1,368 research outputs found
Intangible resources, agglomeration effect of FDI intensity, and firm performance: Evidence from Chinese semiconductor firms
This study analyzes the impact of intangible resources on firm performance in an emerging economy context. Intangible resources are considered essential to firms? competitive advantage; however, we argue that firms? intangible resources can be negatively related with performance in emerging economies, due to their weak intellectual property rights protection. Furthermore, we incorporate the resource-based view and geographical agglomeration perspective to propose that geographical locations with dense foreign direct investment can affect the appropriability of intangible resources, thereby moderating the relationship between intangible resources and firm performance. We find empirical evidence to support our argument by examining 70 semiconductor firms in China from 1999 to 2006 period.intangible resources, intellectual property, agglomeration, foreign direct investment, emerging economy
Achieving translational symmetry in trapped cold ion rings
Spontaneous symmetry breaking is a universal concept throughout science. For
instance, the Landau-Ginzburg paradigm of translational symmetry breaking
underlies the classification of nearly all quantum phases of matter and
explains the emergence of crystals, insulators, and superconductors. Usually,
the consequences of translational invariance are studied in large systems to
suppress edge effects which cause undesired symmetry breaking. While this
approach works for investigating global properties, studies of local
observables and their correlations require access and control of the individual
constituents. Periodic boundary conditions, on the other hand, could allow for
translational symmetry in small systems where single particle control is
achievable. Here, we crystallize up to fifteen 40Ca+ ions in a microscopic ring
with inherent periodic boundary conditions. We show the ring's translational
symmetry is preserved at millikelvin temperatures by delocalizing the Doppler
laser cooled ions. This establishes an upper bound for undesired symmetry
breaking at a level where quantum control becomes feasible. These findings pave
the way towards studying quantum many-body physics with translational symmetry
at the single particle level in a variety of disciplines from simulation of
Hawking radiation to exploration of quantum phase transitions.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
Relationship between parenting style, alexithymia and aggression in emerging adults
Alexithymia has been linked to reduced emotional awareness and increased aggression. One line of evidence suggests that authoritarian parenting contributes to the development of alexithymia. To elucidate the relationship between experienced parenting style, alexithymia and aggression the Parental Authority Questionnaire, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire were administered to a group of emerging adults. Current findings show a positive relationship between: (i) authoritarian parenting style and alexithymia, (ii) alexithymia and aggression, iii) authoritarian parenting style and aggression. This study also found that paternal authoritarian parenting predicted alexithymia and aggression when controlling for maternal authoritarian style, but not the other way round. In addition, alexithymia mediated the relationship between paternal authoritarian parenting and aggression when controlling for maternal authoritarian style suggesting that elevated alexithymia which is likely to be a consequence of authoritarian parenting, especially when it is practiced by a father, contributes to increased aggression in adulthood
Variations in Religiosity by Latitude Parallel Variations in Environmental Instability
Across three global samples, we observe increases in many measures of religiosity from the poles towards the equator, extending previous reports of latitudinal psychology. This equatorial-polar gradient parallels indices of political, economic, and ecological instability, consistent with models where religious beliefs and behaviors serve coping functions in unstable cultural contexts
Using KCWI to Explore the Chemical Inhomogeneities and Evolution of J1044+0353
J1044+0353 is considered a local analog of the young galaxies that ionized
the intergalactic medium at high-redshift due to its low mass, low metallicity,
high specific star formation rate, and strong high-ionization emission lines.
We use integral field spectroscopy to trace the propagation of the starburst
across this small galaxy using Balmer emission- and absorption-line equivalent
widths and find a post-starburst population (~ 15 - 20 Myr) roughly one kpc
east of the much younger, compact starburst (~ 3 - 4 Myr). Using the direct
electron temperature method to map the O/H abundance ratio, we find similar
metallicity (1 to 3 sigma) between the starburst and post-starburst regions but
with a significant dispersion of about 0.3 dex within the latter. We also map
the Doppler shift and width of the strong emission lines. Over scales several
times the size of the galaxy, we discover a velocity gradient parallel to the
galaxy's minor axis. The steepest gradients (~ 30 $\mathrm{km \ s^{-1} \
kpc^{-1}}$) appear to emanate from the oldest stellar association. We identify
the velocity gradient as an outflow viewed edge-on based on the increased line
width and skew in a biconical region. We discuss how this outflow and the gas
inflow necessary to trigger the starburst affect the chemical evolution of
J1044+0353. We conclude that the stellar associations driving the galactic
outflow are spatially offset from the youngest association, and a chemical
evolution model with a metal-enriched wind requires a more realistic inflow
rate than a homogeneous chemical evolution model.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figure
Implementing business related projects in Foundation Commerce: Business studies units
Group-based class projects have been used as popular pedagogical tools by many institutions in developing team-work skills among students. The ability to work in teams is a much valued skill sought by many organisations (Shaw, 2004). Studies on the inclusion of business related group projects as assessments at foundation programs level, is scarce. This paper reports on a case study that investigated the perceptions of both students and staff regarding the inclusion of business related group projects in commerce units in a foundation programme. The study looked at students’ learning experiences, knowledge gained, and attitudes towards group-based assessments reflecting the effectiveness and value of including group projects in commerce units. The units which incorporated group based projects include Accounting, Business Management and Economics. In general, students agree that group-based projects facilitate learning new skills or concepts from team members, enhance problem solving skills, and promote team work skills. The teaching staff’s perceptions on the inclusion of the projects were encouraging and positive for most units. However, the implementation process of the projects for some units, warrant further investigation in order to enhance and improve the learning experiences of the students
Tests of the fundamental symmetries in eta meson decays
Patterns of chiral symmetry violation and tests of the conservation of the
fundamental C, P and CP symmetries are key physics issues in studies of the
pi0, eta and eta' meson decays. These tests include searches for rare or
forbidden decays and searches for asymmetries among the decay products in the
not-so-rare decays. Some examples for the rare decays are eta-->2pi, eta-->4pi0
(CP tests), decays into an odd number of photons (e.g., eta-->3g) and the decay
eta-->pi0e+e- (C tests). The experimental studies of the pi0, eta and eta'
meson decays are carried out at four European accelerator research facilities:
KLOE/KLOE-2 at DAFNE (Frascati), Crystal Ball at MAMI (Mainz), WASA at COSY
(J\"ulich), Crystal Barrel at ELSA (Bonn).Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of Symposium on Prospects in the
Physics of Discrete Symmetries, DISCRETE 2010, 6 - 11 December, Rome; v2:
added reference
Zipf's Law and Avoidance of Excessive Synonymy
Zipf's law states that if words of language are ranked in the order of
decreasing frequency in texts, the frequency of a word is inversely
proportional to its rank. It is very robust as an experimental observation, but
to date it escaped satisfactory theoretical explanation. We suggest that Zipf's
law may arise from the evolution of word semantics dominated by expansion of
meanings and competition of synonyms.Comment: 47 pages; fixed reference list missing in v.
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