3,710 research outputs found
Flexible Labor and Innovation Performance: Evidence from Longitudinal Firm-Level Data
Firms with high shares of workers on fixed-term contracts have significantly higher sales of imitative new products but perform significantly worse on sales of innoĂÂŹvaĂÂŹtive new products (ââŹĹfirst on the marketââŹ). High functional flexibility in ââŹĹinsider-outsiderâ⏠laĂÂŹbor markets enhances a firmââŹâ˘s new product sales, as do training efforts and highly eduĂÂŹcaĂÂŹĂÂŹted personnel. We find weak evidence that larger and older firms have higher new proĂÂŹduct sales than do younger and smaller firms. Our findings should be food for thought to eco-nomists making unqualified pleas for the deregulation of labor markets.J5;M5;O15;O31;OSA longitudinal dataset;SMEs;innovation performance;new product sales;numerical flexibility
Flexible labor and innovation performance: Evidence from longitudinal firm-level data
Firms with high shares of workers on fixed-term contracts have significantly higher sales of imitative new products but perform significantly worse on sales of innovative new products (âfirst on the marketâ). High functional flexibility in âinsider-outsiderâ labor markets enhances a firmâs new product sales, as do training efforts and highly educated personnel. We find weak evidence that larger and older firms have higher new product sales than do younger and smaller firms. Our findings should be food for thought to economists making unqualified pleas for the deregulation of labor markets.Innovation performance; new product sales; numerical flexibility; functional flexibility; SMEs; OSA longitudinal data
Kondratieff Long Waves In Aggregate Output? An Econometric Test
From the very beginning of the long-wave debate (interrupted several times in the past), at the forefront of interest has been the question of reliable proof of the existence of long waves as reflected in real economic data series. Once proved it would be easier to correlate them with other important economic variables and look for possible causal relations.
However simple this may seem in principle, this paper shows how difficult this problem is in practice. Even if no one questions the fluctuations of economic data, the problem of finding in them a coherent pattern is complicated. The novel method described here seems to be well suited for depicting trends in "long economic movements" -- an expression that draws less opposition than the simple idea of periodic cycles. Important insight is shown in the authors' analysis of the data of many countries.
This paper is a significant step in pursuit of the most important issue in the long-wave debate -- to produce reliable data and methods that will shed the necessary light on the question of the existence of long waves
An Experimental Scanning Capacitance Microscope
A fine needle stylus mounted to a three-dimensional piezo system is scanned across the sample in x-and y-direction, while a constant spacing between tip and sample, i.e., constant tip-to-sample capacitance, is maintained in z-direction. This is accomplished by vibrating the tip in z-direction at 1 kHz by typically 0.1 microns and by detecting the capacitance modulation from the shifting of the resonance of a tuned 1 GHz line. The horizontal resolution achieved so far is limited by the tip radius at about 200 nm and the vertical resolution is about 5 nm. The theoretical limits for finer tips are 7 nm and 1 nm for horizontal and vertical resolution, respectively
The impact of Labour Relations on Innovative Output: An Exploration of Firm-level Data in the Netherlands
A growing literature on determinants of innovative per-
formance focuses on factors such as market structure,
firm size, (regional and international) knowledge spill-
overs, R&D collaboration, conditions for appropriation
of innovation benefits, and others. This paper contrib-
utes to an aspect that is still sparsely explored: The im-
pact of labour relations and Human Resource Manage-
ment (HRM) practices on a firmâs innovative behaviour.
Our empirical findings identify that active HRM policies,
including job rotation, performance pay, and high
qualification levels of personnel contribute positively to
innovative performance
Resolution studies of cosmic-ray tracks in a TPC with GEM readout
A large volume TPC is a leading candidate for the central tracking detector
at a future high energy linear collider. To improve the resolution a new
readout based on micro-pattern gas detectors is being developed. Measurements
of the spatial resolution of cosmic-ray tracks in a GEM TPC are presented. We
find that the resolution suffers if the readout pads are too wide with respect
to the charge distribution at the readout plane due to insufficient charge
sharing. For narrow pads of 2 x 6 mm**2 we measure a resolution of 100
micometer at short drift distances in the absence of an axial magnetic field.
The dependence of the spatial resolution as a function of drift distance allows
the determination of the underlying electron statistics. Our results show that
the present technique uses about half the statistical power available from the
number of primary electrons. The track angle effect is observed as expected.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, version as published in Nucl. Inst. Met
Unstable particles as open quantum systems
We present the probability preserving description of the decaying particle
within the framework of quantum mechanics of open systems taking into account
the superselection rule prohibiting the superposition of the particle and
vacuum. In our approach the evolution of the system is given by a family of
completely positive trace preserving maps forming one-parameter dynamical
semigroup. We give the Kraus representation for the general evolution of such
systems which allows one to write the evolution for systems with two or more
particles. Moreover, we show that the decay of the particle can be regarded as
a Markov process by finding explicitly the master equation in the Lindblad
form. We also show that there are remarkable restrictions on the possible
strength of decoherence.Comment: 11 pp, 2 figs (published version
Paramaterizations of inclusive cross sections for pion production in proton-proton collisions. II. Comparison to new data
A set of new, precise data have recently been made available by the NA49
collaboration for charged pion production in proton-proton and proton-Carbon
reactions at 158 GeV. The current paper compares this new data to five
currently available arithmetic parameterizations. Although a precise fit is not
expected, two of the parameterizations do not work very well but the other
three are able to provide a moderately good, but not precise fit to the
proton-proton data. The best two of these three parameterizations are scaled to
the proton-Carbon data and again provide a moderately good, but not precise
fit.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Determination of the branching ratios and
Improved branching ratios were measured for the decay in a
neutral beam at the CERN SPS with the NA31 detector: and .
From the first number an upper limit for and transitions in neutral kaon decay is derived. Using older results for the
Ke3/K3 fraction, the 3 branching ratio is found to be , about a factor three more
precise than from previous experiments
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