3,841 research outputs found
Tangible and intangible capital and the pattern of specialization in the EU
This paper investigates the determinants of specialisation in 7 European countries and 4 major industrial sectors in the last 20 years. Next to the impact of traditional factors such as productivity and the endowment of labour and capital, we look at the importance of accounting for capital heterogeneity, by distinguishing between ICT and non-ICT assets, and for intangible capital such as skills and R&D. Our results show that intangible capital and innovation play an important part in increasing the value added shares of the Manufacturing sector while increasing investments in ICT has driven resources away from Manufacturing and towards the Service industry
Off-shoring, specialization and R&D
This paper investigates whether off-shoring promotes technological specialization by reallocating resources towards high-tech industries and/or stimulating within industry R&D. Using data for the US, Japan and Europe, our results show that material off-shoring promotes high-tech specialization through input reallocation between sectors, while service off-shoring favours technologically advanced production by increasing within-industry productivity, mainly via its positive impact on R&D. Conversely, we find that the increasing fragmentation of core production tasks, captured by narrow off-shoring, has adverse effects on technological specialisation, which suggests that this type of off-shoring is mainly pursued for cost-reduction motives
Offshoring and specialisation: are industries moving?
This paper investigates the impact of off-shoring on specialisation via its effect on national endowments and productivity. We use different definition of off-shoring to properly capture international fragmentation of production, while controlling for countries‟ stocks of R&D and ICT capital. Using industry data for the US, Japan and Europe we show that while off-shoring of materials can benefit a wide range of industries, service and intra-industry off-shoring can decrease specialisation in high-tech industry, both within manufacturing and services. This effect can be compensated with increasing R&D investments
We see ICT spillovers everywhere but in the econometric evidence: a reassessment
Using company-level data for the US we study the productivity effects of knowledge spillovers, induced by the diffusion of ICT in the markets where companies operate. We adopt multiple spillover proxies and account for firms' absorptive capacity and lagged effects. Our results show that intra-industry ICT spillovers have a contemporaneous negative effect while the impact of inter-industry spillovers is positive. The overall productivity effect of ICT is negative, except for those companies with a strong absorptive capacity. However, after a 5-year lag the overall spillover effect turns positive while the role of absorptive capacity diminishes as a consequence of decreasing learning costs and more accessible technology
Absolute measurement of the unresolved cosmic X-ray background in the 0.5-8 keV band with Chandra
We present the absolute measurement of the unresolved 0.5-8 keV cosmic X-ray
background (CXB) in the Chandra Deep Fields (CDFs) North and South, the longest
observations with Chandra (2 Ms and 1 Ms, respectively). We measure the
unresolved CXB intensity by extracting spectra of the sky, removing all point
and extended sources detected in the CDF. To model and subtract the
instrumental background, we use observations obtained with ACIS in stowed
position, not exposed to the sky. The unresolved signal in the 0.5-1 keV band
is dominated by diffuse Galactic and local thermal-like emission. In the 1-8
keV band, the unresolved spectrum is adequately described by a power law with a
photon index 1.5. We find unresolved CXB intensities of (1.04+/-0.14)x10^-12
ergs cm^-2 s^-1 deg^-2 for the 1-2 keV band and (3.4+/-1.7)x10^-12 ergs cm^-2
s^-1 deg^-2 for the 2-8 keV band. Our detected unresolved intensities in these
bands significantly exceed the expected flux from sources below the CDF
detection limits, if one extrapolates the logN/logS curve to zero flux. Thus
these background intensities imply either a genuine diffuse component, or a
steepening of the logN/logS curve at low fluxes, most significantly for
energies <2 keV. Adding the unresolved intensity to the total contribution from
sources detected in these fields and wider-field surveys, we obtain a total
intensity of the extragalactic CXB of (4.6+/-0.3)x10^-12 ergs cm^-2 s^-1 deg^-2
for 1-2 keV and (1.7+/-0.2)x10^-11 ergs cm^-2 s^-1 deg^-2 for 2-8 keV. These
totals correspond to a CXB power law normalization (for photon index 1.4) of
10.9 photons cm^-2 s^-1 keV^-1 sr^-1 at 1 keV. This corresponds to resolved
fracations of 77+/-3% and 80+/-8% for 1-2 and 2-8 keV, respectively.Comment: 23 emulateapj pages, accepted for publication in ApJ. Minor
revisions, most notably a new summary of the error analysi
Multitrace deformations, Gamow states, and Stability of AdS/CFT
We analyze the effect of multitrace deformations in conformal field theories
at leading order in a large N approximation. These theories admit a description
in terms of a weakly coupled gravity dual. We show how the deformations can be
mapped into boundary terms of the gravity theory and how to reproduce the RG
equations found in field theory. In the case of doubletrace deformations, and
for bulk scalars with masses in the range , the deformed
theory flows between two fixed points of the renormalization group, manifesting
a resonant behavior at the scale characterizing the transition between the two
CFT's. On the gravity side the resonance is mapped into an IR non-normalizable
mode (Gamow state) whose overlap with the UV region increases as the dual
operator approaches the free field limit. We argue that this resonant behavior
is a generic property of large N theories in the conformal window, and
associate it to a remnant of the Nambu-Goldstone mode of dilatation invariance.
We emphasize the role of nonminimal couplings to gravity and establish a
stability theorem for scalar/gravity systems with AdS boundary conditions in
the presence of arbitrary boundary potentials and nonminimal coupling.Comment: 14 pages, references added, introduction change
Expected and unexpected behavior of the orientational order and dynamics induced by azobenzene solutes in a nematic
We have explored the changes in the phase stability, orientational order, and dynamics of the nematic 4-cyano-4¢-n-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) doped with either the trans or the cis form of different p-azobenzene derivatives using the ESR spin-probe technique. In particular, we have studied the effects induced by each of the seven nonmesogenic 4-R-phenylazobenzenes (R = H, F, Br, CH3, CF3, On-Bu, Ot-Bu) at 1% and 7% mole fraction on the order parameter and on the shift of the nematic-isotropic transition temperature (TNI), as reported by a nitroxide spin probe, and we have tried to relate them to the solute shape and charge distribution. In all the cases the presence of the azo-derivative causes a depression of TNI, more pronounced for the cis isomers. The dependence of on the reduced temperature T*=T/TNI remains the same as that of pure 5CB in all trans-doped samples at 1% and 7% and decreases only slightly in the cis at 1%. However, we observe different and in some cases large variations (up to 25%) in for the cis at 7%, showing solute effects that go beyond the shift in TNI. Surprisingly enough, even at the highest concentration, the probe dynamics appears to be essentially independent of the nature, the configuration, and the concentration of the different solutes and very similar to that observed in the pure 5CB
Demonstration of coherent emission from high- photonic crystal nanolasers at room temperature
We report on lasing at room temperature and at telecommunications wavelength
from photonic crystal nanocavities based on InAsP/InP quantum dots. Such laser
cavities with a small modal volume and high quality factor display a high
spontaneous emission coupling factor beta. Lasing is confirmed by measuring the
second order autocorrelation function. A smooth transition from chaotic to
coherent emission is observed, and coherent emission is obtained at 8 times the
threshold power
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