73,143 research outputs found
Gross Job Flows in Ukraine: Size, Ownership and Trade Effects
This paper documents and analyses gross job flows and their determinants in Ukraine using a unique data set of more than 2200 Ukrainian firms operating in both the manufacturing and the non-manufacturing sector for the years 1998-2000. There are several important findings in the paper. Job destruction is dominating job creation in both 1999 and 2000. In connection with other evidence we infer from this that Ukraine is only at the beginning of the restructuring process. The most clear-cut result of our analysis is the strong positive effect of new private firms on net employment growth, a finding established for other transition economies as well. At the same time, we do not find differences in the employment growth of state-owned and privatised firms. Apart from ownership effects we also find, at the firm level, an inverse correlation of size and net employment growth and of size and job reallocation. Finally, we establish that strong foreign trade links force firms to shed labour more aggressively and to engage in more restructuring when trade is directed to and originating from Western economies. This disciplining function is absent when the trade flows are confined to CIS countries.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39906/3/wp521.pd
Configurations of Handles and the Classification of Divergences in the String Partition Function
The divergences that arise in the regularized partition function for closed
bosonic string theory in flat space lead to three types of perturbation series
expansions, distinguished by their genus dependence. This classification of
infinities can be traced to geometrical characteristics of the string
worldsheet. Some categories of divergences may be eliminated in string theories
formulated on compact manifolds.Comment: 24 pages, DAMTP-R/94/1
Chiral Vortons and Cosmological Constraints on Particle Physics
We investigate the cosmological consequences of particle physics theories
that admit stable loops of current-carrying string - vortons. In particular, we
consider chiral theories where a single fermion zero mode is excited in the
string core, such as those arising in supersymmetric theories with a D-term.
The resulting vortons formed in such theories are expected to be more stable
than their non-chiral cousins. General symmetry breaking schemes are considered
in which strings formed at one symmetry breaking scale become current-carrying
at a subsequent phase transition. The vorton abundance is estimated and
constraints placed on the underlying particle physics theories from
cosmological observations. Our constraints on the chiral theory are
considerably more stringent than the previous estimates for more general
theories.Comment: minor corrections made. This version will appear in PR
What makes a 'good group'? Exploring the characteristics and performance of undergraduate student groups
Group work forms the foundation for much of student learning within higher education, and has many educational, social and professional benefits. This study aimed to explore the determinants of success or failure for undergraduate student teams and to define a âgood groupâ through considering three aspects of group success: the task, the individuals, and the team. We employed a mixed methodology, combining demographic data with qualitative observations and task and peer evaluation scores. We determined associations between group dynamic and behaviour, demographic composition, member personalities and attitudes towards one another, and task success. We also employed a cluster analysis to create a model outlining the attributes of a good small group learning team in veterinary education. This model highlights that student groups differ in measures of their effectiveness as teams, independent of their task performance. On the basis of this, we suggest that groups who achieve high marks in tasks cannot be assumed to have acquired team working skills, and therefore if these are important as a learning outcome, they must be assessed directly alongside the task output
High-Q Gold and Silicon Nitride Bilayer Nanostrings
Low-mass, high-Q, silicon nitride nanostrings are at the cutting edge of
nanomechanical devices for sensing applications. Here we show that the addition
of a chemically functionalizable gold overlayer does not adversely affect the Q
of the fundamental out-of-plane mode. Instead the device retains its mechanical
responsiveness while gaining sensitivity to molecular bonding. Furthermore,
differences in thermal expansion within the bilayer give rise to internal
stresses that can be electrically controlled. In particular, an alternating
current excites resonant motion of the nanostring. This AC thermoelastic
actuation is simple, robust, and provides an integrated approach to sensor
actuation.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures + supplementary materia
Fungal Exposure to Meteorite Thin Sections: Developing an Experimental to Observe Biogeochemical Changes
The Astromaterials Acquisition & Curation Office maintains collections of meteorite samples collected as part of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program. The chief goal of the curation department is to maintain these meteorites in pristine condition. The Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Directorate has implemented a microbial monitoring program for the meteorite collections that has resulted in the isolation of >100 fungal isolates [1], however it is currently unknown if these isolates could present danger to the collections through bioweathering or secretion of organic compounds. We grew a strain of Fusarium oxysporium isolated from nitrogen gas filters feeding the Meteorite Lab nitrogen gas in the presence of a H5 meteorite thin section to determine if this fungus has the capability of altering the mineral structure of this common meteorite. This first trial was to determine and understand the effects of Fusarium oxysporum growth on the iron content within H5 chondrites and evaluate what additional components are needed in the development of future trial runs. This experiment determined new considerations for handling samples, the nature of microscopic scans before and after the incubation period, and the quality of the samples utilized for the experiment. The results of this experiment were promising and warrant further investigation with a more refined process and timeline
Self-stabilised fractality of sea-coasts through damped erosion
Erosion of rocky coasts spontaneously creates irregular seashores. But the
geometrical irregularity, in turn, damps the sea-waves, decreasing the average
wave amplitude. There may then exist a mutual self-stabilisation of the waves
amplitude together with the irregular morphology of the coast. A simple model
of such stabilisation is studied. It leads, through a complex dynamics of the
earth-sea interface, to the appearance of a stationary fractal seacoast with
dimension close to 4/3. Fractal geometry plays here the role of a morphological
attractor directly related to percolation geometry.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Observation of vortex dipoles in an oblate Bose-Einstein condensate
We report experimental observations and numerical simulations of the
formation, dynamics, and lifetimes of single and multiply charged quantized
vortex dipoles in highly oblate dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). We
nucleate pairs of vortices of opposite charge (vortex dipoles) by forcing
superfluid flow around a repulsive gaussian obstacle within the BEC. By
controlling the flow velocity we determine the critical velocity for the
nucleation of a single vortex dipole, with excellent agreement between
experimental and numerical results. We present measurements of vortex dipole
dynamics, finding that the vortex cores of opposite charge can exist for many
seconds and that annihilation is inhibited in our highly oblate trap geometry.
For sufficiently rapid flow velocities we find that clusters of like-charge
vortices aggregate into long-lived dipolar flow structures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 EPAPS fil
Inverting Ray-Knight identity
We provide a short proof of the Ray-Knight second generalized Theorem, using
a martingale which can be seen (on the positive quadrant) as the Radon-Nikodym
derivative of the reversed vertex-reinforced jump process measure with respect
to the Markov jump process with the same conductances. Next we show that a
variant of this process provides an inversion of that Ray-Knight identity. We
give a similar result for the Ray-Knight first generalized Theorem.Comment: 18 page
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