1,612 research outputs found
Internationalisation, cultural distance and country characteristics: a Bayesian analysis of SME's financial performance
Relying on the accounting data of a panel of 403 Italian manufacturing SMEs collected over a period of 5 years, we find results suggesting that multinationality per se does not impact on the economic performance of international small and medium sized firms. It is the characteristics of the country selected i.e. the political hazard, the financial stability and the economic performance that significantly influence SMEs financial performance. The management implication for small and medium sized firms selecting and entering new geographic markets is significant, since our results show that for SMEs it is the market selection process that really matters and not the degree of multinationality
Study of the p p -> p p pi+ pi- Reaction in the Low-Energy Tail of the Roper Resonance
Exclusive measurements of the p p -> p p pi+ pi- reaction have been carried
out at Tp = 775 MeV at CELSIUS using the PROMICE/WASA setup. Together with data
obtained at lower energy they point to a dominance of the Roper excitation in
this process. From the observed interference of its decay routes N* -> N sigma
and N* -> Delta pi -> N sigma their energy-dependent relative branching ratio
is determined
Fermi Surface of The One-dimensional Kondo Lattice Model
We show a strong indication of the existence of a large Fermi surface in the
one-dimensional Kondo lattice model. The characteristic wave vector of the
model is found to be , being the density of the
conduction electrons. This result is at first obtained for a variant of the
model that includes an antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interaction between
the local moments. It is then directly observed in the conventional Kondo
lattice , in the narrow range of Kondo couplings where the long
distance properties of the model are numerically accessible.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Single-photon tunneling
Strong evidence of a single-photon tunneling effect, a direct analog of
single-electron tunneling, has been obtained in the measurements of light
tunneling through individual subwavelength pinholes in a thick gold film
covered with a layer of polydiacetylene. The transmission of some pinholes
reached saturation because of the optical nonlinearity of polydiacetylene at a
very low light intensity of a few thousands photons per second. This result is
explained theoretically in terms of "photon blockade", similar to the Coulomb
blockade phenomenon observed in single-electron tunneling experiments. The
single-photon tunneling effect may find many applications in the emerging
fields of quantum communication and information processing.Comment: 4 pages, 4figure
Achieving sustainable quality in maternity services – using audit of incontinence and dyspareunia to identify shortfalls in meeting standards
BACKGROUND: Some complications of childbirth (for example, faecal incontinence) are a source of social embarrassment for women, and are often under reported. Therefore, it was felt important to determine levels of complications (against established standards) and to consider obstetric measures aimed at reducing them. METHODS: Clinical information was collected on 1036 primiparous women delivering at North and South Staffordshire Acute and Community Trusts over a 5-month period in 1997. A questionnaire was sent to 970 women which included self-assessment of levels of incontinence and dyspareunia prior to pregnancy, at 6 weeks post delivery and 9 to 14 months post delivery. RESULTS: The response rate was 48%(470/970). Relatively high levels of obstetric interventions were found. In addition, the rates of instrumental deliveries differed between the two hospitals. The highest rates of postnatal symptoms had occurred at 6 weeks, but for many women problems were still present at the time of the survey. At 9–14 months high rates of dyspareunia (29%(102/347)) and urinary incontinence (35%(133/382)) were reported. Seventeen women (4%) complained of faecal incontinence at this time. Similar rates of urinary incontinence and dyspareunia were seen regardless of mode of delivery. CONCLUSION: Further work should be undertaken to reduce the obstetric interventions, especially instrumental deliveries. Improvements in a number of areas of care should be undertaken, including improved patient information, improved professional communication and improved professional recognition and management of third degree tears. It is likely that these measures would lead to a reduction in incontinence and dyspareunia after childbirth
Observation of strong final-state effects in pi+ production in pp collisions at 400 MeV
Differential cross sections of the reactions and have been measured at MeV by detecting the charged
ejectiles in the angular range . The
deduced total cross sections agree well with those published previously for
neighbouring energies. The invariant mass spectra are observed to be strongly
affected by production and final-state interaction. The data are
well described by Monte Carlo simulations including both these effects. The
ratio of and cross sections also compares
favourably to a recent theoretical prediction which suggests a dominance of
-production in the relative -state.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
INTERLAYER COUPLING AND THE METAL-INSULATOR TRANSITION IN Pr-SUBSTITUTED Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+y)
Substitution of rare-earth ions for Ca in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+y is known to cause a
metal-insulator transition. Using resonant photoemission we study how this
chemical substitution affects the electronic structure of the material. For the
partial Cu-density of states at E_F and in the region of the valence band we
observe no significant difference between a pure superconducting sample and an
insulating sample with 60% Pr for Ca. This suggests that the states responsible
for superconductivity are predomi- nately O-states. The partial Pr-4f density
of states was extracted utilizing the Super- Koster-Kronig Pr 4d-4f resonance.
It consists of a single peak at 1.36eV binding energy. The peak shows a
strongly assymetric Doniach-Sunjic line- shape indicating the presence of a
continuum of electronic states with sharp cut off at E_F even in this
insulating sample. This finding excludes a bandgap in the insulating sample and
supports the existance of a mobility gap caused by spatial localization of the
carriers. The presence of such carriers at the Pr-site, between the CuO_2
planes shows that the electronic structure is not purely 2-dimensional but that
there is a finite interlayer coupling. The resonance enhancement of the
photoemission cross section, at the Pr-4d threshold, was studied for the Pr-4f
and for Cu-states. Both the Pr-4f and the Cu-states show a Fano-like resonance.
This resonance of Cu-states with Pr-states is another indication of coupling
between the the Pr-states and those in the CuO_2 plane. Because of the
statistical distribution of the Pr-ions this coupling leads to a non-periodic
potential for the states in the CuO_2 plane which can lead to localization and
thus to the observed metal-insulator transition.Comment: Gziped uuencoded postscript file including 7 figures Scheduled for
publication in Physical Review B, May 1, 1995
The effectiveness of manual stretching in the treatment of plantar heel pain: a systematic review
Background: Plantar heel pain is a commonly occurring foot complaint. Stretching is frequently utilised as a treatment, yet a systematic review focusing only on its effectiveness has not been published. This review aimed to assess the effectiveness of stretching on pain and function in people with plantar heel pain. Methods: Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, and The Cochrane Library were searched from inception to July 2010. Studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria were independently assessed, and their quality evaluated using the modified PEDro scale. Results: Six studies including 365 symptomatic participants were included. Two compared stretching with a control, one study compared stretching to an alternative intervention, one study compared stretching to both alternative and control interventions, and two compared different stretching techniques and durations. Quality rating on the modified Pedro scale varied from two to eight out of a maximum of ten points. The methodologies and interventions varied significantly between studies, making meta-analysis inappropriate. Most participants improved over the course of the studies, but when stretching was compared to alternative or control interventions, the changes only reached statistical significance in one study that used a combination of calf muscle stretches and plantar fascia stretches in their stretching programme. Another study comparing different stretching techniques, showed a statistically significant reduction in some aspects of pain in favour of plantar fascia stretching over calf stretches in the short term. Conclusions: There were too few studies to assess whether stretching is effective compared to control or other interventions, for either pain or function. However, there is some evidence that plantar fascia stretching may be more effective than Achilles tendon stretching alone in the short-term. Appropriately powered randomised controlled trials, utilizing validated outcome measures, blinded assessors and long-term follow up are needed to assess the efficacy of stretching
Higher Partial Waves in p+p->p+p+eta near Threshold
Exclusive measurements of the production of eta mesons in the p+p->p+p+eta
reaction have been carried out at excess energies of 16 and 37 MeV above
threshold. The deviations from phase space are dominated by the proton-proton
final state interaction and this influences particularly the energy
distribution of the eta meson. However, evidence is also presented at the
higher energy for the existence of an anisotropy in the angular distributions
of the eta meson and also of the final proton-proton pair, probably to be
associated with D-waves in this system interfering with the dominant S-wave
term. The sign of the eta angular anisotropy suggests that rho-exchange is
important for this reaction.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX2e, 3 EPS Figures, Updated version, Accepted for
publication in Phys. Lett.
On the Production of Pairs in pp Collisions at 0.8 GeV
Data accumulated recently for the exclusive measurement of the reaction at a beam energy of 0.793 GeV using the COSY-TOF
spectrometer have been analyzed with respect to possible events from the reaction channel. The latter is expected to be the only
production channel, which contains no major contributions from
resonance excitation close to threshold and hence should be a good testing
ground for chiral dynamics in the production process. No single event
has been found, which meets all conditions for being a candidate for the reaction. This gives an upper limit for the cross section of
0.16 b (90% C.L.), which is more than an order of magnitude smaller than
the cross sections of the other two-pion production channels at the same
incident energy
- …