Which IC is more important? A life-cycle perspective

[[abstract]]Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate value-relevant information provided by intellectual capital (IC) beyond financial performance under different life-cycle stages. Design/methodology/approach – The life-cycle classification method and the residual income model are used to examine the information technology industry. Findings – The empirical results show that the value-relevant information provided by IC under the growth, maturing, and stagnant stages can be ranked in order (from high to low) of custom, innovation, process, and human capital. Specifically, the empirical results indicate that overall IC provided the most value-relevant information in the stagnant stage and the lowest value-relevant information in the growth stage. Research limitations/implications – This paper reveals that evaluating the company market value merely by financial performance involves a number of limitations, thereby requiring IC to supplement the process. The internet downturn in the mid-2000s might have likewise affected the categorization of life-cycle stages and the value-relevant information provided by intellectual capital during the “bubble” period. Practical implications – Managers and investors should not merely focus on financial performance as the main value-relevant information, but a thorough review of IC in different life-cycle stages should be made in order to avoid making incorrect decisions. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the existing literature by exploring customer, process, innovation, and human capital which, significantly, have different value-relevant information in different life-cycle stages

Structure determination of PF3 adsorption on Cu(100) using X-ray standing waves

The local structure of the Cu(100)c(4x2)-PF3 adsorption phase has been investigated through the use of normal-incidence X-ray standing waves (NIXSW), monitored by P 1s and F 1s photoemission, together with P K-edge near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS). NEXAFS shows the molecule to be oriented with its C3v symmetry axis essentially perpendicular to the surface, while the P NIXSW data show the molecule to be adsorbed in atop sites 2.37±0.04 Å above the surface, this distance corresponding to the Cu-P nearest-neighbour distance in the absence of any surface relaxation. F NIXSW indicates a surprisingly small height difference of the P and F atoms above the surface 0.44±0.06 Å, compared with the value expected for an undistorted gas-phase geometry of 0.77 Å, implying significant increases in the F-P-F bond angles. In addition, however, the F NIXSW data indicate that the molecules have a well-defined azimuthal orientation with a molecular mirror plane aligned in a substrate mirror plane, and with a small (5-10°) tilt of the molecule in this plane such that the two symmetrically-equivalent F atoms in each molecule are tilted down towards the surface

A recent rebuilding of most spirals ?

Re-examination of the properties of distant galaxies leads to the evidence that most present-day spirals have built up half of their stellar masses during the last 8 Gyr, mostly during several intense phases of star formation during which they took the appearance of luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs). Distant galaxy morphologies encompass all of the expected stages of galaxy merging, central core formation and disk growth, while their cores are much bluer than those of present-day bulges. We have tested a spiral rebuilding scenario, for which 75+/-25% of spirals have experienced their last major merger event less than 8 Gyr ago. It accounts for the simultaneous decreases, during that period, of the cosmic star formation density, of the merger rate, of the number densities of LIRGs and of compact galaxies, while the densities of ellipticals and large spirals are essentially unaffected.Comment: (1) GEPI, Obs. Meudon, France ;(2)Max-Planck Institut fuer Astronomie, Germany (3) National Astronomical Observatories, CAS, China. Five pages, 1 figure. To be published in "Starbursts: From 30 Doradus to Lyman Break Galaxies", held in Cambridge, ed. R. de Grijs & R. M. Gonzalez Delgado (Dordrecht: Kluwer

Sensitivity of deexcitation energies of superdeformed secondary minima to the density dependence of symmetry energy with the relativistic mean-field theory

The relationship between deexcitation energies of superdeformed secondary minima relative to ground states and the density dependence of the symmetry energy is investigated for heavy nuclei using the relativistic mean field (RMF) model. It is shown that the deexcitation energies of superdeformed secondary minima are sensitive to differences in the symmetry energy that are mimicked by the isoscalar-isovector coupling included in the model. With deliberate investigations on a few Hg isotopes that have data of deexcitation energies, we find that the description for the deexcitation energies can be improved due to the softening of the symmetry energy. Further, we have investigated deexcitation energies of odd-odd heavy nuclei that are nearly independent of pairing correlations, and have discussed the possible extraction of the constraint on the density dependence of the symmetry energy with the measurement of deexcitation energies of these nuclei.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Enhanced Fusion-Evaporation Cross Sections in Neutron-Rich 132^{132}Sn on 64^{64}Ni

Evaporation residue cross sections have been measured with neutron-rich radioactive $^{132}$Sn beams on $^{64}$Ni in the vicinity of the Coulomb barrier. The average beam intensity was $2\times 10^{4}$ particles per second and the smallest cross section measured was less than 5 mb. Large subbarrier fusion enhancement was observed. Coupled-channels calculations taking into account inelastic excitation and neutron transfer underpredict the measured cross sections below the barrier.Comment: 4 pages including 1 table and 3 figure

Post-Synthetic Modification of a Porous Hydrocarbon Cage to Give a Discrete C024 Organometallic Complex**

First published: 21 July 2022A new alkyne-based hydrocarbon cage was synthesized in high overall yield using alkyne-alkyne coupling in the cage forming step. The cage is porous and displays a moderately high BET surface area (546 m2 g−1). The cage loses crystallinity on activation and thus is porous in its amorphous form, while very similar cages have been either non-porous, or retained crystallinity on activation. Reaction of the cage with Co2(CO)8 results in exhaustive metalation of its 12 alkyne groups to give the Co24(CO)72 adduct of the cage in good yield.Chriso M. Thomas, Weibin Liang, Dan Preston, Christian J. Doonan, and Nicholas G. Whit

Ab-initio simulations on growth and interface properties of epitaxial oxides on silicon

The replacement of SiO2 by so-called high-k oxides is one of the major challenges for the semiconductor industry to date. Based on electronic structure calculations and ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations, we are able to provide a consistent picture of the growth process of a class of epitaxial oxides around SrO and SrTiO3. The detailed understanding of the interfacial binding principles has also allowed us to propose a way to engineer the band-offsets between the oxide and the silicon substrate.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, proceeding for the INFOS2005 conference (http://www.imec.be/infos/

Vortex Lattice Melting into Disentangled Liquid Followed by the 3D-2D Decoupling Transition in YBa_2Cu_4O_8 Single Crystals

A sharp resistance drop associated with vortex lattice melting was observed in high quality YBa_2Cu_4O_8 single crystals. The melting line is well described well by the anisotropic GL theory. Two thermally activated flux flow regions, which were separated by a crossover line B_cr=1406.5(1-T/T_c)/T (T_c=79.0 K, B_cr in T), were observed in the vortex liquid phase. Activation energy for each region was obtained and the corresponding dissipation mechanism was discussed. Our results suggest that the vortex lattice in YBa_2Cu_4O_8 single crystal melts into disentangled liquid, which then undergoes a 3D-2D decoupling transition.Comment: 5 pages, 4 eps figures, RevTex (Latex2.09

Insights into the Interaction between Immobilized Biocatalysts and Metal–Organic Frameworks: A Case Study of PCN-333

The immobilization of enzymes in metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) with preserved biofunctionality paves a promising way to solve problems regarding the stability and reusability of enzymes. However, the rational design of MOF-based biocomposites remains a considerable challenge as very little is known about the state of the enzyme, the MOF support, and their host−guest interactions upon immobilization. In this study, we elucidate the detailed host−guest interaction for MOF immobilized enzymes in the biointerface. Two enzymes with different sizes, lipase and insulin, have been immobilized in a mesoporous PCN333(Al) MOF. The dynamic changes of local structures of the MOF host and enzyme guests have been experimentally revealed for the existence of the confinement effect to enzymes and van der Waals interaction in the biointerface between the aluminum oxo-cluster of the PCN-333 and the -NH2 species of enzymes. This kind of host−guest interaction renders the immobilization of enzymes in PCN-333 with high affinity and highly preserved enzymatic bioactivity.Wenjie Yang, Weibin Liang, Luke A. O, Dell, Hamish D. Toop, Natasha Maddigan, Xingmo Zhang, Alena Kochubei, Christian J. Doonan, Yijiao Jiang, and Jun Huan

Numerical study of the thermoelectric power factor in ultra-thin Si nanowires

Low dimensional structures have demonstrated improved thermoelectric (TE) performance because of a drastic reduction in their thermal conductivity, {\kappa}l. This has been observed for a variety of materials, even for traditionally poor thermoelectrics such as silicon. Other than the reduction in {\kappa}l, further improvements in the TE figure of merit ZT could potentially originate from the thermoelectric power factor. In this work, we couple the ballistic (Landauer) and diffusive linearized Boltzmann electron transport theory to the atomistic sp3d5s*-spin-orbit-coupled tight-binding (TB) electronic structure model. We calculate the room temperature electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and power factor of narrow 1D Si nanowires (NWs). We describe the numerical formulation of coupling TB to those transport formalisms, the approximations involved, and explain the differences in the conclusions obtained from each model. We investigate the effects of cross section size, transport orientation and confinement orientation, and the influence of the different scattering mechanisms. We show that such methodology can provide robust results for structures including thousands of atoms in the simulation domain and extending to length scales beyond 10nm, and point towards insightful design directions using the length scale and geometry as a design degree of freedom. We find that the effect of low dimensionality on the thermoelectric power factor of Si NWs can be observed at diameters below ~7nm, and that quantum confinement and different transport orientations offer the possibility for power factor optimization.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures; Journal of Computational Electronics, 201