922 research outputs found
Trends in Business Ownership in Central and East European Transition Economies
We investigate developments in business ownership rates in four CEE transition economies (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovak Republic), and compare them with similar developments in other OECD countries in the period 1989-2008. Our analysis reveals that business ownership rates in the four CEE countries have been converging rapidly towards the levels of other OECD countries, and these CEE countries were able to rebuild their private sectors in a relatively short period of transition. We also find sizable differences among the four CEE countries under study in the level and dynamics of change of business ownership since 1989.
Measuring Business Ownership Across Countries and Over Time: Extending the COMPENDIA Data Base
Since several years EIM Business and Policy Research maintains a data base on business ownership rates across OECD countries, called COMPENDIA (COMParative ENtrepreneurship Data for International Analysis). EIM harmonizes raw numbers of business owners (self-employed), as published in the OECD Labour Force Statistics, towards a uniform definition. We define the business ownership rate as the number of owner-managers of unincorporated and incorporated businesses, as a fraction of the total labour force. Until recently, data in COMPENDIA were published for a group of 23 OECD countries, starting from 1972 onwards. However, in the most recent version of the data base time series for seven additional countries have been introduced for the first time, so that the COMPENDIA data base now covers 30 OECD countries. The current paper makes four contributions. First, we provide an update of the methodology used to harmonize business ownership rates across countries. In doing so, as a second contribution, we provide two extended country cases (Poland and the United States) which illustrate the many methodological pitfalls that have to be dealt with when measuring the number of business owners. Third, we present business ownership time series for 30 OECD countries including the new countries in our data base: Czech Republic, Hungary, Korea, Mexico, Poland, Slovak Republic, and Turkey. Fourth and finally, we pay considerable attention to the sizable differences in the level and development of business ownership since 1989 in four Central and East European transition economies in our data base: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovak Republic. �
The Fermat-Torricelli problem in normed planes and spaces
We investigate the Fermat-Torricelli problem in d-dimensional real normed
spaces or Minkowski spaces, mainly for d=2. Our approach is to study the
Fermat-Torricelli locus in a geometric way. We present many new results, as
well as give an exposition of known results that are scattered in various
sources, with proofs for some of them. Together, these results can be
considered to be a minitheory of the Fermat-Torricelli problem in Minkowski
spaces and especially in Minkowski planes. This demonstrates that substantial
results about locational problems valid for all norms can be found using a
geometric approach
Use of virtual reality-based training in different fields of rehabilitation: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Objectives: To analyse the effectiveness of virtual reality-based interventions within several fields of rehabilitation, and to investigate whether the outcomes of virtual realitybased interventions, in terms of upper or lower limb function, gait and balance, differ with respect to the virtual reality system used. Methods: A search of PubMed database resulted in an initial total of 481 records. Of these, 27 articles were included in the study. A final total of 20 articles, with neurological, orthoapedic, geriatric or paediatric patients, published between 2012 and 2019, were included in the study. Two independent reviewers selected potentially relevant articles based on the inclusion criteria for fulltext reading. They extracted data, and evaluated the methodological quality of each study. Results: Seventeen studies were included in the metaanalysis. Eight studies analysed upper limb function, with no significant evidence that specialized VR is superior to conventional treatment. Regarding Fugl-Meyer scale results, the effect of specialized virtual reality therapy was found to be significantly better than conventional treatment. No significant differences between specialized VR and conventional treatment were observed in effects on hand dexterity and gait. There was a significant difference in effects on balance in favour of specialized virtual reality as compared to conventional treatment. Gaming virtual reality was significantly better than conventional treatment for upper limb function, but not for hand dexterity, gait and balance. Conclusion: Use of specialized virtual reality and gaming virtual reality can be advantageous for treatment of the upper extremity, but not for hand dexterity and gait in all pathologies considered. Specialized virtual reality can improve balance in neurological patients
Web-based Surveillance and Global Salmonella Distribution, 2000–2002
Surveillance improves control of Salmonella infections
Precise 3D track reconstruction algorithm for the ICARUS T600 liquid argon time projection chamber detector
Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) detectors offer charged
particle imaging capability with remarkable spatial resolution. Precise event
reconstruction procedures are critical in order to fully exploit the potential
of this technology. In this paper we present a new, general approach of
three-dimensional reconstruction for the LAr TPC with a practical application
to track reconstruction. The efficiency of the method is evaluated on a sample
of simulated tracks. We present also the application of the method to the
analysis of real data tracks collected during the ICARUS T600 detector
operation with the CNGS neutrino beam.Comment: Submitted to Advances in High Energy Physic
Search for anomalies in the {\nu}e appearance from a {\nu}{\mu} beam
We report an updated result from the ICARUS experiment on the search for
{\nu}{\mu} ->{\nu}e anomalies with the CNGS beam, produced at CERN with an
average energy of 20 GeV and travelling 730 km to the Gran Sasso Laboratory.
The present analysis is based on a total sample of 1995 events of CNGS neutrino
interactions, which corresponds to an almost doubled sample with respect to the
previously published result. Four clear {\nu}e events have been visually
identified over the full sample, compared with an expectation of 6.4 +- 0.9
events from conventional sources. The result is compatible with the absence of
additional anomalous contributions. At 90% and 99% confidence levels the limits
to possible oscillated events are 3.7 and 8.3 respectively. The corresponding
limit to oscillation probability becomes consequently 3.4 x 10-3 and 7.6 x 10-3
respectively. The present result confirms, with an improved sensitivity, the
early result already published by the ICARUS collaboration
Underground operation of the ICARUS T600 LAr-TPC: first results
Open questions are still present in fundamental Physics and Cosmology, like
the nature of Dark Matter, the matter-antimatter asymmetry and the validity of
the particle interaction Standard Model. Addressing these questions requires a
new generation of massive particle detectors exploring the subatomic and
astrophysical worlds. ICARUS T600 is the first large mass (760 ton) example of
a novel detector generation able to combine the imaging capabilities of the old
famous "bubble chamber" with an excellent energy measurement in huge electronic
detectors. ICARUS T600 now operates at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory,
studying cosmic rays, neutrino oscillation and proton decay. Physical
potentialities of this novel telescope are presented through few examples of
neutrino interactions reconstructed with unprecedented details. Detector design
and early operation are also reported.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Jins
A search for the analogue to Cherenkov radiation by high energy neutrinos at superluminal speeds in ICARUS
The OPERA collaboration has claimed evidence of superluminal {\nu}{_\mu}
propagation between CERN and the LNGS. Cohen and Glashow argued that such
neutrinos should lose energy by producing photons and e+e- pairs, through Z0
mediated processes analogous to Cherenkov radiation. In terms of the parameter
delta=(v^2_nu-v^2_c)/v^2_c, the OPERA result implies delta = 5 x 10^-5. For
this value of \delta a very significant deformation of the neutrino energy
spectrum and an abundant production of photons and e+e- pairs should be
observed at LNGS. We present an analysis based on the 2010 and part of the 2011
data sets from the ICARUS experiment, located at Gran Sasso National Laboratory
and using the same neutrino beam from CERN. We find that the rates and
deposited energy distributions of neutrino events in ICARUS agree with the
expectations for an unperturbed spectrum of the CERN neutrino beam. Our results
therefore refute a superluminal interpretation of the OPERA result according to
the Cohen and Glashow prediction for a weak current analog to Cherenkov
radiation. In particular no superluminal Cherenkov like e+e- pair or gamma
emission event has been directly observed inside the fiducial volume of the
"bubble chamber like" ICARUS TPC-LAr detector, setting the much stricter limit
of delta < 2.5 10^-8 at the 90% confidence level, comparable with the one due
to the observations from the SN1987A.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
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