils in order to support research and evidence-based policies that will contribute to economic and social development in Sub-Saharan Africa. We fund researchers driving global change.

National Competitiveness through the Europe 2020 Strategy and Human Development Index in CEE Countries. A Panel Data Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Talmaciu Ana Maria

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In the new innovation economy, national competitiveness is an expression of the quality of the human capital and of the capacity to attract and retain the talent. In this paper, we propose to verify the link between the national competitiveness and the human capital, measured by the public expenditure on tertiary education and by the public expenditure on research and development. The research methodology uses the Panel Data method for Central and Eastern European countries by analyzing data on competitiveness scores in the Europe 2020 Report 2014, the Human Development Index 2015, the Global Competitiveness Report 2016 and those on public expenditure on tertiary education and by the public expenditure on research and development, corresponding to the period 2010-2014. The objectives of this paper are: synthesis of theoretical delimitations on competitiveness, highlighting the relationship between national competitiveness and human capital, testing this relationship for the case of Central and Eastern European countries. The results show a significant and a positive relation, indicating that investment in education and research contributes significantly to increasing the national competitiveness. The obtained results draw attention to the fact that Central and Eastern Europe countries need to initiate measures to reduce the drain-brain phenomenon and to create a favorable socio-economic context for retaining and attracting the talent.

Bush Pledges Increased Science Research and Education Funding

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Mohi

2006-02-01

In his 31 January State of the Union address, U.S. President George W. Bush announced two new initiatives aimed at galvanizing scientific research and education. For the American Competitiveness Initiative, Bush proposes to ``double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences in the next 10 years. . .[and to] make permanent the research and development tax credit to encourage bolder private-sector initiative in technology.''

DOE EPSCoR Initiative in Structural and computational Biology/Bioinformatics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wallace, Susan S.

2008-02-21

The overall goal of the DOE EPSCoR Initiative in Structural and Computational Biology was to enhance the competiveness of Vermont research in these scientific areas. To develop self-sustaining infrastructure, we increased the critical mass of faculty, developed shared resources that made junior researchers more competitive for federal research grants, implemented programs to train graduate and undergraduate students who participated in these research areas and provided seed money for research projects. During the time period funded by this DOE initiative: (1) four new faculty were recruited to the University of Vermont using DOE resources, three in Computational Biology and one in Structural Biology; (2) technical support was provided for the Computational and Structural Biology facilities; (3) twenty-two graduate students were directly funded by fellowships; (4) fifteen undergraduate students were supported during the summer; and (5) twenty-eight pilot projects were supported. Taken together these dollars resulted in a plethora of published papers, many in high profile journals in the fields and directly impacted competitive extramural funding based on structural or computational biology resulting in 49 million dollars awarded in grants (Appendix I), a 600% return on investment by DOE, the State and University.

Competitive Research Grants and Industry Collaboration: A Challenge for Universities in the 1990s.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Peter

1993-01-01

The reasons for increased collaboration between Australian universities and industry are examined, focusing on competitive research grant programs developed by the government in the last decade. University and industry response to these opportunities and to issues such as intellectual property rights and publication rights are discussed. (MSE)

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AS A CRUCIAL COMPONENT FOR ORGANIZATION COMPETITIVENESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zeljko Pozega

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Business excellence represents one of the most valuable management means of achieving competitive advantage of organizations. Modern and global market demands new organizational approaches for the long-term improvement at all organization levels. Objectives: This paper is concerned with the level of business excellence in Sibenik-Knin County and the level of knowledge about the EFQM model. Moreover, this paper is concerned with the level of knowledge of the top management concerning the business excellence and quality principles. Methods/Approach: For the purpose of this paper, the research was conducted among organizations in Sibenik-Knin County. Results: The results showed that the organizations in Sibenik-Knin County lack the initiatives for the systematic approach and implementation of business excellence model, but poses the knowledge about the basic concepts of business excellence. Conclusions: The research had showed that the organizations believe that the ISO certification is sufficient for strengthening competitive advantage and organization success.

Forging a 21st Century Model for Undergraduate Research

Science.gov (United States)

Musante, Susan

2011-01-01

Not all biology students get to experience scientific research firsthand, but the National Genomics Research Initiative (NGRI) is working to change that. The NGRI is the first initiative to spring from Howard Hughes Medical Institute's (HHMI) new Science Education Alliance (SEA). At present, a competitive application process determines which…

REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS VERSUS TERRITORIAL COMPETITIVENESS: PROJECT TAONABA CASE STUDY - TOWN OF ABYMES, GUADELOUPE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neffati Houda

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Territorial intelligence can be defined as the ability of a territory to anticipate socio-economic changes and the resulting knowledge management as well as to generate policies, know-how and innovations that will ultimately create a polycentric area of expertise and service capabilities to enhance the competitiveness of companies located there. It is created by setting up a sustainable development process to review business competitiveness with all the inherent consequences in managing, making, planning and implementing decisions. Territorial competitiveness is an integrated and proactive approach to shaping the future of territories, regions and larger geographies – . to some degree it can also be referred to as spatial planning. It goes beyond traditional regional policy as it brings together economic, social and environment opportunities and in addition to other factors which influence where activities takes place, concerns how different places function and are connected, and what social and business conditions are available Territorial competitiveness strategies can help in exploring the potential for economic growth and job creation and at the same time support an enhanced quality of life by helping to meet the challenge of sustainable development. The article reports on an action research to support the urban community of Cap Excellence in Guadeloupe in its local sustainable development project. After summarizing the terms of the debate surrounding sustainable development and presenting the region, the research is placed back in the context of a more general approach of territorial intelligence.. The limits of developing a local Agenda 21 in the form of a "programmed action plan" give the opportunity to improve territorial intelligence with the concept of agency arising from Foucault's 'dispositif' or apparatus, Deleuze's theory of agency and the actor-network. A discussion on this ontology social will be initiated. We will give

The Scientific Competitiveness of Nations.

Science.gov (United States)

Cimini, Giulio; Gabrielli, Andrea; Sylos Labini, Francesco

2014-01-01

We use citation data of scientific articles produced by individual nations in different scientific domains to determine the structure and efficiency of national research systems. We characterize the scientific fitness of each nation-that is, the competitiveness of its research system-and the complexity of each scientific domain by means of a non-linear iterative algorithm able to assess quantitatively the advantage of scientific diversification. We find that technological leading nations, beyond having the largest production of scientific papers and the largest number of citations, do not specialize in a few scientific domains. Rather, they diversify as much as possible their research system. On the other side, less developed nations are competitive only in scientific domains where also many other nations are present. Diversification thus represents the key element that correlates with scientific and technological competitiveness. A remarkable implication of this structure of the scientific competition is that the scientific domains playing the role of "markers" of national scientific competitiveness are those not necessarily of high technological requirements, but rather addressing the most "sophisticated" needs of the society.

Using Sustainable Development as a Competitive Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Spearman, Pat

Sustainable development reduces construction waste by 43%, generating 50% cost savings. Residential construction executives lacking adequate knowledge regarding the benefits of sustainable development practices are at a competitive disadvantage. Drawing from the diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore knowledge acquisition within the bounds of sustainable residential construction. The purposive sample size of 11 executive decision makers fulfilled the sample size requirements and enabled the extraction of meaningful data. Participants were members of the National Home Builders Association and had experience of a minimum of 5 years in residential construction. The research question addressed how to improve knowledge acquisition relating to the cost benefits of building green homes and increase the adoption rate of sustainable development among residential builders. Data were collected via semistructured telephone interviews, field observation, and document analysis. Transcribed data were validated via respondent validation, coded into 5 initial categories aligned to the focus of the research, then reduced to 3 interlocking themes of environment, competitive advantage, and marketing. Recommendations include developing comprehensive public policies, horizontal and vertical communications networks, and green banks to capitalize sustainable development programs to improve the diffusion of green innovation as a competitive advantage strategy. Business leaders could benefit from this data by integrating sustainable development practices into their business processes. Sustainable development reduces operational costs, increases competitive advantage for builders, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Implications for social change increase energy independence through conservation and developing a legislative policy template for comprehensive energy strategies. A comprehensive energy strategy promotes economic development

Competition between Vibrio fischeri strains during initiation and maintenance of a light organ symbiosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, K H; Ruby, E G

1994-04-01

Colonization of the light-emitting organ of the Hawaiian squid Euprymna scolopes is initiated when the nascent organ of a newly hatched squid becomes inoculated with Vibrio fischeri cells present in the ambient seawater. Although they are induced for luminescence in the light organ, these symbiotic strains are characteristically non-visibly luminous (NVL) when grown in laboratory culture. The more typical visibly luminous (VL) type of V. fischeri co-occurs in Hawaiian seawater with these NVL strains; thus, two phenotypically distinct groups of this species potentially have access to the symbiotic niche, yet only the NVL ones are found there. In laboratory inoculation experiments, VL strains, when presented in pure culture, showed the same capability for colonizing the light organ as NVL strains. However, in experiments with mixed cultures composed of both VL and NVL strains, the VL ones were unable to compete with the NVL ones and did not persist within the light organ as the symbiosis became established. In addition, NVL strains entered light organs that had already been colonized by VL strains and displaced them. The mechanism underlying the symbiotic competitiveness exhibited by NVL strains remains unknown; however, it does not appear to be due to a higher potential for siderophore activity. While a difference in luminescence phenotype between VL and NVL strains in culture is not likely to be significant in the symbiosis, it has helped identify two distinct groups of V. fischeri that express different colonization capabilities in the squid light organ. This competitive difference provides a useful indication of important traits in light organ colonization.

Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) builds the resilience of vulnerable populations and their livelihoods in these hot spots by supporting collaborative research on climate change adaptation to inform policy and practice. CARIAA takes a unique approach by organizing research ...

Business Ideas Competition

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

Business Ideas Competition "The Rainbow Seed Fund is a UK fund, which provides finance to support the commercialization of good ideas founded on scientific research; it is for the benefit of the UK industry in particular. To encourage ideas from CERN the Rainbow Seed Fund is running a business ideas competition.The winner of this competition will receive an immediate cash prize of GBP £1,000. In addition the Rainbow Seed Fund may well provide finance for market research, for protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and for prototyping to take the idea forward. Further awards of GBP £750 will be made for ideas which gain investment from the Fund.Candidates will only be required to prepare a 2-4-page summary of their business idea, and not a full business plan. Full details and an entry form are available at www.rainbowseedfund.com ." ALL Members of the Personnel seeking participation in the business ideas competition are asked to submit their ideas via the CERN TT Unit (Jean-Marie.Le Goff@cern.ch) th...

Leveraging Quick Response Code Technology to Facilitate Simulation-Based Leaderboard Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Todd P; Doughty, Cara B; Mitchell, Diana; Rutledge, Chrystal; Auerbach, Marc A; Frisell, Karin; Jani, Priti; Kessler, David O; Wolfe, Heather; MacKinnon, Ralph J; Dewan, Maya; Pirie, Jonathan; Lemke, Daniel; Khattab, Mona; Tofil, Nancy; Nagamuthu, Chenthila; Walsh, Catharine M

2018-02-01

Leaderboards provide feedback on relative performance and a competitive atmosphere for both self-guided improvement and social comparison. Because simulation can provide substantial quantitative participant feedback, leaderboards can be used, not only locally but also in a multidepartment, multicenter fashion. Quick Response (QR) codes can be integrated to allow participants to access and upload data. We present the development, implementation, and initial evaluation of an online leaderboard employing principles of gamification using points, badges, and leaderboards designed to enhance competition among healthcare providers. This article details the fundamentals behind the development and implementation of a user-friendly, online, multinational leaderboard that employs principles of gamification to enhance competition and integrates a QR code system to promote both self-reporting of performance data and data integrity. An open-ended survey was administered to capture perceptions of leaderboard implementation. Conceptual step-by-step instructions detailing how to apply the QR code system to any leaderboard using simulated or real performance metrics are outlined using an illustrative example of a leaderboard that employed simulated cardiopulmonary resuscitation performance scores to compare participants across 17 hospitals in 4 countries for 16 months. The following three major descriptive categories that captured perceptions of leaderboard implementation emerged from initial evaluation data from 10 sites: (1) competition, (2) longevity, and (3) perceived deficits. A well-designed leaderboard should be user-friendly and encompass best practices in gamification principles while collecting and storing data for research analyses. Easy storage and export of data allow for longitudinal record keeping that can be leveraged both to track compliance and to enable social competition.

VIRTUAL COMPETITIVENESS: YOUTHS’ VIEWS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Yu. Semenov

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Nowadays, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT has become an integral part both of every individual’s life and of the society in general. It is no longer possible to deny the impact of virtual environment on socialisation and development of the identity of young people. In this regard, the investigation of young people’s view on virtual social networks, and the possibility of students’ own competitiveness realization through various web services. The aim of the research presented in the article is to study the factors of students’ assessment of virtual social networks as a tool of personal fulfillment. Methodology and research methods. Content analysis and synthesis of scientific publications studies were carried out at a theoretical stage of the research; secondary sampling analysis of sociologic data material sources was conducted. The empirical research stage involved the instrument of questionnaire surveys, statistical data processing and interpretation of the results. Results and scientific novelty. The social survey conducted in 2017 with the participation of 1087 high school students and 1196 college students of the Tyumen Region shown that the more competitive students consider themselves, the more competitive they perceive the people having great popularity on the Internet. At that, compared to girls, young people are more inclined to consider the people having great popularity on the Internet competitive. It is determined that having a popular virtual media account for the young person is less worthwhile than for female respondents. The author explains this fact: male representatives regard it as “social capital” which can contribute to growth of their competitiveness in society as well as to achieve some profit. The author concludes that youth views on competitiveness are not directly related to the activity in virtual social networks. Frequent use by respondents of the Internet and

Competitive Pressure: Competitive Dynamics as Reactions to Multiple Rivals

OpenAIRE

Zucchini, Leon; Kretschmer, Tobias

2011-01-01

Competitive dynamics research has focused primarily on interactions between dyads of firms. Drawing on the awareness-motivation-capability framework and strategic group theory we extend this by proposing that firms’ actions are influenced by perceived competitive pressure resulting from actions by several rivals. We predict that firms’ action magnitude is influenced by the total number of rival actions accumulating in the market, and that this effect is moderated by strategic group membership...

47 CFR 80.1251 - Maritime communications subject to competitive bidding.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Maritime communications subject to competitive... AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Competitive Bidding Procedures § 80.1251 Maritime communications subject to competitive bidding. Mutually exclusive initial applications for VPCSA...

Recent progress in competitive intelligence, competitive technical intelligence and knowledge management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dou Henri

2011-04-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the role of competitive intelligence and knowledge management to create, maintain and sustain competitive advantages. The triple helix model, based on the integration of the public sector (government, business models (private corporations and universities to promote innovation is examined. Research trends in competitive intelligence are presented. It concludes that the systematic use of the technology monitoring should support the comparison between various business models of companies that hold the market best practices and form a basis to knowledge for the decision making process and strategies development.

COMPETITIVENESS IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY: ROMANIAN STYLE

OpenAIRE

Claudia-Elena TUCLEA; Ana-Mihaela PADUREAN

2008-01-01

In this paper is presented one of the important sectors of the national economy, at least from its potential for development perspective: the hospitality industry. The research interest is related to finding out the main factors of competitiveness in this field. This research attempts to identify the essential aspects of competitiveness in the hospitality industry. The objectives pursued refer to: discovering the degree to which the concept of competitiveness is understood and capitalized on ...

Innovation Initiatives in Large Software Companies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Edison, Henry; Wang, Xiaofeng; Jabangwe, Ronald

2018-01-01

empirical studies on innovation initiative in the context of large software companies. A total of 7 studies are conducted in the context of large software companies, which reported 5 types of initiatives: intrapreneurship, bootlegging, internal venture, spin-off and crowdsourcing. Our study offers three......Context: 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 the structure in maintaining their business, which...... can potentially lower their agility to innovate. Objective:The aims of this study are to provide an overview of the current research on innovation initiatives and to identify the challenges of implementing those initiatives in the context of large software companies. Method: The investigation...

West African Platform for HIV Intervention Research (WAPHIR ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Project Leader ... The main objective of this competitive research fund is to support applied research in areas vital to achieving long-term food ... The Science Granting Councils Initiative in sub-Saharan Africa wins Science Diplomacy Award.

African Tobacco Control Research Initiative Scoping Exercise ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The African Tobacco Control Research Initiative (ATCRI) was established in ... of taxation, advertising bans, smoke-free places and graphic health warnings. ... Special journal issue highlights IDRC-supported findings on women's paid work.

Exploring an Age Difference in Preschool Children's Competitiveness Following a Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Yu; Zhu, Yi

2018-01-01

Literature suggests that resource acquisition compels competition in young children. However, little is still known about the development of preschool children's competitiveness. In this preliminary study, 166 children (aged 2-4 and 5-6 years) engaged in a dyadic competition which resulted in a winning and a losing group (in a control/non-competition group, participants engaged in a similar task which did not lead to winning/losing outcome), and then experimenters tracked their decisions to compete again with a rival (i.e., an individual they interacted in the previous competition task) and a non-rival competitor (i.e., an anonymous classmate they did not interact in the previous competition task) for a reward, respectively. As expected, results showed an age-related decreasing trend in the percentage of choices to compete with a competitor. However, this age difference was only significant in the control group when participants played with the partner with whom they interacted in the previous game and in the losing group when participants competed with a non-rival competitor. This study contributes to our knowledge of how competitiveness develop in preschool childhood, and calls for further research on the roles of motivation and cognitive control in children's competitiveness.

Banking Relations, Competition and Research Incentives

OpenAIRE

Thomas Gehrig

2000-01-01

When banks incur sunk costs to provide ex-ante information about customers, exclusive banking relations will occur under intense price competition when monitoring costs are low. When monitoring costs are sufficiently high, only non-monitored finance will be provided, typically, by multiple lenders. While multiple lending generally is (second-best) efficient when it emerges, relationship lending typically is not. In our framework, the informational rents in relationships of a single financier ...

The Literature of Competitive Intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Thomas D.

1994-01-01

Describes competitive intelligence (CI) literature in terms of its location, quantity, authorship, length, and problems of bibliographic access. Highlights include subject access; competitive intelligence research; espionage and security; monographs; and journals. (21 references) (LRW)

Summative report of the public competition research and development on software for computational science and engineering in the fiscal year 1997 through 2002

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-09-01

Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute started the public competition research and development on software for computational science and engineering in 1997, and closed it in 2002. This report describes the system of the competition research and development, application situations, R and D subjects adopted, evaluation findings, outputs produced, achievements and problems, as a summative report of practice of the system for six years. (author)

How to develop patent work research in the enterprise competitive intelligence environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Nansheng; Ren Xiaorong

2014-01-01

with the enterprise competitive environment rapid change, the importance of competitive intelligence becomes suddenly to reveal day by day. The patent is one of the most important information sources of competitive intelligence. This article describes the present status of the enterprise patent work, proposes the patent work strategy, point out that if it wants to enhance the enterprise competitive power, it will pay attention to the patent work. (authors)

COMPETITIVENESS IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY: ROMANIAN STYLE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia-Elena TUCLEA

2008-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper is presented one of the important sectors of the nationaleconomy, at least from its potential for development perspective: thehospitality industry. The research interest is related to finding out the mainfactors of competitiveness in this field. This research attempts to identify theessential aspects of competitiveness in the hospitality industry. Theobjectives pursued refer to: discovering the degree to which the concept ofcompetitiveness is understood and capitalized on by the managers in theRomanian hospitality industry; identifying a set of factors considered decisivein raising the competitiveness of Romanian firms in the hospitality industry;identifying the strategic concerns of firms operating in the Romanianhospitality industry, in order to establish the connection between strategy andthe competitiveness of the firms belonging to this sector.As a result, the hypotheses are: in the hospitality industry there areparticularities which influence the firms’ competitiveness and strategicorientation; preoccupation towards raising competitiveness and strategicorientation is influenced by the type of exploitation and the number of stars(level of comfort; in the hospitality industry, managers focus on cost controland service quality as decisive factors of competitiveness.

RESEARCH ON INVESTMENT APPEAL AND COMPETITIVE CAPACITY OF INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES OF UKRAINE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olena Khadzhynova

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the research is an elaboration of theoretical, methodological, and methodical approaches to forming and developing competitive capacity and investment appeal of steel industry enterprises. The achievement of the given purpose has led to the necessity of formulating such scientific research concept, which bottom line is in the relevance of using modern management methods implemented in foreign manufacturing practices. These are innovative economic, technical, organizational, and corporate methods of managing enterprises with the help of developed systems of managing strategic changes in enterprise activities, the steel industry in particular, which will contribute to achieving the high level of effectiveness and competitiveness of domestic business units. The research methodology is based on the combination of theories of managing economic systems in the globalized market economy. The empirical base for the research consists of the works by domestic and foreign scientists on problems of formation and development of strategic change management systems at industrial enterprises, statistical records, companies’ public records in the Internet, data of international information agencies, Ukrainian legislation on regulating economic activity of enterprises. In carrying out the research, such methods were used as: general academic analysis and synthesis, systemic generalization, statistic and correlation analysis (when justifying the directions of development before carrying out the economic analysis of activities of metallurgical enterprises. There is a conclusion that the industry is concentrated and, consequently, long-term trends are quite predictable, but they require additional clarifications, taking into consideration the uncertainty in the modern state of world economy. It is determined that metallurgy development depends on GBP. The analysis shows that the countries with the high GDP level have quite developed metallurgy. One

Effect of Initial Conditions on Reproducibility of Scientific Research

Science.gov (United States)

Djulbegovic, Benjamin; Hozo, Iztok

2014-01-01

Background: It is estimated that about half of currently published research cannot be reproduced. Many reasons have been offered as explanations for failure to reproduce scientific research findings- from fraud to the issues related to design, conduct, analysis, or publishing scientific research. We also postulate a sensitive dependency on initial conditions by which small changes can result in the large differences in the research findings when attempted to be reproduced at later times. Methods: We employed a simple logistic regression equation to model the effect of covariates on the initial study findings. We then fed the input from the logistic equation into a logistic map function to model stability of the results in repeated experiments over time. We illustrate the approach by modeling effects of different factors on the choice of correct treatment. Results: We found that reproducibility of the study findings depended both on the initial values of all independent variables and the rate of change in the baseline conditions, the latter being more important. When the changes in the baseline conditions vary by about 3.5 to about 4 in between experiments, no research findings could be reproduced. However, when the rate of change between the experiments is ≤2.5 the results become highly predictable between the experiments. Conclusions: Many results cannot be reproduced because of the changes in the initial conditions between the experiments. Better control of the baseline conditions in-between the experiments may help improve reproducibility of scientific findings. PMID:25132705

CONCEPTUAL APPROACH OF COMPETITIVENESS AND INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN COMPETITION AND COMPETITIVENESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana GUTIUM

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This article is devoted to analysis of interdependence and correlation between competition and competitiveness, and competition’s consequences. The author analysed some authors’ visions on competitiveness, and common features between theories of competition and competitiveness. Using the synthetic indicator elaborated by author has been evaluated the competitiveness of domestic goods on the internal and external market. At the end of this article, the author has developed proposals to increase competitiveness.

Think Tank Initiative Phase 2: Strengthening Research Capacity ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Public policies work best when local actors design and implement them. ... that can do the ongoing research and analysis needed to effect improvements over time. ... to enable think tanks to improve organizational performance, research quality, and ... New initiative to further global sustainable development goals in health.

Managing Multiple Sources of Competitive Advantage in a Complex Competitive Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandre Howard Henry Lapersonne

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to review the literature on the topic of sustained and temporary competitive advantage creation, specifically in dynamic markets, and to propose further research possibilities. After having analyzed the main trends and scholars’ works on the subject, it was concluded that a firm which has been experiencing erosion of its core sources of economic rent generation, should have diversified its strategy portfolio in a search for new sources of competitive advantage, ones that could compensate for the decline of profits provoked by intensive competitive environments. This review concludes with the hypothesis that firms, who have decided to enter and manage multiple competitive environments, should have developed a multiple strategies framework approach. The management of this source of competitive advantage portfolio should have allowed persistence of a firm’s superior economic performance through the management of diverse temporary advantages lifecycle and through a resilient effect, where a very successful source of competitive advantage compensates the ones that have been eroded. Additionally, the review indicates that economies of emerging countries, such as the ones from the BRIC block, should present a more complex competitive environment due to their historical nature of cultural diversity, social contrasts and frequent economic disruption, and also because of recent institutional normalization that has turned the market into hypercompetition. Consequently, the study of complex competition should be appropriate in such environments.

Competitive intelligence: An instrument to enhance South Africa’s competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilma Viviers

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The case for Competitive Intelligence (CI as an instrument that can enhance the competitiveness of South African companies and South Africa as a country is strong. Various global competitive rankings measurements have indicated over a number of years the areas in which competitiveness is lacking. Moreover, these rankings have indicated that South Africa has failed to improve its position year on year. The fact that the world is becoming increasingly competitive for South African entities is undisputed. Coupled with a fluctuating exchange rate and the country’s geographical proximity, this poses unique challenges facing South African managers who have to deal with various regulations and legislative matters. In order to create and sustain an effective knowledge economy and to enhance global competitiveness, South Africa however has to put appropriate strategies/measures in place to stimulate, encourage and grow knowledge practices. Competitive Intelligence (CI as a means of making more sense of the competitive business environment and to identify opportunities and risks in time to act upon can be effectively used as a means to enhance competitiveness. Valuable lessons from successful CI practices in the business sector and government can be learnt from elsewhere in the world. CI should be investigated and adapted for South Africa’s business environment. It is therefore the aim of this article to first attempt to describe the role of CI in enhancing competitiveness, specifically in South Africa and secondly, to stimulate thought on how to secure momentum in enhancing CI as an academic field by developing relevant CI courses as well as demonstrating the value of CI to companies in South Africa through research and collaboration between academics and the private and public sectors.

EDITORIAL: Physics competitions Physics competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Jordens, H.; Mathelitsch, L.

2010-07-01

This editorial opens the second special section on physics competitions in European Journal of Physics. In the first section last year, we asked for feedback on the idea of such a section and on the content of the articles. We received no answer whatsoever, which can be interpreted in two ways: the section is not interesting enough to raise motivation for feedback, or the reader is satisfied. Having no indication which scenario is the correct one, we are optimistic and favour the second. The section at hand contains three articles. Again, as last year, the organizer of the annual Olympiad reports on tasks and outcomes of this competition. The Olympiad took place in Merida, Mexico, and was by far the largest event with 316 contestants from 68 countries. Again, the predominance of Asian/Chinese students was manifest, showing how serious the training is taken by both their authorities and students. Unfortunately, the winners of the last International Young Physicists' Tournament (IYPT), the team from Korea, did not accept the offer to report on their prize-winning contribution. We are thankful that two students from Austria, who achieved second place with their team, took over and reported on the task which they presented in the finals of the competition. It connects the fields of sport and physics and explains a special move in skateboarding. The third contribution introduces a different competition, 'International Conference of Young Scientists'. On one hand, as in the Olympiad, it addresses individuals, not teams. On the other, as in the IYPT, students have several months to prepare and also the quality of the presentation is an important element of the judgment. In fact, this competition comes closer to real scientific research compared to the other events. Finally and again, we hope that this section will serve several purposes: To show the competitions as a very important tool in the support of gifted students. To raise awareness amongst university teachers, and

Competitive advantage and corporate communications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mitić Sanja

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Strategic importance of corporate communications and its role in the development of competitive advantage has attracted interest of numerous researchers in the fields of organization, management, marketing and public relations. Recent studies particularly emphasise the growing importance of soft factors, such as reputation in the development of competitive advantage. Concept of reputation is strongly connected with stakeholder theory, which stresses the importance of corporate communications for competitive advantage of firms. The paper focuses on competitive advantage and the link among strategy, reputation and corporate communications.

7 CFR 550.46 - Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... eliminate unfair competitive advantage, contractors that develop or draft specifications, requirements... 7 Agriculture 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Competition. 550.46 Section 550.46 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF...

Exploring an Age Difference in Preschool Children’s Competitiveness Following a Competition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Hu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Literature suggests that resource acquisition compels competition in young children. However, little is still known about the development of preschool children’s competitiveness. In this preliminary study, 166 children (aged 2–4 and 5–6 years engaged in a dyadic competition which resulted in a winning and a losing group (in a control/non-competition group, participants engaged in a similar task which did not lead to winning/losing outcome, and then experimenters tracked their decisions to compete again with a rival (i.e., an individual they interacted in the previous competition task and a non-rival competitor (i.e., an anonymous classmate they did not interact in the previous competition task for a reward, respectively. As expected, results showed an age-related decreasing trend in the percentage of choices to compete with a competitor. However, this age difference was only significant in the control group when participants played with the partner with whom they interacted in the previous game and in the losing group when participants competed with a non-rival competitor. This study contributes to our knowledge of how competitiveness develop in preschool childhood, and calls for further research on the roles of motivation and cognitive control in children’s competitiveness.

Exploring an Age Difference in Preschool Children’s Competitiveness Following a Competition

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Yu; Zhu, Yi

2018-01-01

Literature suggests that resource acquisition compels competition in young children. However, little is still known about the development of preschool children’s competitiveness. In this preliminary study, 166 children (aged 2–4 and 5–6 years) engaged in a dyadic competition which resulted in a winning and a losing group (in a control/non-competition group, participants engaged in a similar task which did not lead to winning/losing outcome), and then experimenters tracked their decisions to compete again with a rival (i.e., an individual they interacted in the previous competition task) and a non-rival competitor (i.e., an anonymous classmate they did not interact in the previous competition task) for a reward, respectively. As expected, results showed an age-related decreasing trend in the percentage of choices to compete with a competitor. However, this age difference was only significant in the control group when participants played with the partner with whom they interacted in the previous game and in the losing group when participants competed with a non-rival competitor. This study contributes to our knowledge of how competitiveness develop in preschool childhood, and calls for further research on the roles of motivation and cognitive control in children’s competitiveness. PMID:29593610

ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIP AND GENERATION OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE: THE CASE OF THE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF RESEARCHERS ON COMPETITIVENESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Guadalupe Vargas Hernández

2011-03-01

Full Text Available This paper has the objective to demonstrate the contributions achieved by the International Network of Researchers in Competitiveness (INRCO in academic collaboration and scientific knowledge generation. Part of the assumption sustaining that economic globalization processes, information and communication technologies revolution lead to the increasing environmental complexity and uncertainty of a knowledge society. One answer is the study and analysis of competitiveness considered as the strategy to achieve higher levels of economic growth and socio-cultural development in all micro, meso and macro levels. The method used is the analytic-deductive based on the evidence of related data with the activity and results in publications of the International Network of Researchers in Competitiveness. Consequently, it has been adapted certain speculative notions in a theoretical analysis exploring the social dynamics of the scientific activities. It is concluded that the management of the researchers’ dynamic network is capable to generate, apply and recycle the critical knowledge and the assets of academic and scientific talent through a dynamic combination of resources that have a position inside the formal e informal borders and between these borders of participant academics and institutions.

Analyzing Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Strategically Managing Resource Allocations to Achieve Operational Competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdul Malek Nurul Aida

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In today’s dynamic business environment, a key challenge for all companies is to make adaptive adjustments to their manufacturing strategy. This study demonstrates the competitive priorities of manufacturing strategy in hydro-power case company to evaluate the level of sustainable competitive advantage and also to further analyze how business strategies are aligned with manufacturing strategies. This research is based on new holistic analytical evaluation of manufacturing strategy index, sense and respond, and sustainable competitive advantage models. These models help to describe, evaluate, and optimize resource allocation to meet the performance requirements in dynamic decision making. Furthermore, these models evaluate operational competitiveness for manufacturing strategies according to the multi-criteria priority. The results show that the adjustments of competitive priorities in manufacturing strategies by implementing the proposed holistic analytical models are helpful in strategically managing business operations. The discussion derives the most critical attributes in business operations while alignment of resource allocation with competitive priorities help to strategically focus those attributes. In conclusion, we argue that resource allocation and manufacturing strategies have become the most important capabilities in a business environment where companies focus to get a sustainable competitive advantage.

Competitive differentiation through brand extensions in the era of hyper competition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudiu-Catalin Munteanu

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In the era of hyper competition, competitive differentiation has become increasingly important. Brand extensions are used by companies across various industries for competitive differentiation. But in the era of hyper competition, a successful differentiation strategy requires that a brand emphasizes on uniqueness rather than commoditization. In this article, we make a case for creating a meaningful differentiation strategy. We emphasize the role of brand extensions for competitive differentiation and highlight the main perils of using brand extensions as a primary differentiation strategy. By using qualitative research, we identify primary objectives for brand extensions in practice. This investigation uses in-depth interviews with 14 senior brand managers across various industries to highlight brand portfolio strategies in relation to the brand differentiation strategy. Findings reveal that for business at the base of the pyramid, in markets such as Romania, brand managers are using brand extensions to increase sales or to boost short-term revenue rather than to implement a coherent differentiation strategy. We conclude with multiple recommendations for improving brand extension usage as a strategic instrument for creating meaningful differentiation in the era of hyper competition.

A proposal to Raise the Level of Competitive Advantage of Scientific Research from the Teaching Staff’s Perspective in Higher Education Institutions - the Kingdom of Bahrain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmed Noshy Anis ELsherbiny Elbaz

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The study aimed to provide a proposal to raise the level of competitive advantage in scientific research from the teaching staff’s perspective in higher education institutions - in the Kingdom of Bahrain. To achieve this objective, the study used a descriptive method, and a questionnaire as a tool for the field study. In order to determine the mechanisms for achieving competitive advantage in scientific research at the institutions of higher education in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the tool was administered to a sample of (137 faculty members  from some higher education institutions (public and private in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The field study revealed a number of results, inter alia, the study sample agreed with all the proposed mechanisms to achieve competitive advantage in scientific research at institutions of higher education in the Kingdom of Bahrain at a high degree. Their agreement to the themes was in this order: academic support for scientific research, financial support for scientific research, community support for scientific research, and information technology support for scientific research. The study results also showed no statistically significant differences between the responses of the study sample about the proposed mechanisms for achieving competitive advantage in scientific research due to the variables of the academic degree  and the institution. Keywords: Competitive advantage, Research, Higher education institutions.

Research on Initiation Sensitivity of Solid Explosive and Planer Initiation System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N Matsuo

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Firstly, recently, there are a lot of techniques being demanded for complex process, various explosive initiation method and highly accurate control of detonation are needed. In this research, the metal foil explosion using high current is focused attention on the method to obtain linear or planate initiation easily, and the main evaluation of metal foil explosion to initiate explosive was conducted. The explosion power was evaluated by observing optically the underwater shock wave generated from the metal foil explosion. Secondly, in high energy explosive processing, there are several applications, such as shock compaction, explosive welding, food processing and explosive forming. In these explosive applications, a high sensitive explosive has been mainly used. The high sensitive explosive is so dangerous, since it can lead to explosion suddenly. So, for developing explosives, the safety is the most important thing as well as low manufacturing cost and explosive characteristics. In this work, we have focused on the initiation sensitivity of a solid explosive and performed numerical analysis of sympathetic detonation. The numerical analysis is calculated by LS-DYNA 3D (commercial code. To understand the initiation reaction of an explosive, Lee-Tarver equation was used and impact detonation process was analyzed by ALE code. Configuration of simulation model is a quarter of circular cylinder. The donor type of explosive (SEP was used as initiation explosive. When the donor explosive is exploded, a shock wave is generated and it propagates into PMMA, air and metallic layers in order. During passing through the layers, the shock wave is attenuated and finally, it has influence on the acceptor explosive, Comp. B. Here, we evaluate the initiation of acceptor explosive and discuss about detonation pressure, reactive rate of acceptor explosive and attenuation of impact pressure.

MACROECONOMIC ASPECTS OF COMPETITIVENESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleg Hooke

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In the process of globalization of world economic processes, the role of individual national economies increases, comparative advantages of the development of a country are formed, and their competitiveness is ensured. That is why it is worth emphasizing the importance of increasing the competitiveness of each individual country, based on its internal capacity. In a broad aspect, the competitiveness of the national economy is perceived as the ability of the country to ensure the balance of its external proportions and to avoid those constraints imposed by the foreign economic sphere, to self-organizing the improvement of their world economic ties. The competitiveness of the economy at the macro level is associated with the duration of the cycle of reproduction of the main productive assets and, accordingly, the jobs, productive forces of society and determined by the overall economic efficiency of investment. The criteria of competitiveness of the national economy are the growth of social productivity of labor, increase of social and economic efficiency of production and standard of living of the population. The competitiveness of the national economy determines sustainable socio-economic development of the country, as well as sustainable development predetermines the competitiveness of not only the country, but also all its levels. Scientific results are obtained using special methods of research of economic objects and phenomena, that is, based on the correlation and regressive, comparative analysis (establishing the relationship between the indicator factor, as well as economic modeling. Findings. Generalizing analysis and the importance of the macroeconomic aspect of competitiveness were used in the research paper, which will allow to better respond to the economic situation, in accordance with the trends of the “green” transformation of the economy; which in turn will solve important problems of the development and implementation of its

The Danish 22q11 research initiative

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmock, Henriette; Vangkilde, Anders; Larsen, Kit Melissa

2015-01-01

mechanisms may come from studies of subjects with homogenous etiologies. Breakthroughs in psychiatric genetics have shown that several genetic anomalies predispose for neurodevelopmental brain disorders. We have established a Danish research initiative to study the common microdeletion at chromosome 22q11...

Hydrogen sulfide formation control and microbial competition in batch anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse wastewater sludge: Effect of initial sludge pH.

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Li; Ye, Jie; Zhang, Panyue; Xu, Dong; Wu, Yan; Liu, Jianbo; Zhang, Haibo; Fang, Wei; Wang, Bei; Zeng, Guangming

2018-07-01

High sulfur content in excess sludge impacts the production of biomethane during anaerobic digestion, meanwhile leads to hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) formation in biogas. Effect of initial sludge pH on H 2 S formation during batch mesophilic anaerobic digestion of slaughterhouse wastewater sludge was studied in this paper. The results demonstrated that when the initial sludge pH increased from 6.5 to 8.0, the biogas production increased by 10.1%, the methane production increased by 64.1%, while the H 2 S content in biogas decreased by 44.7%. The higher initial sludge pH inhibited the competition of sulfate-reducing bacteria with methane-producing bacteria, and thus benefitted the growth of methanogens. Positive correlation was found between the relative abundance of Desulfomicrobium and H 2 S production, as well as the relative abundance of Methanosarcina and methane production. More sulfates and organic sulfur were transferred to solid and liquid rather than H 2 S formation at a high initial pH. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Logistics potentials in business competitive advantage creation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafał Matwiejczuk

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Companies constantly search for ways to achieve and sustain long-term competitive advantage. Among the factors influencing the competitive advantage creation there are so called logistics potentials, which constitute a component part of a business strategic potentials. Logistics resources, logistics capabilities and logistics competences are the main components of the logistics potentials structure and hierarchy. Methods: In order to recognize the logistics potentials which determine the competitive advantage creation one may use the assumptions and elements of contemporary management concepts, including strategic management. In particular the article deals with Resource-Based View (RBV, Dynamic Capabilities Concept (DCC and - first of all - Competence-Based Management (CBM. Results and conclusions: Several significant research projects have presented a wide scope and a large number of possibilities of logistics potentials (and logistics competences in particular influence on business competitive advantage creation. The article briefly presents the research results conducted by: (1 Michigan State University (USA, (2 European Logistics Association (ELA in cooperation with A.T. Kearney, (3 Computer Sciences Corporation and (4 Capgemini. The research results have pointed out to differentiated but at the same distinctive symptoms of logistics competences influence on competitive advantage creation. The article also refers to the results of the research carried out by the Chair of Logistics & Marketing at Opole University (Poland in companies operating in Poland. The research has been mainly dealing with the significance of logistics competences in competitive advantage creation.

Is healthy competition healthy? New evidence of the impact of hospital competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Gift, Thomas L; Arnould, Richard; DeBrock, Larry

2002-01-01

Competition among hospitals is commonly regarded as inefficient due to the medical arms race phenomenon, but most evidence for this hypothesis predates the Medicare prospective payment system and preferred provider legislation. Recent studies indicate hospital competition reduces costs and prices, but nearly all such research has focused on California. We add to the body of literature that analyzes the effects of competition in hospital markets. Using data from the state of Washington, we show that hospitals assume more risk in competitive markets by being more likely to accept prospective payment arrangements with insurers. If the arrangement is retrospective, the hospital is more likely to offer a discount as the number of competing hospitals increases. Both findings indicate that competitive forces operate the same in hospital markets as in most others: as the number of competitors increases, prices decrease and market power shifts from the suppliers to purchasers. The medical arms race hypothesis that favors more concentrated hospital markets no longer appears to be valid.

A European initiative to define research needs and foster the adoption of Managed Aquifer Recharge into river basin management

Science.gov (United States)

Kneppers, Angeline; Grützmacher, Gesche; Kazner, Christian; Zojer, Hans

2010-05-01

The European Technology Platform for Water (WssTP) was initiated by the European Commission to federate a highly fragmented sector with the aim to foster competitive innovations and promote sustainable solutions. To achieve this, pilot programmes endorsing a bottom-up approach were launched in 2007 with a variety of stakeholders having representative water issues to solve. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) was adopted as a balancing process for the safe and sustainable development, allocation and monitoring of water resource use in the context of current and future social, economic and environmental objectives. As a result key drivers were selected and a methodology was followed to identify and validate the needs with stakeholders and experts, and demonstrate solutions as an integrated part of the river basin management plans. Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) was identified as a key component of integrated water resources management, especially in water scarce regions and an area relevant for further research. The paper shall summarize the process followed by the WssTP, initiating a Task Force with 36 representatives from European research institutes and industry partners with participation of a few international experts. During a workshop conducted in Graz in June 2009 these experts developed the basis for a report that has now been submitted to the European Commission for consideration in future research calls. Implementing IWRM and MAR is made difficult by the number of different water bodies, but also by the large number of stakeholders, policies, legislations and conflicting interests. The results of the MAR Task Force initiative set the basis for further discussions with the international MAR community on the relevance of the identified research needs but also on the importance and process to associate the institutional and managerial entities for capacity building and the adoption of MAR into the overall management strategies.

Dependence of sports results on data of physical development, morphofunctional and special power preparedness of weight-lifters at the stage of initial preparation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eugene Bugaev

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: the establishment of nature of the interrelation between sports results of weight-lifters and level of their special physical and morphofunctional preparedness. Material & Methods: 48 sportsmen of group of initial preparation of the first year of training were involved to the experiment. The research was conducted on the basis of the chair of weightlifting and boxing of Kharkov state academy of physical culture and CYSS “HTZ”. Results: the correlation between indicators of morphofunctional, high-speed and power and special (competitive preparedness of weight-lifters is revealed at the stage of initial preparation. The conducted research shows that the result of competitive exercises of the sportsmen, specializing in weightlifting at the stage of initial preparation, depends on power and high-speed and power preparedness. Conclusions: it is established that the correlation between results of competitive exercises and jumps uphill from the place, in length from the place, run on 30 m can demonstrate the interrelation of power and high-speed and power preparedness of the sportsmen, specializing in weightlifting at the stage of initial preparation.

View all initiatives | IDRC - International Development Research ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The Open Data for Development program's global network will facilitate and scale innovative approaches to open data to ensure benefits reach citizens in developing countries. Combining research and action to address scaling and sustainability of open data for development initiatives is key to the network's success.

Cooperative technological innovation and competitiveness in the nuclear arena

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castro Galvan, A.; Marco Pelegrin, M.; Salve Galiana, R.; Vallejo Haya, J.; Tagle Gonzalez, J. A.

2000-01-01

R and D and, more recently, technological innovation and its relationship with competitivity are more and more part of conferences, books, articles and political speeches and very often are the central part of them. Innovation has become fashionable and many initiatives have come out in connection with it. However, the relationship between technological innovation and competitivity are not always obvious. The current article intends to illustrate some mechanisms that link these two concepts through a specific case, DTN, that is already providing results for the Spanish nuclear industry and whose example can be extrapolated to other industrial sectors. The importance given by the nuclear to the innovation, the research and the technological development it is not new either exclusively belong to any specific organisation but makes evident the coherence between its traditional approach and the current idea of modernizing the country promoting the national technological capacity. (Author)

A competitive edge in France around EDF?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glachant, J.M.; Saguan, M.

2006-01-01

The French electric reform displays a rather particular case of creation of a competitive market around a former very large integrated monopoly that retains all of its industrial assets. This new market is growing like a competitive edge around the former monopoly The prevailing operator, which has mainly nuclear and hydraulic production equipment, could withstand all pressures from competitors during the initial price decrease phase, without openly abusing its market power. As a result, apart from the hypothesis of gigantic public offerings, the French market trend towards an ordinary competitive system does not seem likely to happen soon or spontaneously. (authors)

MICROECONOMIC ANALYSIS IN COMPETITION POLICY

OpenAIRE

Paul Prisecaru

2013-01-01

This paper presents some of the most important microeconomic tools used in assessing antitrust and merger cases by the competition authorities. By explaining the way that microeconomic concepts like “market power”, “critical loss” or “price elasticity of demand” are used by the modern competition policy, the microeconomics scholar can get a practical perspective on the way that these concepts fit into the more general concept of “competition policy”. Extensive economic research has shown what...

The Entrepreneurial University: A Case Study of the University of New Mexico in a Competitive Research Environment, 1972-1978.

Science.gov (United States)

Bjork, Lars G.

Factors affecting the emergence of the University of New Mexico as a research institution in a period of increased competition for research support are discussed. The case study covers the period of 1972-1978 and focuses on the development of the Office of the Vice President for Research and its entrepreneurial activities, including its increased…

The Global Interaction Research Initiative at the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bardram, Jakob Eyvind; Bjørn, Pernille; Glenstrup, Arne John

2011-01-01

This showcase paper describes the Global Interaction Research Initiative – GIRI – recently inaugurated at the IT University of Copenhagen. It presents the motivation for this initiative, namely that the use of information technology is the core enabling factor for global collaboration and business...... initiative, and we invite other researchers to join....

The interplay of management accounting research and NPM health initiatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Malmmose, Margit

This paper investigates the development of management accounting research in the context of New Public Management (NPM) initiatives in health care. Drawing on concepts from diffusion theory and earlier literature reviews, the paper examines the interplay between management accounting research...... and health care reforms in relation to country of origin, development, theoretical approach, research method and topic. The study thus establishes a different focus; namely the interrelationship between the development of management accounting research and practical socio-political NPM innovations. The study...... shows that management accounting techniques are increasingly adopted in governmental health reforms and diffused across nations, themes and initiatives through time with the result that wider social practices become more and more integrated in management accounting research themes...

The Competitive Advantages of Retail Enterprises: the Factor and the Result of Competitive Relations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chorna Maryna V.

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The article is aimed at systematization and development of a conceptual-categorical apparatus of the essence of competitive advantages. The approaches to their interpretation have been allocated. The essential characteristics and stages of the life cycle of competitive advantages are considered. As active stages it is suggested to consider the following: formation, implementation, and development. The basic properties of competitive advantages such as dual character have been substantiated and supplemented. Both the factor and the effective nature of competitive advantages are characterized. On the basis of the mentioned approaches together with the identified features, a definition of the concept of «competitive advantages» as economic category has been proposed. Its use as a base along with taking into consideration the functional specificity of trade enterprises has allowed: clarifying the essence of competitive advantages of retail enterprises; suggesting their definition as a factor and as a result of competitive relations. The identification of dual character will increase the possibilities to assess competitive advantages. Prospects for further researches in this direction are connected with allocating of peculiarities and kinds of competitive advantages of retail trade enterprises with the purpose of increasing the of validity of decisions on their formation, implementation, and development.

COMPETITIVENESS FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nelu Eugen POPESCU

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The current economic environment puts pressure on all national economies which struggle to improve their competitiveness and innovativeness in a sustainable way. This article aims to present the current state of the competitiveness by reviewing the main literature and worldwide researches, in order to provide a brief overview of the determinants that drive productivity and economic success at global and national level, taking into consideration the entrepreneurial activity for a country’s competitiveness and economic growth. The paper identifies the ways in which efficiency driven countries can improve their policies and get a better return on their investments, underlining a set of competitiveness enhancing policies (measures that can be implemented by public and private institutions in order to strengthen the economic fundamentals of the economies.

Integrated model of destination competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Armenski Tanja

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to determine the weakest point of Serbian destination competitiveness as a tourist destination in comparation with its main competitors. The paper is organized as follows. The short introduction of the previous research on the destination competitiveness is followed by description of the Integrated model of destination competitiveness (Dwyer et al, 2003 that was used as the main reference framework. Section three is devoted to the description of the previous studies on competitiveness of Serbian tourism, while section four outlines the statistical methodology employed in this study and presents and interprets the empirical results. The results showed that Serbia is more competitive in its natural, cultural and created resources than in destination management while, according to the Integrated model, Serbia is less competitive in demand conditions that refer to the image and awareness of the destination itself.

GLOBAL COMPETITION AND ROMANIA’S NATIONAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pop Nicolae Alexandru

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Analyzing products and services around us it is clear that most of them are the result of production factors, labor and capital becoming more international and increasingly less and less national. We are witnessing the globalization of markets and production, to a large global integration and interdependence, increase personalization of production and services as a result of new communication systems interaction and flexible production processes. Markets will continue to homogenize and diversify at the same time, so it is important that as a global marketer one addresses a market segment defined by income, age, and consumption habits and not by membership of a nation. The most visible and polarized is the premium segment fighting for high income clients where brand value plays an important role. Instead identification of large segments of customers offers the advantages of scale economy in production and marketing for global enterprises. Consumer profile is the dominant global consumer requesting and accepting global products and services easily. In fact, what can force an economic alignment to achieve the best performance, rather than the global consumer. The research methodology used includes literature review, comparative analysis, synthesis of data based on bibliographic resources and official documents.The aim of the paper is to highlight current models that underlie the competitive advantage of nations and assess the competitive advantage of Romania in the context of the global market. A case study is used to offer an overview of competitive advantage of Antibiotice Iasi SA, a competitive player, in a global pharmaceutical market with strong global competition. Countries moderate companies’ achievements of global efficiency objectives due to the countries’ rivalry. Romania has to understand that it is in competition with other countries in order to fulfill economic, political and social objectives. The scope in the end is the well

Para Sport Athletic Identity from Competition to Retirement: A Brief Review and Future Research Directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Guerrero, Michelle; Martin, Jeffrey

2018-05-01

The primary purpose of this article is to review the literature on para sport athletic identity and provide avenues for future research direction. First, the authors briefly describe the existing quantitative and qualitative research on para sport athletic identity and, thereby, illustrate the complexities para sport athletes experience regarding the way they describe their participation in competitive sport. Next, the authors describe how para sport athletes with acquired permanent disabilities and congenital disabilities face similar, yet unique, identity-related challenges. Finally, the authors argue that future researchers should consider examining para sport athletes' identity through narrative identity. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Towards a universal definition of competitive intelligence

OpenAIRE

Rene Pellissier; Tshilidzi E. Nenzhelele

2013-01-01

Background: Enterprises face intense competition caused by globalisation. Consequently, enterprises look for tools that provide a competitive advantage. Competitive intelligence (CI) provides a competitive advantage to enterprises of all sizes. There are many definitions of CI but no universally accepted one. Objectives: The purpose of this research is to review the current literature on CI with the aim of identifying and analysing CI definitions to establish the commonalities and differen...

Research on the Core Competitive Power Elements Evaluation System of Green Hotel

OpenAIRE

Hui LIANG

2013-01-01

Green hotel is a new type of hospitality industry development model based on the concept of circular economy and sustainable development. This paper makes an analysis and evaluation of the elements of green hotel core competence, on this basis, constructs the Green Hotel core competitive evaluation index system. The construction of the system is conducive to understand the green hotel’s own competitive advantage objectively, and explore ways to enhance its core competitiveness, providing obje...

Initiating a New Research Phase in the Field of International Entrepreneurship

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Coviello, Nicole; Tanev, Stoyan

2017-01-01

In a recent publication, Nicole Coviello (2015) emphasized the need to re-think existing research on international entrepreneurship and, more specifically, research on born-global firms. She pointed out that the main value of a critical review lies in initiating a new research phase focusing on t...... be of relevance for new technology firms aiming at an international or global engagement from their very inception.......In a recent publication, Nicole Coviello (2015) emphasized the need to re-think existing research on international entrepreneurship and, more specifically, research on born-global firms. She pointed out that the main value of a critical review lies in initiating a new research phase focusing...

The Economics of Tobacco Control Research Initiative | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The Economics of Tobacco Control Research Initiative ... action on tobacco will cause economic harm to governments, businesses, farmers, and poor families. ... Sign up now for IDRC news and views sent directly to your inbox each month.

Gaining Relational Competitive Advantages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Yimei; Zhang, Si; Li, Jizhen

2015-01-01

Establishing strategic technological partnerships (STPs) with foreign partners is an increasingly studied topic within the innovation management literature. Partnering firms can jointly create sources of relational competitive advantage. Chinese firms often lack research and development (R......&D) capabilities but are increasingly becoming preferred technological partners for transnational corporations. We investigate an STP between a Scandinavian and a Chinese firm and try to explore how to gain relational competitive advantage by focusing on its two essential stages: relational rent generation...... and appropriation. Based on an explorative case study, we develop a conceptual framework that consists of process, organizational alliance factors, and coordination modes that we propose lead to relational competitive advantage....

Properties of sports competitions and relation to market value

OpenAIRE

Tribušon , Matic

2018-01-01

Sports are a very popular type of entertainment around the world. Consequently, they have become very important from a business perspective. In this thesis, we research the influence of sports competition competitive balance on its market value. The aim is to determine the competitive balance of various sports competitions and explore the correlation between competitive balance and market value of sports competitions. We propose a method for assessing competitive balance of an arbitrary team ...

Initialization and Restart in Stochastic Local Search: Computing a Most Probable Explanation in Bayesian Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Mengshoel, Ole J.; Wilkins, David C.; Roth, Dan

2010-01-01

For hard computational problems, stochastic local search has proven to be a competitive approach to finding optimal or approximately optimal problem solutions. Two key research questions for stochastic local search algorithms are: Which algorithms are effective for initialization? When should the search process be restarted? In the present work we investigate these research questions in the context of approximate computation of most probable explanations (MPEs) in Bayesian networks (BNs). We introduce a novel approach, based on the Viterbi algorithm, to explanation initialization in BNs. While the Viterbi algorithm works on sequences and trees, our approach works on BNs with arbitrary topologies. We also give a novel formalization of stochastic local search, with focus on initialization and restart, using probability theory and mixture models. Experimentally, we apply our methods to the problem of MPE computation, using a stochastic local search algorithm known as Stochastic Greedy Search. By carefully optimizing both initialization and restart, we reduce the MPE search time for application BNs by several orders of magnitude compared to using uniform at random initialization without restart. On several BNs from applications, the performance of Stochastic Greedy Search is competitive with clique tree clustering, a state-of-the-art exact algorithm used for MPE computation in BNs.

EDUCATION AND COMPETITIVENESS IN THE GLOBALIZATION ERA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popa Ioan

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The educational system is one of the important factors in creating and developing the competitive forces of a country. The higher education provides the socio-economic environment with two basic services: teaching and research. The duality marks an entire history for higher education, but nowadays a new dilemma has emerged: economic efficiency (the university as an economic provider of services versus academic competitiveness (the university as a research forum. In addition, a new challenge seems to be altering the future of higher education, these stemming from the massive increase in the demand for university teaching services: elite higher education, thus efficient, highly competitive academically (competitiveness, or mass higher education, adapted to the demand, with the primary role of harnessing knowledge though professional training (effectiveness.

The impact of collaborations between universities and private organizations on cluster development and competitiveness in Romania

Science.gov (United States)

Stoicovici, D.; Bănică, M.; Ungureanu, M.; Stoicovici, M.

2017-05-01

While the European Union has put a lot of emphasis on cluster development due to their inherent advantages such as lower transaction costs, technological transfer and regional development, little is known about how clusters emerge and what can facilitate their competitiveness. This paper aims to study the impact of public-private cooperation between universities and organizations on cluster development and competitiveness. A literature review is employed to develop the model while 4 qualitative case studies provide the initial test of its validity. The analysis suggests that cooperating with research institutions impacts cluster development first through education of industrial staff, but also by developing innovation processes through the facilitation of the appearance of innovative ideas and also of knowledge sharing among organizations. The research has several implications both for organizations and for government officials. First of all, R&D and top management should actively seek to cooperate with research institutions both for training of their staff but also in seeking new ideas and as a way of collaborating with other organizations within the field without fear of losing competitive advantage. Second, government officials should try to create more incentives both for organizations (through for example tax returns) and for universities (extra funding or salary incentives) that can increase collaboration between these actors. This paper is the first one to asses empirically how cooperation with research institutions affect cluster competitiveness and development, especially within the developing region of Eastern Europe, Romania.

Changes in Subjective Sleep Quality Before a Competition and Their Relation to Competitive Anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehrlenspiel, Felix; Erlacher, Daniel; Ziegler, Matthias

2016-12-09

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of competitions on subjective sleep quality. Previous studies have been inconclusive and lack differentiated and standardized measurements of subjective sleep quality. Furthermore the temporal relation between precompetitive anxiety and sleep quality was investigated. Anxiety and nervousness associated with competitions are considered to cause sleep impairments. A convenience sample of N = 79 elite male athletes from various sports participated. In a time-to-event paradigm, sleep quality and competitive anxiety were assessed via standardized self-report measurements 4 days before a competition and on the day of the competition. Univariate analyses were used to examine differences between time points. To examine cross-lagged effects between anxiety and sleep quality a latent change score model (LCSM) was specified that tested an effect of anxiety on changes in sleep quality. Evaluations of nocturnal sleep deteriorated significantly from 4 days before competition to the day of competition, but there were no differences regarding perceptions of the restorative value of sleep. LCSM revealed that athletes who reported more intense worry symptoms 4 days before competition also reported greater deterioration in evaluations of nocturnal sleep. The findings support earlier reports of impaired subjective sleep quality before competitions. Precompetitive sleep impairments appear also to be preceded by cognitive anxiety. Whereas interventions should thus address worry-cognitions associated with competition and sleep, research should address the practical importance of these perceptions of sleep impairments.

Dietary Intake of Competitive Bodybuilders.

Science.gov (United States)

Spendlove, Jessica; Mitchell, Lachlan; Gifford, Janelle; Hackett, Daniel; Slater, Gary; Cobley, Stephen; O'Connor, Helen

2015-07-01

Competitive bodybuilders are well known for extreme physique traits and extremes in diet and training manipulation to optimize lean mass and achieve a low body fat. Although many of the dietary dogmas in bodybuilding lack scientific scrutiny, a number, including timing and dosing of high biological value proteins across the day, have more recently been confirmed as effective by empirical research studies. A more comprehensive understanding of the dietary intakes of bodybuilders has the potential to uncover other dietary approaches, deserving of scientific investigation, with application to the wider sporting, and potential health contexts, where manipulation of physique traits is desired. Our objective was to conduct a systematic review of dietary intake practices of competitive bodybuilders, evaluate the quality and currency of the existing literature, and identify research gaps to inform future studies. A systematic search of electronic databases was conducted from the earliest record until March 2014. The search combined permutations of the terms 'bodybuilding', 'dietary intake', and 'dietary supplement'. Included studies needed to report quantitative data (energy and macronutrients at a minimum) on habitual dietary intake of competitive bodybuilders. The 18 manuscripts meeting eligibility criteria reported on 385 participants (n = 62 women). Most studies were published in the 1980-1990s, with three published in the past 5 years. Study methodological quality was evaluated as poor. Energy intake ranged from 10 to 24 MJ/day for men and from 4 to 14 MJ/day for women. Protein intake ranged from 1.9 to 4.3 g/kg for men and from 0.8 to 2.8 g/kg for women. Intake of carbohydrate and fat was 6 months from competition) or immediate post-competition period and lowest during competition preparation (≤6 months from competition) or competition week. The most commonly reported dietary supplements were protein powders/liquids and amino acids. The studies failed to provide

Career Satisfaction and Perceived Salary Competitiveness among Individuals Who Completed Postdoctoral Research Training in Cancer Prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Faupel-Badger, Jessica M; Nelson, David E; Izmirlian, Grant

2017-01-01

Studies examining career satisfaction of biomedical scientists are limited, especially in the context of prior postdoctoral training. Here we focused on career satisfaction defined as satisfaction with one's career trajectory and perceived salary competitiveness among a predominantly Ph.D.-trained population of scientists who completed cancer prevention-related postdoctoral training between 1987-2011. National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program (CPFP) alumni (n = 114), and previous recipients of NCI-sponsored Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA/F32) postdoctoral fellowships (n = 140) completed online surveys. Associations of career satisfaction and perception of salary competitiveness with demographic, training, and employment-related factors were examined using logistic regression. Overall, 61% reported high levels of satisfaction with their career trajectory to-date. Higher salary (odds ratio [OR] = 2.86, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.07-7.69) and having more leadership roles (OR = 2.26, 95% CI:1.04-4.90) were independently associated with higher career satisfaction. Persons with race/ethnicity other than white (OR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.20-0.82) or age ≥ 50 (OR = 0.40, 95%CI: 0.17-0.94) had lower career satisfaction levels. There were no statistically significant differences in career satisfaction levels by gender, scientific discipline, or employment sector. 74% perceived their current salary as competitive, but persons with 5-9, or ≥10 years in their current position reported lower levels (OR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.15-0.65; and OR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.16-0.87, respectively), as did individuals in government positions (OR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.11-0.98). These data add to the understanding of career satisfaction of those with advanced training in biomedical research by examining these measures in relation to prior postdoctoral research training and across multiple career sectors.

Career Satisfaction and Perceived Salary Competitiveness among Individuals Who Completed Postdoctoral Research Training in Cancer Prevention.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jessica M Faupel-Badger

Full Text Available Studies examining career satisfaction of biomedical scientists are limited, especially in the context of prior postdoctoral training. Here we focused on career satisfaction defined as satisfaction with one's career trajectory and perceived salary competitiveness among a predominantly Ph.D.-trained population of scientists who completed cancer prevention-related postdoctoral training between 1987-2011. National Cancer Institute (NCI Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program (CPFP alumni (n = 114, and previous recipients of NCI-sponsored Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA/F32 postdoctoral fellowships (n = 140 completed online surveys. Associations of career satisfaction and perception of salary competitiveness with demographic, training, and employment-related factors were examined using logistic regression. Overall, 61% reported high levels of satisfaction with their career trajectory to-date. Higher salary (odds ratio [OR] = 2.86, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.07-7.69 and having more leadership roles (OR = 2.26, 95% CI:1.04-4.90 were independently associated with higher career satisfaction. Persons with race/ethnicity other than white (OR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.20-0.82 or age ≥ 50 (OR = 0.40, 95%CI: 0.17-0.94 had lower career satisfaction levels. There were no statistically significant differences in career satisfaction levels by gender, scientific discipline, or employment sector. 74% perceived their current salary as competitive, but persons with 5-9, or ≥10 years in their current position reported lower levels (OR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.15-0.65; and OR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.16-0.87, respectively, as did individuals in government positions (OR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.11-0.98. These data add to the understanding of career satisfaction of those with advanced training in biomedical research by examining these measures in relation to prior postdoctoral research training and across multiple career sectors.

Countries three wise men: Sustainability, Innovation, and Competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Miguel Fonseca

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The studies on links between sustainability, innovation, and competitiveness have been mainly focused at organizational and business level. The purpose of this research is to investigate if there is a correlation between these three variables at country level. Using international well recognized rankings of countries sustainability, innovation, and competitiveness, correlation analysis was performed allowing for the conclusion that there are indeed high correlations (and possible relationships between the three variables at country level. Design/methodology/approach: Sustainability, innovation, and competitiveness literature were reviewed identifying a lack of studies examining these three variables at country level. Three major well recognized indexes were used to support the quantitative research: The World Economic Forum (2013 Sustainability-adjusted global competitiveness index, the Global Innovation Index (2014 issued by Cornell University, INSEAD, and WIPO and the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (2014. After confirming the distributions normality, Pearson correlation analysis was made with results showing high linear correlations between the three indexes. Findings: The results of the correlation analysis using Pearson correlation coefficient (all correlation coefficients are greater than 0.73 give a strong support to the conclusion that there is indeed a high correlation (and a possible relationship between social sustainability, innovation and competitiveness at country level. Research limitations/implications: Further research is advisable to better understand the factors that contribute to the presented results and to establish a global paradigm linking these three main constructs (social sustainability, innovation, and competitiveness. Some authors consider that these measurements are not fully supported (e.g. due to different countries standards, however, it is assumed these differing underlying methodological approaches

An Examination of Regional Competitiveness: Early Findings from Banten, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Holis, Y. M.; Syabri, I.; Prabatmojo, H.

2018-05-01

Over time, the regional development planning paradigm continues to change procedural, substantive, actor and institutional aspects. The increasing globalization and decentralized governance systems will continue to determine how a country or region can compete and even be able to take advantage of the positive value of economic globalization. This certainly provides challenges and opportunities for the renewal of regional development concepts, in particular, the concept of regional competitiveness. This concept still lacks a scientific basis and its interpretation is still in debate. To date, the clear scientific basis is the concepts of corporate and national competitiveness. Whereas, the concept of competitiveness at the meso-level, namely the competitiveness of the region, becomes very important. Regional competitiveness prepares a region and to survive in response to the more open dynamics of economic globalization and the system of decentralization of authority in Indonesia. The objective of this research is to complement the concept of competitiveness which is still at the level of microeconomics (business theory) and macroeconomy (theory of growth) with the concept of competitiveness at the regional level that focuses on (i) finding determinant factors at the regional level in Indonesia; (ii) profiling regional competitiveness in several regions; and (iii) assessing the role of local government (institutional and actor) on determinants of regional competitiveness. This research is carried out by using a mixed-methods approach with a concurrent triangulation strategy model. The research follows the stages of literature study to identify the determinant factors of regional competitiveness relevant to the purpose of research, followed by descriptive analysis of the variables and selected by statistics through Analytical Network Process (ANP) to become the determinant factor of competitiveness. In accordance with the concept and definition of regional

Export competitiveness of pakistani horticultural products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akhtar, W.; Akmal, N.; Shah, H.; Tahir, A.; Niazi, M.A.

2013-01-01

This paper examines Pakistan's competitiveness in export of selected horticulture commodities by employing set of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and revealed competitive advantage indices with respect to global trade. Results demonstrate that Pakistan has comparative and competitive advantage over the period under analysis and indicates a transition from comparative and competitive disadvantage to comparative and competitive advantage during the period under analysis. Tangerines, mandarins, clem have maintained relatively higher revealed comparative advantage as compared to other categories for the whole period under analysis. Onion export has revealed comparative advantage with some fluctuations over time. The research indicates that Pakistan's comparative and competitive advantages have been increasing in all the selected commodities during period under analysis which indicates the potential of horticulture exports for foreign exchange earnings. There is need to strengthen comparative and competitive advantage in horticulture sector by policy support and facilitating role by all stakeholders. (author)

Research on the Core Competitive Power Elements Evaluation System of Green Hotel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hui Liang

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Green hotel is a new type of hospitality industry development model based on the concept of circular economy and sustainable development. This paper makes an analysis and evaluation of the elements of green hotel core competence, on this basis, constructs the Green Hotel core competitive evaluation index system.The construction of the system is conducive to understand the green hotel’s own competitive advantage objectively, and explore ways to enhance its core competitiveness, providing objective basis for sustainable development of China's Hotel industry.

Management Of Competition And Besting Among Crew Members: A Study At The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) In Utah, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Allner, Matthew; Bishop, Sheryl; Gushin, Vadim; McKay, Chris; Rygalov, Vadim; Allner, Matthew

Introduction: Psychosocial group functioning has become an increased international focus of many space faring nations due to the recent shift in focus of colonizing the Moon and then preparing to travel to Mars and beyond. Purpose: This study investigates the effects of competition and besting among crewmembers in isolated and confined extreme (ICE) environments. Furthermore, the study investigates the effects associated with both preand intra-mission management efforts, which included crewmember assessments at various mission phases (pre-, intra-, and end-mission). Suggestions on how to manage competition and besting within a crew were investigated by implementing preand intra-mission awareness strategies as well as group participation in the development and implementation of countermeasures to manage crewmember tendency towards competition and besting to promote the development of positive group functioning. Methods: A six person heterogeneous American crew conducted a Mars simulation mission at the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, USA in 2006 as part of a new NASA training program called Spaceward Bound. Participants were administered assessments of personality, personal and group identity/functioning, subjective stress, and subjective motivation. All participants were also provided information (pre-mission) regarding past research findings and tendencies of group functioning, stressors, cognitive functioning, and competition and besting. Results: Anecdotal data obtained from personal interviews with crewmembers strongly showed that pre-mission discussions regarding competition and besting provided awareness that allowed crewmembers to continually self-assess to prevent this tendency from surfacing during the mission. The assessment data results showed support for recorded diary materials which indicated crewmembers felt strongly that continual reminders of the besting concept, along with being allowed to participate in the development and

Research on the Competitive Strategy of Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Area Based on the Spatial Competition

OpenAIRE

Lu, Bo; Wang, Huipo

2016-01-01

By now, 13 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot areas have been approved by the State Council of China; Dalian and Tianjin are two of them. But with the development of the construction of the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot areas, the competition between those pilot areas is inevitable. Dalian and Tianjin are located in the Bohai Sea and the distance between them is only 800 kilometers. For Dalian and Tianjin they are in thus competitive situations: first they have to compe...

Competitive and rivalry behaviors in international business exchanges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Medlin, C. J.; Ellegaard, Chris

In this paper we explore competition as a process between firms; rather than as a background economic variable. We consider past competitor research on structured contexts and socially constructed competition, and develop a research model based on the priority of firm’s line of action: whether pr...

US Department of Energy nuclear energy research initiative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ross, F.

2001-01-01

This paper describes the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (NERI) that has been established to address and help overcome the principal technical and scientific issues affecting the future use of nuclear energy in the United States. (author)

Efficiency of the technique of the training process of highly skilled bodybuilders of the mesomorphic type of constitution in the competitive period

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olexandr Tyhorskіy

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose: foundation of efficiency of the technique of the training process of highly skilled bodybuilders in the competitive period. Material & Methods: 16 highly skilled bodybuilders of 22–30 years old participated in the research, the average body weight of sportsmen makes 872 – 1022 kg, which are included in the structure of the national team of Ukraine on bodybuilding. Methods: method of the theoretical analysis and generalization of literature, pedagogical observation, pedagogical experiment, method of mathematical statistics. Results: the comparative characteristic of the most often used techniques of the training process in bodybuilding is provided. The effective technique for highly skilled bodybuilders of the mesomorphic type of constitution, depending on the initial uniform of a sportsman at the beginning of the competitive period of training is developed and proved. Dependence of change of body weight of a bodybuilder on the training process is directed. Conclusions: on the effective training method, depending on microcycle of trainings in the competitive period precompetitive and competitive mesocycles (selection and main competitions, is offered the basis of the conducted research.

The dynamic relationship between plant architecture and competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, E David

2014-01-01

In this review, structural and functional changes are described in single-species, even-aged, stands undergoing competition for light. Theories of the competition process as interactions between whole plants have been advanced but have not been successful in explaining these changes and how they vary between species or growing conditions. This task now falls to researchers in plant architecture. Research in plant architecture has defined three important functions of individual plants that determine the process of canopy development and competition: (i) resource acquisition plasticity; (ii) morphogenetic plasticity; (iii) architectural variation in efficiency of interception and utilization of light. In this review, this research is synthesized into a theory for competition based on five groups of postulates about the functioning of plants in stands. Group 1: competition for light takes place at the level of component foliage and branches. Group 2: the outcome of competition is determined by the dynamic interaction between processes that exert dominance and processes that react to suppression. Group 3: species differences may affect both exertion of dominance and reaction to suppression. Group 4: individual plants may simultaneously exhibit, in different component parts, resource acquisition and morphogenetic plasticity. Group 5: mortality is a time-delayed response to suppression. Development of architectural models when combined with field investigations is identifying research needed to develop a theory of architectural influences on the competition process. These include analyses of the integration of foliage and branch components into whole-plant growth and precise definitions of environmental control of morphogenetic plasticity and its interaction with acquisition of carbon for plant growth.

Bargaining for Competitiveness: Law, Research and Case Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Block, Richard N., Ed.

This book is an analysis of the relationship among collective bargaining (CB), firm competitiveness, and employment protection/creation in the United States (U.S.). Comparisons are also made between the U.S. situation and that in Europe. "Collective Bargaining in Context" (Richard N. Block, Peter Berg) places the US system of industrial…

Competitive Legal Professionals’ use of Technology in Legal Practice and Legal Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T du Plessis

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Advances in the information and communication technologies have led to the availability of a range of primary and secondary legal research publications online via the Internet, rather than on other storing devices such as compact discs or publications in the print media. Not only has information and communication technology (ICT impacted on the availability of legal information resources, but its effects are also noticed in various law-related areas such as legal practice management, legal education, corporate governance and the law per se. The question addressed by this article is whether the application of ICTs has an effect on the practice of law, and specifically whether information and knowledge management affects the processes of legal research in modern legal practice. Various issues are considered in this regard, including what the concept of knowledge management (KM entails in a law firm and what the current KM trends in South African law firms are. The article investigates global trends in the application of ICTs for legal research purposes, what the specific applications of KM in support of legal research may be, how information technology applications and KM systems and strategies can support the legal research process, and what the benefits of KM are to legal research. It finally discusses the impact technology has had on the skills required of competitive legal professionals.

Retrospective injury epidemiology of one hundred one competitive Oceania power lifters: the effects of age, body mass, competitive standard, and gender.

Science.gov (United States)

Keogh, Justin; Hume, Patria A; Pearson, Simon

2006-08-01

The injury epidemiology of competitive power lifters was investigated to provide a basis for injury prevention initiatives in power lifting. Self-reported retrospective injury data for 1 year and selected biographical and training information were obtained via a 4-page injury survey from 82 men and 19 women of varying ages (Open and Masters), body masses (lightweight and heavyweight), and competitive standards (national and international). Injury was defined as any physical damage to the body that caused the lifter to miss or modify one or more training sessions or miss a competition. A total of 118 injuries, which equated to 1.2 +/- 1.1 injuries per lifter per year and 4.4 +/- 4.8 injuries per 1,000 hours of training, were reported. The most commonly injured body regions were the shoulder (36%), lower back (24%), elbow (11%), and knee (9%). More injuries appeared to be of a sudden (acute) (59%) rather than gradual (chronic) nature (41%). National competitors had a significantly greater rate of injury (5.8 +/- 4.9 per 1,000 hours) than international competitors (3.6 +/- 3.6 per 1,000 hours). The relative proportion of injuries at some body regions varied significantly as a function of competitive standard and gender. No significant differences in injury profile were seen between Open and Masters or between lightweight and heavyweight lifters. Power lifting appears to have a moderately low risk of injury, regardless of the lifter's age, body mass, competitive standard, or gender, compared with other sports. Future research should utilize a prospective cohort or case-controlled design to examine the effect of a range of other intrinsic and extrinsic factors on injury epidemiology and to assess the effects of various intervention strategies.

Tax system competition – instruments and beneficiaries

OpenAIRE

Krzysztof Biernacki

2014-01-01

Tax competition among states and jurisdictions has already been examined many times in the economic literature. However, the main scope of the research was focused on a tax rates competition in income taxes and its consequences in bringing direct investments. This scripture/commentary tries to analyze various instruments and beneficiaries of the tax system competition and provide a general overview on this subject.

The price effects of enhancing services sector competition in a large open economy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

P.A.D. Cavelaars

2003-01-01

textabstractThis paper studies the price e?ects of shocks to the degree of competition. It is motivated by initiatives to enhance competition in services in the European Union. The paper shows that a higher degree of competition in the nontradable goods sector may have adverse implications for

How chimpanzees cooperate in a competitive world

Science.gov (United States)

Suchak, Malini; Eppley, Timothy M.; Campbell, Matthew W.; Feldman, Rebecca A.; Quarles, Luke F.; de Waal, Frans B. M.

2016-01-01

Our species is routinely depicted as unique in its ability to achieve cooperation, whereas our closest relative, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), is often characterized as overly competitive. Human cooperation is assisted by the cost attached to competitive tendencies through enforcement mechanisms, such as punishment and partner choice. To examine if chimpanzees possess the same ability to mitigate competition, we set up a cooperative task in the presence of the entire group of 11 adults, which required two or three individuals to pull jointly to receive rewards. This open-group set-up provided ample opportunity for competition (e.g., freeloading, displacements) and aggression. Despite this unique set-up and initial competitiveness, cooperation prevailed in the end, being at least five times as common as competition. The chimpanzees performed 3,565 cooperative acts while using a variety of enforcement mechanisms to overcome competition and freeloading, as measured by (attempted) thefts of rewards. These mechanisms included direct protest by the target, third-party punishment in which dominant individuals intervened against freeloaders, and partner choice. There was a marked difference between freeloading and displacement; freeloading tended to elicit withdrawal and third-party interventions, whereas displacements were met with a higher rate of direct retaliation. Humans have shown similar responses in controlled experiments, suggesting shared mechanisms across the primates to mitigate competition for the sake of cooperation. PMID:27551075

Human Resources and Competitiveness. Report of the Committee on Human Resources, The President's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness. Research Report Series RR-87-27.

Science.gov (United States)

National Commission for Employment Policy (DOL), Washington, DC.

Competitiveness is a function of a nation's resources and how effectively those resources are used relative to that nation's competitors. The people of a nation, with their knowledge, skills, and attitudes, determine how effectively technology, capital, and trade will be used to the nation's competitive advantage. The competitive challenge to the…

Post-Colonialism Perspectives on Educational Competition

Science.gov (United States)

Yeh, Chuan-Rong

2016-01-01

Educational competition has always been the puzzle issue of educational researches. In this article, I analyze several aspects of educational competition within the perspective of post-colonialism discourse. In the political aspect, Taiwanese education is linked with political power, to present the post-colonial spirit by continuing dynastic…

EDITORIAL: Physics competitions Physics competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Jordens, H.; Mathelitsch, L.

2011-07-01

and Astrophysics. Those in charge of the competition give an overview of this relatively young tournament. They give a few examples of theoretical and experimental tasks, and one can see the strong connection between astronomy and physics, between the large scales in the universe and the small scales in particle physics. The third paper introduces a special competition called 'First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics'. It was conceived as a national event in Poland and has gained international reputation and acceptance since 1992. Papers are submitted from young students prior to university and are refereed in the same manner as real research papers. This means that the most important criterion is the originality and novelty of the activity performed in theoretical or experimental physics. The aims of this competition are set out below and can be seen as a credo for all competitions: promotion of scientific interest among young pupils selection and promotion of outstanding pupils enhancing motivation stimulation of school work establishing friendly relations between young physicists.

The application of quality management (TQM to enhance the competitiveness of agricultural entities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jelena Kristić

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In recent years quality management has become a new management segment and the most important factor in the market survival as well as in the growth and the development of business entities in most European and other countries worldwide. In order to determine characteristics of an efficient quality management system in agricultural entities and their impact on financial, economic and business performance and competitiveness, primary research was carried out on a sample of 248 respondents, i.e. the representatives of Croatian agricultural entities. The results of the research indicate there is a statistically significant relationship between a high level of TQM application and the horizontal and flexible organization structure, defined mission and vision, systematic observation of changes in the market, stable top management support, employee empowerment and their involvement in quality management activities, creating business environment that supports employee initiatives, education and training, measurable quality objectives, clear understanding of quality concept, business process evaluation and improvement, by using a proactive approach, and finally, orientation towards consumers. The study has found that TQM improves the financial, economic and business performance, i.e. increases market share, price competitiveness, competitive advantage, total sales, the introduction of new products, profitability, input use efficiency, exports, as well as employee and consumer satisfaction. Cost reduction is another advantage. Understanding the role of TQM is essential for gaining competitive advantage, which agricultural entities can achieve only through the synergy of all these elements.

REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND COMPETITION POLICY. CASE STUDY: EU, ASEAN AND NAFTA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fora Andreea-Florina

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The large number of regional trade agreements notified to the World Trade Organization (WTO significantly influenced the flow of world trade. By April 2014 there had been notified 583 regional trade agreements to the WTO, of which only 379 are in force. The objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of regional trade agreements in world trade, especially the importance of establishing a regional competition policy in these agreements. The research methodology used is the analysis of legislation governing preferential trade agreements at the level of WTO, the collection and interpretation of statistical data provided by the WTO Secretariat, the case study, namely the study of literature. The paper is structured in three parts. The first part of the paper examines the basic laws based on which regional trade agreements are notified to the WTO and the evolution of these agreements in the period 1958-2013. The second part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of competition policy in regional trade agreements. In this part of the paper, to highlight the patterns of competition policy adopted under these agreements was analyzed by three case studies of competition policy in the EU, ASEAN and NAFTA. The three case studies have revealed that the three preferential trade agreements present regional competition policies with varying degrees of integration. The most complex form of competition policy is found in the European Union, because we are talking about a centralized model of competition policy. ASEAN presents a partially decentralized model, while NAFTA scrolls with a decentralized model of competition policy. The last part of the paper presents the characteristics of the four models of competition policy identified in the preferential trade agreements in force. It should be emphasized that if the initial preferential trade agreements have not put a great emphasis on the rules of competition policy, practice has shown the importance

Dragons' Den: promoting healthcare research and innovation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mazhindu, Deborah; Gregory, Siobhan

2015-07-01

The changing health and social care landscape, and, in particular, the financial challenges affecting the NHS, can present difficulties for staff looking for funding to support innovation and new ways of working. One method of competitive tendering that is becoming more accepted as a way of allocating funds, encouraging staff engagement and developing innovation for research is a format based the BBC television series, Dragons' Den. This article describes how Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust, London, has developed a 'Dragons' Den initiative' of annual competitive research funding allocation to ensure that some of the most dynamic practice in the trust is captured.

Competitive intelligence tools used by small and medium-sized enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tshilidzi Eric Nenzhelele

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs contribute highly to the gross domestic product, reduction in unemployment, wealth creation and improvement in the quality of life. Due to technology and globalisation, SMEs now compete with enterprises beyond the borders of their country. To survive in this global competitive business environment, SMEs seek for tools that offer competitive advantage. Competitive Intelligence (CI provides competitive advantage to enterprises that practice it. While CI practice has been widely research for larger enterprises, there is lack of research on CI practice pertaining to SMEs. This research establishes tools used by SMEs in CI practice. The research was quantitative in nature and a self-administered questionnaire was used to collected data from owners/managers of SMEs

Honduras | IDRC - International Development Research Centre

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

In the wake of Hurricane Mitch in 1998, IDRC launched a five-year initiative to help ... were established, along with research competitions on water and energy. ... Their recommended use was to create more sustainable sources of revenue. ... that threatens political and social stability; prevent vulnerable youth from falling ...

Competitive pressures on income distribution in China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pan, H.

1999-01-01

to explore what perfect competition would do to income distribution in China. The research analyzes this question by determining personal income distribution under hypothetical, perfectly competitive conditions, where factors are rewarded according to their marginal productivities. Comparison with

Measures of Competitive Intensity – Analysis Based on Literature Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dariusz Kwieciński

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To systematize the existing approaches and tools used for measuring competitive intensity. Methodology: Systematic literature review along with critical literature review. Findings: Identifcation of two main approaches to measuring competition intensity: the frst pertains to research based on experts’ opinions and involves the use of questionnaires (primary sources, while the second is based on structural variables used with a variety of indexes (secondary sources. In addition, variables applied for the purpose of measuring the intensity of competition are divided into structural and behavioural. Research implications: Research implications are two-fold. Firstly, a distinction is made between various types of existing approaches to measuring competitive intensity. Secondly, research is carried out, inter alia, with regard to the actual object of certain measures, as opposed to their object stemming from commonly accepted defnitions. Practical implications: The issue of measuring competition intensity occupies a prominent place in the discussion on the effectiveness of inter-organizational relationships. The fndings outlined in this paper may help managers to develop/adopt the right approach supporting their strategic decisions. Originality: The paper provides a complex review of the existing methods and measures of competitive intensity. It systematizes recent knowledge about competitive intensity measurements.

Competitive advantage and corporate communications

OpenAIRE

Mitić Sanja; Ognjanov Galjina

2013-01-01

Strategic importance of corporate communications and its role in the development of competitive advantage has attracted interest of numerous researchers in the fields of organization, management, marketing and public relations. Recent studies particularly emphasise the growing importance of soft factors, such as reputation in the development of competitive advantage. Concept of reputation is strongly connected with stakeholder theory, which stresses the importance of corporate communications ...

HR Excellence in Research as an attribute of scientific institutions’ competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jarosławska-Sobór Sylwia

2017-03-01

Full Text Available What plays a major role in the process of building the competitiveness of an organization is not just the ability to adapt to the changing conditions in the environment, but also acquiring characteristics distinguishing it, which make it possible to keep, or improve its position on the market. What may be such a handicap for a scientific unit is the HR Excellence in Research (HRE logo, which is awarded by the European Commission under the strategy “Human Resources Strategy for Researchers” (HRS4R. It is awarded to scientific institutions, which implement the rules of the „European Charter for Researchers” and the „Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers”, and thanks to this create a friendly work environment and opportunities for development. In 2015 Central Mining Institute (GIG took steps aimed at getting the HR Excellence in Research logo, which is supposed to boost the attractiveness of the institute for scientists and contribute to further development of science and achieving a better position on the market. In the article the results of an internal analysis, which includes research on the opinions of scientific and research employees of GIG concerning the existing practices and rules governing research at the institute, are discussed. As a result of the research a Report together with an Action Plan were drawn up. They are supposed to support the creation of a friendly environment for scientific work and transparent rules for recruiting scientific employees. Also, the article highlights the most important challenges which the institute has to face in order to fully implement the guidelines of HRE, which stimulate economic and personal development.

Competitive advantage, what does it really mean?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

dr. Haijing de Haan; Hongjue Yan

2013-01-01

Competitive advantage is probably the most popular business concept today (Mooney, 2007). This article aims to investigate critically the discourse on competitive advantage, as expressed by business literature, by locating its meanings in the public higher education sector. This research reveals

NASA Gulf of Mexico Initiative Hypoxia Research

Science.gov (United States)

Armstrong, Curtis D.

2012-01-01

The Applied Science & Technology Project Office at Stennis Space Center (SSC) manages NASA's Gulf of Mexico Initiative (GOMI). Addressing short-term crises and long-term issues, GOMI participants seek to understand the environment using remote sensing, in-situ observations, laboratory analyses, field observations and computational models. New capabilities are transferred to end-users to help them make informed decisions. Some GOMI activities of interest to the hypoxia research community are highlighted.

Political and Economic Decisions and Competition – What is the Efficient Antimonopoly Policy?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irakli Lekvinadze

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the influence of economic decisions which affect the antitrust and competition support policies. Many countries provide governmental initiatives for improving antirust legislation. There is an effort to develop efficient legislation, to define market boundaries, to identify dominating companies, and to prevent cartel development. A review of the literature has shown that refined legislation does not work. Qualified and non-politicized economic decisions are required to provide fair and equitable competition in the marketplace. The discussions of various researchers are profiled on the economic issues. This article analyzes The Republic of Georgia’s 20 year unique market experiences in Eastern Europe. Recommendations have been proposed to increase the effectiveness of an anti-monopoly policy. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

13 CFR 124.507 - What procedures apply to competitive 8(a) procurements?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... boundaries are eligible to submit offers. (3) Competition for all non-construction requirements. Except for... procedures. Procuring activities will conduct competitions among and evaluate offers received from... the Participant submitted its initial offer which includes price. (5) If the procuring activity...

International technology-determined competitiveness and research and technology policy. A comparative study. Internationale technologiebestimmte Wettbewerbsfaehigkeit und Forschungs- und Technologiepolitik. Eine komparative Studie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Busch, R

1987-01-01

The study answers the following questions: What is international technological competition. How are the framework requirements, regarding innovation of chosen countries in Europe, Japan and the USA made available. To what extent and with which instruments are the countries under investigation prepared to engage in technological competition. Point of departure was the supposition that the international competitiveness of a country depends increasingly on the innovation capacity of its industries. Technological innovations then become a specific means of competition. It was ascertained that the technical complexity of the systems and products, the cost accumulation and the availability of qualified personnel are amongst the greatest problems of the industry of a country and, at the same time, offer starting points for a state-run research and technology policies. (orig./HSCH).

COMPETITIVENESS, VALUE CHAIN AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH COMPETITIVIDAD, CADENA DE VALOR E INVESTIGACION CIENTIFICA

OpenAIRE

Jaime Apolinar Martinez Arroyo; Irma Cristina Espitia Moreno; Marco Alberto Valenzo Jimenez

2013-01-01

This article discusses the importance of the sources of competitive advantage by cost or differentiation in the avocado value chain of exporting companies located in Uruapan, Michoacán. The analysis is made by assessing the impact of independent variables, dimensions and indicators on the dependent variable. This approach allows us to know or show the source of competitive advantage. That is, to observe the totally competitive advantage, you must know what activity the advantage derives from....

Economics of tobacco control research initiative: Operating costs for ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Economics of tobacco control research initiative: Operating costs for capacity building ... (but misinformed) beliefs about the economic benefits of the tobacco industry ... Nutrition, health policy, and ethics in the age of public-private partnerships.

Career Satisfaction and Perceived Salary Competitiveness among Individuals Who Completed Postdoctoral Research Training in Cancer Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

Faupel-Badger, Jessica M.; Nelson, David E.; Izmirlian, Grant

2017-01-01

Studies examining career satisfaction of biomedical scientists are limited, especially in the context of prior postdoctoral training. Here we focused on career satisfaction defined as satisfaction with one’s career trajectory and perceived salary competitiveness among a predominantly Ph.D.-trained population of scientists who completed cancer prevention-related postdoctoral training between 1987–2011. National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program (CPFP) alumni (n = 114), and previous recipients of NCI-sponsored Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA/F32) postdoctoral fellowships (n = 140) completed online surveys. Associations of career satisfaction and perception of salary competitiveness with demographic, training, and employment-related factors were examined using logistic regression. Overall, 61% reported high levels of satisfaction with their career trajectory to-date. Higher salary (odds ratio [OR] = 2.86, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.07–7.69) and having more leadership roles (OR = 2.26, 95% CI:1.04–4.90) were independently associated with higher career satisfaction. Persons with race/ethnicity other than white (OR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.20–0.82) or age ≥ 50 (OR = 0.40, 95%CI: 0.17–0.94) had lower career satisfaction levels. There were no statistically significant differences in career satisfaction levels by gender, scientific discipline, or employment sector. 74% perceived their current salary as competitive, but persons with 5–9, or ≥10 years in their current position reported lower levels (OR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.15–0.65; and OR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.16–0.87, respectively), as did individuals in government positions (OR = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.11–0.98). These data add to the understanding of career satisfaction of those with advanced training in biomedical research by examining these measures in relation to prior postdoctoral research training and across multiple career sectors. PMID:28121985

Lexical competition in nonnative speech comprehension.

Science.gov (United States)

FitzPatrick, Ian; Indefrey, Peter

2010-06-01

Electrophysiological studies consistently find N400 effects of semantic incongruity in nonnative (L2) language comprehension. These N400 effects are often delayed compared with native (L1) comprehension, suggesting that semantic integration in one's second language occurs later than in one's first language. In this study, we investigated whether such a delay could be attributed to (1) intralingual lexical competition and/or (2) interlingual lexical competition. We recorded EEG from Dutch-English bilinguals who listened to English (L2) sentences in which the sentence-final word was (a) semantically fitting and (b) semantically incongruent or semantically incongruent but initially congruent due to sharing initial phonemes with (c) the most probable sentence completion within the L2 or (d) the L1 translation equivalent of the most probable sentence completion. We found an N400 effect in each of the semantically incongruent conditions. This N400 effect was significantly delayed to L2 words but not to L1 translation equivalents that were initially congruent with the sentence context. Taken together, these findings firstly demonstrate that semantic integration in nonnative listening can start based on word initial phonemes (i.e., before a single lexical candidate could have been selected based on the input) and secondly suggest that spuriously elicited L1 lexical candidates are not available for semantic integration in L2 speech comprehension.

Sperm competition, immunity, selfish genes and cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Z; Price, T A R; Wedell, N

2008-10-01

Sperm competition is widespread and has played an important role in shaping male reproductive characters such as testis size and numbers of sperm produced, and this is reflected in the rapid evolution of many reproductive genes. Additionally, sperm competition has been implicated in the rapid evolution of seminal fluids. However, our understanding of the molecular basis of many traits thought to be important in sperm competition is rudimentary. Furthermore, links between sperm competition and a range of issues not directly related to reproduction are only just beginning to be explored. These include associations between sperm competition and selfish genes, immunity and diseases such as cancer.We briefly review these topics and suggest areas we consider worthy of additional research.

Investigation of the Effect of Training on the Development of High School Teachers' Attitudes towards Scientific Research and Project Competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Akçöltekin, Alptürk

2016-01-01

The main purpose of this study is to develop positive attitudes in high school teachers towards scientific research and project competitions by training them in scientific research and project preparation subjects. The study group consists of 90 high school teachers. As a result of the study, a significant difference was found in favor of…

The global energy industry: is competition among suppliers ensured?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Regibeau, P.

2000-01-01

Over the last 15 years, many factors have affected the effective degree of competition in coal, electricity, gas and oil. This paper concentrates on the effects of globalization, regulatory reform, privatization and inter-fuel mergers. While demand side globalization has led to increased competition, greater supply side globalization might lead to more collusive behaviour in sectors such as coal and electricity. Regulatory reform has helped foster competition in the US gas market and in several electricity markets. Still, regulators have imposed insufficient vertical separation and the regulation of international electricity transmission remains problematic. Privatization is very useful in enforcing initial changes in industry structure. Inter-fuel mergers might entail efficiency gains but they also raise significant issues for competition policy authorities. (orig.)

Peer Mentoring for Undergraduates in a Research-Focused Diversity Initiative

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Thomas E.; Logan, Kay; Lindwall, Jennifer; Beals, Caitlyn

2017-01-01

To provide multi-dimensional support for undergraduates from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds who aspire to careers in research, the BUILD EXITO project, part of a major NIH-funded diversity initiative, matches each scholar with three mentors: peer mentor (advanced student), career mentor (faculty adviser), and research mentor (research…

Research on the Competitive Strategy of Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Area Based on the Spatial Competition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Lu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available By now, 13 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot areas have been approved by the State Council of China; Dalian and Tianjin are two of them. But with the development of the construction of the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot areas, the competition between those pilot areas is inevitable. Dalian and Tianjin are located in the Bohai Sea and the distance between them is only 800 kilometers. For Dalian and Tianjin they are in thus competitive situations: first they have to compete with each other; second since they are located in Bohai Sea (North China, they have to compete with other cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot areas (South China. In this paper, our aim is to build models to provide best price strategies for these two cities. Based on the two-sided market theory and the geographical position, this paper builds two competitive theory models. Through the analyzing of the equilibrium, we get two main results: (1 according to different service area, the cities (Dalian and Tianjin should have different price; (2 the two-sided market characters have an impact on their strategies.

Competitive annealing of multiple DNA origami: formation of chimeric origami

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Majikes, Jacob M; Nash, Jessica A; LaBean, Thomas H

2016-01-01

Scaffolded DNA origami are a robust tool for building discrete nanoscale objects at high yield. This strategy ensures, in the design process, that the desired nanostructure is the minimum free energy state for the designed set of DNA sequences. Despite aiming for the minimum free energy structure, the folding process which leads to that conformation is difficult to characterize, although it has been the subject of much research. In order to shed light on the molecular folding pathways, this study intentionally frustrates the folding process of these systems by simultaneously annealing the staple pools for multiple target or parent origami structures, forcing competition. A surprising result of these competitive, simultaneous anneals is the formation of chimeric DNA origami which inherit structural regions from both parent origami. By comparing the regions inherited from the parent origami, relative stability of substructures were compared. This allowed examination of the folding process with typical characterization techniques and materials. Anneal curves were then used as a means to rapidly generate a phase diagram of anticipated behavior as a function of staple excess and parent staple ratio. This initial study shows that competitive anneals provide an exciting way to create diverse new nanostructures and may be used to examine the relative stability of various structural motifs. (paper)

Analysis of competition and market power in the wholesale electricity market in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shukla, Umesh Kumar; Thampy, Ashok

2011-01-01

The electricity reforms were initiated in India with the objective of promoting competition in the electricity market. In order to promote competition, the Electricity Act 2003 was enacted and various policy initiatives were taken by the Government of India. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) also facilitated competition through the regulatory framework of availability based tariff, Indian Electricity Grid Code, open access in inter-state transmission, inter-state trading and power exchanges. Despite these initiatives, electricity prices increased in the Wholesale Electricity Market in India (WEMI). This paper analyses the market structure and competitiveness in the WEMI. There are, of course, various potential reasons for the rise in the electricity price. This paper seeks to investigate, if market power was one of the reasons for increase in market prices. Concentration ratio, Herfindahl-Hirschman index, Supply Margin Assessment, and Residual Supply Index have been used to measure market power. This paper also uses the price-cost mark-up to examine, if exercise of market power led to higher margins. The analysis suggests that market power of firms may be part of the reason for the increase in electricity prices in WEMI. The study suggests various measures to increase competition in the WEMI.

Agglomeration economies, competitiveness and entrepreneurial performance

OpenAIRE

Páger, Balázs; Komlósi, Éva

2015-01-01

This paper aims to elaborate the role of agglomeration effects on countries' competitiveness and entrepreneurial performance. Our research contributes to the understanding of the relationship that exists between a country's urban system characterized by spatial agglomeration (concentration) or deglomeration (deconcentration) processes, and its competitiveness and entrepreneurial performance, respectively. Urbanization economies refer to considerable cost savings generated through the locating...

Competitive Advantage through Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brem, Alexander; Maier, Maximilian; Wimschneider, Christine

2016-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe how Nespresso achieved competitive advantage through innovation by changing the rules of the game in its industry. Design/methodology/approach Nespresso was analyzed based on public available secondary data, in combination with related academic...... concepts on innovation and competitive advantage. Findings The company succeeded by the thorough application of a strategy that, through perfect alignment, allowed the company to reach a unique market position. However, as described in the case, it took a relatively long time and the company came close...... as a source for competitive advantage. Research limitations/implications Especially given the current market situation, the case offers different starting points for discussion about innovation and long-term company success. Practical implications Especially before the current market situation, the case...

Accelerating target discovery using pre-competitive open science-patients need faster innovation more than anyone else.

Science.gov (United States)

Low, Eric; Bountra, Chas; Lee, Wen Hwa

2016-01-01

We are experiencing a new era enabled by unencumbered access to high quality data through the emergence of open science initiatives in the historically challenging area of early stage drug discovery. At the same time, many patient-centric organisations are taking matters into their own hands by participating in, enabling and funding research. Here we present the rationale behind the innovative partnership between the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC)-an open, pre-competitive pre-clinical research consortium and the research-focused patient organisation Myeloma UK to create a new, comprehensive platform to accelerate the discovery and development of new treatments for multiple myeloma.

The competitive advantage of sanctioning institutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gürerk, Ozgür; Irlenbusch, Bernd; Rockenbach, Bettina

2006-04-07

Understanding the fundamental patterns and determinants of human cooperation and the maintenance of social order in human societies is a challenge across disciplines. The existing empirical evidence for the higher levels of cooperation when altruistic punishment is present versus when it is absent systematically ignores the institutional competition inherent in human societies. Whether punishment would be deliberately adopted and would similarly enhance cooperation when directly competing with nonpunishment institutions is highly controversial in light of recent findings on the detrimental effects of punishment. We show experimentally that a sanctioning institution is the undisputed winner in a competition with a sanction-free institution. Despite initial aversion, the entire population migrates successively to the sanctioning institution and strongly cooperates, whereas the sanction-free society becomes fully depopulated. The findings demonstrate the competitive advantage of sanctioning institutions and exemplify the emergence and manifestation of social order driven by institutional selection.

MICROECONOMIC ANALYSIS IN COMPETITION POLICY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul Prisecaru

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents some of the most important microeconomic tools used in assessing antitrust and merger cases by the competition authorities. By explaining the way that microeconomic concepts like “market power”, “critical loss” or “price elasticity of demand” are used by the modern competition policy, the microeconomics scholar can get a practical perspective on the way that these concepts fit into the more general concept of “competition policy”. Extensive economic research has shown what are the market forces and economic factors that determine how cartels, which are at the core of antitrust policy, are established and sustained over time. One of the most important of these factors is the markets exposure to innovation, especially disruptive innovation. In these markets, the paradox, from a competition policy perspective, can be considered the fact that collusion is one of the least important concerns, due to the specific elements that determine the nature of competition.Instead, the main anticompetitive risk in the markets exposed to intensive innovation is unilateral conduct by which dominant incumbents can exclude competitors.

Mediterranean Way of Competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Art Kovacic

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The Mediterranean area have a special concept of competitiveness topic. Normally is that region not so industrial and knowledge based oriented as a North Europe.That countries can't reach the same development level as the north one. Lisbon's and Goethenburg's strategies create the main framework of development programme. Mediterranean programme is such a case. European internal market has forced the EU countries to increase competitiveness. The economic prosperity of countries is associated with their ability to generate or attract economic activities which are able to increase income by performing well on themarket. Financial crisis in the EU has changed the look on the competitiveness research. Economy in the main countries has to find way of recovery. Former giants of the financial world have found themselves suddenly facing bankruptcy.Inevitably, the crisis is also having an effect on households and businesses - economic growth has slowed sharply and in some EU countries unemployment has begun to increase for the first time in several years. Form that perspective we have to find the right solution of European competitiveness.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PRUNEA Ana Daniela

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Rapid changes in market characteristics and the technological innovations are common and faster challenges, resulting in products, processes and technologies. The competitive advantage is volatile, difficult to obtain and more difficult to maintain and strengthened with consumers who through their individual choices polarization confirms the recognition performance and award competitive advantages, thus causing the competitive ranking of companies present in a particular market. The competitive advantage lies in the focus of the performance of companies in competitive markets and innovation is a source for obtaining and consolidating it. Companies will need to demonstrate the capacity to adapt to changes in the business environment so as to maintain the helded positions. This paper treats this aspect behavior that companies should adopt to get on the account of innovation a sustainable competitive advantage. I started of the work in the elaboration from the theory of developed by Michael Porter in his book "Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance" we applied methods listed thus trying to point out possible ways of creating competitive advantage by companies. We have presented the sources of competitive advantage and the factors on which depends its creation. Walking theoretical research revealed how lack of competitive advantage leads to a lack of competitiveness of companies and the benefits that arise with the creation of this type of asset. Among the most important benefits is to increase performances. Once the competitive advantage is achieved, it must be maintained and updated market conditions and the methods that can be created a sustainable competitive advantage represent the answers to many of the companies questions are fighting for survival in an environment of fierce competition. The implementation of methods for obtaining competitive advantages, but also exist dangers, that every company should know them

International Society of Nephrology-Hydration and Kidney Health Initiative - Expanding Research and Knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Moist, Louise M; Clark, William F; Segantini, Luca; Damster, Sandrine; Le Bellego, Laurent; Wong, Germaine; Tonelli, Marcello

2016-01-01

The purpose of this manuscript is to describe a collaborative research initiative to explore the role of hydration in kidney health. Our understanding of the effects of hydration in health and disease is surprisingly limited, particularly when we consider the vital role of hydration in basic human physiology. Recent initiatives and research outcomes have challenged the global medical community to expand our knowledge about hydration, including the differences between water, sugared beverages and other consumables. Identification of the potential mechanisms contributing to the benefits of hydration has stimulated the global nephrology community to advance research regarding hydration for kidney health. Hydration and kidney health has been a focus of research for several research centers with a rapidly expanding world literature and knowledge. The International Society of Nephrology has collaborated with Danone Nutricia Research to promote development of kidney research initiatives, which focus on the role of hydration in kidney health and the global translation of this new information. This initiative supports the use of existing data in different regions and countries to expand dialogue among experts in the field of hydration and health, and to increase scientific interaction and productivity with the ultimate goal of improving kidney health. © 2016 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

Does information matter? Competition, quality, and the impact of nursing home report cards.

Science.gov (United States)

Grabowski, David C; Town, Robert J

2011-12-01

We evaluate the effects of the Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI), which introduced quality measures to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Nursing Home Compare website, on facility performance and consumer demand for services. The nursing home Minimum Data Set facility reports from 1999 to 2005 merged with facility-level data from the On-Line Survey, Certification, and Reporting System. We rely on the staggered rollout of the report cards across pilot and nonpilot states to examine the effect of report cards on market share and quality of care. We also exploit differences in nursing home market competition at baseline to identify the impacts of the new information on nursing home quality. The introduction of the NHQI was generally unrelated to facility quality and consumer demand. However, nursing homes facing greater competition improved their quality more than facilities in less competitive markets. The lack of competition in many nursing home markets may help to explain why the NHQI report card effort had a minimal effect on nursing home quality. With the introduction of market-based reforms such as report cards, this result suggests policy makers must also consider market structure in efforts to improve nursing home performance. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Unsustainable Growth, Hyper-Competition, and Worth in Life Science Research: Narrowing Evaluative Repertoires in Doctoral and Postdoctoral Scientists' Work and Lives

Science.gov (United States)

Fochler, Maximilian; Felt, Ulrike; Müller, Ruth

2016-01-01

There is a crisis of valuation practices in the current academic life sciences, triggered by unsustainable growth and "hyper-competition." Quantitative metrics in evaluating researchers are seen as replacing deeper considerations of the quality and novelty of work, as well as substantive care for the societal implications of research.…

Undergraduate business students' attitudes towards CSR and competitiveness of Serbian economy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ćoćkalo Dragan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the findings of the research dealing with the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR and its connections with competitiveness. The authors deal with competitiveness of enterprises, as well as activities that promote socially responsible business in Serbia. Special attention is given to the review and analysis of research results of Serbian undergraduate business students' attitudes on CSR and competitiveness. In a five-year- period the research included over 3,300 examinees. The population was built on students from universities and business schools located in total 22 cities and municipalities in Serbia. The research was conducted using questionnaire. Among other, the research has shown that a number of examinees were not informed of the CSR. Students experience the Serbian economy as uncompetitive and have identified several factors that are lacking in the development of competitiveness.

Significant competitive advantage conferred by meiosis and syngamy in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Science.gov (United States)

Birdsell, J; Wills, C

1996-01-01

The presumed advantages of genetic recombinations are difficult to demonstrate directly. To investigate the effects of recombination and background heterozygosity on competitive ability, we have performed serial-transfer competition experiments between isogenic sexual and asexual strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The members of these diploid pairs of strains differed only in being heterozygous (sexual) or homozygous (asexual) at the mating type or MAT locus. Competing pairs had either a completely homozygous or a heterozygous genetic background, the latter being heterozygous at many different loci throughout the genome. A round of meiotic recombination (automixis) conferred a large and statistically significant enhancement of competitive ability on sexual strains with a heterozygous genetic background. By contrast, in homozygous background competitions, meiosis decreased the sexual strains' initial relative competitive ability. In all cases, however, the sexual strains outcompeted their isogenic asexual counterparts, whether meiotic recombination had occurred or not. In some genetic backgrounds, this was due in part to an overdominance effect on competitive advantage of heterozygosity at the MAT locus. The advantage of the sexual strains also increased significantly during the course of the homozygous background competitions, particularly when meiosis had occurred. This latter effect either did not occur or was very weak in heterozygous background competitions. Overall, sexual strains with heterozygous genetic backgrounds had a significantly higher initial relative competitive ability than those with homozygous backgrounds. The advantage of mating type heterozygosity in this organism extends far beyond the ability to recombine meiotically. PMID:8570658

The monopolistic competition revolution in retrospect

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brakman, Steven; Heijdra, Ben J.

2002-01-01

In this paper we argue that there have been two monopolistic competition revolutions. The first was started by Joan Robinson and Edward Chamberlin in the 1930s but failed to have much impact on economic theory. The second was initiated by Avinash Dixit and Joseph Stiglitz in the early 1970s. Their

COMPETITIVENESS OF DEFENSE INDUSTRY IN TURKEY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hakki BILGEN

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Turkey has created some opportunities for the organisations in the defense industry to generate a suitable business and to ensure its sustainability. The domestic coverage ratio of defense system need in 2010 is aimed as 50%. To achieve this target depends on the defense industry competitiveness. In this study, the development plans, strategies and foreign trade are examined. Its contribution which has an important place in the research and development investment, is not at the level expected in Turkey’s economy. Turkey occupies 47th position in World Competitiveness Scoreboard, and 61st position in Global Competitiveness Index in 2009. The index factors are investigated to understand the competitiveness according to the Porter’s diamond model, applied in Turkey for the first time. As a result, the competitiveness analysis of Turkish defense industry is carried out and its global place and competitive advantage are exposed. Therefore, a framework is made to introduce a guide for decision-making by using a widely-accepted model, and to contribute to the plans and strategies

SOCIAL ASPECTS OF COMPETITIVENESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klimova A. V.

2014-06-01

Full Text Available One of the most important conditions of the existence of every organization, every enterprise is to insure the long-term sustainable development, one of the conditions of which is the increase of an organizational competitiveness. In modern economic conditions, social aspects of competitiveness are now in the foreground of interest, because just the strategy of social responsibility (SSR of modern enterprises can assure some commercial benefits, in responding, at the same time, to the social demands and in creating its well-being. Such an approach is in the basis of the notion of competitiveness. Along with «rigid parameters», such as price characteristics, the capability to deal with competitors, effective financial and production policies, «flexible factors» of competitiveness are of a big importance: a personnel potential, individual and collective competencies, organizational and managerial capabilities. As a result, we have formulated a research hypothesis: the organizational competitiveness is defined by individual and collective competencies of an organization, is based on socially responsible actions, confirms the demand for the object and insures its sustainable long-term development. Any organization should base all its actions aimed to increase its competitiveness on its intellectual potential, or on the management of individual and collective competencies that assure the sustainable development and the goal achievement. For every organizational strategic action, an effective combination of these competencies exists. So, we suggest a new definition of competitiveness: it is a social and economic category of understanding of the social responsibility, having as a central element individual and collective competencies, based on socially responsible actions of an enterprise, insuring its long-term sustainable development.

FORMATION OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES OF ENTERPRISES IN TERMS OF GLOBALIZATION: COMPETITIVE DYNAMICS AND AN INTELLECTUAL COMPONENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleg Tarasenko

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the article is to investigate the current state of scientific thought in relation to the formation of intellectual capital of an enterprise in the innovation process, achievement by the enterprise of corresponding competitive advantages and their protection. Methodology. The methodological basis of the article is the systematic approach, which provided a comprehensive definition of the scope of this research – intellectual property and its protection as a complex economic and legal category. This made it possible to systematically define the purpose, level of abstraction, hierarchy, forms of manifestation, and key attributes of the subject of research. Application of principles of modelling of business processes also allowed studying the influence of factors of the external environment on the sequence of information flows in the process of forming competitive advantages on the basis of intellectual property. In addition, having determined the scientific basis, the collective and local monographic studies of leading scientists concerning the specificity of the formation of competitive advantages of innovative enterprises, including on the basis of intellectual capital, were also taken into account. Results. The article studies, describes and, correspondingly, formalizes modern processes of formation of competitive advantages in the conditions of Smart Economy: knowledge management, their patenting, modern significance, and the influence of patenting on the role of intellectual property in the investigated phenomena, as well as management of relevant information flows. Practical implications. The research demonstrates ways of forming competitive advantages in the modern economy, and the results of the analysis of relevant statistics explain patterns of economic and legal processes in the field of relevant practical activities. This allows assessing the actual state of the subject of the research, determining the development

Breakfast in human nutrition: The international breakfast research initiative

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gibney, Michael J.; Barr, Susan I.; Bellisle, France

2018-01-01

to relate breakfast nutrient intakes to overall diet quality. The present review describes a novel and harmonised approach to the study of the nutritional impact of breakfast through The International Breakfast research Initiative involving national dietary survey data from Canada, Denmark, France, Spain...

Competition policies on the electricity markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dubois, U.

2008-01-01

This article puts forward a critical analysis of European competition instruments and practices in terms of market power on the electricity wholesale markets. Due to the speck nature of electrical activities, competition policies come up against difficulties of market power identification at first, since there is no model for detecting perfectly the potential or real exertion of market power in this sector. What is more, since competition authorities rely on specific intervention methods, their ability to limit the exertion of market power is relatively low. For a large number of their interventions involves controlling concentrations. In the light of this double phenomenon, this article discusses some recent developments of European competition policies on the electricity wholesale markets. The sector inquiry of 2007 seems to mark the start of a new competition policy practice in the electricity sector. The initiative and decision-making power now seem to be nesting mainly at a European level where action is not only to be found in terms of controlling mergers and acquisitions, but also stretches to involve an in-depth evaluation of the way the different markets work. This action is manifested in decisions to investigate some companies as well as legislative proposals in the framework of the third package. Thus we are moving towards a greater monitoring of electricity markets using more formal supervision instruments and on a more continuous basis. (author)

A Strategic Approach for Funding Research: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Patient Safety Initiative 2000-2004

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Keyes, Margaret A; Ortiz, Eduardo; Queenan, Deborah; Hughes, Ronda; Chesley, Francis; Hogan, Eileen M

2005-01-01

.... While the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has historically funded some research on patient safety, much of that support was driven by a small number of highquality investigator-initiated research projects...

Energy market competition in the EU and G7: the relative extent of energy market competition in the EU and G7

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-09-01

This report presents a methodology for measuring the competitiveness of energy markets in the light of the UK government's Public Service Agreement target to ensure that the UK ranks within the top three most competitive markets. Details are given of the approach taken involving the identification of competitiveness indicators in the supply chain, analysis of current practices by regulatory and competitive authorities, application of a scoring rule, and aggregation and weighting of the scores. The initial filtering of countries based on the presence of crucial characteristics, the availability of data, and the ease of interpretation and evaluation of the filters is described along with detailed indicators for upstream markets, wholesale markets, retail suppliers and network activities. Information on data sources, data used for indicator evaluation, calculation of US and Canadian comparators, profitability margins, and links between companies is presented in appendices.

A harmonized and efficient clinical research environment would benefit patients and enhance European competitiveness. Commentary.

Science.gov (United States)

Amato, Antonino; Aringhieri, Eugenio; Boccia, Stefania; Buccella, Filippo; Gorini, Barbara; Gramaglia, Donatella; Masetti, Riccardo; Rossi, Paolo; Pelicci, Pier Giuseppe

2017-01-01

The forthcoming implementation of the European Clinical Trial Regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 536/2014), which is expected to facilitate the conduct of clinical trials across the European Union, will require National Authorities to create the best conditions for the implementation of the new Regulation through national guidelines, so that sponsors may reconsider Europe as a prime location for planning clinical trials. During a meeting titled "Innovation in Clinical Research", an expert panel discussed potential local advances fostering competitiveness of European clinical research with representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, patient organisations and Italian regulatory agency in view of the forthcoming implementation of (EU) No. 536/2014 on clinical trials of medicinal products. In this article we summarise the findings of the meeting, describe features characterising clinical research patterns and offer some suggestions on the possible involvement of all stakeholders in order to foster research innovation and allow the timely access to novel medicines for patients.

Revised article: Business Ideas Competition

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

THIS ARTICLE REPLACES THAT PUBLISHED IN BULLETIN 27/2003, PAGE 8. "The Rainbow Seed Fund is a UK fund, which provides finance to support the commercialization of good ideas founded on scientific research; it is for the benefit of the UK industry in particular. To encourage ideas from CERN the Rainbow Seed Fund is running a business ideas competition. The winner of this competition will receive an immediate cash prize of GBP £1,000. In addition the Rainbow Seed Fund may well provide finance for market research, for protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and for prototyping to take the idea forward. Further awards of GBP £750 will be made for ideas which gain investment from the Fund. Candidates will only be required to prepare a 2-4-page summary of their business idea, and not a full business plan. Full details and an entry form are available at http://www.rainbowseedfund.com." ALL Members of the Personnel seeking participation in the business ideas competition are asked to submit their ideas via ...

Resource competition in plant invasions: emerging patterns and research needs

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Gioria, Margherita; Osborne, B. A.

2014-01-01

Roč. 5, č. 501 (2014), s. 1-21 ISSN 1664-462X Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : plant invoasions * resource competition * dominance Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 3.948, year: 2014

The Innovative Medicines Initiative moves translational immunology forward.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldman, Michel; Wittelsberger, Angela; De Magistris, Maria-Teresa

2013-02-01

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) was established in 2008 as a public-private partnership between the European Union and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations with the mission to promote the development of novel therapies through collaborative efforts based on the concept of pre-competitive research. Several consortia supported by IMI are dedicated to immuno-inflammatory disorders, immune-based biopharmaceuticals and vaccines. Herein, we present the key principles underlying IMI, briefly review the status of projects related to translational immunology, and present future topics of interest to immunologists.

Genuine participation in participant-centred research initiatives: the rhetoric and the potential reality.

Science.gov (United States)

Feeney, Oliver; Borry, Pascal; Felzmann, Heike; Galvagni, Lucia; Haukkala, Ari; Loi, Michele; Nordal, Salvör; Rakic, Vojin; Riso, Brígida; Sterckx, Sigrid; Vears, Danya

2018-04-01

The introduction of Web 2.0 technology, along with a population increasingly proficient in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), coupled with the rapid advancements in genetic testing methods, has seen an increase in the presence of participant-centred research initiatives. Such initiatives, aided by the centrality of ICT interconnections, and the ethos they propound seem to further embody the ideal of increasing the participatory nature of research, beyond what might be possible in non-ICT contexts alone. However, the majority of such research seems to actualise a much narrower definition of 'participation'-where it is merely the case that such research initiatives have increased contact with participants through ICT but are otherwise non-participatory in any important normative sense. Furthermore, the rhetoric of participant-centred initiatives tends to inflate this minimalist form of participation into something that it is not, i.e. something genuinely participatory, with greater connections with both the ICT-facilitated political contexts and the largely non-ICT participatory initiatives that have expanded in contemporary health and research contexts. In this paper, we highlight that genuine (ICT-based) 'participation' should enable a reasonable minimum threshold of participatory engagement through, at least, three central participatory elements: educative, sense of being involved and degree of control. While we agree with criticisms that, at present, genuine participation seems more rhetoric than reality, we believe that there is clear potential for a greater ICT-facilitated participatory engagement on all three participatory elements. We outline some practical steps such initiatives could take to further develop these elements and thereby their level of ICT-facilitated participatory engagement.

Natural capital as a factor in regional competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kasztelan Armand

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Environmental resources and values (natural capital should be seen as a key factor in regional competitiveness. However, little attention has been paid so far to the role of natural capital in the process of achieving competitive advantage from the territorial perspective. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study on the environmental competitiveness of Polish regions. The author’s contribution to the theory is the use of taxonomic metrics for research purposes. Based on certain predefined criteria the environmental potential of each voivodship was assessed in 2004 and 2012. For research purposes, 26 indicators of state, pressure, and environmental protection were proposed. Owing to the fact that the subset of diagnostic variables (indicators contained elements that could not be directly aggregated, their unification was achieved using standardization formulas. The methodology proposed by the author might be used to assess environmental competitiveness in different regions or countries. The results of the performed analyses indicated that the Subcarpathian province scored highest in terms of environmental competitiveness, while Swiętokrzyskie province scored lowest.

The rd LAK data competition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Drachsler, Hendrik; Dietze, Stefan; Herder, Eelco; d'Aquin, Mathieu; Taibi, Davide; Scheffel, Maren

2017-01-01

The LAK Data Challenge 2015 continues the research efforts of the previous data competitions in 2013 and 2014 by stimulating research on the evolving fields Learning Analytics (LA) and Educational Data Mining (EDM). Building on a series of activities of the LinkedUp project, the challenge aims to

Socio-Cultural Factors and International Competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Madara Apsalone

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Socio-cultural factors – shared values, norms and attitudes are significant, but less acknowledged sources of international competitiveness. Previous studies have found socio-cultural factors positively affecting various aspects of international competitiveness – entrepreneurship, innovation, productivity and international cooperation. These factors are more sustainable and less affected by external environment changes in comparison with the traditional factors. Socio-cultural factors provide an opportunity to develop competitiveness strategies based on unique advantages. This research aims to explore the impact of socio-cultural factors on international competiveness in small, open economies. Analysing relationship between 400 socio-cultural indicators and competitiveness indicators such as productivity, economic development, business and government efficiency, innovation capacity and infrastructure in 37 countries, six socio-cultural factors have emerged: Collectivism and Hierarchy; Future, Cooperation and Performance Orientation, Self-expression, Monochronism and Rationality, Economic Orientation and Social structure. The first factor – Collectivism and Hierarchy – tends to reduce the international competitiveness; the other five affect it positively.

Collecting Societies, Competition and the Services Directive

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riis, Thomas

2011-01-01

the harms to cultural diversity. In addition to the competition law complications, the Services Directive puts significant restrictions on the member states to adopt or maintain national rules for collecting societies and that creates an urgent need for adopting a framework directive for collecting......The market for collective management of copyrights in the EU is in transition and the collecting societies are facing a number of challenges primarily based on the EU rules on competition and the freedom to provide services. Some of the major right holders are withdrawing their rights from...... the system of reciprocal representation agreements which fragments the repertoire. This is partly due to the market evolution and the emergence of new business models but also promoted by the European Commission initiatives intended to introduce a certain degree of competition in the collective management...

Secondary Products (Markets, Competition, and Technological Improvements)

Science.gov (United States)

Philip A. Araman

1988-01-01

Competitiveness, imports, exports, and technological improvements--these are issues facing secondary wood-product manufacturers. The major problems focus on increasing foreign imports and the inability of U.S. industries to repell the imports. How and where should we, as researchers, allocate our efforts to enhance the competitiveness of secondary forest industries in...

Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI) : User Needs Assessment: Stakeholder Engagement Report.

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-01

The Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI) is a joint U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) initiative that is co-led by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). ATTRI ...

Papaya Development Model As A Competitive Local Superior Commodity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reny Sukmawani

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this research is to study the comparative advantage and papaya competitive and to design its development model by using the approach of local base agriculture development. This research uses survey method. The resulting research shows that papaya is a base commodity that has comparative advantage and competitive. The development papaya in the district of Sukabumi is quite good bases on eight superior creations. But in order to be the main sector in economic development and has a competition, the development of papaya must concern to its influence factors. In supporting papaya development as a competitive local superior commodity, it needs to be done some efforts are as follows: (1 increase a skillful worker; (2 improve business management; (3 increase papaya productivity by using technology and study papaya planted technology in specific local superior commodity; (4 develop the involvement of the business relation; (5 provide market information and information technology network; and (6 improve infrastructures.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Academic Research Program

Science.gov (United States)

Loomer, S. A.

2004-12-01

"Know the Earth.Show the Way." In fulfillment of its vision, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) provides geospatial intelligence in all its forms and from whatever source-imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial data and information-to ensure the knowledge foundation for planning, decision, and action. To achieve this, NGA conducts a multi-disciplinary program of basic research in geospatial intelligence topics through grants and fellowships to the leading investigators, research universities, and colleges of the nation. This research provides the fundamental science support to NGA's applied and advanced research programs. The major components of the NGA Academic Research Program (NARP) are: - NGA University Research Initiatives (NURI): Three-year basic research grants awarded competitively to the best investigators across the US academic community. Topics are selected to provide the scientific basis for advanced and applied research in NGA core disciplines. - Historically Black College and University - Minority Institution Research Initiatives (HBCU-MI): Two-year basic research grants awarded competitively to the best investigators at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Minority Institutions across the US academic community. - Director of Central Intelligence Post-Doctoral Research Fellowships: Fellowships providing access to advanced research in science and technology applicable to the intelligence community's mission. The program provides a pool of researchers to support future intelligence community needs and develops long-term relationships with researchers as they move into career positions. This paper provides information about the NGA Academic Research Program, the projects it supports and how other researchers and institutions can apply for grants under the program.

The relationship among customer demand, competitive strategy and manufacturing system functional objectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Xu

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To ascertain the relationship between the operation system function goal decision making and customer demand and competition strategy, can better discover and integrate all available resources (including important capital resources to achieve business opportunities, the establishment of sustainable competitive ability. Because, to achieve business development lead policymakers take great uncertainty, which led to the investment behavior required for the operational activities of resources also bear the enormous risks. Design/methodology/approach: Through principal component analysis on the data collected by questionnaires, the manuscript obtains dominant factors for customer demand, competitive strategy and manufacturing system functional objectives respectively. By these factors, it tests its three hypotheses with the data from northeast of China and draws some conclusions. Findings: The results show that customer demand have a significant positive effect on competitive strategy; competitive strategy have positive influence on manufacturing system functional objectives; customer demand affect the functional objectives, by competitive strategy. Research limitations/implications: In this research, competitive strategy and manufacturing system functional objectives are influenced by customer demand. The conclusion of the research can provide theoretical guidance for Chinese enterprises which carry out manufacturing system functional objectives. Originality/value: In this research, a new measure questionnaire of competition strategy, customer satisfaction and operating system function goal was used, analyzed the influence factors of time, quality, cost, efficiency, service and environment, on the operation of the system. The study shows that the effect of competition strategy and customer demand has a direct impact on the operating system functions, customer demand through competitive strategy of indirect effects operating system functions.

Disentangling Competition Among Platform Driven Strategic Groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kazan, Erol; Tan, Chee-Wee; Lim, Eric

2015-01-01

In platform-driven markets, competitive advantage is derived from superior platform design and configurations. For this reason, platform owners strive to create unique and inimitable platform configurals to maintain and extend their competitiveness within network economies. To disentangle firm...... competition within platform-driven markets, we opted for the UK mobile payment market as our empirical setting. By embracing the theoretical lens of strategic groups and digital platforms, this study supplements prior research by deriving a taxonomy of platform-driven strategic groups that is grounded...

COMPETITIVENESS - KEY ISSUES OF THE ROMANIAN ECONOMY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriela-Liliana, CIOBAN

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Based on the theory that competitiveness plays an increasingly powerful role in creating prosperity, wealth, a large number of economists, researchers, scientists, highlight a number of approaches aimed, on the one hand, on the analysis of competitiveness at national or regional level, and on the other hand, on the ability of local firms to achieve competitive products and to commercialize them in the extern markets. In this context we aim to analyze and develop strategies and methods to help identify competitive areas at a national level. This is necessary because in our opinion the competitiveness of a company and / or country is more than wealth itself; it means a systematic process of wealth creation, plus a social system in which most citizens have access to material wealth. We consider in this respect that a country cannot automatically be considered competitive only if it is rich in natural resources. In our view, a competitive country creates wealth through labor, talent and organization and thus it manages to have a productive and creative potential making it independent of material resources.

Early results from a multi-component French public-private partnership initiative to improve participation in clinical research - CeNGEPS: a prospective before-after study.

Science.gov (United States)

Bordet, Régis; Lang, Marie; Dieu, Christelle; Billon, Nathalie; Duffet, Jean-Pierre

2015-08-19

A public-private (51/49 %) partnership was initiated in 2007 in France to improve the attractiveness of French sites in industry-sponsored international clinical trials. This initiative developed and implemented a combination of structuring actions and support actions. Here we report the assessment of the impact after 6 years on participation of French study sites in industry-sponsored clinical trials. We performed a prospective before-after study of clinical research activities in French public hospitals to assess the impact of actions developed and implemented by CeNGEPS. The programme involved a combination of structuring actions (establishment of sites of excellence, national networks and dedicated clinical research assistants (CRAs)), support actions (tools, templates and training) and competitive budget allocation for sites or networks based on performance. The impact was assessed using the following performance criteria: 1) reduction of the delay to contract signature to ≤ 60 days for 80 % of the trial sites; 2) inclusion of ≥80 % of the planned number of patients by at least 80 % of trial sites; 3) closure of attractiveness for industry-sponsored clinical research. The two main actions, i.e. establishing sites of excellence throughout the country with well-trained, dedicated staff and establishing a national network of clinical investigators, could be adapted to other countries in Western Europe to improve Europe's attractiveness to industry-funded trials.

Marketing innovations as source of enterprise's competitive advantage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stanković Ljiljana

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Enterprise's competitiveness and strategic position are influenced by numerous factors. Market factors represent significant group that cause the need for developing new business models and implementing strategic shifts in business orientations of enterprises. Development of innovations and marketing capabilities are critical factors of modern enterprises' success. Theory and practice show that both innovations in marketing and marketing of innovations contribute to improving competitiveness on all levels, and also more efficient use of limited resources. This paper is structured as follows: first the competitiveness of Serbian economy is analyzed, then role of market orientation and open innovation models are explained as well as their importance for improving competitiveness. At the end, based on results of researching theory and practice of enterprises in Serbia, authors present identified relation of business performance, innovativeness and market orientation, followed by conclusions and directions for further research.

Project setup and learning processes in participative systems oriented research initiatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langeveld, J W A; Crawford, A; Paine, M

2006-01-01

makers and administrators, grassroots movements and research staff. It is expected that such a coordinated research initiative can revitalize the contribution of farming to rural development and yield important insight to be used by the individual farmer in coping with future challenges....

The European initiative on low-dose risk research: from the HLEG to MELODI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belli, Mauro; Tabocchini, Maria Antonella; Jourdain, Jean-Rene; Repussard, Jacques; Salomaa, Sisko

2015-01-01

The importance of low-dose risk research for radiation protection is now widely recognised. The European Commission (EC) and five European Union (EU) Member States involved in the Euratom Programme set up in 2008 a 'High Level and Expert Group on European Low Dose Risk Research' (HLEG) aimed at identifying research needs and proposing a better integration of European efforts in the field. The HLEG revised the research challenges and proposed a European research strategy based on a 'Multidisciplinary European Low Dose Initiative' (MELODI). In April 2009, five national organisations, with the support of the EC, created the initial core of MELODI (http://www.melodi-online.eu) with a view to integrate the EU institutions with significant programmes in the field, while being open to other scientific organisations and stakeholders, and to develop an agreed strategic research agenda (SRA) and roadmap. Since then, open workshops have been organised yearly, exploring ideas for SRA implementation. As of October 2014, 31 institutions have been included as members of MELODI. HLEG recommendations and MELODI SRA have become important reference points in the radiation protection part of the Euratom Research Programme. MELODI has established close interactions through Memorandum of Understanding with other European platforms involved in radiation protection (Alliance, NERIS and EURADOS) and, together with EURADOS, with the relevant medical European Associations. The role of Joint Programming in priority setting, foreseen in the forthcoming EU Horizon 2020, calls for keeping MELODI an open, inclusive and transparent initiative, able to avoid redundancies and possible conflicts of interest, while promoting common initiatives in radiation protection research. An important issue is the establishment of a proper methodology for managing these initiatives, and this includes the set-up of an independent MELODI Scientific Committee recently extended to Alliance, NERIS

The European initiative on low-dose risk research: from the HLEG to MELODI.

Science.gov (United States)

Belli, Mauro; Tabocchini, Maria Antonella; Jourdain, Jean-René; Salomaa, Sisko; Repussard, Jacques

2015-09-01

The importance of low-dose risk research for radiation protection is now widely recognised. The European Commission (EC) and five European Union (EU) Member States involved in the Euratom Programme set up in 2008 a 'High Level and Expert Group on European Low Dose Risk Research' (HLEG) aimed at identifying research needs and proposing a better integration of European efforts in the field. The HLEG revised the research challenges and proposed a European research strategy based on a 'Multidisciplinary European LOw Dose Initiative' (MELODI). In April 2009, five national organisations, with the support of the EC, created the initial core of MELODI (http://www.melodi-online.eu) with a view to integrate the EU institutions with significant programmes in the field, while being open to other scientific organisations and stakeholders, and to develop an agreed strategic research agenda (SRA) and roadmap. Since then, open workshops have been organised yearly, exploring ideas for SRA implementation. As of October 2014, 31 institutions have been included as members of MELODI. HLEG recommendations and MELODI SRA have become important reference points in the radiation protection part of the Euratom Research Programme. MELODI has established close interactions through Memorandum of Understanding with other European platforms involved in radiation protection (Alliance, NERIS and EURADOS) and, together with EURADOS, with the relevant medical European Associations. The role of Joint Programming in priority setting, foreseen in the forthcoming EU Horizon 2020, calls for keeping MELODI an open, inclusive and transparent initiative, able to avoid redundancies and possible conflicts of interest, while promoting common initiatives in radiation protection research. An important issue is the establishment of a proper methodology for managing these initiatives, and this includes the set-up of an independent MELODI Scientific Committee recently extended to Alliance, NERIS and EURADOS, with

The meaning of competition between social and market rented housing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lennartz, C.; Haffner, M.E.A.; Oxley, M.J.

2009-01-01

When policy makers claim that rented housing has to become more competitive, there is no consensus on what competition in this context actually means. The same holds true for scientific housing research: Theories that have utilized the economic concept of competition tend to rely on implicit

How winning changes motivation in multiphase competitions.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Szu-Chi; Etkin, Jordan; Jin, Liyin

2017-06-01

What drives motivation in multiphase competitions? Adopting a dynamic approach, this research examines how temporary standing-being ahead of (vs. behind) one's opponent-in a multiphase competition shapes subsequent motivation. Six competitions conducted in the lab and in the field demonstrate that the impact of being ahead on contestants' motivation depends on when (i.e., in which phase of the competition) contestants learn they are in the lead. In the early phase, contestants are concerned about whether they can win; being ahead increases motivation by making winning seem more attainable. In the later phase, however, contestants are instead driven by how much additional effort they believe they need to invest; being ahead decreases motivation by reducing contestants' estimate of the remaining effort needed to win. Temporary standing thus has divergent effects on motivation in multiphase competitions, driven by a shift in contestants' main concern from the early to the later phase and thus the meaning they derive from being ahead of their opponent. By leveraging insights gained from approaching individuals' self-regulation as a dynamic process, this research advances understanding of how motivation evolves in a unique interdependent self-regulatory context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Above- and belowground competition from longleaf pine plantations limits performance of reintroduced herbaceous species.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

T.B. Harrington; C.M. Dagley; M.B. Edwards.

2003-10-01

Although overstory trees limit the abundance and species richness of herbaceous vegetation in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) plantations, the responsible mechanisms are poorly understood because of confounding among limiting factors. In fall 1998, research was initiated to determine the separate effects of above- and belowground competition and needlefall from overstory pines on understory plant performance. Three 13- to 15-yr-old plantations near Aiken, SC, were thinned to 0, 25, 50, or 100% of nonthinned basal area (19.5 m2 ha-1). Combinations of trenching (to eliminate root competition) and needlefall were applied to areas within each plot, and containerized seedlings of 14 perennial herbaceous species and longleaf pine were planted within each. Overstory crown closure ranged from 0 to 81%, and soil water and available nitrogen varied consistently with pine stocking, trenching, or their combination. Cover of planted species decreased an average of 16.5 and 14.1% as a result of above- and below-ground competition, respectively. Depending on species, needlefall effects were positive, negative, or negligible. Results indicate that understory restoration will be most successful when herbaceous species are established within canopy openings (0.1-0.2 ha) managed to minimize negative effects from above- and belowground competition and needlefall.

Economic Development and "National Competitive Advantage"

OpenAIRE

J.T., Goode

2002-01-01

Despite the preponderance of economic theory and research which argues to the contrary, the notion that national economies stand in a fundamentally competitive relationship with one another remains surprisingly widespread. In recent years, some of the most influential impetus for this misperception has come from Michael Porter's conceptualization of "the competitive advantage of nations" in relation to economic development and date theory. It is argued that Porter neither proposes nor demonst...

ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES, COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND PERFORMANCE IN SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES IN VIETNAM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nham Phong Tuan

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on applying the resource-based view (RBV of firms to explain performance in supporting industries in Vietnam. Specifically, we based our research on the comprehensive framework of RBV and reviewed previous empirical researches before deciding on adopting a dynamic capabilities approach to test relationships among organisational capabilities, competitive advantage and performance. A multivariate analysis of survey responses of 102 firms belonging to supporting industries in Vietnam indicates that the organisational capabilities are related to the competitive advantage, that the competitive advantage is related to performance, and that the competitive advantage mediates the relationship between organizational capabilities and performance. These findings have considerable implications for academics as well as practitioners. Finally, this study also provides directions for future research.

47 CFR 22.228 - Cellular rural service area licenses subject to competitive bidding.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Cellular rural service area licenses subject to... Procedures § 22.228 Cellular rural service area licenses subject to competitive bidding. Mutually exclusive initial applications for Cellular Rural Service Area licenses are subject to competitive bidding. The...

BMC Ecology image competition: the winning images

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

BMC Ecology announces the winning entries in its inaugural Ecology Image Competition, open to anyone affiliated with a research institute. The competition, which received more than 200 entries from international researchers at all career levels and a wide variety of scientific disciplines, was looking for striking visual interpretations of ecological processes. In this Editorial, our academic Section Editors and guest judge Dr Yan Wong explain what they found most appealing about their chosen winning entries, and highlight a few of the outstanding images that didn’t quite make it to the top prize. PMID:23517630

BMC Ecology image competition: the winning images.

Science.gov (United States)

Harold, Simon; Wong, Yan; Baguette, Michel; Bonsall, Michael B; Clobert, Jean; Royle, Nick J; Settele, Josef

2013-03-22

BMC Ecology announces the winning entries in its inaugural Ecology Image Competition, open to anyone affiliated with a research institute. The competition, which received more than 200 entries from international researchers at all career levels and a wide variety of scientific disciplines, was looking for striking visual interpretations of ecological processes. In this Editorial, our academic Section Editors and guest judge Dr Yan Wong explain what they found most appealing about their chosen winning entries, and highlight a few of the outstanding images that didn't quite make it to the top prize.

BUSINESS PERFORMANCE, INVESTMENTS AND COMPETITIVENESS OF ISTRIAN HOTEL INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dijana Pletikosa

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Istria is often mentioned as one of the most developed tourist regions of Croatia. In order to recognize its significance in the Croatian and international tourism markets this research compares performance of Istrian hoteliers with those of domestic and foreign competitors. The other purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of domestic and foreign direct investments on the financial results of Istrian hoteliers. Analyse of Istrian hotel companies business performance has been made regarding the origin of invested capital. General findings show that among the best performing hoteliers there are equally domestic and foreign owned companies, as well as among the loss making ones. Contrary to initial expectations this research did not confirm thesis that Istria is highly successful and competitive tourist region. Reasons for that are many, such as seasonality, lack of high class hotels and quality greenfield investments

Competitive intelligence practice in the South African property sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tshilidzi E. Nenzhelele

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Background: The South African property sector contributes highly to creating jobs, skills development, poverty reduction and economic growth. Although South Africa dropped in the global competitiveness ranking, the property sector of South Africa remains very competitive. To survive in a competitive sector, firms around the world practice competitive intelligence(CI. Although the use of CI has been examined in other sectors in South Africa, no study on CI practice has been conducted in the property sector. Objectives: The objective of this research was to establish the extent to which the property sector of South Africa practices CI. Method: This research was quantitative in nature and a web-based questionnaire was used to collect data from estate agencies in the South African property sector. Results: The results indicate that the South African property sector is very competitive and estate agencies practice CI to gain competitive advantage and make quality decisions.Moreover, the results reveal that the property sector practice CI legally and ethically. The results indicate that the majority of estate agencies are very small employing at most five employees and make at most 5 million Rands annual turnover. Conclusion: The South African property sector ethically and legally practices CI to gain competitive advantage and to aid in making quality decisions.

Industry and forest wetlands: Cooperative research initiatives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shepard, J.P.; Lucier, A.A.; Haines, L.W.

1993-01-01

In 1989 the forest products industry responded to a challenge of the National Wetlands Policy Forum to initiate a cooperative research program on forest wetlands management organized through the National Council of the Paper Industry for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI). The objective is to determine how forest landowners can manage wetlands for timber production while protecting other wetland functions such as flood storage, water purification, and food chain/wildlife habitat support. Studies supported by the NCASI in 9 states are summarized. Technical support on wetland regulatory issues to member companies is part of the research program. Since guidelines for recognizing wetlands for regulatory proposed have changed frequently, the NCASI has recommend an explicit link between wetland delineation and a classification system that considers difference among wetland types in vegetation, soils, hydrology, appearance, landscape position, and other factors. 16 refs

Competitive balance in national European soccer competitions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haan, M.A.; Koning, R.H.; van Witteloostuijn, A.; Albert, Jim; Koning, Ruud H.

2007-01-01

According to popular belief, competitive balance in national soccer competitions in Europe has decreased due to the Bosman ruling and the introduction of the Champions League. We test this hypothesis using data from 7 national competitions, for a host of indicators. We find some evidence for

ECONOMIC ESSENCE OF COMPETITIVENESS OF AGRO-FOOD PRODUCTS AND ITS MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cornel COSER

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Approach of the competitiveness of food products can be found in many research studies in the field. They reveal the essence of agro-food competitiveness, while expressing management tools and method. At the level of agro-food competitiveness management, this article highlights also the possibility of influencing factors determining the defining characteristics of the respective competitiveness.

Economic essence of competitiveness of agro-food products and its management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Coser Cornel

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Approach of the competitiveness of food products can be found in many research studies in the field. They reveal the essence of agro-food competitiveness, while expressing management tools and method. At the level of agro-food competitiveness management, this article highlights also the possibility of influencing factors determining the defining characteristics of the respective competitiveness.

Competitive Dynamics on Complex Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jiuhua; Liu, Qipeng; Wang, Xiaofan

2014-07-01

We consider a dynamical network model in which two competitors have fixed and different states, and each normal agent adjusts its state according to a distributed consensus protocol. The state of each normal agent converges to a steady value which is a convex combination of the competitors' states, and is independent of the initial states of agents. This implies that the competition result is fully determined by the network structure and positions of competitors in the network. We compute an Influence Matrix (IM) in which each element characterizing the influence of an agent on another agent in the network. We use the IM to predict the bias of each normal agent and thus predict which competitor will win. Furthermore, we compare the IM criterion with seven node centrality measures to predict the winner. We find that the competitor with higher Katz Centrality in an undirected network or higher PageRank in a directed network is most likely to be the winner. These findings may shed new light on the role of network structure in competition and to what extent could competitors adjust network structure so as to win the competition.

Competitive Intelligence in Perspective to be a Source of Competitive Advantage and Strategic Contributions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felipe Gama Buzzerio

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This article examines the prospect of Competitive Intelligence (CI constitute a source of competitive advantage in light of the Resource Based View and its contribution to the strategic management of the company. Relies on exploratory and descriptive research using the qualitative method. Six managers responsible for CI activities institutionalized in large different business companies were interviewed. Data were processed and analyzed with the application of content analysis. It was concluded that the CI is unable to be a source of competitive advantage but rather as an effective support to decision making process in the surveyed companies. Apparently CI products meet the specific needs of internal customers, facilitate the integration of CI with marketing and operations, help in the identification of risks through the analysis of strategic information, which is a differentiator compared to other types of intelligences.

Placebo effects in competitive sport: qualitative data.

Science.gov (United States)

Beedie, Christopher J

2007-01-01

The paper examines the placebo effect in sports performance. The possibility that the placebo effect is a more common phenomenon than the quantity of published research would suggest is briefly addressed. It is suggested that the placebo control design often used in sports performance research masks any placebo effects and thus presents a false picture of the mechanisms underlying performance-enhancing interventions in the real world. An electronic survey was sent to 48 competitive, international and professional athletes. Questions related to the placebo effect in competitive sport. Thirty responses were received. Data indicate that the majority (97%) of respondents believe that the placebo effect can exert an influence on sports performance, and that a significant number (73%) have experienced what they defined as a placebo effect. Inductive content analysis reveals that these experiences fall into several categories such as explicit placebo effects, inadvertent false beliefs, ritual and reverse placebo effects. Furthermore, 10 respondents (33%) offer explanations as to the nature of the placebo effect. Again, inductive content analysis reveals that these explanations fall into several categories including deliberate changes in competitive strategy, belief/expectancy, faith in a third party, and marketing. Overall, responses support previous experimental research and anecdotal reports that have found a relationship between belief and sports performance. It is suggested that further research be structured to not simply control for the placebo effect, but to elucidate it. Key pointsA survey of 30 athletes revealed that 73% have experienced a placebo effect in sport.Athletes suggest several potential explanations for these effects.Findings support the idea that placebo effects might be common in sport.Researchers and practitioners should be aware of the possible impact of these effects on research findings and competitive performance.

Does egg competition occur in marine broadcast-spawners?

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, D J; Evans, J P

2005-09-01

When the availability of sperm limits female reproductive success, competition for sperm, may be an important broker of sexual selection. This is because sperm limitation can increase the variance in female reproductive success, resulting in strong selection on females to compete for limited fertilization opportunities. Sperm limitation is probably common in broadcast-spawning marine invertebrates, making these excellent candidates for investigating scramble competition between broods of eggs and its consequences for female reproductive success. Here, we report our findings from a series of experiments that investigate egg competition in the sessile, broadcast-spawning polychaete Galeolaria caespitosa. We initially tested whether the order in which eggs encounter sperm affects their fertilization success at two ecologically relevant current regimes. We used a split-clutch-split--ejaculate technique to compare the fertilization success of eggs from individual females that had either first access (competition-free treatment) or second access (egg competition treatment) to a batch of sperm. We found that fertilization success depended on the order in which eggs accessed sperm; eggs that were assigned to the competition-free treatment exhibited significantly higher fertilization rates than those assigned to the egg competition treatment at both current speeds. In subsequent experiments we found that prior exposure of sperm to eggs significantly reduced both the quantity and quality of sperm available to fertilize a second clutch of eggs, resulting in reductions in fertilization success at high and low sperm concentrations. These findings suggest that female traits that increase the likelihood of sperm-egg interactions (e.g. egg size) will respond to selection imposed by egg competition.

Competitiveness regulation of dairy products production in the Crimea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Domozhilkina Zh. V.

2016-05-01

Full Text Available the article outlines the results of studying the major problems concerning supporting competitiveness and quality of dairy products in the Crimea. The researchers compared the level of competitiveness of the dairy enterprise ltd. «Бег» with other brands of milk and suggested measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of competitiveness management of dairy products in this region.

Reflections on Competition, Competition Regulation and the Current Crises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buch-Hansen, Hubert; Wigger, Angela

2013-01-01

competition came to enjoy such an exalted status in Europe and then challenges conventional wisdom by bringing into focus the downsides of competition. It argues that excessive competition and neoliberal competition regulation have contributed to intensify the economic, political, social and environmental...

Pre-competition habits and injuries in Taekwondo athletes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Su Choung Young

2005-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Over the past decade, there has been heightened interest in injury rates sustained by martial arts athletes, and more specifically, Taekwondo athletes. Despite this interest, there is a paucity of research on pre-competition habits and training of these athletes. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess training characteristics, competition preparation habits, and injury profiles of Taekwondo athletes. Methods A retrospective survey of Canadian male and female Taekwondo athletes competing in a national tournament was conducted. Competitors at a Canadian national level tournament were given a comprehensive survey prior to competition. Items on training characteristics, diet, and injuries sustained during training and competition were included. Questionnaires were distributed to 60 athletes. Results A response rate of 46.7% was achieved. Of those that responded, 54% dieted prior to competition, and 36% dieted and exercised pre-competition. Sixty-four percent of the athletes practised between 4–6 times per week, with 54% practicing 2 hours per session. Lower limb injuries were the most common (46.5%, followed by upper extremity (18%, back (10%, and head (3.6%. The majority of injuries consisted of sprains/strains (45%, followed by contusions, fractures, and concussions. More injuries occurred during training, including 59% of first injuries. Conclusion More research needs to be conducted to further illustrate the need for appropriate regulations on weight cycling and injury prevention.

Pre-competition habits and injuries in Taekwondo athletes

Science.gov (United States)

Kazemi, Mohsen; Shearer, Heather; Su Choung, Young

2005-01-01

Background Over the past decade, there has been heightened interest in injury rates sustained by martial arts athletes, and more specifically, Taekwondo athletes. Despite this interest, there is a paucity of research on pre-competition habits and training of these athletes. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess training characteristics, competition preparation habits, and injury profiles of Taekwondo athletes. Methods A retrospective survey of Canadian male and female Taekwondo athletes competing in a national tournament was conducted. Competitors at a Canadian national level tournament were given a comprehensive survey prior to competition. Items on training characteristics, diet, and injuries sustained during training and competition were included. Questionnaires were distributed to 60 athletes. Results A response rate of 46.7% was achieved. Of those that responded, 54% dieted prior to competition, and 36% dieted and exercised pre-competition. Sixty-four percent of the athletes practised between 4–6 times per week, with 54% practicing 2 hours per session. Lower limb injuries were the most common (46.5%), followed by upper extremity (18%), back (10%), and head (3.6%). The majority of injuries consisted of sprains/strains (45%), followed by contusions, fractures, and concussions. More injuries occurred during training, including 59% of first injuries. Conclusion More research needs to be conducted to further illustrate the need for appropriate regulations on weight cycling and injury prevention. PMID:15921510

EVALUATION OF COMPETITION CONDITIONS IN THE HOTEL SECTOR IN ISTANBUL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kazım Ozan ÖZER

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The various dimensions of the concept of the competitiveness in service sectors have drawn attention of many researchers. Discipline of business concerns firm, sector and the international dimensions of national level competition. This study focus on explaining the competitiveness of Istanbul Hotel Sector by considering the dynamics connected to the sectoral competitiveness of Tourism. For the analysis, different data collection techniques have been used. As for the secondary data, literature review has been done about Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model that is mostly prefered for this kind of researches. For the primary data, senior managers of hotels in Istanbul Hotel Sector were applied to the interviews and formal interviews. As a result of this study it’s seen that Istanbul Hotel Sector has profitability rates that attract new entrants and the competition conditions are available for new entrants to the Istanbul Hotel Sector.

The Aggressive Competitiveness Influence on the Retailer Company Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Benedito Oliveira Junior

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The aggressive competitiveness refers to the company tendency to challenge direct and intensively its competitors when entering into a market or to enhance its position outperforming its rivals. An approach about aggressive competitiveness shares the traditional view of "strength-weakness-opportunity-threat", another view consistent with the hyper-competitiveness model, and the third view follows the dynamic competitiveness line. However, researches have not yet focused either on the motivations or on the strategic guidelines before the attack or on the direct relationship between Aggressive Competitiveness (AC and Retailer Company Performance (CP through a qualitative and quantitative study. Within this context, the objective of this research was to analyze: i the impact of the AC in the retail CP; and ii the effect of company size factor (medium/large versus micro/small in this relationship. It was carried out a mixed survey in two stages. In the first it was used a qualitative approach, through multiple case study with eight companies. Then, in the second phase it was held a survey with 64 companies. The results indicate a positive and significant impact of the AC on the CP, but this impact is not different between medium and large sized enterprises versus micro/small sized companies. This research contributes theoretical and empirically to the literature about AC of retail companies, generating subsidies for managers to adopt a more aggressive attitude in the competitive dynamics of the retail market. The practical cases studied here corroborate the influence of AC on the CP. Specifically it demonstrates the AC importance for the survival and growth of the company in increasingly dynamic, turbulent and competitive markets.

Business Plan Competition open for CERN technologies

CERN Multimedia

TT Helpdesk

2005-01-01

Helping researchers turn great research into great business - that's the aim of the UK Research Council's Business Plan Competition. Every good business starts with two things: a good idea and a robust business plan. You supply the idea, and we'll give you the skills, knowledge and support you need to develop a first-rate business plan! This will be provided through expert trainers, coaches and mentors. Plus - the opportunity to win funds to help with the development of your business idea. The competition is open to researchers at CERN, promoted and supported by PPARC, together with the whole spectrum of academic research supported by the eight UK Research Councils - from the arts and biosciences, to environmental physical and social sciences to technology. Postgraduates, postdocs and academic staff who have a business idea arising from research and want to develop this further are encouraged to participate. Taking part is easy - just contact the TT group (TT Helpdesk) for details and support before 16 D...

A comparison of competitive intelligence activities in Brazil, Malaysia, Morocco and South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adeline S.A. du Toit

2014-06-01

Research purpose: The purpose was to determine how these countries can use competitive intelligence to increase their competitiveness in the global economy. Motivation for the study: Competitive intelligence is a challenge in developing economies. Research design, approach and method: A questionnaire survey was sent to competitive intelligence professionals in the four study countries. Main findings: The most important primary information source used in all four countries is direct customer feedback and the most important secondary information source used is corporate websites. Companies in all four countries did not use advanced analysis techniques. Practical/managerial implications: It is recommended that all four countries should develop a competitive intelligence culture by creating awareness of competitive intelligence amongst their employees. Contribution/value added: It is crucial to apply competitive intelligence in the four countries in order to become more competitive in the global economy.

Competition and quality in home health care markets.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Kyoungrae; Polsky, Daniel

2014-03-01

Market-based solutions are often proposed to improve health care quality; yet evidence on the role of competition in quality in non-hospital settings is sparse. We examine the relationship between competition and quality in home health care. This market is different from other markets in that service delivery takes place in patients' homes, which implies low costs of market entry and exit for agencies. We use 6 years of panel data for Medicare beneficiaries during the early 2000s. We identify the competition effect from within-market variation in competition over time. We analyze three quality measures: functional improvements, the number of home health visits, and discharges without hospitalization. We find that the relationship between competition and home health quality is nonlinear and its pattern differs by quality measure. Competition has positive effects on functional improvements and the number of visits in most ranges, but in the most competitive markets, functional outcomes and the number of visits slightly drop. Competition has a negative effect on discharges without hospitalization that is strongest in the most competitive markets. This finding is different from prior research on hospital markets and suggests that market-specific environments should be considered in developing polices to promote competition. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

COMPETITION AND QUALITY IN HOME HEALTH CARE MARKETS†

Science.gov (United States)

JUNG, KYOUNGRAE; POLSKY, DANIEL

2013-01-01

SUMMARY Market-based solutions are often proposed to improve health care quality; yet evidence on the role of competition in quality in non-hospital settings is sparse. We examine the relationship between competition and quality in home health care. This market is different from other markets in that service delivery takes place in patients’ homes, which implies low costs of market entry and exit for agencies. We use 6 years of panel data for Medicare beneficiaries during the early 2000s. We identify the competition effect from within-market variation in competition over time. We analyze three quality measures: functional improvements, the number of home health visits, and discharges without hospitalization. We find that the relationship between competition and home health quality is nonlinear and its pattern differs by quality measure. Competition has positive effects on functional improvements and the number of visits in most ranges, but in the most competitive markets, functional outcomes and the number of visits slightly drop. Competition has a negative effect on discharges without hospitalization that is strongest in the most competitive markets. This finding is different from prior research on hospital markets and suggests that market-specific environments should be considered in developing polices to promote competition. PMID:23670849

Initial robotics research for environmental restoration and waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamel, W.R.; Mann, R.C.

1990-01-01

This paper describes the initial research and development activities at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) that will support the technology development component of the overall National Robotics Technology Development Program (NRTDP). The NRTDP is a subelement of the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ER and WM) 5-Year Applied Research, Development, Demonstration, Testing, and Evaluation Plan and of overall efforts at DOE operational sites around the country. ORNL research will focus on fundamental improvement of remote manipulation through enhancements of the human man/machine interface, integration of automated functions, and the incorporation of machine intelligence to increase productivity. Background and goals for these activities are presented in this paper

Transaction Evidence Appraisal: Competition in British Columbia's Stumpage Markets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Niquidet, K.; Kooten, van G.C.; Cornelis, G.

2006-01-01

As a potential resolution to the softwood lumber dispute, the US Department of Commerce recommends that administered stumpage prices in Canada be determined using information from competitive timber auctions. Previous research indicates that the degree of competition significantly influences bidding

Environmental structure and competitive scoring advantages in team competitions

Science.gov (United States)

Merritt, Sears; Clauset, Aaron

2013-10-01

In most professional sports, playing field structure is kept neutral so that scoring imbalances may be attributed to differences in team skill. It thus remains unknown what impact environmental heterogeneities can have on scoring dynamics or competitive advantages. Applying a novel generative model of scoring dynamics to roughly 10 million team competitions drawn from an online game, we quantify the relationship between the structure within a competition and its scoring dynamics, while controlling the impact of chance. Despite wide structural variations, we observe a common three-phase pattern in the tempo of events. Tempo and balance are highly predictable from a competition's structural features alone and teams exploit environmental heterogeneities for sustained competitive advantage. Surprisingly, the most balanced competitions are associated with specific environmental heterogeneities, not from equally skilled teams. These results shed new light on the design principles of balanced competition, and illustrate the potential of online game data for investigating social dynamics and competition.

GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THE ROMANIAN CASE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cecilia – Nicoleta Jurcuț (Aniș

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In an increasingly open and integrated world economy, competitiveness and sustainability have become a central preoccupation of both advanced and emerging countries. Thus, the goal of this paper is to research the interconnection between the competitiveness and sustainable development factors, based on the development of the concepts and current research tendencies. Using extensive data over a period of 10 years, this study explores and tests the sign of the relationship between national competitiveness and sustainable development indicators. Our findings are the basis of developing new models describing the relationships between competitiveness, economic growth and sustainability, justified by the need of sustainable economy’s development to increase the national competitiveness, in order to attract financial resources necessary for financing the growth of the economy and economic entities.

The Global Evidence Mapping Initiative: Scoping research in broad topic areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tavender Emma

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Evidence mapping describes the quantity, design and characteristics of research in broad topic areas, in contrast to systematic reviews, which usually address narrowly-focused research questions. The breadth of evidence mapping helps to identify evidence gaps, and may guide future research efforts. The Global Evidence Mapping (GEM Initiative was established in 2007 to create evidence maps providing an overview of existing research in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI. Methods The GEM evidence mapping method involved three core tasks: 1. Setting the boundaries and context of the map: Definitions for the fields of TBI and SCI were clarified, the prehospital, acute inhospital and rehabilitation phases of care were delineated and relevant stakeholders (patients, carers, clinicians, researchers and policymakers who could contribute to the mapping were identified. Researchable clinical questions were developed through consultation with key stakeholders and a broad literature search. 2. Searching for and selection of relevant studies: Evidence search and selection involved development of specific search strategies, development of inclusion and exclusion criteria, searching of relevant databases and independent screening and selection by two researchers. 3. Reporting on yield and study characteristics: Data extraction was performed at two levels - 'interventions and study design' and 'detailed study characteristics'. The evidence map and commentary reflected the depth of data extraction. Results One hundred and twenty-nine researchable clinical questions in TBI and SCI were identified. These questions were then prioritised into high (n = 60 and low (n = 69 importance by the stakeholders involved in question development. Since 2007, 58 263 abstracts have been screened, 3 731 full text articles have been reviewed and 1 644 relevant neurotrauma publications have been mapped, covering fifty-three high priority

The Global Evidence Mapping Initiative: scoping research in broad topic areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Bragge, Peter; Clavisi, Ornella; Turner, Tari; Tavender, Emma; Collie, Alex; Gruen, Russell L

2011-06-17

Evidence mapping describes the quantity, design and characteristics of research in broad topic areas, in contrast to systematic reviews, which usually address narrowly-focused research questions. The breadth of evidence mapping helps to identify evidence gaps, and may guide future research efforts. The Global Evidence Mapping (GEM) Initiative was established in 2007 to create evidence maps providing an overview of existing research in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). The GEM evidence mapping method involved three core tasks:1. Setting the boundaries and context of the map: Definitions for the fields of TBI and SCI were clarified, the prehospital, acute inhospital and rehabilitation phases of care were delineated and relevant stakeholders (patients, carers, clinicians, researchers and policymakers) who could contribute to the mapping were identified. Researchable clinical questions were developed through consultation with key stakeholders and a broad literature search. 2. Searching for and selection of relevant studies: Evidence search and selection involved development of specific search strategies, development of inclusion and exclusion criteria, searching of relevant databases and independent screening and selection by two researchers. 3. Reporting on yield and study characteristics: Data extraction was performed at two levels - 'interventions and study design' and 'detailed study characteristics'. The evidence map and commentary reflected the depth of data extraction. One hundred and twenty-nine researchable clinical questions in TBI and SCI were identified. These questions were then prioritised into high (n = 60) and low (n = 69) importance by the stakeholders involved in question development. Since 2007, 58 263 abstracts have been screened, 3 731 full text articles have been reviewed and 1 644 relevant neurotrauma publications have been mapped, covering fifty-three high priority questions. GEM Initiative evidence maps have a broad

Assessment of the Competitive Environment in the Regional Markets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandr Yuryevich Kokovikhin

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The maturity of competitiveness and its dynamics is a focus of assessing state decisions aimed for economic growth. To estimate the maturity of the competitive environment, researchers apply different methods. However, synthesis of the existing approaches has revealed the comparability of various approaches to the assessment of the maturity of the competitive environment. The authors have proposed a methodology of comprehensive assessment, which includes the estimation of market concentration, diverging trends of revenue and costs, survey of entrepreneurs. The comparison of the estimations employs a three-stage model of data processing. This model consequently compares the characteristics of markets maturity obtained while implementing the above-mentioned approaches. We have tested the methodology using the materials of the research performed in 2015–2017 on the territory of Sverdlovsk Region. Our study has shown the following essential results. Firstly, we have classified socially important and priority markets of Sverdlovsk Region by the level of competitiveness development. Most of the markets are estimated as the markets with missing and low competition. The majority of them represent the segments of the education market. The authors also grouped highly competitive markets, which include the retail market, the market of overland carriage of passengers, the market of communication services and the market of cultural services. Moreover, we specified the group of markets with a moderate competition. This group consists of the market of housing and communal services, social services market, and the market of medical products. Secondly, we confirmed that the assessment of a competitive situation using one of the approaches is imprecise. Both in 2015 and in 2016, there is no convergence in estimates received by statistical and survey methods for the market of social services and certain segments of the education market. The authors explain it by

The Precision Medicine Initiative's All of Us Research Program: an agenda for research on its ethical, legal, and social issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Sankar, Pamela L; Parker, Lisa S

2017-07-01

The Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) is an innovative approach to developing a new model of health care that takes into account individual differences in people's genes, environments, and lifestyles. A cornerstone of the initiative is the PMI All of Us Research Program (formerly known as PMI-Cohort Program) which will create a cohort of 1 million volunteers who will contribute their health data and biospecimens to a centralized national database to support precision medicine research. The PMI All of US Research Program is the largest longitudinal study in the history of the United States. The designers of the Program anticipated and addressed some of the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) associated with the initiative. To date, however, there is no plan to call for research regarding ELSI associated with the Program-PMI All of Us program. Based on analysis of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding announcements for the PMI All of Us program, we have identified three ELSI themes: cohort diversity and health disparities, participant engagement, and privacy and security. We review All of Us Research Program plans to address these issues and then identify additional ELSI within each domain that warrant ongoing investigation as the All of Us Research Program develops. We conclude that PMI's All of Us Research Program represents a significant opportunity and obligation to identify, analyze, and respond to ELSI, and we call on the PMI to initiate a research program capable of taking on these challenges.Genet Med advance online publication 01 December 2016.

Generating Relational Competitive Advantage from Strategic Technological Partnership

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Yimei; Zhang, Si; Li, Jizhen

2012-01-01

Collaborating with external partners on strategic technological partnerships (STPs) have been popular phenomena for long, which leads new development in existing theories on competitive advantage. Under the relational view, the competitive advantage is jointly generated by alliance firms. Though...... the relational view of competitive advantage has been proposed for more than a decade, few in-depth empirical researches are down within this field, especially case study on R&D strategic alliance from this perspective. Based on these considerations, we investigate an STP between a Danish transnational...... corporation and a Chinese private firm aiming to understand how to generate relational competitive from an STP? Based on the explorative case study, we find that there are three key processes related to relational competitive advantage: partner selection, relational rents generation and relational rents...

Institutional Competitiveness in Media Markets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Anker Brink

a social science / leadership perspective - not from the perspective of a journalist or from the ideologically critical perspective of the license payer. Thirdly, we consider competition in the media market as an institutional phenomenon that is not solely conditioned by economic considerations. We aim...... emerged from a tradition based upon ideals of freedom of expression, democracy and the enlightenment of the general public. At the same time we stress the fact that the media worldwide is Big Business - and that this reality has an increasing effect on Danish competitiveness and business development......This inaugural address is a welcome opportunity to call your attention to a new area of research that the International Center for Business and Politics has chosen as one of five areas of special interest. By referring to this area of focus as'institutional competition in the media market' we also...

Crowdsourcing and the Architectural Competition as Organisational Technologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kamstrup, Andreas

In this dissertation, I take interest in crowdsourcing and architectural competitions as I focus on examining how a crowdsourcing platform works in the building industry and how the practices unfolding on it relates to – and maybe mimics – architectural competitions. The platform is operated...... and situated in the building industry, where ‘the architectural competition’ stands as an institution for how to coordinate interactions between actors. I also take interest in an architectural competition setup where dialogue between architects and jury is part of the setup. In overall terms, the research...... project aims to contribute to understanding novel interaction practices in the building industry and the architectural world at large. The research is based primarily on ethnographic explorations and the results hereof is the article-based dissertation you have just embarked on. The dissertation...

Competitive potential of trade organization : theoretical and methodological foundations of formation and realization

OpenAIRE

Serebryakova, Nadezhda A.; Semenenko, Sergey V.; Grishchenko, Natalya V.; Ulchenko, Tamara Y.

2016-01-01

Problematics of competitive potential of organization does not have any multi-disciplinary limitations of research. Study of competitive potential in connection with factors of its formation and conditions for realization, including competition, competitiveness, and competitive advantages of organization, was conducted by many scientists. At that, in view of sectorial specifics, there is domination of works devoted to study of competitive potential of production, not trade, organizations. Ide...

ECO-INNOVATION AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margareta RUSU

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In the context of global economy a dominant role of knowledge is the importance of human resources in the process of innovation and value creation. This paper aims to address Romania’s competitiveness in the context of global change mitigation by analyzing the counties competitiveness and eco-innovation. The efficiency-driven stage of development, which Romania is part of require specific regulatory measure in order to achieve sustainable development and competitive advantage. Analyzing the eco-innovation local needs by focusing on the SME can be seen as a solution, as they are creative in order to compensate for the lack of funding in research, development and innovation (like cluster research which is beneficial for sharing the risk and cost involved in research activities.

EMPIRICAL STUDY REGARDING THE DETERMINING FACTORS OF THE ROMANIAN COMPANIES COMPETITIVENESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MOLDOVAN Nicoleta-Claudia

2013-07-01

This study is focused on the concept of company competitiveness, on the relevant factors in order to analyze and explain the advantage of competitiveness for a company in regard to another, as well as the dimension and intensity which it uses the sponsors’ capital, the organizational capital, the human capital, the innovational capital and the capital represented by the customers portfolio. Secondly, using the questionnaire method as a research method, the objective of this paper is to provide some empirical evidences designed to assess the factors determining the Romanian company competitiveness on the competitive market. By using an initial dataset of 300 companies, which are part of the 14 fields of activity provided in the activity classification of the national economy, Reviewed NACE 2, we have made their classification on size classes, taking into account as classification criteria the number of employees, the annual net turnover and the value of the total assets held, then testing the opinions of the managers from the selected sample concerning the factors determining the competitiveness of the companies they manage. According to the results, the analysis of the sample structure reflects the control of microenterprises followed by the small and medium sized enterprises. The manner of administration and organization and the quality of the employed human factor are influenced by the company dimension and position held on the market. We consider that the managers of the small size companies, as well as the ones from the provided sample, rely on a preponderant intuitive management, they deal the administered businesses based on the spur of the moment inspiration, make decisions subjectively not starting from objective economic criteria, being concerned only with the management of the current problems. Since they aren’t the beneficiaries of a managerial education, they don’t possess the necessary competences to focus on the elaboration of certain strategies

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RECENT EVOLUTIONS OF ROMANIAN AND EUROPEAN UNION'S COMPETITIVENESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felea Adrian Ioan

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The main subject of this paper refers to an analysis of the recent trends and evolution of Romanian competitiveness compared to the European Union competitiveness and it is structured in four main parts. The first section of the paper regards an introduction of the competitiveness evolution process, recalling the three actual evaluation models of the competitiveness level. In the second part of the paper there can be found the competitiveness indexes practiced and published by the World Economic Forum, indicators that are structured on three main levels as following: the Global Competitiveness Index and its aggregate indicators that are developed on three categories of factors that are essential for the competitiveness process (Basic requirements, Efficienty Enhancers, Innovation and sophistication factors and the indexes associated to the twelve pillars of competitiveness: Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic stability, Health and primary education, Higer education and training, Goods market efficiency, Labor market efficiency, Financial market sophistication Technological readiness, Market size, Business sophistication, Innovation. Based on the values obtained after consulting the World Economic Forum Reports and regarding the competitiveness from a global perspective, the third part of the paper presents a comparative analyisis of the evolution of the Romanian competitiveness process and the one of the EU25. In the last part of the paper there can be found the conclusions of this analysis, with respect to the values found This paper is part of the doctoral thesis entitled "Increased Competitiveness in the Romanian economy, in the context of Sustainable Development, coordinated by Professor Michael Berinde University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics. Doctoral research is supported by Human Resources Development Operational Programme 2007-2013, Contract POSDRU/CPP107/DMI1.5/S/80272 , "Doctoral programs to train researchers performing

COMPETITION AS A FORM OF ORGANIZING CULTURAL ACTIVITIES OF THE KRASNOYARSK REGION POPULATION IN THE 1960-1980S

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ekaterina Ivanovna Lobyneva

2014-08-01

Full Text Available In the article the author deals with the socialist completion as demonstration of huge enthusiasm and creative initiative of the Krasnoyarsk region population in the 1960s. There were more than twenty shock Komsomol construction sites, which became an effective form of youth participating in the economy development.The aim of the work is to find out in what way socialist completion influences on developing different personal features, like abilities, knowledge, erudition, skills, experience, needs, call of duty, responsibility, etc.The methods of historical approach and objectivism are used in the article.The results of work are to considerate problems concerning with organization of the socialist competition in the Krasnoyarsk region. New materials and some documents of local archives are introduced during the research.The study of the socialist competition in the Krasnoyarsk region enables to make a conclusion that the socialist competition is a form of organizing cultural activities of the Krasnoyarsk region population in the 1960s.

Retail competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

Retail competition as the cornerstone of a competitive electricity marketplace was the subject of the seventh in the series of policy discussion papers developed at the Market Design Conference. Concern was expressed that because of the complexities involved in market design and technical implementation, the retail competition may lag behind other elements of the implementation of the new market design. A variety of key issues were debated, including the role of physical versus financial contracts, the form of retail competition and financial settlement systems in the short term, the requirement to separate 'competitive' (metering, billing, maintenance, consumer education) from non-competitive' (the transmission wires) services and the role of municipal electric utilities. It was agreed that the IMO should play an important role in defining and enforcing the separation of services, and that as a general rule, the development of policy in this area should be guided by the principle of maximizing the potential for competition

Individual competitiveness within the labour market: essence and classification of its elements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. V. Sabetova

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article researches the phenomenon of competitiveness in the labor market. It is noted that this phenomenon receives considerable attention in the fields of psychology, sociology, and pedagogy, but the economic researches of it are insufficient which proves the relevance of the suggested topic. The competitiveness of any subject means its ability to resist rivalry with similar subjects within certain environment. It implies the necessity to study employee competitiveness in the labor market on the basis of rivalry research. The term ‘competition’ has various definitions and the author demonstrates that the one most suitable for the labor market is the one provided by the conduct-based approach. The author also suggests that all features of the competitiveness in general and in the labor market should be studied and interpreted taking into account the specific pair of competitiveness bearer and consumer of his product or service, in case of labor market meaning labor service. Besides, the author agrees in this article with the opinion that competitiveness of an individual comprises of the total of his abilities, competencies and motives, which brings about the possibility that the elements forming individual’s competitiveness may be applied or disused at the moment of research or within a period of any duration. Considerable part of the article is devoted to the ways and methods of competency acquisitions. All this makes the author suggest a complex, multi-bases classification of characteristics included in the idea of an employee’s competitiveness in the target segment of the labor market. It is stated, that despite the impossibility of making the complete list of qualities useful for some professional activity, their classifications in terms of sources, effort input, and period of formation; methods and areas of application; inclusion in the various personality sub-systems may be successfully applied for various research or practical

The NIMH Research Domain Criteria Initiative: Background, Issues, and Pragmatics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kozak, Michael J; Cuthbert, Bruce N

2016-03-01

This article describes the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative. The description includes background, rationale, goals, and the way the initiative has been developed and organized. The central RDoC concepts are summarized and the current matrix of constructs that have been vetted by workshops of extramural scientists is depicted. A number of theoretical and methodological issues that can arise in connection with the nature of RDoC constructs are highlighted: subjectivism and heterophenomenology, desynchrony and theoretical neutrality among units of analysis, theoretical reductionism, endophenotypes, biomarkers, neural circuits, construct "grain size," and analytic challenges. The importance of linking RDoC constructs to psychiatric clinical problems is discussed. Some pragmatics of incorporating RDoC concepts into applications for NIMH research funding are considered, including sampling design. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Competitive intelligence as an enabler for firm competitiveness: An overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Maune

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to provide an overview, from literature, about how competitive intelligence can be an enabler towards a firm’s competitiveness. This overview is done under the background of intense global competition that firms are currently experiencing. This paper used a qualitative content analysis as a data collection methodology on all identified journal articles on competitive intelligence and firm competitiveness. To identify relevant literature, academic databases and search engines were used. Moreover, a review of references in related studies led to more relevant sources, the references of which were further reviewed and analysed. To ensure reliability and trustworthiness, peer-reviewed journal articles and triangulation were used. The paper found that competitive intelligence is an important enabler of firm competitiveness. The findings from this paper will assist business managers to understand and improve their outlook of competitive intelligence as an enabler of firm competitiveness and will be of great academic value.

Determinants of supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness in transnational companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matevž Rašković

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Effective supplier-buyer relationship management should not be seen only in terms of cost and financial measures, as outlined by Transaction cost economics, but also in terms of other (“softer” relational benefits, like e.g. more comprehensive information sharing, higher levels of trust, better cooperation and increased relationship flexibility. This second view is grounded in both Relationship marketing and Resource-advantage theory. Surprisingly, only a few research papers on supplier-buyer relationships address both of these perspectives equally, as well as in terms of long-term competitiveness (vis-avis a traditional short-term performance. The purpose of this paper is to analyze business relationship determinants of supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness, where we study the impact of (1 relationship-based information exchange, (2 network spillover effects, (3 transaction-specific investments, (4 trust, (5 cooperation (joint actions and (6 flexibility on perceived (7 supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness. In this regard the main research question of our study is: Which relational and transactional dimensions determine supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness, as well as how strongly? To provide the answer this research question we employ an exploratory-type Partial Least Squares (PLS regression in conjunction with a novel perspective of network spillover effects, as a set of independent variables in our model. The data set consists of a sample of 130 international suppliers (approx. 30 % response rate connected to a transnational company (TNC headquartered in Slovenia, which operates in the steel construction solutions’ industry. Our results clearly identify a relational and a transactional set of determinants of supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness, with the former having a significantly higher impact on competitiveness than the latter. With regards to specific dimensions associated with this relational component

Report of Committee for JAEA Internationalization Initiative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-03-01

In global circumstances surrounding nuclear energy, the role expected to Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is becoming increasingly important. JAEA has been promoted an initiative for the international hub in order to increase the scientific competitiveness of Japan and make international contributions, by gathering excellent researchers from the entire world with the latest facilities. Also, JAEA established 'Committee for JAEA Internationalization Initiative', which will discuss issues such as environmental improvement for accepted foreigners, direction of efforts for internationalization initiative and strategies to improve current situation. This report mentions the results of the committee's discussion including current issues for the initiative and recommendations for their solution, as well as the issues to be discussed in order to enhance international awareness of JAEA staff. The following is the summary of the recommendations for the initiative: Set up local teams that focus on the situation of each site in order to provide detailed support for foreigners from diversified backgrounds. Develop systems for emergency situations to provide information for safety swiftly for foreigners and confirm their safety, in addition to preparing emergency goods. Prepare bilingual documents and systems that foreigners need to use for their work based on importance and frequency of use of such systems and documents. (author)

Product manufacturing, quality, and reliability initiatives to maintain a competitive advantage and meet customer expectations in the semiconductor industry

Science.gov (United States)

Capps, Gregory

Semiconductor products are manufactured and consumed across the world. The semiconductor industry is constantly striving to manufacture products with greater performance, improved efficiency, less energy consumption, smaller feature sizes, thinner gate oxides, and faster speeds. Customers have pushed towards zero defects and require a more reliable, higher quality product than ever before. Manufacturers are required to improve yields, reduce operating costs, and increase revenue to maintain a competitive advantage. Opportunities exist for integrated circuit (IC) customers and manufacturers to work together and independently to reduce costs, eliminate waste, reduce defects, reduce warranty returns, and improve quality. This project focuses on electrical over-stress (EOS) and re-test okay (RTOK), two top failure return mechanisms, which both make great defect reduction opportunities in customer-manufacturer relationship. Proactive continuous improvement initiatives and methodologies are addressed with emphasis on product life cycle, manufacturing processes, test, statistical process control (SPC), industry best practices, customer education, and customer-manufacturer interaction.

COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS - SCENARIOS METHOD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Valeriu

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Keeping a company in the top performing players in the relevant market depends not only on its ability to develop continually, sustainably and balanced, to the standards set by the customer and competition, but also on the ability to protect its strategic information and to know in advance the strategic information of the competition. In addition, given that economic markets, regardless of their profile, enable interconnection not only among domestic companies, but also between domestic companies and foreign companies, the issue of economic competition moves from the national economies to the field of interest of regional and international economic organizations. The stakes for each economic player is to keep ahead of the competition and to be always prepared to face market challenges. Therefore, it needs to know as early as possible, how to react to others’ strategy in terms of research, production and sales. If a competitor is planning to produce more and cheaper, then it must be prepared to counteract quickly this movement. Competitive intelligence helps to evaluate the capabilities of competitors in the market, legally and ethically, and to develop response strategies. One of the main goals of the competitive intelligence is to acknowledge the role of early warning and prevention of surprises that could have a major impact on the market share, reputation, turnover and profitability in the medium and long term of a company. This paper presents some aspects of competitive intelligence, mainly in terms of information analysis and intelligence generation. Presentation is theoretical and addresses a structured method of information analysis - scenarios method – in a version that combines several types of analysis in order to reveal some interconnecting aspects of the factors governing the activity of a company.

The evolution of the electric power market towards competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Puerta, J.F.; Arceluz, J.F.

1995-01-01

The changes introduced in the electric power industry aiming at improving the systems' efficiency are presented. These changes will make the generation, transmission and distribution activities competitive. The advantages and disadvantages of these initiatives and their economic and cultural contexts are analysed

Have Trends in Corporate Environmental Management Influenced Companies' Competitiveness?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Henning; Ulhøi, John Parm

2006-01-01

. The question is, however, whether managers perceive corporate environmental initiatives as a challenge leading to new strategic options and, eventually, increased competitiveness, or whether they regard it as yet another burden. Based on a number of surveys, this paper discusses contemporary trends...

Competitive Advantages of Small Medium Industry on the Islands in Indonesian Context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muslim El Hakim Kurniawan

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Indonesian Law No.3/2014 regarding Industry requires both Central and Local Governments to realize the competitiveness of small and medium industries. However, the fact that the condition of each region is not similar becomes a main problem. It is because Indonesia is an archipelagic country. The competitiveness index of Asia Competitiveness Institute 2015 indicates that islands provinces, such as Kepulauan Bangka Belitung, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Sulawesi Utara, Maluku, Maluku Utara, Sulawesi Tenggara, need specific development strategies. They cannot be equated with the mainlands, such as Java and Sumatera, because their competitiveness rank is very low. A review of literature on the competitiveness of islands entrepreneurs shows that from the 4 (four schools of thought in competitive advantage, only few researchers have pertained on the knowledge based on the schools of thought. Therefore, this could be a future research opportunity.

Research and technology organizations’ mobilizers of the regional environment: Competitive strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Augusto Rincón Díaz

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to propose a contingent model that facilitates knowledge of the strategies followed by the research technology organizations (RTOs of Valencia and the Basque Country, Spain, to adapt to the turbulence of their environment. Design/methodology/approach - The research includes context, organizational and results variables and identifies some barriers that the RTOs encounter in collaborating with SMEs and also the best practices they follow to develop competitive advantages. The methodology used consisted of applying the proposed model to the 27 RTOs of both autonomous regions; a factor analysis was then performed to determine whether there exist groups of related (correlated variables; finally, the authors proceeded to carry out a hierarchical cluster analysis to observe how the 27 RTOs are distributed according to their ability to adapt and respond to environmental turbulence. Findings - The technological policy must consider the characteristics of each region to propose more efficient and equitable mechanisms that allow the RTOs to face new challenges. Originality/value -This study proposes a theoretical model suitable for RTOs to respond to environmental changes, to the current economy globalization and to cope with new challenges. This proposal means that RTOs must manage an appropriate combination of key factors, including the development of more proactive innovation strategies, an organic organizational structure to relate better with other innovation agents and universities, which help them to work more efficiently with SMEs and to obtain a higher innovative performance.

Competitiveness of Indonesian Shrimp Compare with Thailand Shrimp in Export Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lina Asmara Wati

2013-09-01

Full Text Available With the water area accounts for 81 percent of the total area, fishery is a major business in Indonesia. As one of the world's largest shrimp exporting countries, Indonesia also relies on the revenues of shrimp exports in the international markets. This research compared the competitiveness of shrimp export from Indonesia and Thailand to Japan and US. The indicator adopted in this research was the RCA index. In this research collected secondary data from 1989 to 2010 for analysis. Results showed RCA values of Indonesia were higher than 1, which indicates advantaged competitiveness of Indonesia shrimp exports in the liberalized markets. Nevertheless, compared with Thailand, Indonesia remained relatively disadvantaged. To reinforce the Indonesian shrimp export, necessary infrastructure, such as networks shipment or delivery, packaging and transportation, must be improved. Further researches to determine the factors affecting competitiveness of export shrimp in liberalized market, make and analyze for the policy strategy formulation of Indonesia shrimp export in liberalized market are also advised.Keywords: Competitiveness; Indonesian Shrimp Export; RCA.

Research on the Mechanism of Cross Organizational Knowledge Sharing in BIM Competitive Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhong Wei

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Co-opetition under the environment of BIM implementation process because the level is not high resulting in the project BIM application value of incomplete knowledge sharing among organizations, thus establishing good knowledge can effectively solve this problem and achieve the overall benefit and benefit sharing mechanism in the project organization. This paper defines five competing modes according to the competing degree of organization between different BIM applications, including imperfect competition, competition, competition and cooperation, full cooperation and cooperation, and put forward the conceptual model and related assumptions. Analysis of the effect of path and effect of project determined in BIM application mode, the concurrence of knowledge sharing, efficiency and overall efficiency of the project within the organization through the survey and empirical results, and according to the proposed contract, the distribution of benefits and work three kinds of knowledge sharing mechanism implementation path.

Competitive Intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergeron, Pierrette; Hiller, Christine A.

2002-01-01

Reviews the evolution of competitive intelligence since 1994, including terminology and definitions and analytical techniques. Addresses the issue of ethics; explores how information technology supports the competitive intelligence process; and discusses education and training opportunities for competitive intelligence, including core competencies…

Effects of local adaptation and interspecific competition on species' responses to climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Bocedi, Greta; Atkins, Katherine E; Liao, Jishan; Henry, Roslyn C; Travis, Justin M J; Hellmann, Jessica J

2013-09-01

Local adaptation and species interactions have been shown to affect geographic ranges; therefore, we need models of climate impact that include both factors. To identify possible dynamics of species when including these factors, we ran simulations of two competing species using an individual-based, coupled map-lattice model using a linear climatic gradient that varies across latitude and is warmed over time. Reproductive success is governed by an individual's adaptation to local climate as well as its location relative to global constraints. In exploratory experiments varying the strength of adaptation and competition, competition reduces genetic diversity and slows range change, although the two species can coexist in the absence of climate change and shift in the absence of competitors. We also found that one species can drive the other to extinction, sometimes long after climate change ends. Weak selection on local adaptation and poor dispersal ability also caused surfing of cooler-adapted phenotypes from the expanding margin backwards, causing loss of warmer-adapted phenotypes. Finally, geographic ranges can become disjointed, losing centrally-adapted genotypes. These initial results suggest that the interplay between local adaptation and interspecific competition can significantly influence species' responses to climate change, in a way that demands future research. © 2013 New York Academy of Sciences.

Shoulder injuries in competitive swimmers in KwaZulu- | Puckree ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Shoulder injuries in competitive swimmers in KwaZulu-. T Puckree, KJ Thomas ... Conclusion. The incidence of shoulder injuries in competitive swimmers is high. This study shows the need for more research into swimming injuries, and the conditioning and rehabilitation of athletes in South Africa. South African Journal of ...

Healthy Competition and Unsound Comparison: Reforming Educational Competition in Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, Søren

2015-01-01

It is frequently claimed that the "competition state" responds to external competition by making competition increasingly central to its internal processes as well. This article discusses education reform in Singapore as departing from the opposite position. In Singapore "excessive" competition in education is now targeted by…

Competition policy and market leaders

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Maci, I.; Žigić, Krešimir

-, č. 375 (2008), s. 1-29 ISSN 1211-3298 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:MSM0021620846 Keywords : competition policy * market leaders * innovation Subject RIV: AH - Economics http://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp375.pdf

Competition policy and market leaders

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Žigić, Krešimir; Maci, Ilir

2011-01-01

Roč. 28, č. 3 (2011), s. 1042-1049 ISSN 0264-9993 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : competition policy * innovation Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 0.701, year: 2011

Competitive intelligence in UK firms: A typology.

OpenAIRE

Wright, Sheila; Pickton, David W.; Callow, Joanne

2002-01-01

There is a danger of allowing competitive analysis to receive less than adequate attention in the marketing planning process as it is subordinated to a customer driven focus. Clearly important though customers are, they should not dominate marketing strategy and planning to the exclusion of other influential groups, one of these being competitors. With this in mind, a pilot research project was undertaken to gain a better understanding of how UK companies conduct competitive intelligence. ...

Competition of wormholes during the evolution of cave passages

Science.gov (United States)

Gabrovsek, Franci; Dreybrodt, Wolfgang

2017-04-01

, and consequently decreases inflow of aggressive solution into it, thus inhibiting its further evolution. This mechanism supports further growth of the winner (wormhole) and stops the growth of its competitor. Similar competition happens in the case of several fingers competing. In any case we observe flow from the winning fingers to the loosing ones. The communication between the competitors is always established by cross flow between its tip regions. We will present various scenarios of wormhole formation, which demonstrate details of the competition of fingers arising from either the reactive instability or from the statistical distribution of fracture aperture widths. In conclusion we find that the initiation of wormholes results either from instability or from the statistical distribution of favorable pathways. Once growth of fingers has been initiated the evolution of the wormhole patterns becomes deterministic. (1) Szymczak, P., and A.J.C. Ladd (2011), The initial stages of cave formation: Beyond the one-dimensional paradigm, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 301, 424-432 (2) Dreybrodt, W., Gabrovšek, F., Romanov, D.(2005) Processes of Speleogenesis: A Modeling Approach. ZRC Publishing, Karst Research Institute at ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana

FORMULATION STRATEGY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF POWER COMPETITION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ljiljana Stošić Mihajlović

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In this work, the subject of the research is defined starting hypothesis that formulation in the form of answers to the question: What factors - competitive forces shape strategy? Strategy formulation essentially boils down to competition. Competitors are all - customers, suppliers, potential new entrants to the market and producers of substitutes - and depending on the industry, may be more or less important or active. The first primary determinant of a firm's profitability is the attractiveness of the system to which it belongs. Competitive strategy must be developed from the basic knowledge of the rules of competition that determine the attractiveness of an economic system. The ultimate aim of competitive strategy is to apply, or - ideally - a change these rules in favor of the company. In any economic system, regardless of Whether it is domestic or international, and Whether products or services, the rules of competition are embodied in five competitive factors, the five basic forces: the entry of new competitors into the market, the threat of substitution, bargaining power of the buyer, bargaining power of suppliers and rivalry among existing competitors. Joint strength of these forces determines the ultimate potential of an activity to make a profit.

The Development of KHI'S Business Model to Enhance Sustainable Competitive Advantage

OpenAIRE

Firdaus, Anton; Hamsal, Mohammad

2013-01-01

This research about how PT KHI make an improvement in Business model by offering EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) services to costumer to gain a better profit margin. Research result suggests PT KHI to improve its Business Model in order to enhance sustainable competitive advantage. Many competitors have the same business model in industry. PT KHI should offer different business model to stay ahead and winning the competition. The research result indicate based on current con...

Competitivity of biofuels in heating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flyktman, M.

1996-01-01

The competitivity of indigenous fuels in heating of residential houses in comparison with imported fuels, and both electricity and district heating, has been studied in this research, ordered by the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry. Heating plants of residential house scale (20-1000 kW) have been investigated in the research. Only the new heating plants are included in the investigation. The heat generation calculations concerning the residential heating plants have been made for following indigenous fuels: sod peat, fuel-chips, peat and wood pellets, firewood and straw. In addition to these, the calculations have been made for light fuel-oil, electric heating, district heating and natural gas. The local energy tariffs have to be taken into account in electric heating, district heating and natural gas heating. A calculation model, based on flowsheet calculation, forms the main result of the project. By using the model it is possible to update the competitivity data rapidly. Of all the indigenous fuels, sod peat and fuel-chips appeared to be competitive with electric and district heating costs in nearly all scales investigated. The construction of the heat generation costs of solid indigenous fuels differs remarkably from those of electric and district heating. The main part of the heating costs of wood chips and sod peat is formed of fixed costs; i.e. of investment costs and of the costs of heating and control work. The energy costs are the highest costs items in electric an district heating, as well as in the oil heating. It is possible to improve the competitivity of biofuels by developing cheaper boilers and fuel processing and storage devices

The effects of hospital competition on inpatient quality of care.

Science.gov (United States)

Mutter, Ryan L; Wong, Herbert S; Goldfarb, Marsha G

2008-01-01

Existing empirical studies have produced inconclusive, and sometimes contradictory, findings on the effects of hospital competition on inpatient quality of care. These inconsistencies may be due to the use of different methodologies, hospital competition measures, and hospital quality measures. This paper applies the Quality Indicator software from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to the 1997 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases to create three versions (i.e., observed, risk-adjusted, and "smoothed") of 38 distinct measures of inpatient quality. The relationship between 12 different hospital competition measures and these quality measures are assessed, using ordinary least squares, two-step efficient generalized method of moments, and negative binomial regression techniques. We find that across estimation strategies, hospital competition has an impact on a number of hospital quality measures. However, the effect is not unidirectional: some indicators show improvements in hospital quality with greater levels of competition, some show decreases in hospital quality, and others are unaffected. We provide hypotheses based on emerging areas of research that could explain these findings, but inconsistencies remain.

Product Image to Build the Core Competitiveness of Enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shi Yan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available As a new specialty research field, Product Image is being paid more attention. This article introduced the concept of Product Image and Core-competition, and illustrated how to conduct Core-competition of enterprise from two aspects of the foundation of Product Image and the communication of Product Image.

Competitiveness of South Africa as a tourist destination | Saayman ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sixty-four tour operators participated in this survey and the results showed that the assurance of safety was identified as the most important factor globally in order to be competitive. This research also identified South Africa's strengths and weaknesses as well as its competitive advantages. Safety was indicated as South ...

Power market competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kelly, J.

1998-01-01

In the Unites States the prospect of greater competition in wholesale power market was immediately eclipsed by talk of retail competition. Attempts to move to retail competition have been costly and complex. Prudent public policy and economic analyses suggest that retail competition not be implemented until it can first be demonstrated that effective competition exists in wholesale power markets [it

Lunabotics Mining Competition

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Rob; Murphy, Gloria

2010-01-01

This slide presentation describes a competition to design a lunar robot (lunabot) that can be controlled either remotely or autonomously, isolated from the operator, and is designed to mine a lunar aggregate simulant. The competition is part of a systems engineering curriculum. The 2010 competition winners in five areas of the competition were acknowledged, and the 2011 competition was announced.

Mbarara University Research Training Initiative: a spin-off of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative in Uganda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wakida E

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Edith Wakida,1 Samuel Maling,2 Celestino Obua3 1Office of Research Administration, 2Department of Psychiatry, Office of the Dean, Faculty of Medicine, 3Department of Pharmacomology and Therapeutics, Office of the Vice Chancellor, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda Abstract: Scientific productivity in Africa is insignificant compared to that in the rest of the world. This has been attributed to the fact that, in spite of academic qualifications, junior ­faculty, who form the majority of academics in low- and middle-income countries lack experience in research. This calls for a need to put in place programs that provide hands-on training in research so that junior faculty can conduct relevant research. The Mbarara University Research ­Training Initiative, a Fogarty International Center-funded program, is one such program that was developed to provide research capacity training for junior faculty at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology. The program utilizes health priority areas to provide research training to junior faculty. During the training, they are given short-term-focused research training on particular knowledge and skills, which they apply while conducting the mentored research. Keywords: junior faculty, MURTI, short training, mentored research

Keeping Competitive: Hiring, Training, and Retaining Qualified Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheney, Scott

The Center for Workforce Preparation (CWP), a nonprofit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, initiated the Workforce Academies demonstration project to help businesses remain successful in a competitive, tight economy. More than 1,800 business members of the 6 chambers engaged with the Workforce Academies demonstration in 2001 were surveyed…

76 FR 37191 - Notice of Competition for University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program Grants

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-24

... capability, the use of peer review, and effective partnerships to advance diversity. The Research and... Competition for University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program Grants AGENCY: Research and Innovative... conduct a competition for University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program grants for the purpose of...

Competition policy and market leaders

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Maci, Ilir; Žigić, K.

-, č. 375 (2008), s. 1-29 ISSN 1211-3298 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : competition policy * market leaders * innovation Subject RIV: AH - Economics http://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp375.pdf

The SPARC initiative: a catalyst for change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bas Savenije

2004-08-01

Full Text Available SPARC was started in 1997 by a number of large research libraries in the US. Its main goal was to restore a competitive balance of the STM journals publishing market. A number of programmatic areas were initiated in order to realize this goal: SPARC Alternatives, SPARC Leading Edge, SPARC Scientific Communities, and SPARC Communication and Advocacy. Since two years SPARC puts a special emphasis on Open Access, including institutional repositories. The paper gives an overview of the activities of SPARC and its partners in these areas. The results are evaluated and compared with the measures defined in 1997. Finally, the paper describes the possibilities for libraries to contribute to the realization of SPARC's goals.

Better to give and to compete? Prosocial and competitive motives as interactive predictors of citizenship behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Cardador, M Teresa; Wrzesniewski, Amy

2015-01-01

Research has returned mixed results concerning the relationship between prosocial motivation and citizenship behavior. Building from research suggesting that mixed motives might explain these equivocal findings, we conducted two field studies examining the interaction between prosocial and competitive motives and two types of citizenship behavior. Prosocial motivation, but not competitive motivation, was positively related to citizenship behavior directed at others, though this relationship was weakened when prosocial motives were accompanied by competitive motives. Prosocial motives compensated for weak competitive motives to predict citizenship behavior directed toward the organization. Our studies expand research on prosocial and competitive motivation, mixed-motives, and citizenship behavior. Further, they carry personnel implications given that many organizations seek to hire employees high on both competitive and prosocial motivation.

INNOVATIVE CLUSTER OR COMPETITIVENESS POLE?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liliana Scutaru

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The paper analyzes the situation of clusters in Romania and their areas of activity and innovation in entrepreneurship Romanian state. It is made also a territorial distribution of clusters on the eight regions. The findings lead to the conclusion that there are some clusters that have the vocation to become poles of competitiveness in areas such as renewable energy, automotive, electronics, health, biotechnology, mechatronics or ICT (Information and Communication Technology which represent the resources for future of the Romanian economy. Regarding the degree of innovation of Romanian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs, the level is relatively modest, 30.8% of all enterprises being innovative. If we were to answer the question the title suggests, we would say "yes" to both since the innovative cluster as well as the competitiveness pole promotes par excellence, innovation through study, research and stimulation of creativity. And this is more than enough to support economic growth of Romania and maintain the competitiveness worldwide.

Competition and norms: A self-defeating combination?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alberts, Genevieve; Gurguc, Zeynep; Koutroumpis, Pantelis; Martin, Ralf; Muûls, Mirabelle; Napp, Tamaryn

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the effects of information feedback mechanisms on electricity and heating usage at a student hall of residence in London. In a randomised control trial, we formulate different treatments such as feedback information and norms, as well as prize competition among subjects. We show that information and norms lead to a sharp – more than 20% - reduction in overall energy consumption. Because participants do not pay for their energy consumption this response cannot be driven by cost saving incentives. Interestingly, when combining feedback and norms with a prize competition for achieving low energy consumption, the reduction effect – while present initially – disappears in the long run. This could suggest that external rewards reduce and even destroy intrinsic motivation to change behaviour. - Highlights: •We investigate the effect of information feedback on residential energy consumption. •A RCT tests whether norms affect the decisions of price-indifferent participants. •Feedback mechanisms and norms reduce energy consumption by 22% on average. •Introducing prize competition dissipates the impact of information feedback and norms.

Features of Evaluating the Enterprise Tax Competitiveness Using the Hierarchy Analysis Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Didyk Andrii M.

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The aim of the article is substantiating the provisions on the evaluation of the enterprise tax competitiveness using the hierarchy analysis method to identify the initial tax position of the business entity and the level of the “gap” between the actual state of its tax system and opportunities of the external tax environment. There have been proved a fragmentary character of developments in this area, which can be explained mainly by the novelty of the research object. The arguments in favor of feasibility of using the hierarchy analysis method to solve the problem of evaluating the level of the enterprise tax competitiveness have been presented. The generalized sequence for evaluating such competitiveness has been presented, which provides for the implementation of a number of stages: the formation of an expert group and organization of its work; statement of the problem and its structuring in the form of a hierarchy; diagnosis of the enterprise tax system according to specified parameters; identification of opportunities of external tax environment; comparison of the current enterprise tax system with opportunities of the external tax environment by building a matrix of pairwise comparisons; determination of eigenvectors and their normalized estimates for each pairwise comparison matrix in order to obtain priority vectors; evaluation of consistency of the pairwise comparison of matrices; building of the generalized priority vector; formation of conclusions and recommendations. The detailed description of each of these stages has been given. Application of the provisions on the evaluation of the enterprise tax competitiveness on the example of JSC “Drogobych truck crane plant” has been considered. It has been concluded that the level of the enterprise tax competitiveness is significantly lower than the opportunity of the external tax environment (generalized by 34,6 %. This is despite the fact that in termsof some parameters of

Some Consideration On Knowledge Management Implication On Organization's Competitiveness

Science.gov (United States)

Draghici, Anca; Ciortan, Marius Areta; Florea, Claudia

2015-07-01

The research described in this paper has been focused on two objectives: to debate the knowledge management's active role for organizations competitive advantage and to describe information technology's capabilities in leveraging the knowledge worker's competencies. For the purposes of this article, competitive advantage is perceived as a strength that provides a market advantage relative to a competitor. Often competitive advantage is related to the core competencies of the organisation, which are frequently based on implicit know-how or tacit knowledge. This intangible, unstructured knowledge is difficult to manage; consequently management has ignored it when designing business strategy. However, the increased competitive pressures of the post-industrial global economy and the exponential advances in computing power have increased management's interest in knowledge as a sustainable source of competitive advantage.

THE EFFECTS OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND RISK PERCEPTION ON COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

OpenAIRE

Demir, Bülent

2018-01-01

Theaim of this research is to examine the impact of strategic management practicesand risk perception on the competitive advantage. In the research, strategicmanagement practices and risk perception were considered as independentvariables and competitive advantage as dependent variable.Theresearch is expected to contribute to the theoretical and practical aspects ofthe literature. The theoretical contribution of the research is that the effectof strategic management practices and the risk per...

Earth Observation Research for GMES Initial Operations

Science.gov (United States)

van Beijma, Sybrand; Balzter, Heiko; Nicolas-Perea, Virginia

2013-04-01

GMES Initial Operations - Network for Earth Observation Research Training (GIONET) is a Marie Curie funded project that aims to establish the first of a kind European Centre of Excellence for Earth Observation Research Training. GIONET is a partnership of leading Universities, research institutes and private companies from across Europe aiming to cultivate a community of early stage researchers in the areas of optical and radar remote sensing skilled for the emerging GMES land monitoring services during the GMES Initial Operations period (2011-2013) and beyond. GIONET is expected to satisfy the demand for highly skilled researchers and provide personnel for operational phase of the GMES and monitoring and emergency services. It will achieve this by: * Providing postgraduate training in Earth Observation Science that exposes students to different research disciplines and complementary skills, providing work experiences in the private and academic sectors, and leading to a recognized qualification (Doctorate). * Enabling access to first class training in both fundamental and applied research skills to early-stage researchers at world-class academic centres and market leaders in the private sector. * Building on the experience from previous GMES research and development projects in the land monitoring and emergency information services. * Developing a collaborative training network, through the placement of researchers for short periods in other GIONET organizations. Reliable, thorough and up-to-date environmental information is essential for understanding climate change the impacts it has on people's lives and ways to adapt to them. The GIONET researchers are being trained to understand the complex physical processes that determine how electromagnetic radiation interacts with the atmosphere and the land surface ultimately form the signal received by a satellite. In order to achieve this, the researchers have been placed in industry and universities across Europe, as

THE COMPETITIVENESS OF SOYBEAN PRODUCTION IN BLITAR-EAST JAVA, INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moh. Azis Arisudi

2008-12-01

Full Text Available In East Java Province, the government still provides subsidy to soybean production in the form of soft credit to production inputs. Since the government budget and subsidy have been limited, efficiency in production, marketing and trade become crucial issues. The conducted research will try to achieve some research objectives as follows: Analyzing soybean farmer income in the Blitar District at the different cropping system; Obtaining analysis on comparative advantage and competitive-ness of soybean by different cropping system; analyzing influences of social price changes to farmers income due to public investment; and analyzing government policy impact on farmers income due to market/actual price development. The research uses Policy Analysis Matrix to obtain competitiveness rate, efficiency and impact of government policy on soybean production under multi-cropping system and different ecological zones in the Blitar district.

Strategic Mergers of Strong Institutions to Enhance Competitive Advantage

Science.gov (United States)

Harman, Grant; Harman, Kay

2008-01-01

Strategic mergers are formal combinations or amalgamations of higher education institutions with the aim of enhancing competitive advantage, or merging for "mutual growth". Recently, in a number of countries, there has been a decided shift from mergers initiated by governments, and dealing mainly with "problem" cases, towards…

Closing Symposium of the German Research Initiative ComFliTe

CERN Document Server

Radespiel, Rolf; Burg, Jan; Sørensen, Kaare

2013-01-01

This book reports on the German research initiative ComFliTe (Computational Flight Testing), the main goal of which was to enhance the capabilities of and tools for numerical simulation in flight physics to support future aircraft design and development. The initiative was coordinated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and promoted collaboration between the aircraft industry and academia. Activities focused on improving physical modeling for separated flows, developing advanced numerical algorithms for series computations and sensitivity predictions, as well as surrogate and reduced order modeling for aero data production and developing robust fluid-, structure- and flight mechanics coupling procedures. Further topics included more efficient handling of aircraft control surfaces and improving simulation methods for maneuvers, such as gust encounter. The important results of this three-year initiative were presented during the ComFliTe closing symposium, which took place at the DLR in Braunschweig, Germany, ...

Competition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bridoux, F.; Vodosek, M.; Den Hartog, D.N.; McNett, J.M.

2014-01-01

Competition traditionally refers to the actions that firms take in a product market to outperform rivals in attracting customers and generating revenues. Yet, competition extends beyond product markets to other arenas such as factor markets, where firms compete for resources, and the political

The entanglement between two isolated atoms in the double mode–mode competition model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin, Wu; Mao-Fa, Fang; Yao-Hua, Hu; Jian-Wu, Cai

2009-01-01

Extending the double Jaynes–Cummings model to a more complicated case where the mode–mode competition is considered, we investigate the entanglement character of two isolated atoms by means of concurrence, and discuss the dependence of atom–atom entanglement on the different initial state and the relative coupling strength between the atom and the corresponding cavity field. The results show that the amplitude and the period of the atom–atom entanglement evolution can be controlled by the choice of initial state and relative coupling strength, respectively. We find that the phenomenon of entanglement sudden death (ESD) is sensitive to the initial conditions. The length of the time interval for zero entanglement depends not only on the initial degree of entanglement between two atoms but also on the relative coupling strength of atom–field interaction. The ESD effect can be weakened by enhancing the mode–mode competition between the three- and single-photon processes. (classical areas of phenomenology)

Competition in Japan

OpenAIRE

Michael E. Porter; Mariko Sakakibara

2004-01-01

This article examines competition in Japan and its link to postwar economic prosperity. While Japan's industrial structure and competition policy seem to indicate that competition in Japan has been less intense, the empirical evidence does not support this conclusion. The sectors in which competition was restricted prove to be those where Japan was not internationally successful. In the internationally successful sectors, internal competition in Japan was invariably fierce. While the level of...

Competitive bidding in Medicare: who benefits from competition?

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Zirui; Landrum, Mary Beth; Chernew, Michael E

2012-09-01

To conduct the first empirical study of competitive bidding in Medicare. We analyzed 2006-2010 Medicare Advantage data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services using longitudinal models adjusted for market and plan characteristics. A $1 increase in Medicare's payment to health maintenance organization (HMO) plans led to a $0.49 (P service plans included, higher Medicare payments increased bids less ($0.33 per dollar), suggesting more competition among these latter plans. As a market-based alternative to cost control through administrative pricing, competitive bidding relies on private insurance plans proposing prices they are willing to accept for insuring a beneficiary. However, competition is imperfect in the Medicare bidding market. As much as half of every dollar in increased plan payment went to higher bids rather than to beneficiaries. While having more insurers in a market lowered bids, the design of any bidding system for Medicare should recognize this shortcoming of competition.

Mathematics and Engineering in Real Life through Mathematical Competitions

Science.gov (United States)

More, M.

2018-01-01

We bring out an experience of organizing mathematical competitions that can be used as a medium to motivate the student and teacher minds in new directions of thinking. This can contribute to fostering research, innovation and provide a hands-on experience of mathematical concepts with the real world. Mathematical competitions can be used to build…

Competitive intelligence in services organizations: a systematic literature review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danielle Faust Cruz

2015-02-01

Full Text Available It is growing the importance of services sector in the global economy. Facing a global and dynamic market, characterized by fierce competition, Competitive Intelligence - CI can help services organizations in decision making process and in the conception of competitive advantages against competitors. This paper aims to outline the state of art concerning the use of competitive intelligence in the services sector organizations, through research and analysis of articles found in major databases. This is a theoretical study consisting of a systematic literature review including bibliometric and content analysis. Relevant publications were retrieved in the following data bases related to the subject: Web of Knowledge, Scopus, Ebsco, ScienceDirect, and Engineering Village. The results allow considering the importance of competitive intelligence for survival and competitiveness of services organizations. Finally, it was verified the existence of a gap related to prescriptive studies, focusing on investigations about the subject, being this type of study relevant to the area to reach maturity

Multiple helix ecosystems for sustainable competitiveness

CERN Document Server

Ferreira, João; Farinha, Luís; Fernandes, Nuno

2016-01-01

This book discusses the main issues, challenges, opportunities, and trends involving the interactions between academia, industry, government and society. Specifically, it aims to explore how these interactions enhance the ways in which companies deliver products and services in order to achieve sustainable competitiveness in the marketplace. Sustainable competitiveness has been widely discussed by academics and practitioners, considering the importance of protecting the environment while sustaining the economic goals of organizations. The Quintuple Helix innovation model is a framework for facilitating knowledge, innovation and sustainable competitive advantage. It embeds the Triple and the Quadruple Helix models by adding a fifth helix, the “natural environment.” The Triple Helix model focuses on the university-industry-government triad, while the Quadruple adds civil society (the media- and culture-driven public) as a fourth helix. The Quintuple Helix model facilitates research, public policy, and pract...

Spatial heterogeneity in soil microbes alters outcomes of plant competition.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen C Abbott

Full Text Available Plant species vary greatly in their responsiveness to nutritional soil mutualists, such as mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia, and this responsiveness is associated with a trade-off in allocation to root structures for resource uptake. As a result, the outcome of plant competition can change with the density of mutualists, with microbe-responsive plant species having high competitive ability when mutualists are abundant and non-responsive plants having high competitive ability with low densities of mutualists. When responsive plant species also allow mutualists to grow to greater densities, changes in mutualist density can generate a positive feedback, reinforcing an initial advantage to either plant type. We study a model of mutualist-mediated competition to understand outcomes of plant-plant interactions within a patchy environment. We find that a microbe-responsive plant can exclude a non-responsive plant from some initial conditions, but it must do so across the landscape including in the microbe-free areas where it is a poorer competitor. Otherwise, the non-responsive plant will persist in both mutualist-free and mutualist-rich regions. We apply our general findings to two different biological scenarios: invasion of a non-responsive plant into an established microbe-responsive native population, and successional replacement of non-responders by microbe-responsive species. We find that resistance to invasion is greatest when seed dispersal by the native plant is modest and dispersal by the invader is greater. Nonetheless, a native plant that relies on microbial mutualists for competitive dominance may be particularly vulnerable to invasion because any disturbance that temporarily reduces its density or that of the mutualist creates a window for a non-responsive invader to establish dominance. We further find that the positive feedbacks from associations with beneficial soil microbes create resistance to successional turnover. Our theoretical

Spatial heterogeneity in soil microbes alters outcomes of plant competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbott, Karen C; Karst, Justine; Biederman, Lori A; Borrett, Stuart R; Hastings, Alan; Walsh, Vonda; Bever, James D

2015-01-01

Plant species vary greatly in their responsiveness to nutritional soil mutualists, such as mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia, and this responsiveness is associated with a trade-off in allocation to root structures for resource uptake. As a result, the outcome of plant competition can change with the density of mutualists, with microbe-responsive plant species having high competitive ability when mutualists are abundant and non-responsive plants having high competitive ability with low densities of mutualists. When responsive plant species also allow mutualists to grow to greater densities, changes in mutualist density can generate a positive feedback, reinforcing an initial advantage to either plant type. We study a model of mutualist-mediated competition to understand outcomes of plant-plant interactions within a patchy environment. We find that a microbe-responsive plant can exclude a non-responsive plant from some initial conditions, but it must do so across the landscape including in the microbe-free areas where it is a poorer competitor. Otherwise, the non-responsive plant will persist in both mutualist-free and mutualist-rich regions. We apply our general findings to two different biological scenarios: invasion of a non-responsive plant into an established microbe-responsive native population, and successional replacement of non-responders by microbe-responsive species. We find that resistance to invasion is greatest when seed dispersal by the native plant is modest and dispersal by the invader is greater. Nonetheless, a native plant that relies on microbial mutualists for competitive dominance may be particularly vulnerable to invasion because any disturbance that temporarily reduces its density or that of the mutualist creates a window for a non-responsive invader to establish dominance. We further find that the positive feedbacks from associations with beneficial soil microbes create resistance to successional turnover. Our theoretical results constitute an

The Literature Review of a New Form of Competitiveness Called City Competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Osman EROĞLU

2014-06-01

Full Text Available With globalization, the rapid development of information technologies and the rapid changes in the economic structure, the country’s borders at a time increasingly depreciate and the importance of city competitiveness reveals. Although it is an ongoing debate around the world whether cities compete with each other, city competitiveness is a new form of competitiveness. Cities compete with each other to increase their competitiveness. City competitiveness is defined as having better values compared to other cities. In this study, a new form of competitiveness called city competitiveness is examined.

RECONSIDERING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentina Zaharia

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Development of the competitive advantage involves a considerable effort from any organization. In particular, those organizations involved in a strong competitive market require the development of strategies to allocate long-term strategic marketing resources, efficiently and with easily quantifiable results. Faced with a multitude of phenomena and processes sometimes contradictory on different markets of consumption, contemporarily marketing has the mission to develop as creative as possible the business strategy of the organizations, their capacity of interacting with customers and other categories of audience. Such concepts as strategic positioning, relational marketing, management of the relationship with the consumer, marketing integrated research, a.s.o. are only a few of the tools with the help of which the marketing managers will implement successful operational strategies. All these developments are creating a real new paradigm of Marketing aimed to better explain the new types of complex market relationship in which the 21st Century organization is .

Structural Development of Finnish Universities: Achieving Competitiveness and Academic Excellence

Science.gov (United States)

Tirronen, Jarkko; Nokkala, Terhi

2009-01-01

This paper discusses strategic instruments that are used to enhance the competitiveness of Finnish universities in the context of globalisation, internationalisation and commercialisation of research and education. The Finnish higher education system is currently undergoing a major policy reform, which aims to enhance the competitiveness of…

Cooperation and competition in business on example of Internet research of opto-electronic companies

Science.gov (United States)

Kaliczyńska, Małgorzata

2006-10-01

Based on findings from earlier studies which showed that links to academic web sites contain important information, the following study examines the practicability of using co-link data to describe cooperation and competition in optoelec-tronic business. The analysis was based on 32 companies and organizations which were found in an issue of a specialist magazine. For the purpose of the research three search engines - Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search were used. Assuming that a number of co-links to a pair of Web sites is a measure of the similarity between the two companies, the study aims at search for the sets of companies that would be similar to one another. The method applied is the MDS - multidimensional scaling that allows to present results of the analysis on a 2D map.

Initiative-taking, Improvisational Capability and Business Model Innovation in Emerging Market

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cao, Yangfeng

Business model innovation plays a very important role in developing competitive advantage when multinational small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from developed country enter into emerging markets because of the large contextual distances or gaps between the emerging and developed economies....... Many prior researches have shown that the foreign subsidiaries play important role in shaping the overall strategy of the parent company. However, little is known about how subsidiary specifically facilitates business model innovation (BMI) in emerging markets. Adopting the method of comparative...... innovation in emerging markets. We find that high initiative-taking and strong improvisational capability can accelerate the business model innovation. Our research contributes to the literatures on international and strategic entrepreneurship....

Relation between competence and competitive advantages of the firm

OpenAIRE

Lavrova, Natalia

2014-01-01

Research paper was considered an aspect of competence as source of uniqueness organization and its competition advantages. It emphasizes the importance internal factors for get success of business. The article is divided into two parts: theoretical framework and case study, which suggests as the competence of the influence on the competitive advantages of firms in theory and practice.

National and Regional Competitiveness in the Crisis Context. Successful Examples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gina Cristina DIMIAN

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The paper addresses the issue of national and regional competitiveness in the context of socio-economic and financial crisis. Competitiveness is a complex concept which can be studied at both the firm and the local and national level.Thus, in economic terms the competitiveness is most often associated with the productivity or efficiency with which inputs are transformed into goods and services. As for the regional competitiveness it should be analyzed in terms of results (revenue, employment and in relation to its determinants: ranging from the classical production factors (capital, labour, technological progress to the “soft” factors (human capital, research and development, dissemination of knowledge.The current economic environment has revealed that countries such as China, India, Brazil and also the Czech Republic and Poland, following prudent economic policies, have managed to make from macroeconomic stability, investment in education and research some of their major drivers of economic growth.

Perception of coaching behaviors, coping, and achievement in a sport competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicolas, Michel; Gaudreau, Patrick; Franche, Veronique

2011-06-01

This study examined the relationship between perceived coaching behaviors, coping strategies during a sport competition, and sport achievement. A prospective design was used in which 80 athletes from individual sports completed measures of perceived coaching behaviors two days before a competition (Time 1) and measures of coping and sport achievement within three hours after a sport competition (Time 2). As expected, results of multiple regressions indicated that supportive coaching was a positive predictor of task-oriented coping and sport achievement whereas unsupportive coaching was a positive predictor of disengagement-oriented coping. Both types of coping were significantly associated with sport achievement. Task-oriented coping was a significant partial mediator in the relation between supportive coaching and sport achievement. This study, which contributes to both the coaching and coping literatures, highlights the role of supportive coaching behaviors in the initiation of effective stress management during sport competitions.

Exploratory research and development FY90

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Struble, G.L.; Middleton, C.; Baldwin, G.; Cherniak, J.; Clements, W.; Donohue, M.L.; Francke, A.; Kirvel, R.D.; MacGregor, P.; Shaw, G.

1990-01-01

In general, the Exploratory Research and Development (ER ampersand D) Program supports research projects considered too basic or long-range to be funded by other Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) programs. This Program is managed for the Laboratory Director by a special assistant who chairs the LLNL's IR ampersand D Review Committee. Membership in the Review Committee comprises senior LLNL scientists, engineers, and managers whose areas of expertise span the range of scientific disciplines pursued at the Laboratory. The research supported by the Program falls into three categories: Exploratory Research in the Disciplines, Director's Initiatives, and Laboratory-Wide Competition. The first two, Exploratory Research and Director's Initiatives, promote pioneering work in the various scientific disciplines and programmatic areas. Laboratory departments and divisions propose and manage projects in the Exploratory Research category. The Laboratory Director, with the advice of the Review Committee, selects several larger projects to fund as Director's Initiative. These projects, which are proposed and managed by the responsible associate director, are intended to enhance the scope of existing programs or establish new technical directions and programs for the Laboratory. All FY90 projects are described in detail in this report. Other publications on ER ampersand D projects are included in the Publications List at the back of this report

The Relational View of Interorganizational Competitive Advantage

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hu, Yimei; Zhang, Si; Li, Jizhen

Collaborating with external partners on R&D and forming strategic partnership for R&D have been popular phenomena for long, which leads new development in existing theories. Though the relational view of competitive advantage has been proposed for more than a decade, few in-depth empirical...... they generate relational rents (interorganizational competitive advantage) from this alliance? Based on this case study, we will propose some implications for the R&D collaboration between Chinese and Scandinavian countries. Also, the case will help us to test and enrich the existing theories...... on interorganizational competitive advantage. At the end of the paper, based on existing theories and the case study result, we will propose our conceptual framework on researching R&D strategic alliance between Scandinavian and Chinese firms....

PLACEBO EFFECTS IN COMPETITIVE SPORT: QUALITATIVE DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher J. Beedie

2007-03-01

Full Text Available The paper examines the placebo effect in sports performance. The possibility that the placebo effect is a more common phenomenon than the quantity of published research would suggest is briefly addressed. It is suggested that the placebo control design often used in sports performance research masks any placebo effects and thus presents a false picture of the mechanisms underlying performance-enhancing interventions in the real world. An electronic survey was sent to 48 competitive, international and professional athletes. Questions related to the placebo effect in competitive sport. Thirty responses were received. Data indicate that the majority (97% of respondents believe that the placebo effect can exert an influence on sports performance, and that a significant number (73% have experienced what they defined as a placebo effect. Inductive content analysis reveals that these experiences fall into several categories such as explicit placebo effects, inadvertent false beliefs, ritual and reverse placebo effects. Furthermore, 10 respondents (33% offer explanations as to the nature of the placebo effect. Again, inductive content analysis reveals that these explanations fall into several categories including deliberate changes in competitive strategy, belief/expectancy, faith in a third party, and marketing. Overall, responses support previous experimental research and anecdotal reports that have found a relationship between belief and sports performance. It is suggested that further research be structured to not simply control for the placebo effect, but to elucidate it

COMPETITIVE DEVALUATION IN THE CONTEXT OF TRADE PROTECTIONISM: A CRITICAL APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandru Butiseacă

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In the current economic context, competitive devaluation has become a common practice both in emerging and developed economies. But, despite their relatively recent popularity, the economic advantages of competitive devaluations are only illusory, since these involve huge long-term costs even for the states that resort to such policies. The main purpose of our research is to reveal the economic and political consequences of currency devaluations and to critically assess the protectionist thesis that a country needs to maintain a balanced trade with all its commercial partners. The research also contains a brief analysis of competitive devaluation policies applied by China. The paper is primarily a theoretical research, aiming to refine existing arguments, to bring new arguments, and to discuss relevant examples and cases for the announced topic.

FORMULATION STRATEGY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF POWER COMPETITION

OpenAIRE

Ljiljana Stošić Mihajlović

2014-01-01

In this work, the subject of the research is defined starting hypothesis that formulation in the form of answers to the question: What factors - competitive forces shape strategy? Strategy formulation essentially boils down to competition. Competitors are all - customers, suppliers, potential new entrants to the market and producers of substitutes - and depending on the industry, may be more or less important or active. The first primary determinant of a firm's prof...

Social-geographical essence and content of the competitiveness of the region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana Gryniuk

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The current stage of market transformations in Ukraine requires the changing of existing stereotypes and management. Expecting for administrative reform and economic regionalization of the state requires detailed attention to the scientific concept of "competitiveness of the region." Being economical in nature this concept requires social and geographical understanding. The paper traced the content and nature of the economic competitiveness of the region in social and geographical interpretation. Author presents the fragments of research model components of regional competitiveness. The effective influence of socio-geographical laws, patterns, factors and competitive advantages that determine the strategic potential of the region is figured on. The importance of individual studies of functional subsystems, industrial, social, recreation and tourism, natural resources, administrative and management, investment and innovation under the influence of social transformation is noted. Based on scientific generalizations, the author's definition of region competitiveness was suggested. It is defined by the author as an integrated concept that reveals the state, the process and the outcome of the territory as a socio-economic system. The basis of regional competitiveness is the potential of the territory able to function effectively on the basis of competition (social and geographical advantages. The main goal here should be improvement of the region population quality of life. The work reveals the contribution of individual schools and social geographers’ studies to the development of regional competitiveness. The importance of further development of the theory and methodology of social and geographical research competitiveness of the region is stressed.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS: MANAGEMENT MODEL APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John N. N. Ugoani

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Modern organization theory considers emotional intelligence as the index of competencies that help organizations to develop a vision for competitiveness. It also allows organizational leaders to enthusiastically commit to the vision, and energize organizational members to achieve the vision. To maximize competiveness organizations use models to simplify and clarify thinking, to identify important aspects, to suggest explanations and to predict consequences, and explore other performance areas that would otherwise be hidden in an excess of words. The survey research design was used to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational competitiveness. The study found that emotional intelligence has strong positive relationship with organizational competitiveness

STRUCTURIZATION OF COMPETITIVE CAPACITY OF TRADE ORGANIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. A. Sеrеbrуаkоvа

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The modern consumer market is characterized by a complex of immanent tendencies of development, the competitive relations reflecting specifics inherent in it. These tendencies of development of the competitive environment of the consumer market are in many respects caused by a state and extent of use of competitive capacity of the organizations functioning in this market. This obvious circumstance causes the necessity of complex scientific research of competitive capacity of trade organizations, including its structures, for definition of prospects of its sustainable strategic development. Immanent properties of competitive capacity of trade organization allowed to study in detail its structure, by means of the substantial review of the existing options of its representation and their systematization on specific, element and system signs. In development of specific structure of competitive potential its addition commercial, technological, communication, consumer and image the potentials reflecting functional and branch specifics of activity of trade organization is offered. The system of elements of competitive capacity of trade organization is given by its structure-forming types. It is proved that these elements aren't characterized by strict distribution by types of potentials, and separate from elements are universal, accepted for simultaneous use when forming all types of potential. Allocation of a system sign of structurization of competitive potential was based on situation that "systemacity" has to be provided not so much with hierarchy of hierarchy of types and elements of potential, their interrelations, how many possibility of the accounting of various classification signs allowing to typify competitive potential as system integrity, regardless of its separate types. Those signs were the stage of a demand and level of use in economic activity, economic feasibility of existence of unrealized potential, the origin nature.

From Environment to Mating Competition and Super-K in a Predominantly Urban Sample of Young Adults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

George B. Richardson

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Recent research suggests human life history strategy (LHS may be subsumed by multiple dimensions, including mating competition and Super-K, rather than one. In this study, we test whether a two-dimensional structure best fit data from a predominantly urban sample of young adults ages 18–24. We also test whether latent life history dimensions are associated with environmental harshness and unpredictability as predicted by life history theory. Results provide evidence that a two-dimensional model best fit the data. Furthermore, a moderate inverse residual correlation between mating competition and Super-K was found, consistent with a life history trade-off. Our findings suggest that parental socioeconomic status may enhance investment in mating competition, that harshness might persist into young adulthood as an important correlate of LHS, and that unpredictability may not have significant effects in young adulthood. These findings further support the contention that human LHS is multidimensional and environmental effects on LHS are more complex than previously suggested. The model presented provides a parsimonious explanation of an array of human behaviors and traits and can be used to inform public health initiatives, particularly with respect to the potential impact of environmental interventions.

Spermatozoal Competition in Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio): What Is The Primary Determinant of Competition Success?

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Linhart, Otomar; Rodina, Marek; Gela, David; Kocour, Martin; Vandeputte, M.

2005-01-01

Roč. 130, - (2005), s. 705-711 ISSN 1470-1626 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA524/03/0178; GA AV ČR IBS5045314 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50450515 Keywords : spermatozoal competition Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 3.136, year: 2005

Effects of Competition on Students' Self-Efficacy in Vicarious Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Joanne C. Y.; Lam, Shui-fong

2008-01-01

Background: Vicarious learning is one of the fundamental sources of self-efficacy that is frequently employed in educational settings. However, little research has investigated the effects of competition on students' writing self-efficacy when they engage in vicarious learning. Aim: This study compared the effects of competitive and…

The Gulf of Mexico research initiative: It takes a village

Science.gov (United States)

Colwell, Rita R.

2016-07-01

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) was established at the time of one of the most significant ecological events in recent memory, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Defined by the discharge of over 150 million gallons of crude oil and the introduction of over 1.8 million gallons of chemical dispersants into the Gulf system, the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon disaster reached the Gulf Coast's wetlands and beaches and impacted the surface and deep ocean. The ecological story of the event reveals a strong linkage between the deep sea research community and research priorities in the Gulf of Mexico (coastal processes, human health, etc.). Deep Sea research efforts have revealed critical parts of the story, providing information on transport, fate, and effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil release and subsequent recovery of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystems.

Productive and Unproductive Competition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guerra, Alice; Luppi, Barbara; Parisi, Francesco

Conventional theories of competition classify contests as being either “productive,” when the competitive efforts generate a surplus for society, or “unproductive,” when competition generates no social surplus and merely distributes already existing resources. These two discrete categories of com...... and socially optimal levels of competition in the full range of intermediate cases, as well as in the extremum cases of destructive and super-productive competition.......Conventional theories of competition classify contests as being either “productive,” when the competitive efforts generate a surplus for society, or “unproductive,” when competition generates no social surplus and merely distributes already existing resources. These two discrete categories...... of competition create a division of real-world situations into analytical categories that fails to recognize the entire spectrum of competitive activities. Taking the existing models of productive and unproductive competition as benchmark idealizations, this paper explores the relationship between the privately...

Competition in spatial location models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Webers, H.M.

1996-01-01

Models of spatial competition are designed and analyzed to describe the fact that space, by its very nature, is a source of market power. This field of research, lying at the interface of game theory and economics, has attracted much interest because location problems are related to many aspects of

A longitudinal analysis of women's salivary testosterone and intrasexual competitiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

Hahn, Amanda C; Fisher, Claire I; Cobey, Kelly D; DeBruine, Lisa M; Jones, Benedict C

2016-02-01

Research on within-subject changes in women's intrasexual competitiveness has generally focused on possible relationships between women's intrasexual competitiveness and estimates of their fertility. While this approach is useful for testing hypotheses about the adaptive function of changes in women's intrasexual competitiveness, it offers little insight into the proximate mechanisms through which such changes might occur. To investigate this issue, we carried out a longitudinal study of the hormonal correlates of changes in intrasexual competitiveness in a large sample of heterosexual women (N=136). Each woman provided saliva samples and completed an intrasexual competitiveness questionnaire in five weekly test sessions. Multilevel modeling of these data revealed a significant, positive within-subject effect of testosterone on intrasexual competitiveness, indicating that women reported greater intrasexual competitiveness when testosterone was high. By contrast, there were no significant effects of estradiol, progesterone, estradiol-to-progesterone ratio, or cortisol and no significant effects of any hormones on reported relationship jealousy. This is the first study to demonstrate correlated changes in measured testosterone levels and women's reported intrasexual competitiveness, implicating testosterone in the regulation of women's intrasexual competitiveness. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mixing, entropy and competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klimenko, A Y

2012-01-01

Non-traditional thermodynamics, applied to random behaviour associated with turbulence, mixing and competition, is reviewed and analysed. Competitive mixing represents a general framework for the study of generic properties of competitive systems and can be used to model a wide class of non-equilibrium phenomena ranging from turbulent premixed flames and invasion waves to complex competitive systems. We demonstrate consistency of the general principles of competition with thermodynamic description, review and analyse the related entropy concepts and introduce the corresponding competitive H-theorem. A competitive system can be characterized by a thermodynamic quantity—competitive potential—which determines the likely direction of evolution of the system. Contested resources tend to move between systems from lower to higher values of the competitive potential. There is, however, an important difference between conventional thermodynamics and competitive thermodynamics. While conventional thermodynamics is constrained by its zeroth law and is fundamentally transitive, the transitivity of competitive thermodynamics depends on the transitivity of the competition rules. Intransitivities are common in the real world and are responsible for complex behaviour in competitive systems. This work follows ideas and methods that have originated from the analysis of turbulent combustion, but reviews a much broader scope of issues linked to mixing and competition, including thermodynamic characterization of complex competitive systems with self-organization. The approach presented here is interdisciplinary and is addressed to the general educated readers, whereas the mathematical details can be found in the appendices. (comment)

Scientific evidence suggests a changed approach in ergonomic intervention research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Winkel, Jørgen; Schiller, Bernt; Dellve, L.

2017-01-01

Ergonomic interventions have generally been unsuccessful in improving workers’ health, with concurrent rationalization efforts negating potentially successful intervention initiatives. We propose the two aims are considered simultaneously, aiming at the joint consideration of competitive performa...... to carry out such research. The present authors bring forth the vision of “a Nordic Model for development of more sustainable production systems”....

An Overview of CLT Research and Implementation in North America

Science.gov (United States)

Shiling Pei; Douglas Rammer; Marjan Popovski; Tom Williamson; Philip Line; John W. van de Lindt

2016-01-01

Although not yet seen as common practice, building with cross laminated timber (CLT) is gaining momentum in North America. Behind the scenes of the widely publicized project initiatives such as the Wood Innovation Design Centre Building in Canada and the recent U.S. Tall Wood Building Competition, substantial research, engineering, and development has been completed or...

Initial verification and validation of RAZORBACK - A research reactor transient analysis code

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Talley, Darren G. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2015-09-01

This report describes the work and results of the initial verification and validation (V&V) of the beta release of the Razorback code. Razorback is a computer code designed to simulate the operation of a research reactor (such as the Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR)) by a coupled numerical solution of the point reactor kinetics equations, the energy conservation equation for fuel element heat transfer, and the mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations for the water cooling of the fuel elements. This initial V&V effort was intended to confirm that the code work to-date shows good agreement between simulation and actual ACRR operations, indicating that the subsequent V&V effort for the official release of the code will be successful.

Comparative evaluation of competitive ELISA test in Colombian cattle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marino, O.; Rueda, E.; Sedano, L.; Zuniga, I.; Calderon, C.; Ortega, A.; Puentes, A.

1998-01-01

In order to contribute to the definition of the best ELISA test for screening and differential diagnosis of Brucella abortus to be applied for control programmes, a total of 2971 sera from Colombian cattle were tested for brucellosis. Conventional agglutination tests, Buffered Plate antigen test (BPAT) and Rose Bengal (RB) as well as Complement Fixation test (CFT) (Alton, et al. 1988) were used comparatively. Radial immunodiffusion test (RID) was also performed to all sera. The sera were also tested using four different ELISAs: indirect ELISA from FAO/IAEA and the indirect ELISA modified by Nielsen, et al. 1992 as well as two competitive ELISAs: one competitive ELISA used B. abortus O-polysaccharide antigen and an enzyme conjugated monoclonal to the O-polysaccharide for competition and detection. The second competitive ELISA used lipopolysaccharide (sLPS) antigen, a different monoclonal antibody for competition but also specific for the O-polysaccharide and a commercially available goat anti-mouse IgG enzyme conjugate for detection. The sera were analyzed based on its population status, 987 positive obtained from Brucella abortus infected herds based on clinical and/or bacteriological evidence and a high prevalence of brucellosis, CFT percentage of positive animals in the herd was greater than 5%. Eight hundred sixty six (866) negative sera from non-vaccinated cattle from a brucellosis free area and 1118 negative sera obtained from reglamentary vaccinated areas under a free herd program. Initial cut-off values were derived using negative serum samples. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity was defined from frequency histograms based on this cut-off values and using 2x2 tables, corresponding confidence limits (95%) were calculated. The data were also analysed using signal detection analysis (ROC). Kappa statistics was determined for all tests and populations, accuracy was used as index of comparison to evaluate different assays. The data support the initial

Competitive intelligence as an important contributor to the growth of banks: A Zimbabwean perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Maune

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper explores how competitive intelligence has been an important contributor of growth in banks in Zimbabwe and how the banks are making use of competitive intelligence for such growth. The paper used a descriptive cross-sectional research methodology. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews. Purposive and stratified sampling methods were used. The paper found that most Zimbabwean banks have undertaken competitive intelligence in one way or another for strategic planning and better understanding the competitive business environment and competitors. The findings from this research will assist the entire banking sector and will be of great academic value

Implementation of marketing strategy: Factor of competitive advantage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krstić Ivan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Primary objective of the company is to reach the business success. Competitors have the same objective. Only the companies that really meet the consumer's needs and demands survive in the competitive struggle. The company who succeeds in it, has the possibility to achieve the competitive advantage as well. The company has to have the adequate marketing strategy in order to fulfill the marketing objectives and achieve the competitive advantage. The marketing strategy should be flexible and properly implemented to fulfill the expected results. The best solution is developing the credible strategies. Researching of the strategic marketing literature, the authors have noted down that the greater attention is given to the formulation than the implementation of the marketing strategy. In this text, focus is on the research of the marketing strategy implementation as a significant factor of the competitive advantage. The traditional concept of the marketing strategy implementation is taken into consideration first, as well as the risks the enterprise is facing with in that case. Thereafter, the testing and developing of the credible marketing strategy is represented, as well as the problems the enterprise is facing with in the implementation. Finally, the executive skills and control are analyzed as important factors of the successful implementation of the marketing strategy. .

Managing the relationship between strategic resources and competitive priorities through the resource-based view

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cláudia Fabiana Gohr

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Firms should develop and improve strategic resources that are important for the competitive priorities, especially those that are important to customers. Using resource-based view of the firm as a theoretical perspective, this paper aims to analyze how strategic resources can contribute to the competitive priorities of an organization that operates in the logistic sector. The research method used was the case study using as the main technique of data collection semi-structured and structured interviews; and, systematic observations. The resources that contribute effectively to competitive priorities that need improvement are sales control, loyal customer base, partners experience and agile feedback to customers. However, only the experience of the partners provides to the company sustainable competitive advantage. Others resources identified in the field research provide only a competitive parity, despite this, support important competitive priorities.

Sustainability and strategic competitive advantage: an exploratory and bibliometric study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedrita Dantas Gabriele

2012-08-01

Full Text Available This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis to understand the state of the art of academic research that relates to sustainability strategy and competitive advantage. For this, the article seeks to identify what is produced, released and knowledge generated by the scientific community related to the subject, and analyzing key trends, through a quantitative analysis of the evolution of scientific literature on the themes, vehicles publishing, centers research, leading researchers and research networks. Initially we constructed a tree of keywords in order to quest the search engines and publications on the subject and later, do the processing and analysis software with the support of EndNote ®, RefViz ® and Excel ®.Through research, we found that there was a recent increase of publications on the subject of this article, especially since 2000, and the areas of science that most published on the subject are represented by the Triple Bottom Line (environmental, social and economic, pointing out that sustainability is currently having a bias much more proactive instead of reactive. Furthermore, it was also possible to identify countries that have the highest rate of development, like the HDI and GINI index, are the pioneers in publishing this issue.

Dancing in the Dark: Competition over the "Meaning of Competition"

OpenAIRE

Metcalfe John Stanley

2009-01-01

Competing concepts of competition provide a sharp divide between theories of economic order and theories of economic transformation. The shift from competition as a state of affairs and competition as a creative process provides the divergence of perspective that is the topic of this paper. We link the Smith Marshall approach of rivalry and open competition to the more modern evolutionary view based on variation cum selection perspectives on innovation and the adaptive role of market processe...

Innovating for a competitive and resource-efficient transport system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-05-15

Transport is vital to the economic prosperity and social integration of Europe. EU-transport policy is directed to developing a smart, efficient transport system with reduced dependency on fossil fuels and less environmental impacts that will enhance mobility in Europe and will underpin Europe's competitiveness in global markets. This includes the transport sector itself, which is an important part of the EU economy. In contributing to achieving these ambitious goals, extensive investments are made in research and development for sustainable and innovative solutions. This Policy Brochure, which is produced by the Transport Research and Innovation Portal (TRIP), highlights the contribution of research, development, and innovation in securing a competitive and resource-efficient transport system in Europe.

Mathematics and engineering in real life through mathematical competitions

Science.gov (United States)

More, M.

2018-02-01

We bring out an experience of organizing mathematical competitions that can be used as a medium to motivate the student and teacher minds in new directions of thinking. This can contribute to fostering research, innovation and provide a hands-on experience of mathematical concepts with the real world. Mathematical competitions can be used to build curiosity and give an understanding of mathematical applications in real life. Participation in the competition has been classified under four broad categories. Student can showcase their findings in various forms of expression like model, poster, soft presentation, animation, live performance, art and poetry. The basic focus of the competition is on using open source computation tools and modern technology, to emphasize the relationship of mathematical concepts with engineering applications in real life.

Analysis of Telecommunication Markets of India, Singapore and Thailandand and Research Their Global Competitiveness

OpenAIRE

HUANG, JU-HAN

2011-01-01

The objective of this paper is to investigate the telecommunication markets in India, Singapore and Thailand in order to find the potentiality of the markets which could be considered by the company to expand its business in telecommunication field and also to take a proper strategy. Michael Porter proposed a model that allows analyzing why some nations are more competitive than others are, and why some industries within nations are more competitive than others are. (Porter, 1990) Porter beli...

Silicon Valley Meets Biomedical Research in the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Science.gov (United States)

Crow, Diana

2017-05-18

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropy launched by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, drew attention with its stated goal of helping to "cure, manage, or treat all diseases" by the end of the century. They intend to do it through funding basic research and addressing gaps in biomedical technology. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Motivators to Adopt Green Supply Chain Initiatives

OpenAIRE

Amarpreet S. Kohli; Ellen Hawkins

2015-01-01

There are several factors that drive organizations to consider implementing green supply chain (GSC) initiatives. This paper refines an instrument to empirically test the significance of the following drivers for participation in GSC initiatives: Government Regulation, Buyer/Supply Chain Influence, Internal Readiness, Competitive Advantage, and Corporate Social Responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility emerged as the most significant variable that effected the decision making of the org...

A Classroom-Based Distributed Workflow Initiative for the Early Involvement of Undergraduate Students in Scientific Research

Science.gov (United States)

Friedrich, Jon M.

2014-01-01

Engaging freshman and sophomore students in meaningful scientific research is challenging because of their developing skill set and their necessary time commitments to regular classwork. A project called the Chondrule Analysis Project was initiated to engage first- and second-year students in an initial research experience and also accomplish…

Examining Generic Competitive Strategy Types in U.S. and European Markets

OpenAIRE

Susan P Douglas; Dong Kee Rhee

1989-01-01

Identification of generic competitive strategy types has recently attracted considerable attention. Most of this research has, however, focused on competitive strategy of U.S. businesses in their domestic market. The present study extends these findings to markets outside the United States, and more specifically Europe, based on a sample of industrial businesses drawn from the PIMS database. Similar dimensions underlying competitive strategy, and similar generic types are found among business...

COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH INFORMATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raluca Daniela RIZEA

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Intelligence competitiveness has already started to build its road in the company’s long term strategies. Nonetheless, business executives continue to look for ways to apply information technology strategically to their businesses. Using information managers manage to communicate, to convey their knowledge about markets, competitors, products, services and operations. Even if data and information are all over there are few amounts of managers that realize the importance of them to the success of the business. This article will review competitive forces and competitive information systems strategies for gaining competitive advantages, explain concepts of value chain, value co-opetition (competition and cooperation, and discuss innovation strategy. Co-opetition is a strategy whereby companies cooperate and compete at the same time with their competitors, complementors (i.e. hardware and software businesses, customers, suppliers. The article discuss an important dimension of information system, identifies competitive advantages and enhancing competitive strategies thought information systems.

Putting competition into perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, L. III.

1993-01-01

This paper examines the current level of competition in the electric industry in the context of the history of the industry and the development of electric markets in other counties. The topics of the paper include competition in the history of the American electric industry, the current state of competition, the competitive situation in Texas, competition in other electric markets, and competitive changes in the US market

Modeling the cooperative and competitive contagions in online social networks

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuang, Yun-Bei; Chen, J. J.; Li, Zhi-hong

2017-10-01

The wide adoption of social media has increased the interaction among different pieces of information, and this interaction includes cooperation and competition for our finite attention. While previous research focus on fully competition, this paper extends the interaction to be both "cooperation" and "competition", by employing an IS1S2 R model. To explore how two different pieces of information interact with each other, the IS1S2 R model splits the agents into four parts-(Ignorant-Spreader I-Spreader II-Stifler), based on SIR epidemic spreading model. Using real data from Weibo.com, a social network site similar to Twitter, we find some parameters, like decaying rates, can both influence the cooperative diffusion process and the competitive process, while other parameters, like infectious rates only have influence on the competitive diffusion process. Besides, the parameters' effect are more significant in the competitive diffusion than in the cooperative diffusion.

Memory and Evaluation Effects in Competitive Advertising Environments.

OpenAIRE

Keller, Kevin Lane

1991-01-01

A laboratory experiment replicates and extends prior research on how competitive advertising and retrieval cues affect consumer memory and evaluations of brands. The number and valence of competing ads, presence of ad retrieval cues, and valence of target ads were manipulated. A high level of competitive advertising varying in valence produced interference effects for recall and evaluations. Ad retrieval cues offset these effects and enhanced recall and evaluations even when there were no com...

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF COMPETITIVENESS FACTORS OF REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. V. Bakanach

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In the conditions of market economy the competition is the main driving force of economic growth. The idea about existence of the interregional competition isn't conventional and demands the proof. The phenomena allowing to state existence of the interregional competitive relations which are realized through system of prerequisites of political, economic, legal and technological character were for this purpose studied. Competitiveness – one of the most important characteristics of the territory which level directly influences formation of positive tendencies in development of subjects of the Russian Federation. Productive indicators of level of competitiveness of the region are: a gross regional product on one occupied in economy, production of a gross regional product for one ruble of fixed assets, a gross regional product for one ruble of investments, a share of balanced financial result in a gross regional product. On the basis of private indicators the Pattern method received an integrated indicator of level of competitiveness of region. The quantitative assessment of the factors determining distinctions of regions of the Russian Federation by competitiveness level allowed to define that the competitiveness variation in the territory of regions in the greatest measure depends on a variation of number of graduates of educational institutions with higher education on 1000 people and the specific weight of investments into the enterprises occupied with mining. Regional values of competitiveness are most elastic relatively the specific weight of own investments, that is increase of this indicator for 1 % causes increase of competitiveness for 0.9 %. The practical importance of this work is caused by possibility of application of results of research by federal and regional executive authorities as information representation when developing programs of increase of level of competitiveness of regions of the Russian Federation. Besides, it is

Student film clinches top prize in film competition

OpenAIRE

Elliott, Jean

2006-01-01

Virginia Tech senior Tim Leaton earned the top prize in the widely acclaimed Film Your Issue (FYI) competition - an eight-week paid internship at Disney Studios in Los Angeles. Leaton's one-minute film, "Orphans in Africa," won the nationwide contest, an initiative to encourage young Americans, age 18 to 26, to engage in social issues and add their voices to the public dialogue.

Undergraduate Student Research Opportunities and Economic Revitalization through Urban Agriculture Initiatives

Science.gov (United States)

Schläppi, Michael R.

2017-01-01

Through interactions with the recently formed Cooperative of the Institute of Urban Agriculture and Nutrition (CIUAN), a catalyst initiative co-governed by community organizations and academia to engage in mutually beneficial research and teaching projects, Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is supporting community efforts to bring…

Competitive coexistence caused by adaptive predators

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Křivan, Vlastimil

2003-01-01

Roč. 5, - (2003), s. 1163-1182 ISSN 1522-0613 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA201/03/0091 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z5007907 Keywords : adaptive foraging -competition Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 1.587, year: 2003

Emissions trading and competitive positions. The European Proposal for a Directive establishing a Framework for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading and Methods for the initial Allocation of Pollution Rights

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grimeaud, D.; Peeters, M.

2002-10-01

The study on the intention to introduce emissions trading on a European Union level was conducted on the basis of the following three questions: Which methods can be used (by the Member States) to distribute the tradable emissions rights en which legal preconditions should be observed considering the EU-Treaty and the relevant directive proposal? Whenever necessary and possible international agreements on climate change and international trade law will be mentioned. Which safeguards are available for fair competition and which system of emissions trading is advisable in this perspective? How should the PSR (performance standard rate) system, which is preferred by industry, be valued? The structure of this study is as follows: in chapter 2 insight is given into the various methods that can be used to start an emissions trading system, i.e. the way tradable pollution rights are distributed (initial allocation). Chapter 3 will further examine the system of the initial allocation of pollution rights as it has been chosen in the proposal for the European directive. The aim is to give an exact qualification of the method of emissions trading, especially the method of initial allocation, that is used in the directive proposal. Chapter 4 examines whether safeguards are available to prevent competition distortions between firms that fall under the scope of the emissions trading scheme. Special attention will be given to conditions that result from the EU-Treaty in this context, such as the prohibition of state aid. In this chapter the international trade law will be dealt with as well. Chapter 5 will present an executive summary and the specific question whether the PSR-system is legally acceptable or maybe even recommendable, will be answered

Competition and quality in health care markets: a differential-game approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Brekke, Kurt R; Cellini, Roberto; Siciliani, Luigi; Straume, Odd Rune

2010-07-01

We investigate the effect of competition on quality in health care markets with regulated prices taking a differential game approach, in which quality is a stock variable. Using a Hotelling framework, we derive the open-loop solution (health care providers set the optimal investment plan at the initial period) and the feedback closed-loop solution (providers move investments in response to the dynamics of the states). Under the closed-loop solution competition is more intense in the sense that providers observe quality in each period and base their investment on this information. If the marginal provision cost is constant, the open-loop and closed-loop solutions coincide, and the results are similar to the ones obtained by static models. If the marginal provision cost is increasing, investment and quality are lower in the closed-loop solution (when competition is more intense). In this case, static models tend to exaggerate the positive effect of competition on quality.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANISATIONAL RESOURCES, CAPABILITIES, SYSTEMS AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raduan Che Rose

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The main objective that business organisations in particular should strive to attain is achieving a competitive advantage position relative to their competitors.. This research empirically examined the importance of and emphasis placed on organisational resources, capabilities and systems in their relationships with competitive advantage. The overall findings indicated significant, positive effects of organisational resources, capabilities and systems collectively on competitive advantage, providing support and corroboration to the resource-based view (RBV. The total variance in competitive advantage accounted for by the multiple linear regression (MLR model was 56.2%. In short, the findings from this study have not only contributed to the literature on the issue of the relationship between organisational resources, capabilities, systems and competitive advantage, but also provided vital information to both practitioners and policy makers on the subject matter.

Phi-square Lexical Competition Database (Phi-Lex): an online tool for quantifying auditory and visual lexical competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Strand, Julia F

2014-03-01

A widely agreed-upon feature of spoken word recognition is that multiple lexical candidates in memory are simultaneously activated in parallel when a listener hears a word, and that those candidates compete for recognition (Luce, Goldinger, Auer, & Vitevitch, Perception 62:615-625, 2000; Luce & Pisoni, Ear and Hearing 19:1-36, 1998; McClelland & Elman, Cognitive Psychology 18:1-86, 1986). Because the presence of those competitors influences word recognition, much research has sought to quantify the processes of lexical competition. Metrics that quantify lexical competition continuously are more effective predictors of auditory and visual (lipread) spoken word recognition than are the categorical metrics traditionally used (Feld & Sommers, Speech Communication 53:220-228, 2011; Strand & Sommers, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 130:1663-1672, 2011). A limitation of the continuous metrics is that they are somewhat computationally cumbersome and require access to existing speech databases. This article describes the Phi-square Lexical Competition Database (Phi-Lex): an online, searchable database that provides access to multiple metrics of auditory and visual (lipread) lexical competition for English words, available at www.juliastrand.com/phi-lex .

Trait and perceived environmental competitiveness in achievement situations.

Science.gov (United States)

Elliot, Andrew J; Jury, Mickaël; Murayama, Kou

2018-06-01

Trait and perceived environmental competitiveness are typically studied separately, but they undoubtedly have a joint influence on goal pursuit and behavior in achievement situations. The present research was designed to study them together. We tested the relation between trait and perceived environmental competitiveness, and we tested these variables as separate and sequential predictors of both performance-based goals and performance attainment. In Studies 1a (N = 387 U.S. undergraduates) and 1b (N = 322 U.S. undergraduates), we assessed participants' trait and perceived environmental competitiveness, as well as third variable candidates. In Study 2 (N = 434 MTurk workers), we sought to replicate and extend Study 1 by adding reports of performance-based goal pursuit. In Study 3 (N = 403 U.S. undergraduates), we sought to replicate and extend Study 2 by adding real-world performance attainment. The studies focused on both the classroom and the workplace. Trait and perceived environmental competitiveness were shown to be positively related and to positively predict separate variance in performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal pursuit. Perceived environmental competitiveness and performance-based goal pursuit were shown to be sequential mediators of the indirect relation between trait competitiveness and performance attainment. These studies highlight the importance of attending to the interplay of the person and the (perceived) situation in analyses of competitive striving. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Multinationals and Institutional Competitiveness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hull Kristensen, Peer; Morgan, Glenn

This article discusses how institutional competitiveness and multinationals are mutually enriching concepts. Seen from the perspective of Multinationals, institutional competitiveness becomes expressed at two levels. At the level of corporate HQs institutional competitiveness proves itself...... competitiveness of Liberal Market Economies and Coordinated Markets Economies under the current competitive regime....

Analysis of inter-energy competition in the age of complex energies

Science.gov (United States)

1989-12-01

This is a survey report of the Japan Energy Economics Research Institute. Section 1 describes the energy industry in time of complex energies (History of changes and competition of energy sources. Formation of the energy market. Energy tax). Section 2 describes the present situation and the prospect of the competition among the energies (Present images of competition between industrial sector, civil household sector, transportation sector and the energy conversion sector. Development of the energy utilization system (cogeneration, regional air conditioning, waste heat recovery system, individual air conditioning system. Strategic meaning of the expansion of inter-energy competition market). Section 3 describes the arrangement of the fair competition conditions and the energy policy (Energy policy effect and cost. Energy industrial regulation and its abatement. Competitive energy market and fair competing conditions).

COMPETITIVENESS AS A FACTOR FOR CHOICE OF UKRAINIAN YOUTHRECEIVE HIGHER EDUCATION ABROAD1

OpenAIRE

ZUBCHYK OLEG ANATOLIIOVYCH

2017-01-01

The author compared the country’s competitiveness performance and competitiveness of higher education in the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum (Switzerland) and ranking of global competitiveness Management Institute (Switzerland). For comparison, selected countries whereResearch done withint here search theme of Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University “16 BF 041-01. Modernization of philosophy and political science education and science of Ukraine on thebasis of inter...

Canonical Correlation Analysis Between Supply Chain Quality Management And Competitive Advantages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chaghooshi Ahmad Jafarnejad

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Competitive environment of today’s organizations, more than ever, is extensive, and the major concern for managers is to preserve and promote the sustainable competitive advantage. Companies have an obligation to improve their product quality and have extensive and close cooperation with other companies involved in the supply chain of products. Supply chain quality management (SCQM is a systematic approach to improve the performance that integrates supply chain partners and uses the opportunity in the best way, establish linkages between upstream and downstream flows, and investigate on creating value and satisfaction of intermediaries and final customers. Furthermore, achieving competitive advantages enables an organization to create a remarkable position in market and differentiate itself from competitors. This paper aims to understand the relationships between SCQM and competitive advantage. Sixty-eight experts of 25 companies in Sahami Alyaf (SA supply chain has been participated in this research. The research method used for this article is descriptive correlation. To assess the relationships between the criteria, canonical correlation analysis was used. The result shows that the SCQM and competitive advantages have a meaningful relationship. It also shows that most important variable in the linear combination of SCQM and competitive advantages are “customer focus and quality,” respectively.

SMES COMPETITIVENESS IN AN INTEGRATED ECONOMY: A PRELIMINARY STUDY FROM INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eko Suseno Hr Matrutty

2018-03-01

Full Text Available ASEAN Economic Community (AEC offers both opportunities and challenges to Indonesian Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs. Highly competitive SMEs are likely to exploit opportunities from AEC by expanding their markets and securing raw materials at lower costs. On the contrary, the increasingly intense competition is likely to marginalize less competitive SMEs in their own domestic market. This study aims to analyze the SMEs competitiveness in anticipating AEC. Using 64 SMEs that already export their products or have potentials to export as the sample; this research shows that Indonesian SMEs exhibit a high competitiveness level from the perspective of the production factor, the availability of related and supporting industries factor (especially in relation to the availability of raw and supporting materials, and the demand factor. However, SME owners acknowledge that AEC intensify competition and the government has not provided adequate facilities to improve the SME competitiveness.

COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE AT BRAZILIAN INDUSTRIAL MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robson Quinello

2006-11-01

Full Text Available The industrial maintenance activities, generally, were considered as more one problem to the organizations. This image needs to change in Brazil , because this sector is part of the companies supply chain, is responsible to maintain equipments reliability and availability and it is a generator of the companies costs. This responsibility increases in a country where the productive capacity is in the limit, demanding extra efforts and where increasing pressures for reductions of the costs and restrictions techniques and human beings are increasing, ask to paradigms changes. The present study had for purpose to identify main canals of captation of the information used by the Brazilian industrial maintenance professionals, demonstrating systematic use of Competitive Intelligence can bring technological advance and profit of competitive advantage. For this, a qualitative research was made, using as research instruments the Delphi method, interviews with professionals and an experimental delineation C.I- Competitive Intelligence in a department-pilot (automotive sector.The results had shown to the use of formal and informal sources in different frequencies of access and the fragility in these departments in the not-systematic use of C.I, harming the above-mentioned challenges.

The relation between proactive environmental strategies and competitive advantage

Science.gov (United States)

Butnariu, A.; Avasilcăi, S.

2015-11-01

There are two distinct orientations of the environmental management that companies may adopt: the model of compliance and the strategic model. The strategic model treats environmental expenses as investments that will lead to competitive advantage for the company. Nevertheless, there are few scientific works that prove the relation between corporate environmental investments and competitive advantage. Thereby, in order to bring clarifications about the profound implications of environmental investments, in the first stage of our research we have proposed the hypothesis that the environmental investments would probably lead to competitive advantage by creating capabilities that are mediators of this relation. In the second stage we have tested this hypothesis, using the research method of survey. A questionnaire was sent to managers in textile Romanian industry, and 109 answers were received. The data was analysed using the linear multiple regression method and the results confirm our hypothesis.

Energy Technologies Research and Education Initiative

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ghassemi, Abbas [New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces, NM (United States); Ranade, Satish [New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces, NM (United States)

2014-12-31

For this project, the intended goal of the microgrid component was to investigate issues in policy and technology that would drive higher penetration of renewable energy, and to demonstrate implementation in a utility system. The work accomplished on modeling the dynamics of photovoltaic (PV) penetration can be expanded for practical application. Using such a tool those involved in public policy can examine what the effect of a particular policy initiative, e.g., renewable portfolio standards (RPS) requirements, might be in terms of the desired targets. The work in the area of microgrid design, protection, and operation is fundamental to the development of microgrids. In particular the “Energy Delivery” paradigm provides new opportunities and business models for utilities. Ultimately, Energy Delivery could accrue significant benefits in terms of costs and resiliency. The experimental microgrid will support continued research and allow the demonstration of technology for better integration of renewables. The algal biofuels component of the project was developed to enhance the test facility and to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of a commercial-scale geothermal algal biofuels operation for replication elsewhere in the arid Southwest. The project was housed at New Mexico State University’s (NMSU’s) Geothermal Aquaculture Facility (GAF) and a design for the inoculation train and algae grow-out process was developed. The facility was upgraded with modifications to existing electrical, plumbing and structural components on the GAF and surrounding grounds. The research work was conducted on biomass-processing, harvesting, dewatering, and extraction. Additionally, research was conducted to determine viability of using low-cost, wastewater from municipal treatment plants in the cultivation units as make-up water and as a source of nutrients, including nitrogen and soluble phosphorus. Data was collected on inputs and outputs, growth evaluation and

Proceedings of the Annual Acquisition Research Symposium (2nd), Acquisition Research: The Foundation for Innovation, Held in Monterey, California on 18-19 May 2005

Science.gov (United States)

2005-05-01

Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research http://www.babson.edu/entrep/fer/papers95/hanks.html. Hardin, R. (1971, September). Collective action as an...sales representation and franchise laws for wrongful termination. It’s not the primary objective, but it’s a benefit. Nearly every comment...competitive sourcing, privatization initiatives, public-private partnerships, and franchising . The outcomes of such programs remain to be assessed, but

Competition in the electric industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, Mel

1998-01-01

Deregulation of the electric power industry is changing the 'personality' of utilities and the way they operate in order to survive in a more competitive marketplace. This paper will identify and discuss key issues NAC International believes will arise as the nuclear industry responds to deregulation. The regulatory treatment of such issues as retail wheeling, recovery of stranded costs, divestiture of assets and securitization will have a significant impact on how utilities, particularly those with nuclear assets, proceed into the new marketplace. While some will survive as a result of innovative thinking, cost control, and entrance into new niche markets, others will be forced to reassess their viability altogether. Increased mergers and acquisitions and early plant closures are potential consequences of these struggles. Meanwhile, innovative companies will develop and enter into new nuclear markets including most notably the acquisition of generating assets. Other key drivers that will significantly impact the competitiveness of nuclear versus other fuels will be the resolution of the nuclear waste issue, the reduction of O and M and decisions regarding whether to make expensive capital additions. Additionally, this paper will present an overview of key regulatory and legislative initiatives impacting electricity. Finally, this paper will examine the roles of regulating bodies such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and state utility commissions, and will provide an outlook for further legislative and regulatory actions in this competitive environment. (author)

Tongue-Driven Wheelchair Out-Maneuvers the Competition

Science.gov (United States)

... 2, 2014 Tongue-Driven Wheelchair Out-Maneuvers the Competition Researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical ... significant step towards vastly improving the independence and quality of life of individuals with tetraplegia, and is ...

Small, pale blue dot' wins photography competition

Science.gov (United States)

Banks, Michael

2018-03-01

An image of a single positively charged strontium atom held in an ion trap by electric fields has won a UK science photography competition organized by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

A Race to the Top? Competitive Pressure and Magnet Adoption Among US Hospitals 1997-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Michael R; Lasater, Karen; McHugh, Matthew

2017-04-01

Care quality continues to be a focal point within US health care. One quality innovation is the Magnet recognition program for hospitals, which is a nurse-driven initiative emphasizing care and patient-safety improvements. To date, Magnet hospitals have been associated with better outcomes, but their distribution is highly uneven. Relatedly, little research has characterized what factors drive Magnet adoption (eg, competitive pressure from other hospitals). To examine if hospitals respond to more competing hospitals becoming Magnets by also becoming Magnet institutions. We use longitudinal data from the American Hospital Association, 1997-2012, and estimate hospital-level fixed-effect regressions to capture the association between Magnet adoption among competitors and a hospital's own likelihood of becoming a Magnet. We also explore heterogeneity in the relationships according to a hospital's standing within its market. Having more competitors become Magnets strongly predicts that a given hospital seeks Magnet recognition; yet, a hospital's market position and prevailing competition levels are moderating influences. A large literature links Magnet hospitals with better outcomes for patients and nurses, and more recent evidence suggests a business case for becoming a Magnet. We find evidence that hospitals seem motivated by competitive pressure, which suggests economic considerations in the decision to invest in costly care improvements.

Methodological approaches to the assessment of the competitiveness of the region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nazarov Nikolai Igorevich

2013-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of research methodologies for assessing the competitiveness of the region based on the analysis of literary sources. The study stated the author's technique assessing the competitiveness of the region, in accordance with the paradigm of regional development.

Strategies for Revitalizing Organizations: Regaining the Competitive Edge

Science.gov (United States)

Nysmith, C. Robert

1987-01-01

During the last decade, the United States has lost competitive stature in the world. Challenged daily by a technically sophisticated and vitalized global economy, industry and Government are examining quality and productivity initiatives with which to meet the foreign competitive challenge. At stake are our quality of life and our standard of living for the remainder of this century and beyond. Being competitive is an ongoing process, tuned to an awareness and understanding of the dynamics of the world marketplace and to the changing nature of the work environment. Solutions to America's quality and productivity problems do not exist independently within any organization or industry or at any given level of society. Success depends on commitment, partnership, meshing of goals and responsibilities, mutual respect and understanding, and a desire to be first. A change in organizational management culture is required. Traditional authoritarian management practices must give way to enlightened leadership initiatives that stress employee involvement and participation. There must be a lessening of adversarial relationships between management and labor and between industry and Government. Quality and productivity are understood to be the end result of an integrated process which begins with vigorous, committed leadership and ends with a satisfied customer. The essential elements in the revitalization process are organized in this report into seven strategies which represent the major findings of the Second NASA Symposium on Quality and Productivity. Each strategy is then broken down into its principal themes which are presented as recommendations. No one strategy can stand apart from any other; all are interrelated and work together.

Report of Committee for JAEA Internationalization Initiative (Translated document)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-07-15

In global circumstances surrounding nuclear energy, the role expected by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is becoming increasingly important. JAEA has promoted an initiative for an international hub in order to increase the scientific competitiveness of Japan and make international contributions, by gathering excellent researchers from the entire world with the latest facilities. Also, JAEA has established the 'Committee for JAEA Internationalization Initiative', which will discuss issues such as environmental improvement for accepted foreigners, direction of efforts for internationalization initiative and strategies to improve the current situation. This report mentions the results of the committee's discussion including current issues for the initiative and recommendations for their solution, as well as issues to be discussed in order to enhance international awareness of JAEA staff. The following is the summary of the recommendations for the initiative: Set up local teams that focus on the situation of each site in order to provide detailed support for foreigners from diversified backgrounds. Develop systems for emergency situations to provide information for safety swiftly for foreigners and confirm their safety, in addition to preparing emergency goods. Prepare bilingual documents and systems that foreigners need to use for their work based on importance and frequency of use of such systems and documents. (author)