Gains and Pains from Contract Research: A Transaction and Firm-level Perspective

Determining the research and development (R&D) boundaries of the firm as the choice between internal, collaborative and external technology acquisition has since long been a major challenge for firms to secure a continuous stream of innovative products or processes. While research on R&D cooperation or strategic alliances is abundant, little is known about the outsourcing of R&D activities to contract research organizations and its implications for innovation performance. This paper investigates the driving forces of external technology sourcing through contract research based on arguments from transaction cost theory and the resource-based view of the firm. Using a large and comprehensive data set of innovating firms from Germany our findings suggest that technological uncertainty, contractual experience and openness to external knowledge sources motivate the choice for engaging in contract research activities. Moreover, we show that internal and external R&D sourcing are complements: the marginal contribution of internal (external) R&D is the larger the more firms spend on external (internal) R&D. --Contract research,innovation,transaction cost theory,firm capabilities

Gains and Pains from Contract Research: A Transaction and Firm-level Perspective

Determining the research and development (R&D) boundaries of the firm as the choice between internal, collaborative and external technology acquisition has since long been a major challenge for firms to secure a continuous stream of innovative products or processes. While research on R&D cooperation or strategic alliances is abundant, little is known about the outsourcing of R&D activities to contract research organizations and its implications for innovation performance. This paper investigates the driving forces of external technology sourcing through contract research based on arguments from transaction cost theory and the resource-based view of the firm. Using a large and comprehensive data set of innovating firms from Germany our findings suggest that technological uncertainty, contractual experience and openness to external knowledge sources motivate the choice for engaging in contract research activities. Moreover, we show that internal and external R&D sourcing are complements: the marginal contribution of internal (external) R&D is the larger the more firms spend on external (internal) R&D.contract research, innovation; transaction cost theory; firm capabilities

Classical solutions of drift-diffusion equations for semiconductor devices: the 2d case

We regard drift-diffusion equations for semiconductor devices in Lebesgue spaces. To that end we reformulate the (generalized) van Roosbroeck system as an evolution equation for the potentials to the driving forces of the currents of electrons and holes. This evolution equation falls into a class of quasi-linear parabolic systems which allow unique, local in time solution in certain Lebesgue spaces. In particular, it turns out that the divergence of the electron and hole current is an integrable function. Hence, Gauss' theorem applies, and gives the foundation for space discretization of the equations by means of finite volume schemes. Moreover, the strong differentiability of the electron and hole density in time is constitutive for the implicit time discretization scheme. Finite volume discretization of space, and implicit time discretization are accepted custom in engineering and scientific computing.--This investigation puts special emphasis on non-smooth spatial domains, mixed boundary conditions, and heterogeneous material compositions, as required in electronic device simulation

Improving methods for the study of membrane proteins by solid-state NMR

Solid state NMR is a emerging method for the study of membrane proteins, which has received much interest in recent years. Limiting the study of many pharmacologically relevant targets, are the often long measuring times, required to obtain especially higher dimensional solid state NMR spectra of good quality. To address this problem, multiple methods where developed in this work, which can be categorized into two groups. The first set of methods aims at the quality of certain spectra, by implementing a spectral filter, which increases the fidelity of the measured data. The second set of methods, addresses the problem of long measuring times directly, by increasing the sensitivity per unit time, as could be shown, for example, on homo- and heteronuclear singlequantum-singlequantum correlation experiments. The gains in measuring time for the latter group of methods are typically in the order of 2-3, but some experiments allow multiple methods to be employed simultaneously, which can lead to a decrease in measuring time of a factor of up to 8. It is important to mention, that none of the methods introduced in this work require any equipment in addition to the conventional setup present in most sold state NMR laboratories and no changes or addition to the samples under study are required. Therefore the gains reported in this work come at no extra cost and require only minimal implementation effort on the side of the user.Festkörper-NMR ist eine Methode zur Untersuchung von integralen Membranproteinen, die in den letzten Jahren viel Beachtung gefunden hat. Ein Problem bei der Untersuchung von vielen pharmakologisch relevanten Zielen, sind die oft langen Messzeiten, die sich gerade für höherdimensionale Festkörper-NMR Experimente ergeben. Um dieses Problem zu behandeln, werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit mehrere Methoden vorgestellt, die sich in zwei Kategorien unterteilen lassen. Die erste Kategorie beschäftigt sich mit dem Filtern von Spektren, um die Qualität der resultierenden Daten zu verbessern. Die Methoden der zweiten Kategorie erhöhen direkt die Sensitivität pro Zeiteinheit, wie z.B. an homo- und heteronuklearen Singlequanten-Singlequanten Korrelationsspektren gezeigt werden konnte. Die Methoden letzterer Kategorie erlauben in der Regel eine Messzeitverkürzung um einen Faktor von 2-3, können aber bei bestimmten Experimenten zusammen eingesetzt werden, was in einer Messzeitverkürzung um einem Faktor von bis zu 8 resultieren kann. Es ist wichtig zu erwähnen, das alle Methoden, die in dieser Arbeit vorgestellt werden, ohne zusätzliches Ausrüstung, über die normalerweise in Festkörper-NMR Laboratorien vorhandenen Geräte hinaus benötigen. Des weiteren sind keine Zusätze oder Veränderungen an den zu untersuchenden Proben vonnöten. Daher ist allen Methoden in dieser Arbeit gemein, das sie ohne Mehrkosten und mit minimalem Implementierungsaufwand vom Endbenutzer angewendet werden können

High quality Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb Josephson junctions : technological development and macroscopic quantum experiments

Diese Arbeit beschreibt die Entwicklung einer Technologie für die Herstellung hochqualitativer sub-µm Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb-Josephson-Kontakte. Mit den dadurch entstandenen Bauteilen wurden verschiedene experimentell zuvor noch nicht beobachtete makroskopische Quanteneffekte nachgewiesen. Weiterhin wurden Nb-basierte Phasen-Qubits entworfen, hergestellt und gemessen, die längere Kohärenzzeiten als vergleichbare Bauelemente aus der Literatur aufweisen

Quantum Phase Dynamics in an LC shunted Josephson Junction

We have studied both theoretically and experimentally how an LC series circuit connected in parallel to a Josephson junction influences the Josephson dynamics. The presence of the shell circuit introduces two energy scales, which in specific cases can strongly differ from the plasma frequency of the isolated junction. Josephson junctions were manufactured using Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb fabrication technology with various on-chip LC shunt circuits. Spectroscopic measurements in the quantum limit show an excellent agreement with theory taking into account the shunt inductance and capacitance in the Resistively and Capacitively Shunted Junction model. The results clearly show that the dynamics of the system are two-dimensional, resulting in two resonant modes of the system. These findings have important implications for the design and operation of Josephson junctions based quantum bits

Erhöhtes Risiko für Stentthrombosen bei DES?

Zusammenfassung: Im Vergleich zu unbeschichteten Stents ("bare-metal stents" [BMS]) verhindern medikamentenbeschichtete Stents ("drug-eluting stents" [DES]) mit großer Effektivität die Entstehung von Restenosen und damit die Notwendigkeit von Wiedereingriffen am behandelten Gefäß. Die Langzeitmortalität wird durch DES im Vergleich zu BMS weder im positiven noch im negativen Sinne beeinflusst. Späte Stentthrombosen nach Implantation von DES sind selten, aber dennoch häufiger als nach Implantation von BMS. Die einzige heute zur Verfügung stehende Maßnahme, das Auftreten später Stentthrombosen einzudämmen, ist die Verlängerung der dualen plättchenhemmenden Therapie über 12 Monate. In Zukunft müssen einerseits durch weitere Studien speziell von DES profitierende Patientensubgruppen identifiziert und andererseits verbesserte Stents mit geringerem Risiko zur Entwicklung einer späten Stentthrombose entwickelt werde

Gains and pains from contract research : a transaction and firm-level perspective

Determining the research and development (R&D) boundaries of the firm as the choice between internal, collaborative and external technology acquisition has since long been a major challenge for firms to secure a continuous stream of innovative products or processes. While research on R&D cooperation or strategic alliances is abundant, little is known about the outsourcing of R&D activities to contract research organizations and its implications for innovation performance. This paper investigates the driving forces of external technology sourcing through contract research based on arguments from transaction cost theory and the resource-based view of the firm. Using a large and comprehensive data set of innovating firms from Germany our findings suggest that technological uncertainty, contractual experience and openness to external knowledge sources motivate the choice for engaging in contract research activities. Moreover, we show that internal and external R&D sourcing are complements: the marginal contribution of internal (external) R&D is the larger the more firms spend on external (internal) R&D