This paper modified the mechanism of weight adjusting of the Self-Organizing Mapping network (SOM) for solving the problems of topology preserving and clarifying boundary of clustering graph for the clustering analysis. The modified SOM is named the Multiple Clustering Centers SOM (MCC-SOM). The MCC-SOM changed the competitive learning mechanism of “winner takes all” to allow the more one clust...

A significant challenge that faces any teacher of introductory programming is the diversity of the class. At one extreme there will be students who have never programmed before, while at the other there will be students who have many years experience of programming. Handling this diversity is difficult. The temptation for the instructor is often to focus on the novice group and to assume that t...

Most people approach the issue of competitiveness by attempting to define what it is or what it should be. However, it is also interesting to approach the matter from a different angle by examining what factors are not essential in establishing a country’s competitiveness on world markets. While certain factors are certainly helpful for promoting competitiveness, they nonetheless should not be ...

To better understand the complex relationship between academic researchers and funding agencies, the author interviewed 15 academic researchers regarding their views, suggestions, and difficulties in coordinating the proposal process. Data suggest that academic research funding is highly rhetorical, and that successful researchers have well-developed managerial, organizational, and communicatio...

The paper presents a problem resolved from social Modeling associated with the adequate selection of clothes and their distribution in a Dresser using a range of 87 clothes with different features associated with a fashion collection to represent the symbolic capital of it. A case of study is presented regarding to the selection of 47 different possible combinations using data obtained from the...

Using data collected between August 1999 and January 2000 covering 399 books, we examine pricing by thirty-two online United States-based bookstores. At the aggregate level, we find that both advertising and competitive structure have the predicted effects. More competition leads to lower prices and to lower price dispersion. Holding competitive structure constant, more widely advertised items ...

A The current study provides a model that aims to explain the origin of the competitive advantage of organizations in terms of the ownership structure. We have also studied the interactions between IT use and ownership structure. To reach these objectives, we have classified the organizations in two groups using the cooperative character criterion. The results show that cooperative firms...

T paper investigates the relationship between prices and market concentration in the auto rental industry. We assemble an original database that includes the number of auto rental operators and other exogenous demand and cost conditions at every commercial airport in the country. The data are interesting because we observe a large variation in market structure, ranging from more than 100 monopo...

the use of more competitive species and cultivars in small grain cereal production may help to develop production systems that require less herbicide. this study was designed to identify root and shoot characteristics of cereal seedlings that would allow distinguishing the more competitive (mc) cultivars from the less competitive (lc) ones. two growth cabinet trials were conducted using four cr...