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This paper reports on the basis of an analysis of the systems developed in our laboratory the conceptual and technological evolution of automatic control of learning behaviour in rats. Basically, there are two main conceptual frames in our approach: finite deterministic automaton and some over‐simplified high‐level programming strategies. Nevertheless, the physical implementation offers different levels according to the technological evolution of integrated electronics: S.S.I., M.S.I. and L.S.I.‐microprocessors. Part I presents a formalized methodology of learning experiments and a first system developed for operant and classical conditioning. Its implementation is based on the direct automata approach. Part II refers to the second approach: definition of a behavioural language for the description of the experiments, and the related design of a system for its interpretation in operational experimental terms, with multiprocessing on a program‐shared principle.

The purpose of this paper s to study the financing behavior of family firms (FF), as these differ from their small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) counterparts in their capital structure decision, mainly due to an increased risk aversion and the desire to maintain control over the firm.

A sample of 470 SMEs from a bank-based environment is examined for the period of 2005-2010. A dynamic panel data model is utilized to assess both the role of several capital structure determinants and the target-adjusting behavior for different subsamples of firms.

The results show that FF, whether controlled by founders or not, are relatively more leveraged. The aim to maintain long-term control and limited financing options and other factors seem crucial to the observed differences in leverage and dominate risk considerations associated with higher debt. Presumed differences in agency costs across generations do not drive capital structure decisions, as overall leverage does not differ between founder- and descendant-controlled family firms (FCFF and DCFF, respectively). Firms with a founder-chief executive officer (CEO), however, adjust faster to deviations from a target debt ratio. The effects of many proposed capital structure determinants differ across firm types, but are highly consistent with predictions from the pecking order theory.

Based on the results of this study, we suggest policy-makers in bank-based economies like Austria to strongly focus on mechanisms that facilitate the access to bank debt to ensure adequate allocation of finances to SMEs. This is especially important to stimulate growth and further innovation for the dominant group of FF, as they rely on debt the most to maintain family control.

This paper makes a novel contribution to the literature, as it combines an analysis of the capital structure of non-listed family firms (NFF) in a bank-based economy, the respective role of founder management, the dynamic adjustment to a presumed debt target and joint tests of capital structure theories.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse if capital structure decisions of small- and medium-sized Portuguese firms are in accordance with the predictions of dynamic trade-off theory, more precisely, the speed of adjustment of short-term debt (STD) and long-term debt (LTD) towards the respective target debt ratios.

Based on two samples of Portuguese firms, 1,377 small-sized firms and 811 medium-sized firms, dynamic estimators were used for the treatment of data obtained from the Amadeus database for the period 2007-2011.

The results indicate that small- and medium-sized firms adjust their STD and LTD ratios towards the respective target ratios. Small- and medium-sized firms present a high-speed adjustment towards the target STD ratio, suggesting that both types of firm face costs of deviating from the target capital structure, which are, probably, greater than the costs of adjustment associated with STD. However, considering the distance from the target ratio as a determinant of the adjustment speed, the results show the predominance of the negative effect of the costs of adjustment on capital structure adjustment speeds.

The results obtained for the speed of adjustment of STD and LTD, in a recession context, show that for small firms and medium-sized firms, mainly for the former, the costs of external market transactions are prohibitively high, slowing the speed of adjustment towards the target capital structure.

This chapter addresses the hypothesis that the criminal justice reforms toward an accusatory/adversarial model produced in Latin America from the 1980s onwards have meant a mutation in its way of functioning that can be read as an “Americanization.” Specifically, this general question is addressed by analyzing the introduction, in these reform processes, of mechanisms of conviction without trial – in their majority inspired by the “plea bargaining” of the Anglo-American tradition – that have a significant impact on the way in which the power to punish is exercised in most of the countries of the region today. This discussion is elaborated from a case study on the Province of Santa Fe (Argentina). It is argued that in the “law in books” the introduction of this type of mechanism has frequently implied a “weak Americanization,” since it was a “legal translation” (Langer, 2006) that not only generated “adoptions” but also “innovations” with respect to the parameters of the Anglo-American tradition. But it also shows how this can be combined with a “strong Americanization” in the “law in action,” differentiating the dimension of the dynamics from the dimension of the effects, based on two key observations: the weakness and infrequency of judicial control of the agreements reached by the parties and the enormous preponderance of convictions without trial. In this way, it is intended to make the idea of “Americanization” of criminal justice more complex, differentiating levels (in books/in action) and dimensions (dynamics/results).

This paper aims to empirically investigate the capital structure determinants of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a particular focus on short- and long-term debt.

Several methods were used to analyse a sample of 15,897 Swedish SMEs for which complete financial information was available for a four-year period following the 2008 financial crisis, i.e. the 2009-2012 period.

The results indicate that eight explanatory variables – i.e. size, age, growth, profitability, liquidity, asset tangibility, non-debt tax shields and industry affiliation – are associated to various extents with SME debt policy.

The current study is limited to examining a sample of Swedish SMEs in five industry sectors covering the 2009-2012 period. Further research could examine the generalizability of the present results by considering other countries, industry sectors and periods.

As debt policy influences firm performance, value and survival, SME owners and managers, regulators and financial institutions may benefit from studies considering a relatively large number of capital structure determinants, several of which are linked to short- and long-term debt in various ways.

This study is one of the few to examine the determinants of short- and long-term debt in SMEs, which play a fundamental role in the economy, using a large-scale cross-sectional database covering a period following the 2008 financial crisis.

This paper aims to analyse the Portuguese companies’ determinants of capital structure. To reach this objective, the authors used data from 37 non-financial Portuguese large enterprises and from 4,233 non-financial small and medium enterprises for the period 2010-2016. Additionally, the authors selected a sub-period from 2010 to 2014 for a deeper understanding of the impact of the sovereign debt crisis and the Economic Adjustment Programme of Troika on the capital structure of those companies.

Three dependent variables were tested according to debt maturity, and a dynamic panel data model, namely, the generalised method of moments system estimator, was used to test the formulated research hypotheses following Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bond (1998) to capture the dynamic nature of the firm’s capital structure decisions.

In general, the results point out that the capital structure decisions depend on a set of firm-specific factors, and that the effects of the determinants of the debt maturity ratios differ according to the type of firm, i.e. large/small firms, and the economic cycle.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that has been carried out in Portugal by using two samples of large and small companies for analysing the effects of the Economic Adjustment Programme of Troika on the capital structure of companies. The authors seek to understand which type of companies suffered more because of the effects of the Economic Adjustment Programme of Troika during this period, and which are the capital structure determinants that present greater change. Contrary to what might be expected, large companies are the firms that suffer most from the Economic Adjustment Programme. Probably, because these companies are the most immediate, most scrutinised and those that must show abroad that the bank did not fund them in the long term, because of the imposition and limits to grant credit faced by the banks themselves.

Many genuine aspects of the high level behaviour of the nervous system (NS) can be understood in terms of co‐operative processes among neurons computing at the algorithmic level. This conception of the NS is applied to the study of the co‐operative control of incompatible modes of behaviour generally associated to reticular formation. The KM space is defined to generalise the problems of modal decision. Some drastic convergence agreement algorithms in the mode selection are proposed in such a way that the NS is stable in situations of lesion or cortical inhibition which eleminates the participation of a large number of reticular units.

Transition planning is an important part of special education. It is a process that helps to individualize instructions and assists students in maximizing their fullest potential. Transition planning for students with traumatic brain injury (TBI) should mirror the regular transition process. The purpose of this chapter is to (1) describe causes, symptoms, and challenges following TBI, (2) examine the broader array of issues and challenges that impact transition planning, (3) overview educational considerations, (4) provide overview model of transition, and (5) review evidence-based practices in transition.

This study aims to investigate the influence of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and geopolitical risk (GPR) on the relationship between internal cash flow and external financing in an emerging market, Saudi Arabia. It also examines the role of asset tangibility and financial crisis in establishing this relationship.

The sample was taken from non-financial sector companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange between 2002 and 2019. The data were analyzed using panel data regression analysis, including ordinary least squares and fixed effects model. The author addresses potential endogeneity through the generalized method of moments.

This study found that both EPU and GPR reduce the sensitivity of external financing to internal cash flow. This implies that firms depend more on internally generated funds during periods of increased EPU and GPR. Besides, this study found that the influence of EPU and GPR on the sensitivity of external financing to internal cash flow is more (less) negative for more tangible firms (during the financial crisis period). This result implies that Saudi firms boasting a higher level of tangibility are more flexible when it comes to seeking external financing. However, the presence of uncertainty during the crisis period makes the external financing costly, and therefore, firms will be less likely to raise funds from external sources.

This study has important implications for managers, policymakers and regulators. First, the paper findings provide insights for corporate decision-makers in helping them to focus on internal funds to finance their investment during uncertain times. Second, the findings help managers to understand the role of asset tangibility in raising external funding when firms face financial constraints due to uncertainty. Third, this study also helps corporates to focus on internal funds to finance their investment during the crisis period because EPU and GPR increase the cost of external finance. Finally, the results provide guidelines for policymakers and regulators to make appropriate policy measures to increase the easy availability of external finance during periods of increased EPU and GPR.

This paper is the first to shed light on the impact of internal funds on external financing while paying close attention to the role of EPU and GPR.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the importance of information asymmetry in the relationships between Portuguese SME's capital structure decisions and creditors, comparing the results of service SME with those found in manufacturing SMEs.

Two samples of Portuguese SMEs are considered: one sample is composed by 610 unlisted service SMEs; and, the other sample is made up by 381 unlisted SMEs in manufacturing industry, for the period 1999‐2006. To estimate the results, the two‐step estimation method is used, to control possible bias arising from data selection. In the first step, probit regression is used. In the second step, after the control for possible data bias, dynamic panel estimators are used.

The results obtained suggest that information asymmetry in the relationships between SMEs and creditors has a greater relative influence on capital structure decisions of service SMEs than on those of manufacturing SMEs.

Given the increasing importance of service SMEs in the Portuguese economy for stimulating employment, business volume, and consequently economic growth, it would be advisable for policy makers to create special long‐term lines of credit, with advantageous terms, so that Portuguese service SMEs, when internal finance is insufficient, can finance more efficiently the growth opportunities and the strategies for diversification. In addition, since SMEs' capital structure decisions present differences, both concerning the sector of industry and over time, the measures adopted by policy makers should differentiate their measures between industry sectors and over time.

First, this paper is pioneering in comparing the adjustment of actual short‐ and long‐term debts, in service and manufacturing SMEs, towards the respective target ratios. Second, it is pioneering in using dynamic estimators and in using the two‐step estimation method, in studies of determinants of capital structure decisions of service and manufacturing SMEs.