371 research outputs found
Great Moderation at the Firm Level? Unconditional vs. Conditional Output Volatility
Aggregated output in industrialized countries has become less volatile over the past decades. Whether this “Great Moderation” can be found in firm level data as well remains disputed. We study the evolution of firm level output volatility using a balanced panel dataset on German firms that covers 35 years (1971-2005) and about 1,500 firms per year. In contrast to earlier work using firm level data, we use the multifactor residual model proposed by Pesaran (2006) to isolate the idiosyncratic component of firms’ real sales growth from macroeconomic developments. Our paper has three main findings. First, time trends in unconditional firm level and aggregated output volatility in Germany are similar. There has been a long-run downward trend, which was interrupted by the unification period. Second, the conditional, idiosyncratic firm level volatility does not exhibit a downward trend. If anything idiosyncratic volatility has been on a slow trend rise. Third, we find evidence of a positive link between growth and volatility at the firm level.firm level volatility, Great Moderation, multifactor residual model
Great moderation at the firm level? Unconditional versus conditional output volatility
Aggregated output in industrialized countries has become less volatile over the past decades. Whether this ?Great Moderation? can be found in firm level data as well remains disputed. We study the evolution of firm level output volatility using a balanced panel dataset on German firms that covers 35 years (1971-2005) and about 1,500 firms per year. In contrast to earlier work using firm level data, we use the multifactor residual model proposed by Pesaran (2006) to isolate the idiosyncratic component of firms? real sales growth from macroeconomic developments. Our paper has three main findings. First, time trends in unconditional firm level and aggregated output volatility in Germany are similar. There has been a long-run downward trend, which was interrupted by the unification period. Second, the conditional, idiosyncratic firm level volatility does not exhibit a downward trend. If anything idiosyncratic volatility has been on a slow trend rise. Third, we find evidence of a positive link between growth and volatility at the firm level. --firm level volatility,Great Moderation,multifactor residual model
Effect of dopants on thermal stability and self-diffusion in iron nitride thin films
We studied the effect of dopants (Al, Ti, Zr) on the thermal stability of
iron nitride thin films prepared using a dc magnetron sputtering technique.
Structure and magnetic characterization of deposited samples reveal that the
thermal stability together with soft magnetic properties of iron nitride thin
films get significantly improved with doping. To understand the observed
results, detailed Fe and N self-diffusion measurements were performed. It was
observed that N self-diffusion gets suppressed with Al doping whereas Ti or Zr
doping results in somewhat faster N diffusion. On the other hand Fe
self-diffusion seems to get suppressed with any dopant of which heat of nitride
formation is significantly smaller than that of iron nitride. Importantly, it
was observed that N self-diffusion plays only a trivial role, as compared to Fe
self-diffusion, in affecting the thermal stability of iron nitride thin films.
Based on the obtained results effect of dopants on self-diffusion process is
discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 9 fig
Formation of iron nitride thin films with Al and Ti additives
In this work we investigate the process of iron nitride (Fe-N) phase
formation using 2 at.% Al or 2 at.% Ti as additives. The samples were prepared
with a magnetron sputtering technique using different amount of nitrogen during
the deposition process. The nitrogen partial pressure (\pn) was varied between
0-50% (rest Argon) and the targets of pure Fe, [Fe+Ti] and [Fe+Al] were
sputtered. The addition of small amount of Ti or Al results in improved
soft-magnetic properties when sputtered using \pn 10\p. When \pn is
increased to 50\p non-magnetic Fe-N phases are formed. We found that iron
mononitride (FeN) phases (N at% 50) are formed with Al or Ti addition at
\pn =50% whereas in absence of such addition \eFeN phases (N\pat30) are
formed. It was found that the overall nitrogen content can be increased
significantly with Al or Ti additions. On the basis of obtained result we
propose a mechanism describing formation of Fe-N phases Al and Ti additives.Comment: 9 Pages, 7 Figure
Fe and N self-diffusion in non-magnetic Fe:N
Fe and N self-diffusion in non-magnetic FeN has been studied using neutron
reflectivity. The isotope labelled multilayers, FeN/57Fe:N and Fe:N/Fe:15N were
prepared using magnetron sputtering. It was remarkable to observe that N
diffusion was slower compared to Fe while the atomic size of Fe is larger
compared to N. An attempt has been made to understand the diffusion of Fe and N
in non-magnetic Fe:N
Surfactant mediated growth of Ti/Ni multilayers
The surfactant mediated growth of Ti/Ni multilayers is studied. They were
prepared using ion beam sputtering at different adatom energies. It was found
that the interface roughness decreased significantly when the multilayers were
sputtered with Ag as surfactant at an ion energy of 0.75 keV. On the other
hand, when the ion energy was increased to 1 keV, it resulted in enhanced
intermixing at the interfaces and no appreciable effect of Ag surfactant could
be observed. On the basis of the obtained results, the influence of adatom
energy on the surfactant mediated growth mechanism is discussed.Comment: 3 Pages, 3 Figure
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