Different Demands (different + demand)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The Basic Analytics of Access to Financial Services

FINANCIAL MARKETS, INSTITUTIONS & INSTRUMENTS, Issue 2 2007
Thorsten Beck
Access to financial services, or rather the lack thereof, is often indiscriminately decried as problem in many developing countries. This paper argues that the "problem of access" should rather be analyzed by identifying different demand and supply constraints. We use the concept of an access possibilities frontier, drawn for a given set of state variables, to distinguish between cases where a financial system settles below the constrained optimum, cases where this constrained optimum is too low, and,in credit services,cases where the observed outcome is excessively high. We distinguish between payment and savings services and fixed intermediation costs, on the one hand, and lending services and different sources of credit risk, on the other hand. We include both supply and demand side frictions that can lead to lower access. The analysis helps identify bankable and banked population, the binding constraint to close the gap between the two, and policies to prudently expand the bankable population. This new conceptual framework can inform the debate on adequate policies to expand access to financial services and can serve as basis for an informed measurement of access. [source]


Determination of suppliers' optimal quantity discount schedules with heterogeneous buyers

NAVAL RESEARCH LOGISTICS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2002
Qinan Wang
Abstract Although the quantity discount problem has been extensively studied in the realm of a single supplier and a single buyer, it is not well understood when a supplier has many different buyers. This paper presents an analysis of a supplier's quantity discount decision when there are many buyers with different demand and cost structures. A common discrete all-unit quantity discount schedule with many break points is used. After formulating the model, we first analyze buyers' responses to a general discrete quantity discount schedule. This analysis establishes a framework for a supplier to formulate his quantity discount decision. Under this framework, the supplier's optimal quantity discount schedule can be formulated and solved by a simple non-linear programming model. The applicability of the model is discussed with an application for a large U.S. distribution network. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 49: 46,59, 2002; DOI 10.1002/nav.1052 [source]


Larval food stress differentially affects flight morphology in male and female speckled woods (Pararge aegeria)

ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 3 2009
BORIS PELLEGROMS
Abstract 1.,Adaptive plasticity in flight morphology can be of great importance for organisms, in order to deal with changing environments. When different demands are imposed to this morphology, different responses to environmental changes can be expected. 2.,The aim of this study is to examine whether males and females of Pararge aegeria, which show different flight behaviours, respond differently to larval food stress. 3.,In a food-stress experiment, larvae of 35 families were reared on host plants subjected to a drought-stress treatment with three groups: a control group, a low-stress group and a high-stress group. 4.,Individuals from stress treatments significantly differed in wing morphology; they had lower wing loadings, and stressed females tended to have more pointed wings than females of the control group. 5.,The difference in phenotypic response to food stress between both sexes may indicate that males and females benefit from different changes in morphology. In females, an increase in dispersal capacity may entail fitness benefits, whereas male morphology is mainly shaped by mate-location strategy. [source]


Managing QoS requirements for video streaming: from intra-node to inter-node

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Issue 5 2006
Y. Bai
Abstract Streaming video over IP networks has become increasingly popular; however, compared to traditional data traffic, video streaming places different demands on quality of service (QoS) in a network, particularly in terms of delay, delay variation, and data loss. In response to the QoS demands of video applications, network techniques have been proposed to provide QoS within a network. Unfortunately, while efficient from a network perspective, most existing solutions have not provided end-to-end QoS that is satisfactory to users. In this paper, packet scheduling and end-to-end QoS distribution schemes are proposed to address this issue. The design and implementation of the two schemes are based on the active networking paradigm. In active networks, routers can perform user-driven computation when forwarding packets, rather than just simple storing and forwarding packets, as in traditional networks. Both schemes thus take advantage of the capability of active networks enabling routers to adapt to the content of transmitted data and the QoS requirements of video users. In other words, packet scheduling at routers considers the correlation between video characteristics, available local resources and the resulting visual quality. The proposed QoS distribution scheme performs inter-node adaptation, dynamically adjusting local loss constraints in response to network conditions in order to satisfy the end-to-end loss requirements. An active network-based simulation shows that using QoS distribution and packet scheduling together increases the probability of meeting end-to-end QoS requirements of networked video. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Client Influence and the Contingency of Professionalism: The Work of Elite Corporate Lawyers in China

LAW & SOCIETY REVIEW, Issue 4 2006
Sida Liu
This study examines how the professional work of elite corporate lawyers is constructed by influence from different types of clients. The data presented include interviews with 24 lawyers from six elite corporate law firms in China and the author's participant-observation in one of the firms. For these elite Chinese corporate law firms, foreign corporations, state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises constitute their extremely diversified client types. Accordingly, lawyers' work becomes flexible and adaptive to accommodate the different demands of the clients. Meanwhile, client influence on lawyers' professional work is mediated by the division of labor within the corporate law firm: whereas partners have solid control over the process of diagnosis, inference, and treatment and thus enjoy a high degree of professional autonomy, associates are largely stripped of this cultural machinery in the workplace, and their work becomes vulnerable to client influence. As a result, client influence on professional work appears to decrease with a lawyer's seniority. [source]


Analysis of consumers' preferences and behavior with regard to horse meat using a structured survey questionnaire

ANIMAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 6 2009
Woon Yong OH
ABSTRACT In this study, a structured survey questionnaire was used to determine consumers' preferences and behavior with regard to horse meat at a horse meat restaurant located in Jeju, Korea, from October 1 to December 24, 2005. The questionnaire employed in this study consisted of 20 questions designed to characterize six general attributes: horse meat sensory property, physical appearance, health condition, origin, price, and other attributes. Of the 1370 questionnaires distributed, 1126 completed questionnaires were retained based on the completeness of the answers, representing an 82.2% response rate. Two issues were investigated that might facilitate the search for ways to improve horse meat production and marketing programs in Korea. The first step was to determine certain important factors, called principal components, which enabled the researchers to understand the needs of horse meat consumers via principal component analysis. The second step was to define consumer segments with regard to their preferences for horse meat, which was accomplished via cluster analysis. The results of the current study showed that health condition, price, origin, and leanness were the most critical physical attributes affecting the preferences of horse meat consumers. Four segments of consumers, with different demands for horse meat attributes, were identified: origin-sensitive consumers, price-sensitive consumers, quality and safety-sensitive consumers, and non-specific consumers. Significant differences existed among segments of consumers in terms of age, nature of work, frequency of consumption, and general level of acceptability of horse meat. [source]


Influence of Age on Linear and Nonlinear Measures of Autonomic Cardiovascular Modulation

ANNALS OF NONINVASIVE ELECTROCARDIOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Michael K. Boettger M.D.
Background: Age has been identified as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. In addition, autonomic imbalance toward sympathetic preponderance has been shown to facilitate the occurrence of heart disease. Here, we aimed to assess autonomic modulation of cardiovascular parameters during normal ageing applying well-established linear and novel nonlinear parameters. Methods: Linear and nonlinear measures of heart rate variability and complexity as well as measures of QT interval variability and baroreflex sensitivity were obtained from a total of 131 healthy, medication-free participants from a continuous age range between 20 and 90 years, who were allocated to three different age groups. Results: Heart rate variability and complexity significantly decreased with age, while regularity of heart rate time series increased. In addition, QT interval variability linearly increased with age, while baroreflex sensitivity showed a pronounced decrease. Overall, concerning effects of ageing, linear and nonlinear parameters showed equal differentiation between groups. Conclusion: These data indicate a shift of autonomic balance toward sympathetic predominance in higher age groups, limiting the reactiveness of the cardiovascular system to adjust to different demands and increasing the risk for developing tachyarrhythmias. Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol 2010;15(2):165,174 [source]