National institutions and employers’ age management practices in Britain and Germany:‘Path dependence’and option exploration

We pursue a comparative analysis of employers’ age management practices in Britain and Germany, asking how valid ‘convergence’ and ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ theories are. After rejecting the convergence verdict, we proceed to ask how far ‘path dependence’ helps explain inter-country differences. Through 19 interviews with British and German experts, we find that firms have reacted in different ways to promptings from the EU and the two states. Change has been modest and a rhetoric-reality gap exists in firms as they seek to hedge. We point to continuities in German institutional methods of developing new initiatives, and the emerging role of British NGOs in helping firms and the state develop new options. We argue that ‘path dependence’ offers insight into the national comparison, but also advance the idea of national modes of firm optionexploration as an important way of conceptualizing the processes involved.

Circular polarisation frequency selective surface operating in Ku and Ka band

A double layer circular polarization (CP) frequency selective surface (FSS) for use as a dual-band quasi-optical diplexer suitable for deployment in reflector antenna systems is described. The FSS was designed to reflect Ku band signals (11.7–12.75 GHz) while transmitting Ka band signals (17.3–20.2 GHz) and conserving CP in each of these bands. The simulated/measured reflection loss over the Ku band was less than 0.05/0.1 dB for both TE and TM polarizations, while the simulated/measured axial ratio was less than 0.2/0.75 dB. Over the Ka band, the simulated/measured transmission loss for both polarizations was below 0.25/0.4 dB and the simulated/measured axial ratio was less than 0.25/0.75 dB. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a metallo-dielectric FSS that simultaneously operates in CP for an oblique angle of incidence in both Ku and Ka bands.

MEMOIR OF THE LIFE, CHARACTER, AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF THE LATE HON. HENRY WM. DE SAUSSURE, PREPARED AND READ ON THE 15th FEBRUARY, 1841, AT THE CIRCULAR CHURCH, CHARLESTON, BY APPOINTMENT OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA BAR ASSOCIATION.

A special meeting of the Association was held as it was resolved that Chancellor Harper was requested to prepare a memoir of the late Chancellor De Saussure.

An Analysis of Local Wind and Air Mass Directions and Their Impact on Cladosporium Distribution Using HYSPLIT and Circular Statistics

Ecological studies that examine species-environment relationships are often limited to several meteorological parameters, i.e. mean air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, vapour pressure deficit and solar radiation. The impact of local wind, its speed and direction are less commonly investigated in aerobiological surveys mainly due to difficulties related to the employment of specific analytical tools and interpretation of their outputs. Identification of inoculum sources of economically important plant pathogens, as well as highly allergenic bioaerosols like Cladosporium species, has not been yet explored with remote sensing data and atmospheric models such as Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT). We, therefore, performed an analysis of 24 h intra-diurnal cycle of Cladosporium spp. spores from an urban site in connection with both the local wind direction and overall air mass direction computed by HYSPLIT. The observational method was a volumetric air sampler of the Hirst design with 1 h time resolution and corresponding optical detection of fungal spores with light microscopy. The atmospheric modelling was done using the on-line data set from GDAS with 1° resolution and circular statistical methods. Our results showed stronger, statistically significant correlation (p ≤ 0.05) between high Cladosporium spp. spore concentration and air mass direction compared to the local wind direction. This suggested that a large fraction of the investigated fungal spores had a regional origin and must be located more than a few kilometers away from the sampling point.

Quantization effects in the polyphase N-path IIR structure

Polyphase IIR structures have recently proven themselves very attractive for very high performance filters that can be designed using very few coefficients. This, combined with their low sensitivity to coefficient quantization in comparison to standard FIR and IIR structures, makes them very applicable for very fast filtering when implemented in fixed-point arithmetic. However, although the mathematical description is very simple, there exist a number of ways to implement such filters. In this paper, we take four of these different implementation structures, analyze the rounding noise originating from the limited arithmetic wordlength of the mathematical operators, and check the internal data growth within the structure. These analyses need to be done to ensure that the performance of the implementation matches the performance of the theoretical design. The theoretical approach that we present has been proven by the results of the fixed-point simulation done in Simulink and verified by an equivalent bit-true implementation in VHDL.

Adaptive-threshold region merging via path scanning

Region merging algorithms commonly produce results that are seen to be far below the current commonly accepted state-of-the-art image segmentation techniques. The main challenging problem is the selection of an appropriate and computationally efficient method to control resolution and region homogeneity. In this paper we present a region merging algorithm that includes a semi-greedy criterion and an adaptive threshold to control segmentation resolution. In addition we present a new relative performance indicator that compares algorithm performance across many metrics against the results from human segmentation. Qualitative (visual) comparison demonstrates that our method produces results that outperform existing leading techniques.

Determination of the most suitable oil pipeline route using GIS least cost path analysis

The Keystone XL has a big role for transforming Canadian oil to the USA. The function of the pipeline is decreasing the dependency of the American oil industry on other countries and it will help to limit external debt. The proposed pipeline seeks the most suitable route which cannot damage agricultural and natural water recourses such as the Ogallala Aquifer. Using the Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques, the suggested path in this study got extremely high correct results that will help in the future to use the least cost analysis for similar studies. The route analysis contains different weighted overlay surfaces, each, was influenced by various criteria (slope, geology, population and land use). The resulted least cost path routes for each weighted overlay surface were compared with the original proposed pipeline and each displayed surface was more effective than the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Strategic account management: the path to gain customer loyalty

The account management field works closely with the sales team, serving as the customer’s primary point of contact. This project’s purpose was to understand if shifting the account management from brand centric to customer centric, would be the best fit for a Portuguese Pharmaceutical company. This customer centric approach - Strategic Account Management (SAM) - was studied, understanding the implicated trade-offs to the company. The workforce was probed about the project and their comments were analyzed. The conclusion points to an implementation of SAM and proposes the adaptations to follow in order to smooth the change.

"Vie et Passion de Jésus-Christ" (Pathé, 1902-1905): hétérogénéité des "tableaux", déclinaison des motifs

Cette étude examine deux copies de la "Vie et Passion de Jésus Christ" conservées par la Cinémathèque suisse avec une première préoccupation de type philologique qui conduit à prendre la mesure de l'autonomisation de chacun des "tableaux" composant le film et de l'hétérogénéité de ce dernier. Puis les constats émis à propos du support matériel sont articulés avec une réflexion d'ordre esthétique qui dégage l'importance de l'"effet-tableau" inscrivant cette production filmique dans une généalogie plus large. Le cinéma étant alors le lieu de convergences entre diverses séries culturelles, l'article envisage les liens entre la production Pathé et une pratique jusqu'ici peu discutée dans ce contexte, celle du tableau vivant. This article is a study of two copies of the "Life and Passion of Jesus Christ" held at the Cinemathèque suisse. Our first, broadly philological, concern is to recognise the degree of autonomy of each of the "tableaus" that make up the film, thus establishing the latter's heterogeneous composition. Secondly, adopting a more aesthetic approach, we discuss the importance of the tableau-effect, placing this kind of film production in a wider genealogical context. Given that cinema was at the time a meeting place for different cultural sequences, this article the examines the links between Pathe films and the "tableau vivant", a practice that until now has been rarely discussed in this regard.

The Path of Possibilities

by Ilan Averbuch presented to Brock in 1988.

Mackenzie Chown Path

Path running next to the Mackenzie Chown Complex.

Mackenzie Chown Path

View of the Complex and the path running along it from the east.

On the path integral formulation and the evaluation of quantum statistical averages

Four problems of physical interest have been solved in this thesis using the path integral formalism. Using the trigonometric expansion method of Burton and de Borde (1955), we found the kernel for two interacting one dimensional oscillators• The result is the same as one would obtain using a normal coordinate transformation, We next introduced the method of Papadopolous (1969), which is a systematic perturbation type method specifically geared to finding the partition function Z, or equivalently, the Helmholtz free energy F, of a system of interacting oscillators. We applied this method to the next three problems considered• First, by summing the perturbation expansion, we found F for a system of N interacting Einstein oscillators^ The result obtained is the same as the usual result obtained by Shukla and Muller (1972) • Next, we found F to 0(Xi)f where A is the usual Tan Hove ordering parameter* The results obtained are the same as those of Shukla and Oowley (1971), who have used a diagrammatic procedure, and did the necessary sums in Fourier space* We performed the work in temperature space• Finally, slightly modifying the method of Papadopolous, we found the finite temperature expressions for the Debyecaller factor in Bravais lattices, to 0(AZ) and u(/K/ j,where K is the scattering vector* The high temperature limit of the expressions obtained here, are in complete agreement with the classical results of Maradudin and Flinn (1963) .