Kind Of Competition Research Articles

OCHRONA KONKURENCJI WE WSPÓŁCZESNEJ GOSPODARCE WYZWANIEM DLA TEORII KONKURENCJI

Although the phenomenon of competition is fundamental of the economic theory and policy, the scientists have not yet achieved the consensus concerning the kind of competition which should be protected. Contemporary researchers striving to find the answer to this question rely on their predecessors achievements and the recognition that all elements of the classical structure-conduct-performance paradigm are influencing each other. Thus, the current research on competition is conducted within the confines of the theory of economy and management and the protection of competition in the contemporary global economy constitutes a challenge for the competition theory in all three areas mentioned in the paradigm. Given the above, there are several issues of vital importance. Firstly, the development of MNs in the direction of diversified networks which are interconnected with different contractual and ownership multidimensional ties, secondly, the need to take into account the relations between the competitors on other geographical and product markets in the analysis of competition on the local market, and thirdly, the need to widen the traditional perception of the protection of competition to other areas, which have not been covered by antitrust policy so far.

Abrupt category shifts during real-time person perception

Previous studies have suggested that real-time person perception relies on continuous competition, in which partially active categories smoothly compete over time. Here, two studies demonstrated the involvement of a different kind of competition. In Study 1, before participants selected the correct sex category for morphed faces, their mouse trajectories often exhibited a continuous attraction toward the incorrect category that increased with sex-category ambiguity, indicating continuous competition. On other trials, however, trajectories initially pursued the incorrect category and then abruptly redirected toward the correct category, suggesting early incorrect category activation that was rapidly reversed later in processing. These abrupt category reversals also increased with ambiguity. In Study 2, participants were presented with faces containing a sex-typical or sex-atypical hair cue, in a context in which the norm was either sex-typical targets (normative context) or sex-atypical targets (counternormative context). Sex-atypical targets induced greater competition in the normative context, but sex-typical targets induced greater competition in the counternormative context. Together, these results demonstrate that categorizing others involves both smooth competition and abrupt category shifts, and that these flexibly adapt to the social context.

Knowledge-Based Companies in Central Europe After Market Liberalization

Knowledge-based companies of former socialist countries and state run economies in Central Europe were for many years protected from any kind of competition and nurtured with relatively high domestic prices. Sudden shift to market economies and opening up of home markets in the nineties had a strong impact on the business performance as local companies have suddenly encountered a global competition. Knowledge-based companies in CE-countries neglected their technological innovation capability, marketing way of thinking and performing, and underestimated process of globalization. All these have resulted in deteriorated performance, lost competitiveness and dominance as market leaders. Sustainable growth in knowledge-based industry sectors can be achieved only through superior technological innovation, strategic marketing and aggressive pursuit of international presence. After market liberalization many local companies embraced give-up strategy approach resulting in crossborder takeovers and loss of stand-alone status. attention to investing in intellectual capital and promoting technological innovation rather than focusing on economic productivity issues only should involve building regional business clusters and regional hubs for application of engineering and technical knowledge in the future.

Performance Analysis in Saber

Fencing is a sport practiced by both men and women, which uses 3 weapons: foil, épée, and saber. In general, there are few scientific studies available in international literature; they are limited to the performance analysis of fencing bouts, yet there is nothing about saber. There are 2 kinds of competitions in the World Cup for both men and women: the "FIE GP" and "A." The aim of this study was to carry out a saber performance analysis to gain useful indicators for the definition of a performance model. In addition, it is expected to verify if it could be influenced by the type of competition and if there are differences between men and women. Sixty bouts: 33 FIE GP and 27 "A" competitions (35 men's and 25 women's saber bouts) were analyzed. The results indicated that most actions are offensive (55% for men and 49% for women); the central area of the piste is mostly used (72% for men and 67% for women); the effective fighting time is 13.6% for men and 17.1% for women, and the ratio between the action and break times is 1:6.5 for men and 1:5.1 for women. A lunge is carried out every 23.9 seconds by men and every 20 seconds by women, and a direction change is carried out every 65.3 seconds by men and every 59.7 seconds by women. The data confirm the differences between the saber and the other 2 weapons. There is no significant difference between the data of the 2 different kinds of competitions.

Economia de redes, externalidades e estruturas de mercado: o conceito de concorrência qualitativa

O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em realizar, a partir do modelo de Rohfls, uma análise micro e mesoeconômica das redes eletrônicas e da internet. Em função da complexificação dos Sistemas de Informação e Comunicação (SIC) , acrescentarei as variáveis que correspondem a essas evoluções, e analisarei as novas formas concorrenciais que caracterizam esses mercados. A este respeito, proporei uma tipologia dos diferentes mercados, e mostrarei porque os mercados nos quais se exerce uma concorrência qualitativa são os mais concorrenciais. Em uma primeira parte, apresentarei o modelo de Rohlfs (1974), mostrarei em que medida a complexificação do SIC se traduz por novas modalidades de concorrência, e ressaltarei os limites explicativos deste modelo diante dessas evoluções. Numa segunda parte, acrescentarei uma série de variáveis ao modelo original de Rohlfs, e construirei assim uma tipologia das diferentes formas de concorrência e das estruturas de mercado.

The Role of Stroma in Tumour-Host Co-Existence: Some Perspectives in Stroma-Targeted Therapy of Cancer

Cancer grows at the expense of the host as a parasite or superparasite following the second law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy). When the cancer cell progresses via replication to the special state called “spheroid”, a new phase begins with its intimiate interaction and development of responses from the stroma which together assist in the formation of a full blown cancer. Among the processes involved are the development of blood vessels and lymphatic channels which are essential for maintenance and further growth of the cancer mass. In this way the condition of “parasitism” is completed with simultaneous suppression of the immune response of the host to the histoincompatability of the tumor mass. Stroma/parenchyma promotes cancer invasion by feeding cancer cells and inducing immune tolerance. The dynamic changes in composition of stroma and biological consequences as feeder of cancer cells and immune tolerance can give a perspective for rational drug design in anti-stromal therapy. There are differences between normal and cancer cells at subcellular level such as compartmentalzation and structure of cytoskeleton and energy distribution (that is low generally, but locally high in normal cells). In cancer cannibalism of normal cells, the growing cancer mass is a factor for progression and invasion. Cancer cells have been shown to kill normal cells and the products of cell death used for progression of growth of the cancer cell. Serum and growth factors produced by tumor stroma also provide the needed nutrients and conditions for further tumor growth. Cancer cannot feed off other cancer cells and therefore grow poorly. Probably, although not yet proven, the inability of cancer to “parasitise” other cancer cell types is probably due to some kind of competition or interference. The tumor is in charge of its own development due to its induction proteinases, lipid mobilization factors and angiogenetic factors as well as its ability to negate immune responses of the host response to what is in essence a foreign body. In our review co-existence of normal and cancer cells in tumor with the growth promoting factors, and the immune tolerance mediating factors produced in the stromal and cancer cells/tissues will be discussed with perspective of stroma targeted therapy.

Tickets to Ride: The Race for Preferable CIT Regimes Towards ASEAN Economic Community

Years are approaching as Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is expecting to have its own economic community in 2015. The commitment to realize, among others, a single market and equitable economic development have been set out. Yet, Member States are continuing their 'revenue giveaways' by enacting tax statutes and regulations that constitute preferable tax regimes and 'tickets to ride' for companies. Indonesia, for example, has recently enacted a regulation that provides tax breaks in a certain period for newly incorporated resident companies investing in several industries, while Singapore has for several years provided their resident start-up companies with tax exemptions. Where taxes, particularly corporate taxes, are becoming more primary in generating State revenue, preferable tax regimes as such would clearly create burdens in a State's budget. On the other hand, it goes without saying that these regimes would be incompatible with the efforts to create a single market, as investors would place their capitals in Member States having the lowest effective corporate tax rate, assuming all other investment determinants are equitable in one Member State and another. Nevertheless, financial cooperation towards AEC seems to consider corporate taxes as a non-determinant in establishing a highly competitive economic region. The question is, therefore, does the pillars of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) envisage a tax competition, that is somewhat harmful, among Member States? Also, contextual to the theme of the conference, would this kind of competition be the identity of AEC? This article would attempt at answering these questions by first pinpointing preferable provisions within the currently enforced corporate tax regimes in some Member States. It would then determine whether the establishment of AEC entails consequences or provides opportunities for harmonization of corporate taxes among Member States. Subsequently, the author would conclude whether tax competition among Member States is a purposive action, which respectively labels an identity for the AEC.

Pierre de Coubertin's vision of the role of sport in peaceful internationalism

This paper presents the topic of peacemaking in relation to the practice of sport within Olympism. It is based on the thinking of Pierre de Coubertin and his understanding of Olympism. First, it discusses the practice of sport in relation to two kinds of competition – excessive and moderate. Second, it identifies six key themes in the work of de Coubertin that help to promote moderate competition and that enable sport practice to be peace promoting. These are equality, amateurism, the importance of process and discipline, the role of knowledge of self and others and respect for others. An understanding of these themes can help to make the practice of sport more peaceful – and truly Olympic.

Formation of Environmental Factors in Global Market and Evaluation of Outsourcing Business Activities

Outsourcing is not only the engine of globalisation but also a new kind of competition. After evaluation of the opportunities and threats of outsourcing, policy of the country should be targeted at the increasing of the competitiveness of the country and the establishement of the new competition rules. Globalisation has more or less significant effects on all participants of global economics. It opens opportunities for companies to obtain different recources for lower prices. One of the ways to manage business more effectively is application of outsourcing. This way of procurement was usually used for obtaining goods (mostly semimanufactures) both from inside and outside of the country. However, recent rapid development of technologies and communications has generated the new way for obtaining high-qualified professionals from different countries and using their outsourcing services.

Differences among university students in motivation to learn: A cross-cultural study

This study attempts to reject the stereotype that competition is not a desired personal characteristic and a specific motivational factor. We have investigated and revealed positive dimensions and statistically significant correlations between the self-concept and motivation to learn. The new model of self-concept, based on different kinds of competition and motivation to learn, has been postulated. Some arguments have been provided to assume that this model differs from culture to culture. For this reason, the participants from three countries took part in the study. Countries were chosen on the basis of political and cultural indicators in Eastern/Southern versus Western/Southern European characteristics: Slovenia, Serbia and Spain. The study comprised of 225 Slovenian, 99 Serbian and 140 Spanish participants. There are two particular goals of the research. The first is to find out whether there are any differences in self-concept, motivation to learn and competition among participants from different countries. According to the second goal, the investigation of the correlations between self-concept, motivation to learn and competition within each national group is underlined. Some quantitative methods of social sciences have been used to achieve these goals. We found out that the cultural indicator has a significant impact on self-concept, motivation to learn and competition. Further to this, we argue that the ?Southern? disposition predominates over Eastern as well as Western dimensions, which means that Slovenians are among the more competitive participants.

DYNAMIC COMPETITION IN ANTITRUST LAW

How would competition policy be shaped if it were to explicitly favor Schumpeterian (dynamic) competition over neoclassical (static) competition? Schumpeterian competition is the kind of competition that is engendered by product and process innovation. Such competition does not merely bring price competition. It tends to overturn the existing order. A “neo-Schumpeterian” framework for antitrust analysis that favors dynamic competition over static competition would put less weight on market share and concentration in the assessment of market power and more weight on assessing potential competition and enterprise-level capabilities. By embedding recent developments in evolutionary economics, the behavioral theory of the firm, and strategic management into antitrust analysis, one can develop a more robust framework for antitrust economics. Such a framework is likely to ease remaining tensions between antitrust and intellectual property. It is also likely to reduce confidence in the standard tools of antitrust economics when the business environment manifests rapid technological change. It appears that the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has attempted to incorporate more dynamic analysis, but the result has been inconsistent across different mergers and different doctrinal areas of antitrust law. Moreover, a complicating factor in the transformation of the law is the fact that the federal courts have, by embracing the reasoning in the Merger Guidelines promulgated several decades ago by the Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), caused antitrust case law to ossify around a decidedly static view of antitrust. Put differently, in the years since 1980, the Division and the FTC have successfully persuaded the courts to adopt a more explicit economic approach to merger analysis, yet one that has a static view of competition. The result is not a mere policy preference. It is law. To change that law to have a more dynamic view of competition will therefore require a sustained intellectual effort by the enforcement agencies (as well as by scholars and practitioners) that, once more, engages the courts to re-examine antitrust law, as they did in the late 1970s during the ascendancy of the Chicago School, when antitrust law became infused with its current, static understanding of competition. A necessary but not sufficient condition for that effort is a public process by which the Division and the FTC revisit and restate the Merger Guidelines in a manner that clarifies and defends the role of dynamic competition in antitrust analysis. We therefore applaud the announcement of the antitrust agencies in September 2009 to solicit public comment on the possibility of updating the Merger Guidelines. Assuming that the Division and the FTC decide to revise the existing Merger Guidelines, those revised guidelines (and useful complementary undertakings, such as generalized guidelines on market power and remedies) then will require leadership by the enforcement agencies to persuade the courts that antitrust doctrine should evolve accordingly. That neo-Schumpeterian process may take a decade or longer to accomplish, but it is a path that we believe the Roberts Court is willing to travel.

Armas estratégicas e poder no sistema internacional: o advento das armas de energia direta e seu impacto potencial sobre a guerra e a distribuição multipolar de capacidades

O pós-Guerra Fria (1991-2006) apresenta uma mudança significativa no cenário estratégico: a maior acessibilidade da tecnologia militar e o surgimento de novas armas capazes de modificar o poder coercitivo dos países - como as armas de energia direta - acabam pondo em xeque a ideia de que a primazia nuclear é condição suficiente para garantir a unipolaridade. Focando-se no atual recrudescimento das tensões entre EUA e Rússia - especialmente com a proposta norte-americana de implementação do Escudo Antimíssil no Leste Europeu - e analisando as relações de poder entre os três países, procuramos revelar que tipo de competição ocorrerá no sistema internacional nas próximas décadas. O presente artigo analisa as reais possibilidades de que a primazia nuclear norte-americana se torne efetiva, uma vez que, para tanto, é necessário o desarmamento estratégico das demais potências. Como uma guerra nuclear entre os três países possui um custo político muito elevado, as disputas tendem a ser decididas na esfera das operações. Para ilustrar esta última afirmação, usamos um cenário contrafactual de guerra nuclear limitada entre Estados Unidos, Rússia e China, por meio do qual tentamos evidenciar as precondições táticas e operacionais para uma eventual vitória da coalizão sino-russa.

Mouse models for identifying genes modulating fertility parameters

Fertility can be defined as the natural capability of giving life. It is an important factor both for human medicine, where ~10% of the couples call for the services of assisted reproductive technologies, and for species of economic interest. In particular, in dairy cows, the recent years have seen a kind of competition between milk production and fertility, and genes improving fertility are now considered as parameters to be selected for. The study of fertility pathways is nevertheless made difficult by the strong impact of environmental factors on this parameter, as well as by the number of genes potentially involved (as shown by systematic transcriptome analysis studies in the recent years). One additional level of complexity is given by the fact that factors modulating fertility will probably be sex specific. The usage of mouse models has been one of the solutions exploited for tackling with these difficulties. Here, we review three different approaches using mice for identifying genes modulating fertility in mammals: gene invalidation, positional cloning and in vitro mutagenesis. These three approaches exploit specific characteristics of the mouse, such as the possibility of controlling precisely the environment, an excellent genetic characterization and the existence of genomic and molecular tools equalled only in humans. Many indications suggest that at least some of the results obtained in mice could be easily transposed to the species of interest.

Task-dependent semantic interference in language production: An fMRI study

We used fMRI to investigate competition during language production in two word production tasks: object naming and color naming of achromatic line drawings. Generally, fMRI activation was higher for color naming. The line drawings were followed by a word (the distractor word) that referred to either the object, a related object, or an unrelated object. The effect of the distractor word on the BOLD response was qualitatively different for the two tasks. The activation pattern suggests two different kinds of competition during lexical retrieval: (1) Task-relevant responses (e.g., red in color naming) compete with task-irrelevant responses (i.e., the object’s name). This competition effect was dominant in prefrontal cortex. (2) Multiple task-relevant responses (i.e., target word and distractor word) compete for selection. This competition effect was dominant in ventral temporal cortex. This study provides further evidence for the distinct roles of frontal and temporal cortex in language production, while highlighting the effects of competition, albeit from different sources, in both regions.

Spatial equilibrium problems for auction type systems

At the present time rather a lot of spatial equilibrium models exist which are utilized for description of behavior and for management of complex systems containing many interacting elements, with taking into account their spatial distribution. Such models are greatly developed in economics where they usually describe systems of markets joined by transport communications within either perfect (in the sense of Walras) or imperfect (in the sense on Cournot–Bertrand) competition conditions (see, e.g., [1–3]). However, these kinds of competition are not sufficient for an adequate description of modern management mechanisms in economic systems. In particular, this is the case for systems related to natural monopolies in energy sectors where a state permits their privatization, but keeps certain tools for influence in this field, for instance, via the price policy (see, e.g., [4–6]). Since the optimal control of such a system requires consideration of both separate markets (participants) reactions and capacity and topology restrictions, the hierarchic (multilevel) optimization and game theory problems are usually utilized as suitable mathematical models. As a result, one must solve either very complicated global optimization problems having equilibrium constraints, or mixed integer programming problems. It is very difficult to find then efficient computational solution methods, especially for high-dimensional problems, which arise typically in applications.

How important is competition in a species-rich grassland? A two-year removal experiment in a pine savanna

Although we know that competition sometimes controls the composition of plant communities, we still do not understand its significance in communities having high species richness. We removed an abundant and apparently dominant grass (Andropogon virginicus) in species-rich pine grassland in southeastern Louisiana and evaluated the effects on species richness and composition. At 2 sites, moist and dry, we located twenty 1- × 1-m plots with 10 randomly assigned control plots and 10 treatment plots, in which herbicide was applied to individual shoots of A. virginicus over 2 y. Plant cover, species richness, and species composition were recorded 4 times over this period. Repeated measures analyses of variance and Mantel tests were used to evaluate differences between control and removal plots. Although there were more than 90 species of vascular plants that might have responded to the removal of A. virginicus, no significant effect on cover, species richness, species composition, or functional group composition was found. Competition apparently played a minor role in determining the composition of this subtropical grassland. The general model of competition in temperate grasslands, which assumes a few species of grasses dominate the community through competition and other species survive in the interstices, does not seem to apply. Infertile soils may reduce rates of competitive exclusion and establishment, minimize interactions between grasses and forbs, or produce a fundamentally different kind of competition that is inherently slower and more symmetrical than in most experimental situations.

Humanoid Robot System, HanSaRam-VII for RoboMarathon in HuroCup

This paper presents the recent development of small-sized humanoid robot, HSR (HanSaRam)-VII, which is developed to participate in HuroCup which is one of the game categories of FIRA (www.FIRA.net). As HuroCup is composed of seven kinds of competitions, humanoid robots participating in this league have to be capable of various tasks such as weight lifting, basketball, marathon, etc. HSR-VII is designed to have high degrees of freedom, distributed planner-reactor architecture using PDA and embedded computer. This distributed control architecture includes vision processing, navigation and on-line walking pattern generation algorithm. In addition, time-domain passivity control algorithm is introduced to guarantee the stable walking pattern generation. The performance of the system is demonstrated through the RoboMarathon.

A kind of collaboration–competition networks

We propose describing a kind of cooperation–competition systems by node-weighted bipartite graphs. In such systems the nodes can be divided into two types. One expresses a kind of activities, organizations or events, named “acts”; and another expresses the “actors” participating in some acts. In each act the actors basically show collaboration relationship with each other, however they play different roles in the cooperation. Usually every actor tries to play the most important role; therefore the role difference can be regarded as a kind of competition. The node weight usually signifies the role or “importance degree” of each actor. We propose using some statistical properties for the description of such kind of systems. The properties without considering node weight can describe the cooperation situation and configuration. The properties with node weight may describe the competition results. Two example systems are reported to show the description method and the corresponding empirical investigation results. One is the undergraduate elective network, and another the library network of Yangzhou University. The description method may be effective for the similar systems in different fields.

Windsurfen – sportmedizinische Aspekte

Summary Windsurfing – a kind of sport constantly developing further and spreading since 1970 – is a typical fun sport. Competitive windsurfing is practised in Olympic class competition as well as fun board-competition. Depending on the kind of competition the physical requirements and the injury-mechanisms differ. Majority of the injuries were located at the lower extremity, followed by head injuries. The majority of injuries can be classified as minor. Contusions are the most frequent injuries followed by ligament injuries and by fractures/luxations. The majority of injuries occurred doing jumps in wave conditions. The physical strain depends on wind conditions, wave and water conditions and selection of material (sail size). The heart frequency normally ranges around 110/min, but can rise in competitive stress situations up to 180/min.

How Physicians Can Change the Future of Health Care

Today's preoccupation with cost shifting and cost reduction undermines physicians and patients. Instead, health care reform must focus on improving health and health care value for patients. We propose a strategy for reform that is market based but physician led. Physician leadership is essential. Improving the value of health care is something only medical teams can do. The right kind of competition--competition to improve results--will drive dramatic improvement. With such positive-sum competition, patients will receive better care, physicians will be rewarded for excellence, and costs will be contained. Physicians can lead this change and return the practice of medicine to its appropriate focus: enabling health and effective care. Three principles should guide this change: (1) the goal is value for patients, (2) medical practice should be organized around medical conditions and care cycles, and (3) results--risk-adjusted outcomes and costs--must be measured. Following these principles, professional satisfaction will increase and current pressures on physicians will decrease. If physicians fail to lead these changes, they will inevitably face ever-increasing administrative control of medicine. Improving health and health care value for patients is the only real solution. Value-based competition on results provides a path for reform that recognizes the role of health professionals at the heart of the system.