The Language Effect in International Trade: A Meta-Analysis

Gravity models of international trade have been frequently applied to estimate the impact of common (official or spoken) language on bilateral trade. This study provides a meta-analysis based on 701 language effects collected from 81 academic articles. On average, a common (official or spoken) language increases trade flows directly by 44%.common language, gravity, international trade, trade costs

Social work values for the XXI century : human rights and the ethic of the gift

Intervenção social. - ISSN 0874-1611. - N. 38 (2.º semestre 2011). - p. 25-34

Sectoral Adjustment of Employment: The Impact of Outsourcing and Trade at the Micro Level

This paper analyzes the effects of trade and outsourcing on the transition probabilities of employment between sectors, using a dynamic multinomial logit framework with fixed effects. The data contain individual Austrian male workers over the period 1988-2001. Our results strongly support the view that international economic forces are important determinants of labor market turnover. Increases in imports, terms of trade and, especially, in the outsourcing share negatively affect the probability of staying in or changing into the manufacturing sector, even more so for industries with a comparative disadvantage.Labor market turnover, Outsourcing, Dynamic discrete choice, Fixed effects panel estimation

Anatomisch-histologische Untersuchung der Kiemenretraktoren bei ausgewählten Arten der Caudofoveata (Mollusca)

Die Caudofoveata (Schildfüßer) sind eine rein marine, im Schlamm grabende Molluskenklasse mit wurmähnlicher Gestalt. Wegen ihrer versteckten Lebensweise, der geringen Größe sowie ihrer Bedeutungslosigkeit für den Menschen sind sie fast nur unter Fachpublikum bekannt. Im Rahmen von Forschungs- und Studienaufenthalten wurden von Prof. Salvini-Plawen zahlreiche Proben gesammelt, welche nach und nach im Rahmen von wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen ausgewertet werden. Bei den Caudofoveaten galt bisher das Hauptaugenmerk den Kalkkörpern und dem Radula-Apparat, da beide sehr gute Merkmale für eine systematische Klassifizierung der einzelnen Vertreter bieten. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden, anhand von histologischen Präparaten, die Anzahl der Kiemenretraktoren, ihr Verlauf aus der Körperwandmuskulatur bis in die Kieme im Bezug zum Pericard und die Lage der Suprarectalkommissur im Bezug zur Kieme untersucht. Anschließend wurden von den Kiemenretraktoren mit dem Computerprogramm Amira 4.1. 3D-Modelle rekonstruiert.Caudofoveata are marine mud-digging molluscs with worm-like appearance. Due to their clandestine lifestyle, their small size and irrelevance to humanity, they are only known to interested biologists. During studies and research, several samples were taken by Prof. Salvini-Plawen and are currently being analysed in scientific studies. The focus had been laid upon calcareous sclerites and radula apparatus, because both features are ideal for systemic classification. In this thesis, the number of ctenidian retractors, the bodywall musculature to the ctenidium and the position of suparectalcommisure in relation to the ctenidium were analysed. For a better understanding, the ctenidian retractors were three-dimensionally reconstructed with the help of Amira 4.1

A deployment-friendly decentralized scheduling approach for cooperative multi-agent systems in production systems

Abstract Decentralized control paradigms are becoming more and more attractive in an ever-changing commercial environment, where there is a strong trend towards smaller production lot sizes. Whereas centralized scheduling might find a global throughput optimum (even at high computational and implementation cost), decentralized scheduling decisions in a multi-agent system are much more manageable and agents are more robust to handle any interruptions that might take place on the production floor. Compared to a centralised architecture, the development, testing and commissioning is definitely more complex, as it requires the availability of the physical units. Yet these aspects are not visited frequently by research activities. This paper details a novel implementation approach of a multi-agent based production control, that was developed for a lab-contained production environment that serves as test-bed for decentralized scheduling algorithms, with both a nominal operational mode and a simulation mode. The latter one is introduced to ease up the deployment process of the system. The description of the new approach is illustrated with different examples

Multiparticle scattering and breakdown of the Wiedemann-Franz law at a junction of N interacting quantum wires

We analyze the charge and thermal transport at a junction of interacting quantum wires close to equilibrium. Within the framework of Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids, we compute the thermal conductance for a wide class of boundary conditions and detail the physical processes leading to the breakdown of the Wiedemann-Franz law at the junction. We show how connecting external reservoirs to the quantum wires affects the conductance tensors close to the various fixed points of the phase diagram of the junction. We therefore distinguish two types of violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law: a "trivial" one, independent of the junction dynamics and arising from the breakdown of the Fermi-liquid picture in the wire, and a junction-related counterpart, arising from multiparticle scattering processes at the junction

Violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law in the topological Kondo model

We study the thermal transport through a Majorana island connected to multiple external quantum wires. In the presence of a large charging energy, we find that the Wiedemann-Franz law is nontrivially violated at low temperature, contrarily to what happens for the overscreened Kondo effect and for nontopological junctions. For three wires, we find that the Lorenz ratio is rescaled by a universal factor 2/3 and we show that this behavior is due to the presence of localized Majorana modes on the island

Lindblad master equation approach to the dissipative quench dynamics of planar superconductors

We employ the Lindblad Master Equation method to study the nonequilibrium dynamics following a parametric quench in the Hamiltonian of an open, two-dimensional superconducting system coupled to an external bath. Within our approach we show how, in the open system, the dissipation works as an effective stabilization mechanism in the time evolution of the system after the quench. Eventually, we evidence how the mismatch between the phases corresponding to the initial and to the final state of the system determines a dynamical phase transition between the two distinct phases. Our method allows for fully characterizing the dynamical phase transition in an open system in several cases of physical relevance, by means of a combined study of the time dependent superconducting gap and of the fidelity between density matrices.Comment: 14 pages, 7 .eps figure

Dissipation driven dynamical topological phase transitions in two-dimensional superconductors

By quenching the interaction strength, we induce and study a topological dynamical phase transition between superconducting phases of a planar fermionic model. Using the Lindblad Master Equation approach to account for the interactions of Bogoliubov quasiparticles among themselves and with the fluctuations of the superconducting order parameter, we derive the corresponding relaxation dynamics of the order parameter. To fully characterize the phase transition, we also compute the fidelity and the spin-Hall conductance of the system. Our approach provides us crucial informations for experimental implementations, such as the dependence of the critical time on the system-bath coupling.Comment: 9 pages, 6 .eps figures. Includes Supplemental Material as a part of the Main Fil