Conventional wisdom, derived from standard economic theory, is that a …rm should di¤erentiate itself from its rivals to mitigate intense price competition. Yet there are many examples of …rms positioning themselves to mimic their rivals. In this paper we examine the role of contextdependent preferences in explaining this phenomenon. Behavioral researchers have long argued that consumers conside...

In many studies, interest lies in determining whether members of the study population will undergo a particular event of interest. Such scenarios are often termed 'mover-stayer' scenarios, and interest lies in modelling two sub-populations of 'movers' (those who have a propensity to undergo the event of interest) and 'stayers' (those who do not). In general, mover-stayer scenarios within data s...

A nonlinear closed-loop speed ratio control combined with an integral time-delay feedback is developed to adjust the of infinitely variable transmission (IVT) for a desired output any input speed. The IVT system based on its dynamic model, which involves forward controller and crank length varying operating conditions. can operate efficient driving performance optimal operation line prime mover...

This paper presents an approach to identify hand gestures with muscle activity separated from electromyogram (EMG) using Back Propagation analysis with the goal of using hand gestures for humancomputer interaction. While there are a number of previous reported works where EMG has been used to identify movement, the limitation of these works is that the systems are suitable for gross actions and...

This paper presents the design and testing of a control system for the robotic flight of tethered kites. The use of tethered kites as a prime mover in airborne wind energy is undergoing active research in several quarters. There also exist several additional applications for the remote or autonomous control of tethered kites, such as aerial sensor and communications platforms. The system presen...

Postural activity in muscles of the back and legs associated with voluntary forward elevation of the arm at the shoulder with the subject standing was examined in 14 patients with Parkinson's disease and nine normal individuals. The time of onset of EMG activity in each of the postural muscles, relative to the onset of activity in the prime mover, was the same for both patient and normal groups...

Thermoacoustic heat engines provide a practical solution to the problem of heat management in microcircuits where they can be used to pump heat or produce spot cooling of specific circuit elements. There are basically two types of thermoacoustic engines, a prime mover where heat is converted to acoustic energy, and a heat pump or cooler where sound can pump heat up a temperature gradient. Such ...

Scholars argue that the presence of persistent first-mover advantages obviates the need for relatively long-lived patents as incentives for innovations. What then is the impact of the strengthening of patent protection, particularly in developing economies, on non-patent-based first-mover advantages? We investigate this question by estimating the extent of erosion of first-mover advantages in t...

is paper examines the nature of rst-mover advantages in the deployment of spatially differentiated surface transport networks. A number of factors explaining the existence of rst-mover advantages have been identi ed in the literature; however, the questions of whether these factors exist in spatial networks, and of how they play out with true capital immobility have remained unanswered. By exam...