1,043 research outputs found
Home country effects of offshoring. A critical survey on empirical literature.
The International fragmentation of production processes is of rising importance. One part of this fragmentation involves the relocation of a production process from a home- to a new host country. This literature survey deals with the effects of such relocations on the home country. First of all, we try to conceptualize the terms and definitions most frequently used in this context which are "outsourcing", "offshore outsourcing" and "offshoring". Despite the fact that there is little textual documentation dealing directly with the phenomena of offshoring and offshore outsourcing we try to give an overview of possible empirical literature to which one can regard to. Including FDI literature we try to cover empirical literature which can provide helpful insight on the effects of a relocation to foreign countries on the home country in connection with wages, skill upgrading, prices, profits, taxes and unions. (author's abstract)Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordinatio
Electronic signature of the vacancy ordering in NbO (Nb3O3)
We investigated the electronic structure of the vacancy-ordered 4d-transition
metal monoxide NbO (Nb3O3) using angle-integrated soft- and hard-x-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy as well as ultra-violet angle-resolved photoelectron
spectroscopy. We found that density-functional-based band structure
calculations can describe the spectral features accurately provided that
self-interaction effects are taken into account. In the angle-resolved spectra
we were able to identify the so-called vacancy band that characterizes the
ordering of the vacancies. This together with the band structure results
indicates the important role of the very large inter-Nb-4d hybridization for
the formation of the ordered vacancies and the high thermal stability of the
ordered structure of niobium monoxide
Epitaxial and layer-by-layer growth of EuO thin films on yttria-stabilized cubic zirconia (001) using MBE distillation
We have succeeded in growing epitaxial and highly stoichiometric films of EuO
on yttria-stabilized cubic zirconia (YSZ) (001). The use of the Eu-distillation
process during the molecular beam epitaxy assisted growth enables the
consistent achievement of stoichiometry. We have also succeeded in growing the
films in a layer-by-layer fashion by fine tuning the Eu vs. oxygen deposition
rates. The initial stages of growth involve the limited supply of oxygen from
the YSZ substrate, but the EuO stoichiometry can still be well maintained. The
films grown were sufficiently smooth so that the capping with a thin layer of
aluminum was leak tight and enabled ex situ experiments free from trivalent Eu
species. The findings were used to obtain recipes for better epitaxial growth
of EuO on MgO (001).Comment: 10 pages, 15 figure
Gravitational Properties of Monopole Spacetimes Near the Black Hole Threshold
Although nonsingular spacetimes and those containing black holes are
qualitatively quite different, there are continuous families of configurations
that connect the two. In this paper we use self-gravitating monopole solutions
as tools for investigating the transition between these two types of
spacetimes. We show how causally distinct regions emerge as the black hole
limit is achieved, even though the measurements made by an external observer
vary continuously. We find that near-critical solutions have a naturally
defined entropy, despite the absence of a true horizon, and that this has a
clear connection with the Hawking-Bekenstein entropy. We find that certain
classes of near-critical solutions display naked black hole behavior, although
they are not truly black holes at all. Finally, we present a numerical
simulation illustrating how an incident pulse of matter can induce the
dynamical collapse of a monopole into an extremal black hole. We discuss the
implications of this process for the third law of black hole thermodynamics.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures RevTe
Direct evidence for charge stripes in a layered cobalt oxide
Recent experiments indicate that static stripe-like charge order is generic to the hole-doped copper oxide superconductors and competes with superconductivity. Here we show that a similar type of charge order is present in La5/3 Sr1/3 CoO4 , an insulating analogue of the copper oxide superconductors containing cobalt in place of copper. The stripe phase we have detected is accompanied by short-range, quasi-one-dimensional, antiferromagnetic order, and provides a natural explanation for the distinctive hour- glass shape of the magnetic spectrum previously observed in neutron scattering mea- surements of La2âxSrx CoO4 and many hole-doped copper oxide superconductors. The results establish a solid empirical basis for theories of the hourglass spectrum built on short-range, quasi-static, stripe correlations
NMDAR1 autoantibodies amplify behavioral phenotypes of genetic white matter inflammation: a mild encephalitis model with neuropsychiatric relevance
Encephalitis has an estimated prevalence of â€0.01%. Even with extensive diagnostic work-up, an infectious etiology is identified or suspected in <50% of cases, suggesting a role for etiologically unclear, noninfectious processes. Mild encephalitis runs frequently unnoticed, despite slight neuroinflammation detectable postmortem in many neuropsychiatric illnesses. A widely unexplored field in humans, though clearly documented in rodents, is genetic brain inflammation, particularly that associated with myelin abnormalities, inducing primary white matter encephalitis. We hypothesized that âautoimmune encephalitidesâ may result from any brain inflammation concurring with the presence of brain antigen-directed autoantibodies, e.g., against N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor NR1 (NMDAR1-AB), which are not causal of, but may considerably shape the encephalitis phenotype. We therefore immunized young female Cnpâ/â mice lacking the structural myelin protein 2âČ-3âČ-cyclic nucleotide 3âČ-phosphodiesterase (Cnp) with a âcocktailâ of NMDAR1 peptides. Cnpâ/â mice exhibit early low-grade inflammation of white matter tracts and bloodâbrain barrier disruption. Our novel mental-time-travel test disclosed that Cnpâ/â mice are compromised in whatâwhereâwhen orientation, but this episodic memory readout was not further deteriorated by NMDAR1-AB. In contrast, comparing wild-type and Cnpâ/â mice without/with NMDAR1-AB regarding hippocampal learning/memory and motor balance/coordination revealed distinct stair patterns of behavioral pathology. To elucidate a potential contribution of oligodendroglial NMDAR downregulation to NMDAR1-AB effects, we generated conditional NR1 knockout mice. These mice displayed normal Morris water maze and mental-time-travel, but beam balance performance was similar to immunized Cnpâ/â. Immunohistochemistry confirmed neuroinflammation/neurodegeneration in Cnpâ/â mice, yet without add-on effect of NMDAR1-AB. To conclude, genetic brain inflammation may explain an encephalitic component underlying autoimmune conditions
Dyonic Non-Abelian Black Holes
We study static spherically symmetric dyonic black holes in
Einstein-Yang-Mills-Higgs theory. As for the magnetic non-abelian black holes,
the domain of existence of the dyonic non-abelian black holes is limited with
respect to the horizon radius and the dimensionless coupling constant ,
which is proportional to the ratio of vector meson mass and Planck mass. At a
certain critical value of this coupling constant, , the maximal
horizon radius is attained. We derive analytically a relation between and the charge of the black hole solutions and confirm this relation
numerically. Besides the fundamental dyonic non-abelian black holes, we study
radially excited dyonic non-abelian black holes and globally regular
gravitating dyons.Comment: LaTeX, 22 pages, 16 figures, three figures added, file manipulation
error in previous replac
Microwave stray radiation losses in vacuum windows
Vacuum windows are required in magnetically confined fusion experiments to provide possibilities to observe the plasma in a wide range of electromagnetic wavelengths. The window disk consists of a dielectric, e.g. Fused Silica (SiO), Sapphire or Chemically Vapourised Diamond (CVD). As electromagnetic waves pass through the disk, a fraction of the beam power is dissipated resulting in a temperature increase of the disk. In Electron Cyclotron Waves (ECW) heated plasmas the dissipation in the window disk can be very high. The computation of dielectric losses for a collimated beam with known incidence angle, polarisation and loss tangent (measure for the intrinsic dielectric loss) is well established. However, the dielectric losses in diagnostic windows mostly result from microwave stray radiation, which results from a modest, but inevitable, fraction of non-absorbed ECW. This fraction diffuses in the vessel by many reflections into rays with random k-vector and with random polarisation. In this work the thermal load on the window disk by microwave stray radiation is assessed. The load by a collimated beam is studied as a function of incidence angle and polarisation allowing to average over a distribution of incident rays. An experiment was commissioned measuring the loss tangent of a number of commercially available SiO disks at low power in an open resonator, and subsequently measuring the dielectric heating of these disks at high power stray radiation using the facility âMISTRALâ at Wendelstein-7X. The experimental results are compared to modelling and it is demonstrated that, in the parameter range considered, single-pass fractional absorption may be applied while taking a safety margin that arises from the minima and maxima due to multiple reflections
Autoantibodies against NMDA receptor 1 modify rather than cause encephalitis
The etiology and pathogenesis of âanti-N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor (NMDAR) encephalitisâ and the role of autoantibodies (AB) in this condition are still obscure. While NMDAR1-AB exert NMDAR-antagonistic properties by receptor internalization, no firm evidence exists to date that NMDAR1-AB by themselves induce brain inflammation/encephalitis. NMDAR1-AB of all immunoglobulin classes are highly frequent across mammals with multiple possible inducers and boosters. We hypothesized that âNMDAR encephalitisâ results from any primary brain inflammation coinciding with the presence of NMDAR1-AB, which may shape the encephalitis phenotype. Thus, we tested whether following immunization with a âcocktailâ of 4 NMDAR1 peptides, induction of a spatially and temporally defined sterile encephalitis by diphtheria toxin-mediated ablation of pyramidal neurons (âDTAâ mice) would modify/aggravate the ensuing phenotype. In addition, we tried to replicate a recent report claiming that immunizing just against the NMDAR1-N368/G369 region induced brain inflammation. Mice after DTA induction revealed a syndrome comprising hyperactivity, hippocampal learning/memory deficits, prefrontal cortical network dysfunction, lasting blood brain-barrier impairment, brain inflammation, mainly in hippocampal and cortical regions with pyramidal neuronal death, microgliosis, astrogliosis, modest immune cell infiltration, regional atrophy, and relative increases in parvalbumin-positive interneurons. The presence of NMDAR1-AB enhanced the hyperactivity (psychosis-like) phenotype, whereas all other readouts were identical to control-immunized DTA mice. Non-DTA mice with or without NMDAR1-AB were free of any encephalitic signs. Replication of the reported NMDAR1-N368/G369-immunizing protocol in two large independent cohorts of wild-type mice completely failed. To conclude, while NMDAR1-AB can contribute to the behavioral phenotype of an underlying encephalitis, induction of an encephalitis by NMDAR1-AB themselves remains to be proven
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