196 research outputs found
The Impact of strategic implementation on the employees and contractors of the Hewlett-Packard Company.
No full textConducted within the global corporation of the Hewlett-Packard Company, (HP),this research examines employee and contractor responses to strategic implementation. The research environment is a relatively small UK group withinthe corporation that has continuously experienced significant change as new strategies were implemented. Employee and contractor responses to three separate cycles of change are analysed together with data drawn from the wider corporation by using a psychological contract framework, semi-structured interviewing, a research diary and secondary data from the literature and electronic sources. The research is essentially qualitative but draws on quantitative data where appropriate. A case study approach within an action research paradigm is the chosen methodology to allow consideration and triangulation of multiple sources of data relevant to the natural workplace setting. The research has confirmed a change from old or original psychological contracts to new contracts where employees and contractors are more insecure in, and more cynical of, their employment. This change is perceived as a
violation of their psychological contract and is causing employees and contractors to adopt a more mercenary approach to their employment with HP. The special bond between HP and its employees generated by the values and
egalitarian working environment created by its founders has been broken by new leadership. Acquisition of the Compaq Computer Company has further impacted employees and contractors resulting in declining morale and increasing scepticism about its proposed benefits. Indeed the very legitimacy of the acquisition and the leadership of HP are being questioned as HP changes to a new form. According to the founders, the values established that made HP successful in its first fifty years were expected to continue for at least another fifty years. This research shows how changing these values has collectively impacted
employees and contractors resulting in a major threat to the continuing existence of HP in its present form
The Monodromy Conjecture for hyperplane arrangements
No full textThe Monodromy Conjecture asserts that if c is a pole of the local topological zeta function of a hypersurface, then exp(2πic) is an eigenvalue of the monodromy on the cohomology of the Milnor fiber. A stronger version of the conjecture asserts that every such c is a root of the Bernstein-Sato polynomial of the hypersurface. In this note we prove the weak version of the conjecture for hyperplane arrangements. Furthermore, we reduce the strong version to the following conjecture: -n/d is always a root of the Bernstein-Sato polynomial of an indecomposable essential central hyperplane arrangement of d hyperplanes in C n . © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.sponsorship: The first author was partially supported by the NSF grant DMS-0700360, and the second author was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0758454 and by a Packard Fellowship. (NSF|DMS-0700360, NSF|DMS-0758454, Packard Fellowship)status: Publishe
INVESTIGATION OF LIGHT TRANSPORT AND SCATTERING IN TURBULENT CLOUDS: SIMULATIONS AND LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS
No full textA better understanding of light transport and scattering in turbulent clouds is needed for more accurate remote sensing, improved imaging and signal transmission through atmospheric aerosol and fog, and deeper understanding of cloud optical properties relevant to weather and climate. In this study, we investigate the impact of light scattering in clouds on two problems of atmospheric relevance.
In the first part, we examine deleterious effects of the atmosphere on remotely acquired images including signal attenuation and potential blurring due to forward-scattered light accepted by the imaging system. A prior proposed aerosol scattering model provides a method for calculating the contrast and spatial detail expected when imaging through atmospheres with significant aerosol optical depth. We compare modulation transfer functions obtained directly from images taken through a cloud chamber to those calculated from theory using measured cloud properties. We find that the significance of scattering-induced optical blurring depends sensitively on the properties of both the particles and the imaging system. The theoretical aerosol expression modulation transfer function capture the basic behavior of the system, with deviations likely a result of not accounting for broad particle size distributions.
In the second part, we investigate how clusters and voids in the spatial distributions of particles within a cloud cause light transport to deviate from the exponential extinction law. We explore both perfectly random and correlated scattering media with a Monte Carlo ray tracing program, and find that the degree of non-exponential attenuation can be characterized by the radial distribution function. Our numerical observations regarding direct, diffuse and backward radiative transfer are shown to be consistent with a previous “cloudlet” approach, providing a bridge between the analytical cloudlet model and continuous correlation function approaches. Finally, we numerically explore light propagation through turbulent clouds with polydisperse size distributions calculated by a large eddy simulation of the MTU Pi Chamber. We find that both the mean and standard deviation of direct and diffuse forward flux change when clustering exists, and make suggestions for future laboratory cloud chamber experiments to detect the presence of spatial correlation
De memristor in feedback control systemen - The memristor in feedback control systems
No full textIn 2008 Hewlett-Packard requested a patent on a passive memristive device, which caused the memristor to become a popular area of research again. This thesis focuses on the mathematical derivation and definition of a memristor and how we can incorporate such a memristor in a feedback control system. We determine the describing function of a memristor and research if a memristor can cause limit cycles in a feedback control system.Applied MathematicsMathematical PhysicsElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
Estimating Demand for Dynamic Pricing in Electronic Markets
No full textEconomic theory suggests sellers can increase revenue through dynamic pricing; selling identical goods or services at different prices. However, such discrimination requires knowledge of the maximum price that each consumer is willing to pay; information that is often unavailable. Fortunately, electronic markets offer a solution; generating vast quantities of transaction data that, if used intelligently, enable consumer behaviour to be modelled and predicted. Using eBay as an exemplar market, we introduce a model for dynamic pricing that uses a statistical method for deriving the structure of demand from temporal bidding data. This work is a tentative first step of a wider research program to discover a practical methodology for automatically generating dynamic pricing models for the provision of cloud computing services; a pertinent problem with widespread commercial and theoretical interest.Economic theory suggests sellers can increase revenue through dynamic pricing; selling identical goods or services at different prices. However, such discrimination requires knowledge of the maximum price that each consumer is willing to pay; information that is often unavailable. Fortunately, electronic markets offer a solution; generating vast quantities of transaction data that, if used intelligently, enable consumer behaviour to be modelled and predicted. Using eBay as an exemplar market, we introduce a model for dynamic pricing that uses a statistical method for deriving the structure of demand from temporal bidding data. This work is a tentative first step of a wider research program to discover a practical methodology for automatically generating dynamic pricing models for the provision of cloud computing services; a pertinent problem with widespread commercial and theoretical interest
LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES IN GRAIN EXPORTING
No full textDuring the past decade, the grain shipping industry has become highly competitive and technologically advanced. These changes, along with the introduction of innovative shipping mechanisms, have made logistics management an important source of opportunity and risk for grain shippers. In this study, a stochastic simulation model was developed to evaluate the tradeoffs and effects of key variables on logistical performance in managing the grain supply chain. Average demurrage cost for the supply chain was $2.03 million with the greatest cost being for railcars and the least cost being for barges. Of the stochastic variables modeled, changes in export demand had the greatest impact on demurrage costs.Supply Chain, Grain Shipping, Logistics, Demurrage, Guaranteed Freight, Industrial Organization,
The Lincolns in the White House: Four Years That Shattered a Family
No full textThe East Wing in Crisis Civil Strife in the Presidential Family The author of a half-dozen popular histories of the Vatican, World War II, the British royalty and the American civil rights movement, Jerrold M. Packard enters the crowded field of Lincoln studies with this book. It...
Poverty, children's health, and health care utilization
No full textThis paper was presented at the conference "Unequal incomes, unequal outcomes? Economic inequality and measures of well-being" as part of session 1, "Health status of children and households in poverty." The conference was held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on May 7, 1999. This paper discusses health as a direct measure of economic well-being and draws attention to those suffering the worst outcomes and the link between poverty and health. According to the author, in 1994 only 10 percent of children under age five in families making 10,000 were in less than very good health. Moreover, in recent years the number of poor children whose health is fair or poor has increased relative to the number of nonpoor children in these same health categories. In 1987, for every nonpoor child with health problems, there were close to two children in poverty in poor health; by 1996, that ratio had risen to 2.7.Poverty ; Income ; Medical care
Extending the production dice game.
No full textThe production dice game is a powerful learning exercise focusing on the impact of variability and dependency on throughput and work-in-process inventory of flow lines. In this paper we will extend the basic dice game along the following lines. First, we allow that the operations take place concurrently as opposed to the more traditional way of playing the game sequentially. Second, we allow both starvation and blocking of the line. Third, we consider balanced lines with work stations characterized by different degrees of variability. Fourth, we use different sets of dice in order to represent a wide range of coefficients of variation of the production line. The game can be played manually in a classroom setting, but it is also modelled as an easy-to-use simulation tool.
Editorial: The First Rothkopf Rankings of Nonacademic Organizations
No full textInterfaces, 42:6, 585-590.The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/inte.1120.0649This paper presents the first rankings of nonacademic organizations according to their contributions to the
INFORMS practice literature. Two rankings are given, each based on a different metric: visibility is the number
of authors who list an organization as their primary affiliation; yield is the equivalent number of INFORMS
practice papers attributable to each organization based on author primary affiliation. For the visibility rankings,
IBM comes in first place, followed by Hewlett-Packard in second, the US Government in third, and General
Electric in fourth place. These are followed by Sasol, Procter & Gamble, and Merrill Lynch. For the yield
rankings, the US Government comes in first place, followed by General Electric and IBM tied for second, and
Hewlett-Packard in fourth place. They are followed by Intel in fifth, Procter & Gamble in sixth, and Merrill
Lynch in seventh place
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