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21 – 30 of over 16000Mehmet Caner Akay and Hakan Temeltaş
Heterogeneous teams consisting of unmanned ground vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles are being used for different types of missions such as surveillance, tracking and…
Abstract
Purpose
Heterogeneous teams consisting of unmanned ground vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles are being used for different types of missions such as surveillance, tracking and exploration. Exploration missions with heterogeneous robot teams (HeRTs) should acquire a common map for understanding the surroundings better. The purpose of this paper is to provide a unique approach with cooperative use of agents that provides a well-detailed observation over the environment where challenging details and complex structures are involved. Also, this method is suitable for real-time applications and autonomous path planning for exploration.
Design/methodology/approach
Lidar odometry and mapping and various similarity metrics such as Shannon entropy, Kullback–Leibler divergence, Jeffrey divergence, K divergence, Topsoe divergence, Jensen–Shannon divergence and Jensen divergence are used to construct a common height map of the environment. Furthermore, the authors presented the layering method that provides more accuracy and a better understanding of the common map.
Findings
In summary, with the experiments, the authors observed features located beneath the trees or the roofed top areas and above them without any need for global positioning system signal. Additionally, a more effective common map that enables planning trajectories for both vehicles is obtained with the determined similarity metric and the layering method.
Originality/value
In this study, the authors present a unique solution that implements various entropy-based similarity metrics with the aim of constructing common maps of the environment with HeRTs. To create common maps, Shannon entropy–based similarity metrics can be used, as it is the only one that holds the chain rule of conditional probability precisely. Seven distinct similarity metrics are compared, and the most effective one is chosen for getting a more comprehensive and valid common map. Moreover, different from all the studies in literature, the layering method is used to compute the similarities of each local map obtained by a HeRT. This method also provides the accuracy of the merged common map, as robots’ sight of view prevents the same observations of the environment in features such as a roofed area or trees. This novel approach can also be used in global positioning system-denied and closed environments. The results are verified with experiments.
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Despite the worldwide importance of third sector organizations in rural areas, the theoretical connection between the third sector and rural development remains largely…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the worldwide importance of third sector organizations in rural areas, the theoretical connection between the third sector and rural development remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical explanation of why and how third sector organizations contribute to rural development.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper builds upon the institutional economics of Thorstein Veblen and the tektology of Alexander Bogdanov. Tektology is used as an instrument to bring Veblenian criticism of pecuniary culture to bear on the explanation of the rural third sector.
Findings
Based on the tektological law of systems divergence, the Veblenian pecuniary‐industrial dichotomy and rural‐urban disparities are shown to be interrelated evolutionary consequences of pecuniary culture. Third sector organizations' contribution to rural development is explained in terms of the tektological notion of counter‐differentiation. Applied to pecuniary culture, counter‐differentiation involves attenuating its basic ingredients, such as private ownership and pecuniary motivation. This is achieved through third sector organizations' characteristics such as profit appropriation constraint and nonpecuniary goal orientation, respectively.
Originality/value
The paper identifies the institutional economics implications of the general systems theory and utilizes these implications to inform the research on the internationally relevant problem of rural development.
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Marina Di Masso, Marta G. Rivera-Ferre and Josep-Lluís Espluga
Food sovereignty has increasingly become a common political framework for alternative food movements seeking for radical change in the agrifood system. The transformative…
Abstract
Food sovereignty has increasingly become a common political framework for alternative food movements seeking for radical change in the agrifood system. The transformative potential of food sovereignty is context-dependent, resulting in different approaches and strategies in different territories. In this chapter, we address the case of Catalonia (Spain), as an example of global North food sovereignty movement, in which consumers play a predominant role. Based on five discourses on food sovereignty previously identified as a political proposal for social change in Catalonia, namely “activism,” “anti-purism,” “self-management,” “pedagogy,” and “pragmatism,” we discuss internal divergences within the movement that lead to convergences with other political trends in the agrifood system. Despite the movement converges in several critical points at a conceptual level, such as what is the meaning of food sovereignty, or its understanding of the food sovereignty proposal as a vehicle for deepening democracy, it has strong divergences at the operational level, that is, on how to achieve the social and political change it seeks. A structuralist or agency-focused vision of social change and the relevance assigned to ideological affinity among actors are core elements explaining such divergences. In this chapter, the authors explore these internal divergences within the Catalan food sovereignty movement, which at the same time lead to convergences with other repoliticization concepts within the agrifood studies literature (specifically food democracy, food citizenship, and political consumerism).
Roberto J. Santillán-Salgado and Araceli Ortega-Díaz
The unexpected Eurozone Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010–2012) aroused different attempts of interpretation among analysts and practitioners. While some attributed the crisis to a…
Abstract
The unexpected Eurozone Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010–2012) aroused different attempts of interpretation among analysts and practitioners. While some attributed the crisis to a “contagion” effect of the Subprime Mortgages Financial Crisis in the United States (2007–2009), others saw in it an expression of deeper fundamental economic imbalances.
This chapter presents an evaluation of whether there is convergence or divergence in the sectorial international competitiveness of the Eurozone area countries. A Dynamic Panel Data analysis on country-level exports for all Eurozone members for a period that goes from 1993 to 2014 finds significant evidence of international competitiveness convergence in four- out of 10-export sectors, and no significant evidence of divergence in the rest. While that evidence is not consistent with the high expectations generated by monetary integration more than 15 years ago, those four sectors correspond to high value-added economic activities and, in that sense, indicate a more homogeneous productive modernization process is taking place in the area.
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Giancarlo Giudici and Peter Roosenboom
In this chapter we examine the determinants of the long-run stock price performance of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) on Europe’s new stock markets. We report that the average…
Abstract
In this chapter we examine the determinants of the long-run stock price performance of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) on Europe’s new stock markets. We report that the average company that went public on these markets has been a very poor long-term investment. We find that the stock price performance during a three-year window is inversely related to first-day returns. We also find that the long-term underperformance of IPO firms begins after the lock-up agreement has expired and insiders start trading in the firm’s shares. These findings are consistent with the divergence of opinion hypothesis of Miller (1977).
E. Landaburu and L. Pardo
Weighted (h,φ) – divergence statistics are obtained by either replacing both distributions involved in the argument by their nonparametric estimators or replacing one distribution…
Abstract
Weighted (h,φ) – divergence statistics are obtained by either replacing both distributions involved in the argument by their nonparametric estimators or replacing one distribution and considering the other as given. Asymptotic properties of weighted (h,φ) – divergence statistics are obtained and some tests constructed on the basis of these results are presented.
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On the basis of the f*‐Divergence for fuzzy information systems, this article presents a sequential selection method for a fixed number of fuzzy systems. f*‐Divergence is a…
Abstract
On the basis of the f*‐Divergence for fuzzy information systems, this article presents a sequential selection method for a fixed number of fuzzy systems. f*‐Divergence is a measure of the quantity of information concerning the state space provided by the fuzzy system when the a priori probability distribution is defined on the space. The method described by the author determines a procedure which maximises the “Terminal” f*‐Divergence.
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Songlan Peng and Kathryn Bewley
This paper seeks to assess the feasibility and desirability of a major emerging economy adopting and implementing fair value accounting (FVA), as codified in the International…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to assess the feasibility and desirability of a major emerging economy adopting and implementing fair value accounting (FVA), as codified in the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), by studying China's recent experience.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines the extent of FVA adoption in China's new accounting standards (“2007GAAP”), reasons for differences from the International Accounting Standard Board's IFRS, and how 2007GAAP has been implemented in practice. Data are obtained from content analyses of IFRS and 2007GAAP FVA requirements, critical assessments of standard setters' official statements, and analyses of empirical evidence from official reports, media, and academic research.
Findings
The authors find a high degree of adoption of IFRS FVA standards in China's 2007GAAP for financial instruments, but many differences for non‐financial long‐term asset investments. Standard setters justify this divergence by fundamental characteristics of the Chinese environment. The resulting differences from IFRS in the 2007GAAP FVA standards, and in their implementation, challenge official claims of “substantial convergence” between 2007GAAP and IFRS. Hence, the benefits desired by Chinese regulators from adopting FVA and international accounting convergence to IFRS may not be realized.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are derived from aggregated data in government reports. These findings can be extended in future research by examining specific implementation outcomes in company financial statements.
Originality/value
The paper contributes a timely critical examination of a major emerging economy's convergence with the controversial FVA requirements, which supports the IFRS's standing as a high quality set of accounting standards. The findings provide new insights into factors that can impede international accounting convergence in emerging economies.
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Chen‐Lung Chin, Yu‐Ju Chen, Gary Kleinman and Picheng Lee
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of corporate internationalization, governance structures, and legal protections on the foreign earnings response coefficient…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of corporate internationalization, governance structures, and legal protections on the foreign earnings response coefficient (FERC). The FERC is a measure of the value‐relevance of foreign earnings.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected on 3,653 Taiwanese firms which had overseas investments. The authors examined the impact of the site of their overseas investments and the nature of the legal code of the investee country on the investor perceptions of firms' reported foreign and domestically‐generated earnings. Also examined was the impact of corporate governance arrangements (e.g. the difference between the owners' cash flow and voting rights) on the same components of the firms' earnings.
Findings
The empirical findings suggest that an aggressive internationalization strategy (foreign direct investment) has positive effects on the value relevance of foreign earnings, but that this strategy is impacted by the firm's own corporate governance arrangements and the target of its overseas investment efforts. While foreign investments bring about growth and profits, they expose the investors to the risk of expropriation by investee countries and corporate insiders.
Originality/value
The importance of the findings is that they should help regulatory agencies – and firms themselves – to better understand factors that can promote the global expansion of domestic enterprises.
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Panagiotis Artelaris, Paschalis A. Arvanitidis and George Petrakos
The purpose of this paper is to investigate convergence or divergence trends at global scale.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate convergence or divergence trends at global scale.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper questions the methodology and findings of the conventional convergence literature using linear OLS models. It introduces polynomial (quadratic) weighted least square (WLS) regression analysis to explore whether a number of economic performance indicators follow a non‐linear pattern of change.
Findings
The results indicate the formation of two groups in the world: a convergence one, including countries with low to medium‐high development levels, and a divergence one including countries with medium‐high to very high development levels.
Research limitations/implications
Data availability after 1990 (for the composite indicators).
Practical implications
The findings shed light on important issues, such as the decrease of economic disparities between countries, the prospects for global economic convergence, and the development of a more equal world. Apart from obvious policy implication such findings are also of theoretical significance, providing a basis to check (indirectly) the validity of alternative growth theories.
Originality/value
This is the first paper (to the authors' knowledge) that explores world convergence/divergence employing quadratic WLS regression analysis with a number of economic indicators. WLS regressions enable the removal of the impact of country size on results, whereas non‐linear modelling allows the possibility of multiple equilibria and different development trajectories to be taken into account. Finally, the employment of various economic‐performance indicators (simple and composite) works as a cross‐check of validity for the results provided.
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