Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Competitive response'
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Swain, Austin Bernard Johns. "Competitive state anxiety : towards a clearer understanding." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1992. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/10599.
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This thesis attempted to further understanding of various aspects of the competitive state anxiety response. The specific questions that were addressed in the five studies reponed involve investigations into antecedents of competitive anxiety, temporal patterning, additional dimensions to the anxiety response and relationships with performance. Competitive anxiety was assessed in all of the studies by the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) which measures cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self-confidence. The first two studies employed a purely quantitative approach whilst the final three studies incorporated both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The first study investigated situational factors which predict the CSAI-2 components in the specific / population of middle-distance runners. Cognitive anxiety· was predicted by three factors, 'Perceived Readiness', 'Attitude Towards Previous Performance' and 'Position Goal', whilst self-confidence was predicted by 'Perceived Readiness' and 'External Environment'. None of the factors predicted somatic anxiety. These results suggested that cognitive anxiety and self-confidence share some common antecedents but that there are also factors unique to each. The second study examined the temporal patteming of the CSAI-2 components in the period leading up to competition as a function of gender. Gender has previously been shown to mediate patteming of responses so that antecedents were also examined in an attempt to explain such findings. Results showed that males and females reported differential temporal patteming for cognitive anxiety and self-confidence and that different antecedents predicted these variables. Significant predictors of cognitive anxiety and self-confidence were associated with personal goals and standards in females and interpersonal comparison and winning in males. The third and fourth studies investigated the importance of additional dimensions to the competitive state anxiety response in furthering understanding of the construct. These studies examined the frequency and direction dimensions of anxiety and findings suggested that the intensity alone approach currently employed is restrictive and that important information can be gained from considering these other dimensions. The fifth study focused on the dimensions of intensity and direction of anxiety and their specific relationship with sports performance. Findings revealed that a direction dimension was a better predictor of basketball performance than any of the intensity variables, further suggesting that future anxiety research should measure this dimension.
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Coleman, Damian Alan. "The energetics of competitive road race cycling." Thesis, University of Kent, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.365247.
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Newcomer, R. Renee. "Cognitive-affective, behavioral, and physiological response to injury among competitive athletes." Morgantown, W. Va. : [West Virginia University Libraries], 2000. http://etd.wvu.edu/templates/showETD.cfm?recnum=1513.
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Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2000.Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 133 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-133).
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Carter, William R. "Incumbent Response to Radical Technological Innovation: the Influence of Competitive Dynamics on Strategic Choice." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc804843/.
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Prior research on incumbent firm response to radical technological innovation identifies firm, technology, and environmental factors associated with incumbents’ performance after a technology shift. What remains unexplored are factors affecting choice of response made before a technological shift occurs. Such ex ante choices are important intermediate outcomes affecting long-term performance outcomes. Competitive considerations may be influential inputs in choice processes because technological innovation is often related to competitive strategy. The resulting research question for this study is: What role do competitive considerations play in incumbent firms’ ex ante strategic choices in response to potentially radical technological innovations? Findings from a survey of key informants in the electronics industry whose firms face a potential technological disruption (n=120) suggest that incumbents’ response choices are affected by competitor-related orientations and by perceptions of relative strength of their strategic assets. Limited support is found for a moderating effect of perceptions of the competitive environment. The results of this study extend theory on incumbent response to radical technological change by shedding light on the influence of competitor interdependence. Findings also suggest the importance of strategic choice as an intermediate variable in understanding incumbents’ long-term performance. Research examining choice factors at varied stages of a technology’s diffusion can further advance understanding of the evolving nature of strategic response choices and the effects they have on long-term performance.
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Mohammad, Nur. "Competitive demand response trading in electricity markets: Aggregator and end-user perspectives." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2018. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/119702/1/Nur_Mohammad_Thesis.pdf.
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Increased contributions toward power systems from renewable supplies require flexible demand-side resources to maintain balance in supply and demand. Demand response (DR) as one of the emerging demand-side resources can be used to compensate for the over/under supply problem of renewable energy. From an economic point and a network perspective, aggregators can offer the DR delivery bids in those locations (and times) in power systems that could reduce operating cost and the market clearing price. This research proposes a bi-level electricity market model for smart-grid with different combination of market participants including operators, aggregators, and the end-user customers. Trading decisions are made hierarchically. The DR delivery offer is made in a lower-level DR exchange (DRX) market where the end-user aggregate inconvenience is minimized while achieving the required DR at the upper-level. The effectiveness of the model is demonstrated considering plausible case studies.
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Wells, Gregory D. "Changes in the chemoreflex response and performance measures with training in competitive swimmers." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape9/PQDD_0006/MQ45923.pdf.
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Kuester, Sabine E. "New product entry and competitive response : an empirical investigation of incumbents' defence strategies." Thesis, London Business School (University of London), 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.244034.
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Ilić, Milica. "A nonlinear frequency response method for estimation of single solute and competitive adsorption isotherms." Magdeburg Docupoint-Verl, 2008. http://d-nb.info/991687744/04.
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Tarkenton, William Payne. "Assessing U.S. Senators' Response to a Competitive Primary Challenge with Increased Partisan Roll Call Voting." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/103704.
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Much of the political punditry in the United States discusses the notion that facing a primary election results in legislators voting in a more partisan fashion in the legislature. A common refrain of this analysis is that facing the primary election constituency (Fenno 1978) or even the threat of facing the primary election constituency causes the senator to vote with the ideological extremes of the party in following sessions of congress. The literature on congressional elections has examined this area of research as it applies to the U.S. House, but few studies fully examine the impact of primary elections on roll call voting in the Senate. This study examines Senate primary elections to see how facing a primary, specifically a competitive primary, influences how a senator votes in the legislature in the first term following the election. This study specifically asks if senators who face a competitive primary challenge and win reelection vote with their party more often in subsequent congresses than senators who do not face a competitive primary challenge. Using OLS regressions and a number of control variables shown in the literature to impact roll call voting patterns, I examine the percentage of the vote that a senator received in her primary election compared to her party unity score in the Senate after the election. While my models demonstrate that facing a competitive primary correlates with a senator having a higher party unity score than senators who do not face a competitive primary, in all of my models the coefficient on this variable is not statistically significant. However, serving in the majority party and being elected in certain election years did have a statistically significant impact on a senator's partisan voting behavior. When testing an interaction effect between facing a competitive primary and serving in the majority party after the election, I also did not find a significant relationship between the interaction and a senator's change in party unity score. These findings add to our understanding of congressional elections by exploring an under-studied aspect of elections in the United States, and future research that adapts and refines the methodology of this study could further develop these results.Master of Arts
There is a common perception that facing a primary election makes it more likely that a member of congress votes with her party more often. The idea is that the primary voters want their representatives to be more radical, and therefore push incumbents to the extremes, resulting in more polarization in the legislature. While studies on elections to the House have shown mixed results when examining this question, few studies examine if these patterns exist in elections to the Senate. This study examines Senate primary elections to see how facing a primary influences how a senator votes in the legislature. However, because of limited data, this study examines competitive primaries, based on how much of the vote the senator receives in her election, rather than ideological primaries, based on the senator being challenged from the extremes of the party. This study specifically asks how facing a competitive primary influences a senator's partisan voting patterns in subsequent congresses after their election. In order to study this, I examine the percentage of the vote that a senator received in her primary election compared to her partisan voting patterns in the Senate after the election. I did not find that senators who face a competitive primary respond by voting in a more partisan fashion in the congressional sessions following the election. However, serving in the majority party and being elected in certain election years did have a significant impact on a senator's partisan voting behavior. When testing if the impact of facing a competitive primary was conditioned by serving in the majority party, I also did not find that serving in the majority party conditions the impact of facing a competitive primary on a senator's partisan voting patterns. While these findings did not support the notion that facing a competitive primary influences a senator's partisan voting behavior, future research could alter this study to further examine this question. Such additional research is necessary in order to more fully understand Senate elections.
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Schwartz, Lauren Michele. "The competitive response of Panicum virgatum cultivars to non-native invasive species in southern Illinois." OpenSIUC, 2011. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/765.
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Historically, the tallgrass prairie (TGP) was the largest ecosystem in North America, but today only about 10-15% of the original extent exists today. Some areas have experienced more extreme loss, for example in the state of Illinois less than 0.01% of high-quality native tallgrass prairie remains. Non-native invasive species are a recent phenomenon that threatens the integrity of surviving TGP communities. Ecotypes of dominant C4 grasses are the basis of numerous cultivars, many of which are utilized in prairie restorations. In this study, the effects of three invasive species (Bromus inermis, Schedonorus phoenix, and Poa pratensis) on two lowland (`Alamo' and `Kanlow') and three upland (`Blackwell', `Cave in Rock', and `Trailblazer') cultivars of the dominant C4 grass Panicum virgatum were tested. Two simple pair-wise greenhouse experiments were established in which cultivars were sown as a monoculture or as a mixture of the cultivars with one of three invasive species. Pots were subjected to one of two water treatments with three replicates of each treatment combination. Response variables (height, number of leaves, tiller density, and biomass) and resources (soil moisture, soil pH, soil electrical conductivity, and light intensity) were measured. The greenhouse studies showed that response variables were affected by the presence of invasive species and that the time of growth affected resource levels. Resources are allocated to different areas (i.e growth and reproduction) when competition and stress are implemented on the dominant species. This study was the first to experimentally test for the presence of the physiological stress marker, trigonelline, in a prairie grass. Trigonelline was highest in upland cultivars under low moisture and highest in lowland cultivars under low moisture treatments. The results of these greenhouse studies suggest that invasive species may differentially affect cultivars of Panicum virgatum that may be sown in a prairie restoration. Performance of the P. virgatum cultivars was dependent on the timing of growth, the pot size, the invasive species, as well as soil moisture level. Therefore, when choosing a cultivar source for restoration, resources (i.e. soil moisture) should be looked into to maximize the output of the cultivar.
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Vasa, Suresh. "A spiking neural model for flexible representation and recall of cognitive response sequences." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1305893537.
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Kiger, Sarah. "Competitive ability of native and non-native prairie species in response to soil nitrogen and density." Connect to resource, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1811/6621.
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Thesis (Honors)--Ohio State University, 2006.Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages: contains 21 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 12-13). Available online via Ohio State University's Knowledge Bank.
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Cummins, Cathy, Bernadette Anne Ricciardelli, and Peter Steedman. "Characteristics of Competitive Pressure Created by Charter Schools: Charter Schools, their Impact on Traditional Public Districts and the Role of District Leadership." Thesis, Boston College, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/3806.
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Thesis advisor: Joseph M. O'KeefeThis mixed methods sequential explanatory designed study applied the economic theory of marketplace competition as a way to frame superintendents' perceptions of the characteristics of students and parents seeking charter schools. Although studies on charter schools are abundant, there is limited literature on this particular aspect of market competition between traditional districts and charter schools. Through surveys and interviews with superintendents across Massachusetts, this study found that most of the superintendents reported a perception that charter schools "cream-skim" higher achieving students and under-serve or "crop" high needs or more costly students - particularly special education and English language learner students. Additionally, superintendents generally perceive that parents were most likely to choose a charter school because of a perception that it was a more elite option and that parents making those choices were more likely to have been engaged in a child's educational life. Many superintendents reported a strong pressure to find ways to retain high-achieving students while expressing resentment that charter schools under-serve high needs students. In three small urban districts, however, superintendents described charter schools that enroll high-needs students proportional to or exceeding the district's student population, filled a gap or met an unmet need, or provided a specialization from which the district could learn
Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014
Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education
Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education
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Sporer, Benjamin Carson. "Dose-response relationships of inhaled salbutamol in competitive non-asthmatic athletes : effects on performance and urine concentrations." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/31070.
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Currently, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) permits asthmatic athletes to use
inhaled salbutamol (SAL) to help attenuate compromised lung function during exercise.
Although the majority of previous research shows no benefit in non-asthmatic athletes,
there lacks an examination of the dose-response effect of SAL on performance using a
sport-specific evaluation. Additionally, there lacks a description of how dose affects the
concentration of SAL in the urine (cSAL). We hypothesized that salbutamol would have
no effect on performance in non-asthmatic athletes and that cSAL would be affected by
dose and be highly variable. Three projects were completed. Study 1 established the
typical error and reliability of time-trial performance using the Velotron cycle ergometer.
Highly trained, male cyclists performed three 20-km time-trials (TT) demonstrating the
test to be highly reliable with low coefficients of variance for power and time (1.8-2.0%
and 0.8-1.0% respectively). In Study 2, lung function was positively affected by SAL
and urine analysis revealed a dose-response relationship with cSAL while at rest, up to a
dose 800μg. Peak values were observed at 60min post-inhalation and cSAL was highly
variable at each time point. Although several samples approached the WADA limit of
1000 ngml⁻¹, none exceeded this value. Using doses of 200μg, 400μg, and 800μg, Study
3 revealed no effects of SAL on time-trial performance or physiological measures over
placebo. Additionally, athlete perception of leg and breathing effort was unaffected
across conditions. Similar to Study 2, cSAL was related to dose and highly variable, with
no samples resulting in a doping violation. SG was found to be significantly related to
cSAL and when corrected to a dehydrated state, several samples exceeded the WADA limit. In summary, these findings allow us to accept the hypothesis that acute inhalation
of SAL lacks ergogenic properties in non-asthmatic athletes and does not affect
ventilation or metabolic parameters during exercise. Additionally, inhaled SAL does not
appear to alter athlete perceptions of effort. The findings further suggest that urine
samples will generally fall below the WADA limit following therapeutic doses of SAL,
although this may be affected by hydration.Education, Faculty of
Kinesiology, School of
Graduate
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Jorge, João Pedro Godinho Alves. "A importância da competitive intelligence no processo de tomada de decisão." Master's thesis, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/1421.
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Mestrado em MarketingA Competitive Intelligence está a tornar-se numa prática mundial e numa importante ferramenta estratégica de suporte à decisão, conferindo às organizações maior ênfase analítica e orientação para a acção. Mais do que recolher ou arquivar o máximo de informação, muitas vezes só passível de análise posterior, as organizações necessitam saber o que fazer com ela, devendo reconhecer valor apenas à informação tratada e concentrar-se na colocação de boas perguntas e na definição das suas necessidades, deixando para segundo plano a existência ou não da informação. Este estudo investiga a aplicabilidade dos conceitos de Competitive Intelligence, ao nível das organizações portuguesas, avaliando a sua influência no processo de tomada de decisão, gestão estratégica e táctica, tentando responder à questão: “Quais os antecedentes que promovem uma resposta célere a acções competitivas da concorrência?”, Utiliza-se uma metodologia de pesquisa quantitativa, assente em técnicas multivariadas, resultante dum questionário on-line e numa amostra não probabilística, abarcando funções de topo das 1.000 maiores empresas nacionais por volume de facturação. Concluiu-se a existência de uma relação positiva entre a variável “Estrutura, consciência e processos” com a capacidade de resposta a acções competitivas da concorrência. Não se revelando, essa mesma relação positiva, com as restantes duas variáveis do modelo, nomeadamente: “Pressão de Mercado” e “Cultura e Atitude”. Concluiu-se também que a Competitive Intelligence não é estranha às organizações portuguesas, apresenta-se estruturada e em sintonia com a maioria das práticas internacionais, apesar das empresas nacionais referirem a sua capacidade de resposta como reactiva e não utilizam nenhum método para avaliar a eficácia da sua intelligence.
Competitive Intelligence is becoming a world organizational practice and an important strategic and supporting tool for the decision making process. It also confers a strong analytical emphasis with a consequent action oriented focus. Rather than collecting or storing information, often only used to further analysis, organizations need to know what to do with it. They must recognize value, only in treated information and concentrate on putting good questions and in defining their needs, leaving the existence or inexistence of information for second plan. This study investigates the applicability of Competitive Intelligence in Portuguese organizations, assessing its influence in decision-making process, strategic and tactical management, trying to answer the question: "which antecedents promote a rapid response to competitive actions? A quantitative research methodology was used, supported by multivariate techniques, based on an online survey with a nonprobability sampling embodying top management functions of the 1.000 major Portuguese companies by turnover. It was determined the existence of a positive relationship between the variable “Structure, awareness and process” and the “Capacity to respond” to competitive actions. The study does not show this positive relationship with the other two variables of the model: "Market pressure" and "Culture and Attitude." It was also determined that Competitive Intelligence is not unfamiliar to the Portuguese organizations, is structured and in line with most international practices, despite they consider their ability to respond as reactive and don’t use any evaluated method to assess the effectiveness of their intelligence.
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Channagiri, Ajit Tejaswi. "COMPETITION, STATUS AND MARKETS." UKnowledge, 2018. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/management_etds/11.
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Extant research within competitive dynamics recognizes a positive relationship between high levels of competitive activity and firm performance, but the cognitive and psychological antecedents to competitive activity are far less clearly understood. I explore the role of a specific psychological antecedent - status, in impacting firms’ motivations to launch competitive moves against rivals. The key question, which extant literature does not seem fully equipped to answer, is when and under exactly what circumstances lower-status firms become motivated to launch action against higher-status ones and vice-versa. I use the stimulus-response model in social cognition to build theory which helps to answer the question by considering structural properties of market engagement. The specific structural property of market engagement that I focus on is market commonality, or the extent to which a rival is a significant player in markets important to a focal firm. I predict that a rival’s market commonality with a focal firm and its status relative to the focal firm have independent and positive effects on the extent to which the focal firm pays attention to the rival, that a rival’s market commonality with a focal firm and its status relative to the focal firm interact negatively to predict the focal firm’s motivation to launch action against that rival, and that a rival’s relative status and market commonality with a focal firm interact positively to predict the extent to which the focal firm pays attention to the rival. I test theory through a field study on gourmet food trucks in Lexington and an experiment through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk tool. Results provide broad support for the hypotheses. Three consequences follow from my study – that high-status firms are likely to come under attack from lower-status firms with whom they do not compete in markets, that they are unlikely to be paying attention to those lower-status firms when first attacked, and that they are likely to become aware of and motivated to act against those lower-status firms only after the lower-status firms have occupied key markets. My study contributes to the literatures in competitive dynamics, status, multi-market contact, and entrepreneurial action.
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Warnke, Arne Jonas [Verfasser], and Bernd [Akademischer Betreuer] Fitzenberger. "Essays on gender differences in training, incentives and creativity, survey response, and competitive balance and sorting in football." Freiburg : Universität, 2017. http://d-nb.info/1135575673/34.
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Siriwanarngsun, Porntep. "The response of the private sector to competitive contracting : a case study of a private health provider network in Thailand." Thesis, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (University of London), 1996. http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/682238/.
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Social health . lnsurance in developed countries , lS facing problems concerning cost control. In developing countries, problems are of low coverage, the provision of care to include access to the private sector, equity in access to services, as well as cost control. In Thailand, the recently introduced social insurance scheme requires the insured or their employer to select a main contractor to provide care a general hospital with >100 beds - which is paid on a capitation basis. In response the private sector is developing provider networks to ensure health services to be more accessible and to attract insured workers to enroll with the network. The primary concern of the research is to evaluate MEDSEC, the biggest private network in terms of the number of facilities and insured covered. Nopparat, the biggest publicly-organized network, was selected for comparison with MEDSEC. The aim is to identify policy recommendations regarding networks and their internal payment mechanisms. The obj ecti ves are to examine: how MEDSEC is organized and how it has grown over time; the health seeking behaviour of the insured of MEDSEC; and the utilization rate, payment system, and quality of care of MEDSEC. Four substudies were done: the MEDSEC operating and financial system; the health seeking behaviour of the insured, their utilization rate, knowledge, and satisfaction; the providers' knowledge and attitudes; and evaluation of quality of care concerning four aspects: infrastructure, patient satisfaction, outpatient drug treatment, and inpatient care. The study identifies policy implications concerning the functions of a good network office, the monitoring of a network's quality of care, the payment system of networks, and improving the knowledge of the insured concerning the regulation on access to care.
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Naumov, Sergey A. "Case study of the competitive behavior of companies in response to disruptive technologies in the dynamic environment of changing user needs." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/83797.
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Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-128).
Innovations are part of everyday reality in the business life of many companies. While for startups, success in business largely depends on success of innovations as they are trying to enter the market, for large monopolistic companies the influx of innovations is a crucial part of strategic decision-making. In a fast clockspeed high technology market, innovations are being introduced every day and have to be evaluated to identify potential threat to existing technology and market share of an incumbent. It is extremely difficult to understand if this new technology is something relevant to the market and will be adopted fast by customers, or it is merely one of many attempts, that will prove unsuccessful. Overarching questions for this work is "Why does the same technology become dominant in some cases while failing in others?" This work focuses on considering several real life examples with different outcomes through the lens of the Incumbent's Dilemma framework. The goal is to identify patterns of dynamics for several typical innovation scenarios and provide explanations that might be useful for product managers as well as top management of any company who want to understand how to use innovations to improve business performance and gain market share.
by Sergey A. Naumov.
S.M.in Engineering and Management
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Al, Fayyoumi Nedal Ahmed. "The market response to the recognition of bad debt : contagion effects and competitive effects in the banking sector following problem loan write-offs." Thesis, Bangor University, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.287028.
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Virojtriratana, Triroj. "The Linkage of Competitive Strategy, Information Technology (IT) Maturity and Size With Strategic Response to Financial Liberalization: An Investigation of Thai Financial Institutions." NSUWorks, 2001. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/900.
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Thailand embarked on a course of deregulation and financial liberalization in the early 1990s. Starting with the acceptance of Article 8 of the International Monetary Fund, Thailand phased in liberalization of capital flows, deregulation in the scope of operation of financial institutions, and partial entry of foreign competitors into the domestic financial system. Also many firms in the financial industry were encouraged to integrate their information systems. The linkage of competitive strategy, information technology (IT) maturity and size has received much attention in recent years. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the state of IT application in Thai financial institutions and to examine the impact of competitive strategy, information technology maturity, and size on strategic responses to the liberalization of financial markets. Mintzberg (1973) conceived of strategy as a pattern or a stream of important decisions. This study operationalized strategy through the use of Miles and Snow’s (1978) typology, which identifies four archetypes of strategic adaptation: defenders, analyzers, prospectors and reactors. This study examines the relationships between strategic changes in IT investment patterns and the factors of competitive strategy, IT maturity, and size. Financial executives from three groups of financial institutions: (1) Thai commercial banks (N = 13), (2) foreign banks (N = 14), and (3) finance and securities companies (N = 23), responded to the researcher constructed questionnaire. Statistical methods used in this study included independent-samples t-test. One-way ANOVA were conducted to determine the significance of the differences of the mean responses among Thai commercial banks, foreign banks, and finance and securities companies. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to identify the significant relationships among the relevant variables. The results revealed that different IT factors impact the relationships between the linkage of competitive strategy, information technology maturity and size with strategic response to financial liberalization differently. The analysis of strategy provides strong support for Miles and Snow's (1978) typology. Finally, the results show that a firm's competitive strategy significantly affects change in its IT investment. The practical implication of this finding relates to issues of strategic response to financial liberalization in Thailand.
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Wendelberger, Kristie Susan. "Evaluating plant community response to sea level rise and anthropogenic drying: Can life stage and competitive ability be used as indicators in guiding conservation actions?" FIU Digital Commons, 2016. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2558.
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Increasing sea levels and anthropogenic disturbances have caused the world’s coastal vegetation to decline 25-50% in the past 50 years. Future sea level rise (SLR) rates are expected to increase, further threatening coastal habitats. In combination with SLR, the Everglades ecosystem has undergone large-scale drainage and restoration changing Florida’s coastal vegetation. Everglades National Park (ENP) has 21 coastal plant species threatened by SLR. My dissertation focuses on three aspects of coastal plant community change related to SLR and dehydration. 1) I assessed the extent and direction coastal communities—three harboring rare plant species—shifted from 1978 to 2011. I created a classified vegetation map and compared it to a 1978 map. I hypothesized coastal communities transitioned from less salt- and inundation-tolerant to more salt- and inundation-tolerant communities. I found communities shifted as hypothesized, suggesting the site became saltier and wetter. Additionally, all three communities harboring rare plants shrunk in size. 2) I evaluated invading halophyte (salt-tolerant) plant influence on soil salinity via a replacement series greenhouse experiment. I used two halophytes and two glycophytes (non-salt-tolerant) to look at soil salinity over time under 26 and 38‰ groundwater. I hypothesized that halophytes increase soil salinity as compared to glycophytes through continued transpiration during dry, highly saline periods. My results supported halophytic influence on soil salinity; however, not from higher transpiration rates. Osmotic or ionic stress likely decreased glycophytic biomass resulting in less overall plant transpiration. 3) I assessed the best plant life-stage to use for on-the-ground plot-based community change monitoring. I tested the effects of increasing salinity (0, 5, 15, 30, and 45‰) on seed germination and seedling establishment of five coastal species, and compared my results to salinity effects on one-year olds and adults of the same species. I hypothesized that seedling establishment was the most vulnerable life-stage to salt stress. The results supported my hypothesis; seedling establishment is the life-stage best monitored for community change. Additionally, I determined the federally endangered plant Chromolaena frustrata’s salinity tolerance. The species was sensitive to salinity >5‰ at all developmental stages suggesting C. frustrata is highly threatened by SLR.
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Willins, David L. "The role of excitatory amino acid receptors in the basal forebrain in the locomotor response produced by psychostimulants and the non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist MK801 /." The Ohio State University, 1992. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487779439846962.
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Ervallius, David, and Marie Karlsson. "Inköpsstrategier för ökad konkurrenskraft inom dagligvarubranschen." Thesis, Södertörn University College, School of Business Studies, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-1160.
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Term: Spring term 2007
Study objects: Reitan Servicehandel AB, Vi-butikerna, ICA Sverige AB
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse how procurement is used as a strategy to achieve better competitive strength, within the retail food industry.
Theoretical: The theoretical chapter illustrates different procurement organisations, multiple and single sourcing, brand equity, consumer behaviour and involvement, Efficient Consumer Response including supply chain and category management and finally Demand Chain Management.
Method: For the case studies, three food retail companies have been interviewed: Reitan Servicehandel AB, Vi-butikerna and ICA AB. To illustrate how consumer behaviour influences retail food market, several secondary consumer research studies have been analysed.
Conclusions: The results indicate that the procurement organisation can achieve a better competitive strength by a centralised organisation, which make it possible to improve conditions of terms when ordering higher purchase volumes. The sourcing strategies can improve a company’s power within the supply chain. All companies within the study had a very good knowledge about consumer behaviour. Information technology is a very important tool to achieve enhanced efficiency within the organisation. It also indicates that the procurement organisation by its knowledge in sales and marketing can improve a company’s competitive strength.
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Williamson, Rodney Gordon. "Cooperative responses in competitive soccer." PDXScholar, 1986. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3692.
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The purpose of this study was to discover patterns in intra-team co operation (passing) versus individualistic behavior (dribbling) across various age and gender groups . A behavioral coding scheme for soccer players in possession of the ball was designed to tabulate team responses of passing or dribbling behavior in a four-a-side indoor tournament . A total of 32 teams , 18 male teams and 14 female teams , participated in four age brackets. A multi variate analysis of variance (MANOVA) generated one significant result for age and passing behavior. This supported the first hypothesis that intra-team cooperative behavior increased with age. Due to the nonorthogonal nature of the data two separate analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted, one for each of_ the dependent variables. No significant results were generated by these ANOVA's for sex and dribbling behavior. However, there was tenuous confirmation of the second hypothesis, that there is a gender difference in the use of cooperative (passing) responses and individualistic (dribbling) behavior.
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Wuerfel, Tyll, and Ellen Weiler. "Influences on the Adaptation and Standardization Level of Swedish MNCs in the German Market." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för marknadsföring (MF), 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-53093.
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The purpose of this thesis is to describe how the factors influence the level of adaptation and standardization of a marketing strategy and subsequently analyze how the factors influence the level of adaptation and standardization of Swedish MNCs’ in the German market. The relevant factors for the decision towards standardization and adaptation are found out using a framework composed by Viswanathan & Dickson (2007). The factors chosen are homogeneity of customer response to the marketing-mix, transferability of competitive advantage, homogeneity of economic freedom and decision variables. This thesis does so in a deductive and qualitative approach using Swedish retailer Clas Ohlson as a case study. Underlying this is a contextualized and interpretivist point of view. Data was collected through focus group interviews with German and Swedish students and complemented through data mining. An analysis of the empirical data shows a high homogeneity of customer response to the marketing-mix, the possibility of transferring the competitive advantage and a high homogeneity of economic freedom was discovered. When applying the frame of reference on the empirical data, Swedish MNCs, especially Swedish retailers, are recommended to choose a high degree of standardization for their IMS in the German market. It was discovered that the used framework does to some extent not cover a wish proposed by the German participants calling for a partial adaptation of the international marketing strategy. This disproves the assumption underlying the frame of reference as the majority of factors suggest standardization, yet from a consumer perspective, there is the wish to partially adapt. In the conclusion managerial implications, limitations and research implications are mentioned as well.
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Rodríguez, Zamora Lara. "Physiological responses and competitive performance in elite synchronized swimming." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/289616.
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Synchronized swimming (SS) is a sports discipline combining swimming, dancing and gymnastics. Synchronized Swimmers perform a choreography called routine consisting of elaborate moves in the water accompanied by music. Previous research investigating SS from a physiological perspective has mainly used figures or fractionated and/or simulated routine protocols during training, although the nature of sports leads to continuous very demanding exercises (~2-4 minutes) performed at increasingly higher levels of intensity with almost 50% of this time underwater. In addition, different from training, competition is a challenging situation which usually stimulates higher psycho-physiological responses in the participant. Current knowledge is thus limited as regards physiological responses in competitive elite SS. Therefore, the overall aim of this thesis is to study the physiological responses related to performance during the execution of competitive routines both during training and competitive sessions in elite synchronized swimmers. The thesis is based on three studies (Studies I – III); all of them use the same protocol with continuous cardiovascular monitoring during competitive routines, perceived exertion assessment after the executions, and blood lactate measurements (Studies I and III). Study I characterized the physiological responses in relation to performance during an official competition. In Study II the execution of the duets in both conditions –training and competitive session– was used to compare the athletes’ internal load in order to ascertain whether swimmers may achieve the competitive intensity during training sessions, and Study III was performed to investigate how immersion periods, with the concomitant bradycardic events, affect perceived exertion with both physiological (HR) and subjective perceptual markers (RPE). The current thesis demonstrates that cardiovascular responses during competition are characterized by intense anticipatory pre-activation and rapidly developing tachycardia up to maximal levels with interspersed periods of marked bradycardia during the exercise bouts performed in apnea (Studies IIII). Moderate blood lactate accumulation suggested the activation of the glycolytic metabolism in the exercising muscles and an adaptive metabolic response due to the specific training adaptations in this kind of athletes (Studies I and III). Furthermore, competitive routines were perceived as very to extremely intense by all swimmers, likely reflecting not only the absolute exercise demands but also their previous experience and expectations (Studies I – III). In Study II, the internal load (HR and RPE) imposed by SS duets performed during training was virtually identical to that elicited in a real competitive situation due to the effects of automaticity –embodied through the replication of the same movement sequence in practice–, and by the swimmers’ long-term adaptations to specific routine exercise and apnea. There was a strong positive relationship between RPE and the duration and / or frequency of bradycardic events during routines (Studies II – III). In fact, the frequency and duration of immersions, the magnitude of subsequent bradycardic events, the blood lactate concentration, and the HR recovery during competitive SS routines explained 62% RPE variance changes in perceived exertion, with cardiorespiratory factors providing a relatively greater neural input as compared to metabolic factors (Study III). Attending the relationships between physiological parameters and performance, the magnitude of anticipatory heart rate activation and bradycardic response explained 26% of variability in performance (Study I) supporting the concept that an augmented diving response was associated to higher performance in SS. However, in Study III the percentage of variance rose to 53% by adding the blood lactate concentration, the number of immersions and longest immersion time, and the lower mean time immersed during the routine. This could explain that best swimmers show a greater adaptation to breath holding and this would likely translate into a more efficient O2 conservation effect (Study III).
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Dal, Cengio Sara. "Competition and Response: from Active Matter to Electrolytes under Confinement." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/670864.
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Most systems in Nature manifest complex transport phenomena arising from the interplay of multiple time and length scales, be them intrinsic in the system’s dynamics or externally enforced. It is the case, for instance, of a colony of migrating cells whose competing mechanisms of self-propulsion and interaction allow for the reorganization into different tissues. Or, by ‘zooming in’ and looking at the same system on a different scale, it is the case of the ionic channels located in the membranes of the aforesaid cells. These channels typically exhibit extraordinary ion selectivity and water permeability due to the interplay between geometric confinement, surface properties and external drivings. Whether to investigate the collective structures of the former system, or the nanofluidic properties of the latter one rests on the interests of the reader. In any case, she will find some food for thought in this thesis.
Here we aim at the study of the transport properties of two very different classes of systems: active matter and electrolytes under confinement. In the examples above drawn from biology, cell tissues belongs to the class of active matter and protein channels are the archetype nanometric ionic systems. We tackle the problem from a purely statistical physics viewpoint by constructing minimal models to study the system’s response to outside influences and, by doing so, learn something about its internal properties.
In the case of active matter, the challenge resides in the intrinsically out-of-equilibrium nature of its constituents, having the ability to self-propel by consuming fuel stored in the environment. In Part I of the manuscript, we study how the interplay between self-propulsion and steric interactions affects the linear response of active systems. First, we construct a very general theoretical framework which allows to derive general constraints that arbitrarily out-of-equilibrium systems must fulfilled. Then, we apply it to two different minimal models of active systems to derive generalized fluctuation-dissipation relations and Green-Kubo expressions.
In Part II of the manuscript we investigate the surface-dominated transport of electrolytes in (i) a nanofluidic diode and (ii) a scanning ionic conductance microscopy configuration. In both cases, we develop a theory of ionic conductivity that rationalizes previous experimental results. By doing so, we shed light on the importance of the surface versus bulk competition in controlling ionic transport and we propose a new approach to exploit it for the imaging of surface charge with nanometric resolution.La mayoría de los sistemas en la Naturaleza manifiestan fenómenos de transporte complejos que surgen de la interacción de múltiples escalas de tiempo y longitud, ya sean intrínsecas en la dinámica del sistema o forzadas externamente. Es el caso, por ejemplo, de una colonia de células migratorias cuyos mecanismos competitivos de autopropulsión e interacción permiten la reorganización en diferentes tejidos; o, al "acercar" y mirar el mismo sistema en una escala diferente, es el caso de los canales iónicos ubicados en las membranas de las células mencionadas. Estos canales exhiben típicamente una selectividad de iones extraordinaria y permeabilidad al agua debido a la interacción entre el confinamiento geométrico, las propiedades de la superficie y los conductos externos. Ya sea para investigar las estructuras colectivas del primer sistema, o las propiedades nanofluídicas del último, se basa en los intereses del lector. En cualquier caso, encontrará algo de reflexión en esta tesis.
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Kato, Junichi. "Customer reactions and competitive responses to mergers in a B2B service industry." Thesis, Cranfield University, 2012. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/7867.
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The primary aim of this doctoral research was to empirically investigate customer and
competitive reactions to post-M&A integration through both quantitative and qualitative
customer perspectives, and to identify the business impact of these reactions and its
potential causal mechanisms. The topic is widely recognised among practitioners but
has received relatively little attention in the academic literature (Anderson et al., 2001;
Schweiger and Very, 2003), which might explain the reason why decisive factors for
M&A success are still elusive (Homburg and Bucerius, 2005).
The research was carried out in three stages. Project-1 engaged in a systematic
review of the marketing literature in order to build a foundation of knowledge on
customer-supplier relationships. The review results were integrated into a literaturebased
conceptual model, indicating the link between customer relationship management
activities, customer loyalty and company performance, under ‘business as usual’
conditions. Based on this conceptual model, Project-2 empirically investigated post-M&A
business issues through a single case study of multi-business mergers. Interviews with
key account managers and their customers suggested a potential underlying causal
mechanism of integration effects on customer-supplier relationships. Finally, Project-3
tested the key variables and interrelationships identified in Project-2 through a survey
method in order to begin the process of generalization. Survey responses from
business-to-business (B2B) customers were analysed by applying Structural Equation
Modelling, which indicated potential causal correlations between integration activities,
perceived changes in customer relationship variables and changes in the level of
behavioural customer loyalty during the post-M&A period.
The findings suggest a possible answer to the overall research question — what are
the key factors that affect post-M&A business performance, or more specifically, what
are the key variables that influence customer reactions and why/how? Post-M&A
integration actions were found to trigger customer relationship issues. For instance, the
integration of operations and IT systems leads to perceived deterioration in service
performance, while salesforce integration creates organisational issues such as
employees’ internally focused attitudes, which result in perceived declines in customer orientation and account management quality. Furthermore, integration actions as a
whole generate an unstable business environment that promotes intensive competitive
attacks. Some contextual factors which magnify these issues were also identified,
specifically the complexity of the merger/integration and the depth of the pre-merger
customer relationships. The issues above negatively influence customers’ purchase
intentions and, in the worst cases, drove customers to terminate contracts, which would
exert a negative impact on the merging parties’ business performance during the post-
M&A integration period.
The research has made a step towards a better understanding of how customers and
competitors respond to post-M&A integration and the mechanisms by which those
responses arise, particularly within the focal industry context of this study. It contributes
to the M&A-integration and performance literature by illuminating the role and drivers of
competitive attacks, and customer reactions in determining market-related M&A
performance. It also contributes to the M&A-integration and business network literature
by suggesting the mechanisms through which the customer-supplier relationship is
impacted by post-M&A integration activities. Finally, contributions to practice and
methodological development, as well as limitations and implications for future research,
are also presented.
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Crabbe, Tim John. "Multinational companies in the cleaning industry : local government privatisation, trade union responses and the European dimension." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.259945.
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Charitou, Constantinos D. "The response of established firms to disruptive strategic innovation : empirical evidence from Europe and North America." Thesis, London Business School (University of London), 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.249641.
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Rouse, James Luke. "Cognitive mechanisms underlying responses to sperm competition in Drosophila melanogaster." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2016. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17072/.
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In this thesis I use Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism to study the possible cognitive mechanisms controlling plastic behavioural responses to sperm competition. This plastic behaviour involves a male D. melanogaster responding to the presence of a rival male by increasing mating duration when housed with a female. I provide a general context to the work (Chapter 1) before examining my model in more temporal detail by investigating how the length of time males were exposed to a high sperm competition environment affected maintenance time of the plastic behaviour. I show that for males to accurately portray the sperm competition environment in their behaviour over a useful timescale they must possess accurate sensory systems. Without these, behaviour is still fully plastic, but change occurs at a slower speed than males with full sensory ability (Chapter 3). I then show that extended mating duration is controlled by a suite of well-known learning and memory genes highlighting the need for specific memory pathways to reflect ecological change (Chapter 4). However, those same genes do not change in their expression due to increased sperm competition, potentially pointing to some other mechanism of temporal change underlying the behavioural change (Chapter 5). Due to this reliance on learning and memory, I show that an increase in sperm competition can affect cognitive ability, and increase expression of synaptic genes over a longer time period (Chapter 6). Finally, I summarise my thesis findings and discuss how future research can build on the research presented to develop the field (Chapter 7). My research shows that learning and memory is paramount for males to react to changes in the sperm competition environment on a relevant timescale where behaviour and the environment have not become mismatched. In addition, I show that sperm competition pressures can cause an increase in male individual cognitive ability, posing the question of whether competition is one of the main drivers of non-mammalian cognitive ability.
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Sharp, Martin A. "Social dominance and biology : investigating female hormonal response to non-physical competition." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/29359.
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The thesis explores the relationship between salivary testosterone (T), cortisol (F), and non-physical competition in women. In order to address widely acknowledged difficulties with determining levels of female T, particularly the biologically active ‘free’ fraction as measured in saliva, a highly sensitive ‘in-house’ enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) was optimised and validated. Assay sensitivity was 0.5pg/mL. By determining a comprehensive picture of the daily activity of salivary T in 34 healthy female subjects, it was possible to demonstrate that T follows a circadian rhythm the relative levels of which differ over two non-consecutive days. Moreover, throughout the course of the day T levels were highly variable, with episodic fluctuation of individual data points exceeding 83% of 9am levels. A quasi-experimental study examined changes in T and F in relation to non-physical dyadic encounters. Twenty-four females (ages 19-24 years) competed in a knockout tournament involving the wood-block game ‘Jenga’. They collected comprehensive salivary samples for baseline, pre- and post-competition phases. Subjects additionally reported mood states and answered questions concerning their participation in the competition. Whilst the comprehensive T data resist easy interpretation, compared against baseline, pre-comp T appeared un-responsive in anticipation of competition even though F levels did rise in the 3 hours prior to competition. Compared with levels immediately pre-competition, 1 hr post-competition T levels were higher in winners than losers. F-levels, conversely, rose in losers and fell in winners. These results illustrate that, similar to males, women demonstrate a dynamic endocrine response to competition. Moreover, choice of competitive task and salivary sampling regimens may, to a large extent, account for the equivocal findings in the literature.
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Bigelow, Cale A. "Creeping bentgrass response to plant growth regulating substances and annual bluegrass competition." Thesis, This resource online, 1995. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-08142009-040556/.
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Sartor, Karla Anne. "Belowground competition and response to defoliation of Centaurea maculosa and two native grasses." Thesis, Montana State University, 2005. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2005/sartor/SartorK0805.pdf.
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Burns, Sarah K. "Strategic Responses to Tax and Transfer Policy: Welfare Competition, Tax Competition and the Elasticity of Taxable Income." UKnowledge, 2013. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/economics_etds/12.
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My dissertation consists of three essays focused on identifying the strategic responses of governments and individuals following changes in the tax and transfer system. Two essays contribute to the literature on fiscal competition, focusing on state level polices aimed at redistributing income. A third essay contributes to the literature estimating the responsiveness of individual’s incomes to changing marginal tax rates. A better understanding of these responses contributes to our ability to design an optimal tax and transfer system in a federalist nation.
In essay 1 I employ a spatial dynamic approach to investigate interstate welfare competition across multiple policy instruments and across three distinct welfare periods - the AFDC regime, the experimental waiver period leading up to the reform, and the TANF era. Results suggest the strategic setting of welfare policy occurs over multiple dimensions of welfare including the effective benefit level and the effective tax rate applied to recipient's earned income. Furthermore, strategic behavior appears to have increased over time, a finding consistent with a race to the bottom after welfare reform.
Another form of interstate competition examined in Essay 3 is the spatial patterns in state level estate tax policy. My examination follows a major reform which greatly altered both the state and federal estate tax landscape. This study develops a model in which a state’s tax base and rate are simultaneously determined. Results indicate a state’s estate tax base is negatively influenced by its own tax rate and positively influenced by the tax rate set in neighboring jurisdictions. A state’s own tax rate is also found to be positively influenced by the tax rates set in neighboring jurisdictions.
Last, Essay 2 uses matched panels from the Current Population Survey for survey years 1980-2009 to estimate the elasticity of taxable income (ETI) and how it varies in response to measurement of the tax rate, heterogeneity across education attainment, selection on observables and unobservable, and identification. Substantial variation in the ETI across all key economic and statistical decisions is found.
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Frame, Mary E. "The Lateralized Readiness Potential as a Neural Indicator of Response Competition in Binary Decision Tasks." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1403002772.
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Bliss, Kristin Mays. "Impact of nutrient heterogeneity on plant response and competition in Coastal plain species." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/29755.
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Relationships between nutrient heterogeneity, root foraging behavior and short-term competitive interactions were investigated for six species native to southeastern USA. Monoculture, two- and six-species garden plots were established and fertilized to create spatially homogeneous or heterogeneous nutrient conditions. After 3.5 months, root proliferation in rich patches (precision) and aboveground biomass response to heterogeneity were assessed in monocultures, and competitive outcomes (aboveground biomass) were determined from mixed-species plots. In monoculture plots, two species were relatively precise foragers, but no species showed significant aboveground biomass response to nutrient treatment. Correlations between precision and aboveground biomass were weak (-0.40 < r < 0.17). In two-species plots, interspecific competition was influenced by soil heterogeneity in two of six cases tested (P < 0.05), and precision was the behavior most correlated with competitive success. In six-species plots, spatial pattern of nutrients had no influence on aboveground growth or competition. Results suggest that heterogeneity influences competition, but the influence is context-specific and generally small. Precision may be the foraging behavior that most influences interspecific interactions.Ph. D.
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Studer, Thomas. "Smelling out the competition: Response behavior of naive crayfish to novel crayfish odors." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1401464496.
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Tonelotti, Francieli Trevizan Fernandes. "Potenciais evocados auditivos de tronco encefálico em idosos : estímulos binaural e monoaural com e sem ruído competitivo /." Marília, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11449/150686.
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Orientador: Ana Claudia Figueiredo FrizzoBanca: Ana Cláudia Vieira Cardoso
Banca: Pedro de Lemos Menezes
Resumo: Introdução: O Potencial Evocado Auditivo de Tronco Encefálico analisa a resposta eletrofisiológica gerada pelo sincronismo das estruturas da via auditiva. Ao considerar o aumento da expectativa de vida da população e a dificuldade de comunicação, verificou-se a necessidade de investigar e conhecer a dinâmica e a função auditiva central nos idosos. Objetivo: Descrever e comparar os potenciais evocados auditivos de tronco encefálico em jovens e idosos com estimulação monoaural e binaural, em duas situações de escuta, com e sem ruído competitivo. Metodologia: Estudo analítico, observacional e transversal. Realizado procedimento de pré-coleta composto por entrevista, avaliação audiológica básica e mini exame do estado mental. Participaram 20 idosos, de ambos os gêneros, a partir de 60 anos, com limiares auditivos dentro da normalidade ou com perda auditiva neurossensorial leve e 10 jovens, de ambos os gêneros, com limiares auditivos dentro da normalidade. Para a coleta de dados, o potencial foi registrado com equipamento Biologic's de dois canais, estimulação monoaural e intensidade de 80 dBNA; o mesmo foi realizado com ruído competitivo em 70 dBNA. Por último, foi realizada pesquisa com estímulo binaural e cálculo do componente de integração binaural. Resultados: Foi realizada a análise e comparação das respostas obtidas com a estimulação monoaural e binaural nas situações de escuta, com e sem ruído competitivo nos dois grupos. No registro ipsilateral houve diferenças na latênci... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)
Abstract: Introduction: The Auditory Evoked Potential of the Brain Stem analyzes the electrophysiological response generated by the synchronization of auditory pathway structures. When considering the increase in the life expectancy of the population and the difficulty of communication, it was verified the need to investigate and to know the dynamics and the central auditory function in the elderly. Objective: To describe and compare brainstem auditory evoked potentials in young and old with monaural and binaural stimulation in two listening situations, with and without competitive noise. Methodology: Analytical, observational and transversal study. Performed pre-collection procedure consisting of interview, basic audiological evaluation and mini mental state examination. Twenty elderly individuals of both genders, aged 60 years and older, with auditory thresholds within normal range or with mild sensorineural hearing loss, and 10 young adults, of both genders, with auditory thresholds within normal range, participated. For the data collection, the potential was recorded with Biologic's two-channel equipment, monaural stimulation and intensity of 80 dBNA; The same was done with competitive noise at 70 dBNA. Finally, a research with binaural stimulus and calculation of the binaural integration component was performed. Results: We performed the analysis and comparison of the responses obtained with monaural and binaural stimulation in listening situations, with and without competitive no... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)
Mestre
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Van, der Westhuizen Janis. "Malaysia, South Africa and the marketing of the competition state, globalization and states' response." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape9/PQDD_0019/NQ49296.pdf.
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Millar, Katherine. "Physiological and nutritional studies of oilseed crops in response to competition and manganese supply /." Available to subscribers only, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1559850541&sid=8&Fmt=2&clientId=1509&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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MacDonald, G. Blake. "Comparative responses of black spruce and jack pine seedlings to interspecific competition." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/30617.
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Competition from non-crop vegetation decreases the productivity of conifer plantations across Canada. The objectives of this research were: (1) to develop reliable indices of perennial, interspecific competition; (2) to compare the responses of black spruce and jack pine seedlings to tree and brush competition in northern Ontario; and (3) to identify the silvicultural implications of the responses.
An examination of potential components of a competition index considered measures based on hemispherical photographs, fractal geometry, stand maps, and mensurational data from 360 seedling-centred plots for each of the two crop species. Reliable competition indices should be simple formulations which include horizontal and vertical dimensions and which express the amount of competition relative to the size of the seedling. The optimum index was found to be the area of competing canopy on hemispherical photographs, relative to the seedling leaf area. An alternate index, requiring no elaborate equipment, was the sum of the competing stem volumes (relative to the seedling stem volume) of the largest competitor in each quadrant surrounding the seedling.
Comparisons of crop tree responses were made using functional growth analysis, replacing the conventional time axis with a competition axis. The relationship between growth and competition was adequately modelled with a power exponential composite function. Jack pine and bare root stock of both species maintained superior growth despite greater sensitivities to competition, compared to black spruce and container stock, respectively. Thus, jack pine or bare root stock of black spruce would outperform the alternatives if tending were delayed, but competition should be removed in all cases to capture the maximum growth potential. The rate of growth decline in response to competition was consistently greatest at the lowest competition levels, indicating that no beneficial effect on growth was provided by a light cover of non-crop vegetation.
Allometric analyses indicated that black spruce had a greater morphological plasticity than jack pine. At high competition levels black spruce allocated more biomass to branches and foliage, at the expense of stem and roots. Jack pine demonstrated no such adjustment in allocation pattern, but followed a strategy of stress avoidance through sustained high growth rates.Forestry, Faculty of
Graduate
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Gilworth, Robert. "Organisational responses to the employability agenda in English universities." Thesis, University of Bath, 2013. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.665379.
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Employability is highly topical in UK Higher Education. There is related literature debating the purpose of higher education, learning and skills, contextual social and economic issues and policy matters for the sector as a whole, but no published work on the ways in which universities organise themselves to deal with this particular issue. This study examines the organisational responses of universities to the issue of graduate employability at this pivotal time for English higher education, when the environment is linking employability to institutional success to an unprecedented degree. The study considers key contextual factors including the debate around the relationship between “the knowledge economy” and the demand for graduates, the ways in which success in employability is understood and measured, the impact of recession and the tension between student consumerism and partnership in an environment in which “consumer information” is linked directly by government to notions of return on personal investment and value for money as tuition fees increase. The key questions addressed are: how is the employability offer conceptualised, constructed, managed and measured and what choices about organisational configuration and capability are being made and acted upon? The study required detailed analysis of the relationships between institutional mission and top-level goals, declared strategy for delivery and delivery structures and the roles of key individuals and teams and so, this enquiry is based upon in-depth case studies of five universities, using data on graduate destinations, published statements and strategies and interviews with relevant post holders (with a particular focus on the role of the head of the professional career service). The case studies and analysis relate the organisational responses to the underlying driver of positional competition. The study uses the role and position of careers services as the starting point for attempting to understand the organisational responses in each case.
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Spencer, Alexandra Jane. "A Transgenic Mouse Model Approach to Investigate the Interactions Between T Cells during the Course of an Immune Response." University of Sydney, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1600.
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Doctor of PhilosophyThe experiments described in this thesis document the development of two in vivo models, to investigate the effect of competition for peptide-MHC and factors independent of MHC on T cell proliferation, differentiation, generation of memory cells and affinity maturation. The first model made use of 3 strains of T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic (tg) mice of varying specificity for antigen-MHC class II. To determine the effect of antigen specific and non-specific competition on the early stages of the T cell response, the efficiency with which naïve antigen-specific CD4+ T cells were recruited into an ongoing immune response was investigated. Recruitment into cell division and cytokine production was shown to decrease with an increasing time delay between two cell cohorts of the same specificity, leading to a significant drop in recruitment with a delay of only 24 hours. Injection of additional antigen could partially compensate for this decrease, suggesting that lack of available antigen limited recruitment of specific cells trafficking to the node after the initiation of the response. A role for antigen non-specific factors such as access to APCs, costimulatory signals or cytokines was ruled out by showing that the response to a second, independent antigen was unaffected by an ongoing response, even when the same APCs were presenting both antigens. The second system modelled a situation in which a clone of uniformly high affinity T cells competed against a polyclonal population containing mixture of affinities. This situation would arise during a normal response to a single epitope, and would mimic the process of competition that drives affinity maturation of the CD4+ T cell response. By substituting a high affinity response to a different antigen, a more complex reaction to multiple antigens, of different affinities was modelled. To avoid any possible effect of the two antigens competing for access to processing machinery, or binding to the same MHC class II allele, the two antigens were provided as synthetic peptides that bind to different MHC molecules. The data indicated that CD4+ T cell competition for peptide-MHC is far more potent than competition between CD4+ T cell responses of different specificity. Antigen-specific competition reduced the level of T cell stimulation detected as early as day 3 of the response. In the face of high affinity antigen-specific competition, the representation of mixed affinity T cells within the effector and effector memory cells (TEM) population declined progressively throughout the primary and secondary responses, suggesting that continued access to peptide-MHC is required to maintain maximum numbers of effector and TEM cells. In contrast, the contribution of central memory (TCM) was stable from day 7 onwards. Competition by CD4+ cells of an unrelated antigenic specificity led to a minor reduction in peak cell number and cytokine production in the primary response, without altering the number or potency of memory cells. Together these two models demonstrated a mechanism whereby the immune system exerts tight control over the size and kinetics of each individual antigen specific response without affecting the ability to respond to secondary infections or late-phase lytic antigens. Overall the results demonstrate a continued requirement for TCR stimulation for the generation of effector cells and the maintenance of a population of cytokine producing memory cells. However the generation of a stable population of central memory cells was unaffected by conditions of reduced T cell stimulation, ensuring that long-term memory can be maintained in the absence of antigen.
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Snider, Sunny Brooke. "Towards a movement ecology: modeling the behavioral response of invasive snails to resources and competition." NCSU, 2007. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-11052007-171057/.
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The movement of individuals is one of the fundamental components of contemporary ecological problems such as metapopulation theory, epidemic models, competitive coexistence, and invasion dynamics. Advection-diffusion models, sometimes with a reaction term, have been usefully applied to such problems. For this dissertation, I broadened this approach by seeking to understand the effects of certain biotic and abiotic factors on movement ecology, and asking how to incorporate flexible behavioral responses into classical advection-diffusion models. I asked how resources, competitive environment, and habitat structure, interacting with body size or not, affect the movement behaviors of two coexisting invasive snails (Melanoides tuberculata and Tarebia granifera), and whether including the behavioral response to these factors improves advection-diffusion models of movement. I also made natural history observations regarding the snail system to provide a biological context for my empirical work. To address these questions, I conducted replicated experiments and observational studies, extended advection-diffusion models, and arbitrated among candidate models using AIC (Akaike?s Information Criterion) model selection. Specific studies included (1) behavioral response to phenotypic and resource heterogeneities, and their interaction, (2) behavioral response to intraspecific and interspecific competition, and (3) behavioral response to spatially uniform versus spatially heterogeneous environments. In summary, this dissertation provides insights into modeling movement behaviors, using two coexisting invasive snails as the model system. I advocate for a behaviorally informed modeling framework that integrates sentient responses of individuals in terms of movement, improving our ability to accurately model ecological processes that depend on movement ecology.
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McCray, Arja T. "Halophyte responses to soil variation and interspecific competition in southern California salt marshes /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3035422.
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Swart, Kamilla. "Physiological, perceptual and performance responses to competitive stress in individual and team sports among youth sport participants." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016257.
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Due to limited research in the field testing of youth sport, specifically with regard to females, this project was delimited to the examination of the responses of youth participants in relation to the nature of the sport, when participating under conditions of competitive stress. It further attempted to elucidate gender related differences within these responses. Forty four male and female subjects aged 15 - 19 years volunteered to participate in this study; all pupils were First team members who competed in a variety of team and individual sports. Subjects participated in a battery of psychological, physiological and performance tests before and after competing in a practice session and during competitive league matches. The data were statistically analyzed for the various parameters under investigation. The results of the Sport Competition Anxiety Test indicated that the females, and the male team players had the highest competitive anxiety traits (CTA). The Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire scores showed that most subjects have a general dominance of task orientation to sport. The results of the Physical Self-Perception Profile revealed that the females' poorer perception of their physical was not as substantial as their difference in CTA compared to males. Team participants, particularly the males, had a poorer self-image than individual sport counterparts. Elevated heart rate responses were observed prior to performing in a competitive ambience, with significant increases in team, rather than individual, players. The Evaluation of Task Demands revealed that team players, especially the females, perceived the match demands as significantly higher than the individual athletes. No significant differences were observed in the players' Evaluation of Perceived Strain. Neither were any significant differences observed in the players' ratings of their performance. In conclusion, although differences appear to exist between male and female responses within a competitive ambience, the magnitude of difference was far more notable between team and individual responses to competitive stress, particularly for competitive matches as opposed to practice sessions.
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Nascimento, Francisco J. A. "Trophic ecology of meiofauna response to sedimentation of phytoplankton blooms in the Baltic Sea /." Doctoral thesis, Stockholm : Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-38809.
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Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Stockholms universitet, 2010.At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript. Paper 5: In press.
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Raman, Priya. "Achieving Positive Social Identity: Women's Coping Strategies In Response To Status Inequality In Television Portrayals." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/194411.
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This research investigated the influence of television viewing on the social identity management or coping strategies endorsed by women. Three studies (N = 536) tested predictions formulated under the aegis of cultivation theory and social identity theory. Cultivation theory suggests that exposure to low-status mediated portrayals of female characters may lead to the internalization of low status in female heavy television viewers, possibly resulting in a negative ingroup or social identity. According to social identity theory, members of low-status groups may cope with negative social identity by adopting any of three identity management strategies: individual mobility (disassociating oneself from the ingroup), social creativity (changing the dimension of comparison with a high-status group or changing the comparison group altogether), and social competition (actively pursuing legal and/or civil means in order to obtain a higher status for the ingroup). By integrating the identity management strategies as outcome variables in a cultivation-led framework, the main predictions of this research were that television viewing would be directly related to strategies of mobility and creativity and inversely related to social competition. A model of television viewing's indirect effects on identity management via its influences on the sociostructural constructs (permeability, stability, and legitimacy) was also tested in this research. Finally, this research examined other theoretically important variables that were predicted to impact television's cultivation effects. These were (i) gender role attitudes, (ii) perceived ingroup vitality, (iii) ingroup identification, (iv) perceived ingroup efficacy, and (v) perceived realism of television programming. The findings from these three studies indicate that television viewing has both direct and indirect influences on identity management in women. Specifically, television viewing was significantly and positively related to individual mobility and significantly and inversely related to attitudes of social competition. As television viewing was not related to any of the sociostructural variables, the preliminary model testing television viewing's indirect effects on identity management was not successful. However, a revised model incorporating perceived status of women, and perceived ingroup vitality, was more successful and consistently explained the data across the three studies. In non-traditional women, television viewing and gender role attitudes interacted to predict heightened mobility and creativity scores, and dampened attitudes of social competition. Similar but weaker effects were observed for more traditional women. Perceived ingroup vitality, ingroup identification, perceived ingroup efficacy, and perceived realism of television did not moderate the relationship between television viewing and identity management. The findings from the dissertation expand and add to the growing body of work integrating media effects and intergroup communication theories. Specifically, it extends the work focusing on media's influences on low-status group members' identity cognitions.