Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera hur faktorer såsom nätverket, affärsidén samt timingen är betydelsefulla inom entreprenörskap. Detta för att blivande entreprenörer, stödverksamheter samt entreprenörskapsforskare ska få en mer rättvisande bild av entreprenörskapets faktorer.  En kvalitativ undersökning har legat till grund för denna studie då den har baserats utifrån primärdata i form av tolv intervjuer. Sedan har denna information analyserats utifrån nätverkets, affärsidéns samt timingens betydelse. Med hjälp av de slutsatser som har dragits har det utvecklats en matris som visar faktorernas betydelse till respektive entreprenör och därmed är studien delvis kvantitativ. Blivande entreprenörer, stödverksamheter samt framtida forskning kring ämnet entreprenörskap ska iaktta faktorerna (nätverket, affärsidén och timingen) istället för att fokusera på brister i personligheten. Dessa faktorer påverkar entreprenören i olika grad beroende på vilket verksamhetsområde denne tillhör.

The operating clock frequency is determined by the longest signal propagation delay, setup/hold time, and timing margin. These are becoming less predictable with the increasing design complexity and process miniaturization. The difficult challenge is then to ensure that a device operating at its clock frequency is error-free with quantifiable assurance. Effort at device-level engineering will not suffice for these circuits exhibiting wide process variation and heightened sensitivities to operating condition stress. Logic-level redress of this issue is a necessity and we propose a design-level remedy for this timing-uncertainty problem. The aim of the design and analysis approaches presented in this dissertation is to provide framework, SABRE, wherein an increased operating clock frequency can be achieved. The approach is a combination of analytical modeling, experimental analy- sis, hardware /time-redundancy design, exception handling and recovery techniques. Our proposed design replicates only a necessary part of the original circuit to avoid high hardware overhead as in triple-modular-redundancy (TMR). The timing-critical combinational circuit is path-wise partitioned into two sections. The combinational circuits associated with long paths are laid out without any intrusion except for the fan-out connections from the first section of the circuit to a replicated second section of the combinational circuit. Thus only the second section of the circuit is replicated. The signals fanning out from the first section are latches, and thus are far shorter than the paths spanning the entire combinational circuit. The replicated circuit is timed at a subsequent clock cycle to ascertain relaxed timing paths. This insures that the likelihood of mistiming due to stress or process variation is eliminated. During the subsequent clock cycle, the outcome of the two logically identical, yet time-interleaved, circuit outputs are compared to detect faults. When a fault is detected, the retry sig- nal is triggered and the dynamic frequency-step-down takes place before a pipe flush, and retry is issued. The significant timing overhead associated with the retry is offset by the rarity of the timing violation events. Simulation results on ISCAS Benchmark circuits show that 10% of clock frequency gain is possible with 10 to 20 % of hardware overhead of replicated timing-critical circuit.

In this thesis, a joint symbol timing and carrier frequency offset estimator is proposed for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The estimator exploits both redundancy in the cyclic prefix and pilot symbols for channel estimation. The proposed scheme includes a transparent sequence that is added to the OFDM symbol in frequency domain. Comparing with conventional methods, the proposed architecture has the advantage of better bandwidth usage since it does not require extra sub-carriers. The PAPR problem can be suppressed due to constant envelope property of the added sequence in time domain. Moreover, the optimal power allocation ratio of the transparent sequence is determined by minimizing the bit error rate of the system using simulation experiments.

Increasing relative semiconductor process variations are making the prediction of realistic worst-case integrated circuit delay or sign-off yield more difficult. As process geometries shrink, intra-die variations have become dominant and it is imperative to model them to obtain accurate timing analysis results. In addition, intra-die process variations are spatially correlated due to pattern dependencies in the manufacturing process. Any statistical static timing analysis (SSTA) tool is incomplete without a model for signal crosstalk, as critical path delays can increase or decrease depending on the switching of capacitively coupled nets. The coupled signal timing in turn depends on the process variations. This work describes an SSTA tool that models signal crosstalk and spatial correlation in intra-die process variations, along with gradients and inter-die variations.

Heidelberg, Universität, Thesis (doctoral), 2000.

Abstract Keywords Market entry timing, associating factors Background Market entry timing is an important concept that influences the success of firms in international business. Companies earn big profits due to their perfect market entry timing. In contrast, McKinsey 2005 report showed that for every successful entry, there are four failures. On the other hand, the academic world also pays attention to entry timing by investigating its associating factors. Since there are gaps in academic research together with the need for deeper understanding, this thesis is dedicated to market entry timing. Purpose The purpose is to understand associating factors and their relation to foreign market entry timing. Method This study is a multiple case study exploratory research analysed through pattern finding for qualitative research. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with four companies. Conclusion There are nine factors associating with entry timing decisions: home and host country characteristics, firm capabilities and characteristics, competition, cultural distance, economic factors, Window of Opportunity, Word-of-Mouth, Stepwise internationalization, near-market knowledge. The research focuses on the last four factors and their influence in entry timing were discovered. Window of Opportunity can be perceived as “right business connections” and companies tend to enter foreign markets once they find the right business connection. Word of Mouth has an impact on entry timing in the situation that firms can be prompted to enter foreign market when positive Word of Mouth effect existed. Stepwise internationalization is the choice of firms, whose entry timing would be slower than other options. Near-market knowledge of the economic system can be transferred between countries that firms operate in and firms will be likely to enter market when they gain necessary knowledge of a similar economic system.

Bats are social organisms that live in large colonies. However, reliance upon echolocation in order to hunt and navigate, means that bats also face pressing acoustic challenges due to overlap with surrounding noise. Bats also possess fine control over the properties of their echolocation pulses. This study's goal was to determine how bats are able to effectively function in large groups despite the interfering noise generated by conspecifics. Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) were exposed to both artificially generated interfering noises and noise generated by conspecifics, and the temporal characteristics of their resulting echolocation calls were analyzed. In addition, bats were given injections of dopaminergic and serotonergic drugs, in an effort to determine which monoamine(s) were capable of altering vocal motor timing and to determine which regions of the brain play a role in regulating the timing of echolocation. I hypothesized that bats would alter the timing of emission of their own echolocation pulses in response to noise, and that drugs affecting the 5HT2A receptor would shift the timing of emission of echolocation pulses. The first part of this dissertation describes a novel temporal alteration behavior that occurs in response to artificially generated intermittent noise, and is characterized by a period of pulse suppression followed by a gradual return to normal call rates. Bats alter the timing of emission of their echolocation pulses to avoid overlap with noise and call within silent periods. The second part of this study investigated whether dopamine or serotonin, or both, could alter the timing of this vocal behavior. The results of this study were inconclusive, although I found some evidence that 5HT2A agonists can produce faster responses. Finally, I show that echolocating bats suppress pulse emission in nearby conspecifics. The resulting decrease in call rate leads to an overall increase in information throughput. This study also demonstrates that bats respond to continuous noise by increasing their call rate, and that the switch between the responses to intermittent noise and continuous noise occurs at a duty cycle of 50% or higher. Overall, this dissertation establishes that bats alter the timing of emission of their echolocation calls in response to noise, and that these mechanisms may be regulated by serotoninergic mechanisms.

No description available.

Zugl.: Passau, University, Diss., 2005.

Earlier studies suggest that emotion affects long duration estimates of 3-7 seconds and more, but how emotions affect shorter events is not well known. The aim of the thesis was to investigate how emotion, in terms of emotional Valence and Arousal, affects subjective time estimates of short (sub-second) and long (half-a-minute) durations. Participants (N= 26) were exposed to neutral and emotive video clips resembling the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Bradley, 1995) while making time discrimination judgments (short duration estimates: PSE). Afterwards they made long duration estimates (Long Time Estimates: LTE) and ratings of Valence and Arousal of every video clip. Significant results were that Arousal affected LTE estimates, with longer LTE estimates, the higher the Arousal level. The results indicate that Arousal, but not Valence, affects subjective time perception both of short and long durations. / Tidigare studier antyder att emotioner påverkar uppskattningen av långa durationer på 3-7 sekunder, men hur emotioner påverkar kortare durationer är mindre känt. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur emotioner, i form av emotionell Valens och Arousal, påverkar subjektiva tidsestimat av korta (sub-sekund) och långa (halv-minuts) durationer. Deltagare (N= 26), exponerades för stimuli i form av neutrala och emotionellt laddade videosekvenser utvalda att efterlikna the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Bradley, 1995) och utförde samtidigt intervalldiskriminationer (korttidsestimat: PSE). Efteråt utförde de långa durationsestimat (långtidsestimat: LTE) och skattningar av Valens och Arousal för samtliga videoklipp. Signifikanta resultat var att Arousal gav längre durationsskattningar för LTE estimaten, med längre LTE estimat, ju högre Arousal-nivå. Resultaten indikerar att Arousal, men inte Valens, påverkar subjektiv tidsuppfattning för både korta och långa durationer.