Despite the importance to researchers, managers, and policy makers of how information technology (IT) contributes to organizational performance, there is uncertainty and debate about what we know and don’t know. A review of the literature reveals that studies examining the association between

This paper uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to provide some of the first direct evidence that wealth is systematically higher for consumers with predictably greater income uncertainty. However, the apparent pattern of precautionary wealth is not consistent with a standard parameterization

This paper studies delegation as an alternative to communication. We show that a principal prefers to delegate control to a better informed agent rather than to communicate with this agent as long as the incentive conßict is not too large relative to the principal’s uncertainty about

The variability of tensor fields is usually analyzed with multivariate statistical distributions. Multivariate distributions model every component of the tensor, which are not invariant under rotation. They therefore tell very little information about the true shape of the tensor. A statistical analysis on the eigenvalues of the tensor would be more revealing. The eigenvalues determine if a tensor is uniaxial, i.e.: only one eigenvalue is different from zero, isotropic, volume preserving or purely anisotropic. However, the eigenvalues of a normally distributed tensor are not, in general, normally distributed. In this paper, we solve this problem directly for small sizes of samples by determining the probability that the maximum error is within a reasonable bound. When the error is likely to be within a reasonable bound, we consider the eigenvalues of a tensor to be normally distributed along a mean eigendirection. Monte Carlo simulation shows that the computed bound is tight and becomes tighter when the number of sample increases. An application of the method, analysis of deformations on the cortical surface, is presented in this paper. On this data, we found that 80 % of the anisotropic deformations could be analyzed by modeling the eigenvalues directly. Thus, the proposed method allows formulating statistical hypothesis directly on eigenvalues in many cases of measured deformations. Although the method was used in only one application, the method could be extended to application involving diffusion MRI or other imaging technique involving tensors. 1.

concepts and ideas

2. Investment risk and uncertainty

result of the Kyoto response towards mitigation of global warming. One of the aims of Predictive Techniques in Environmental Impact assessment is to achieve sustainable development in developing countries, but uncertainty prevails as to whether the Predictive Techniques in Environmental Impact assessment

global sea level by 90 meters. There is currently a great deal of uncertainty as to how these ice sheets are contributing to sea level rise. Some estimates account for half of the observed 1mm/yr rise in sea level from shrinking polar ice sheets. The large size and remote location of the Greenland

; (2) Modeling of energy supply options for electricity provision and directly combusted fuels across the building life cycle; (3) Comprehensiveness of relevant building mass and energy flows and environmental indicators; (4) Ability to estimate modeling uncertainties through easy

Chambers and Quiggin (2000, p i) claim that ‘the state-contingent approach provides the best way to think about all problems in the economics of uncertainty, including problems of consumer choice, the theory of the …rm, and principal–agent relationships. ’ The purpose of this paper is to restate