R&D Sourcing, Joint Ventures and Innovation: A Multiple Indicators Approach

This paper reexamines the limits of the firm in Research and Development (R&D). Using evidence drawn from industrial laboratories we study the causes and effects of R&D sourcing. We begin with the causes of sourcing, finding that Research Joint Ventures (RJVs), the option to purchase and acquire, and research with federal government contribute to sourced R&D. We then consider the effects of sourcing, RJVs, and the firm's internal research on innovation, as defined by patents and new products. Our results are that sourcing has little effect on innovation, but that RJVs and internal research increase innovation. This suggests specialization: cost saving is the primary motivation for sourcing, while innovation is the primary motivation for RJVs and internal research. Therefore, shared R&D comes in several varieties: R&D sourcing is not concerned with innovation, but consistent with their purpose, RJVs are instrumental in jointly commercializing the research of different firms.

A personalized multi-path and multi-user traffic analysis and visualization tool

Traffic optimization is a subject that has become vital for the world we live in. People these days need to get from a starting point to a destination point as fast and as safe as possible. Traffic congestion plays a key role in the frustration of people and it results in lost time, reduced productivity and wasted resources. In our study we seek to address these issues by proposing a real-time road traffic planning system based on mobile context and crowd sourcing efforts. The first step toward this goal is real-time traffic characterization using data collected from mobile sensors of drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, passengers, etc.. We started developing a data collection and analysis system composed of a mobile application in order to collect user context data and a Web application to view and analyze the data. This new system will eventually give the users an automatically optimized route to the destination and predict the users’ traveling route based on live traffic conditions and historical data

Copilaș, Emanuel, Geneza leninismului romantic. O perspectivă teoretică asupra orientării internaționale a comunismului românesc 1948-1989, prefață de Michael Shafir, Institutul European, Iași, 2012

The number of academic contributions related to certain topics regarding the history of the Romanian communist regime is very high. Some themes have especially received a lot of attention from scholars. The foreign policy of Romania during 1944-1989 is one of those. But, there is still room for relevant research, mainly because the conceptual and methodological frameworks used by historians and political scientists have evolved a lot. Emanuel Copilaș`s book, The Genesis of the romantic Leninism. A theoretical perspective on the international orientation of the Romanian communism 1948-1989, is trying to apply new concepts and methods of research in order to better explain the variations in the foreign policy of communist Romania

Stephen Kotkin, Stalin. Volume I. Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928, Penguin Press, New York, 2014, 976 p.

Stephen Kotkin is one of the few historians who are well known even outside academia. And for good reasons, indeed. His contributions, especially Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization or Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000, created important debates about the Soviet regime and are regarded as very influential in promoting a new paradigm for Soviet studies: the post-revisionism. The main paradigm-shift (using Thomas Kuhn`s concept) made was to include into historical inquire all the various ways in which individuals adapted to the political regime, as Kotkin himself defined socialism not only as a political arragement of institutions and practices, but as a experience, lived differently by different actors, in various contexts

BRAIN Journal - Developing Distance Learning Environments in the Context of Cross-Border Cooperation

ABSTRACT By using a plethora of technologies and formats, the distance learning paradigm offers access to education through a large spectrum of subjects which are situated in different geographic areas. This paper presents the successful collaboration between Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania, and the Technical Faculty "Mihajlo Pupin" of Zrenjanin, Serbia, which offer a low maintenance cooperation model based on a web cast system that allows subjects from both countries to have access to each other’s educational material. The aim of this project is to raise the interest of pupils, students and graduates to the latest information regarding technical content used in the IT industry. The access takes place in real time and from the distance without the necessity of being present in order to receive the information. The obtained results are very encouraging regarding the usage of such a distance learning environment and the further development of such tools and cooperation

Educational Interventions to Improve Safety and Health Literacy Among Agricultural Workers: A Systematic Review

Health and safety education for farmers has the potential to increase the level of health, safety literacy, and thereby improve farmers' health and quality of life. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the published literature documenting different educational interventions for agricultural workers that have the improvement of health and/or safety literacy as an outcome. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Scopus and PsycINFO databases for articles focusing on educational interventions for farmers' health and safety. From the 3357 initial hits, 36 unduplicated records met the inclusion criteria. The articles included in the review used educational interventions for farmers with the purpose of preventing farm-induced diseases and injuries, increasing the health and well-being of farmers, and promoting good manufacturing practices. The educational approaches considered varied from lectures, videos, newsletters, games, and community fairs, to involving the community in designing the intervention and training farmers to deliver the intervention to the community. Interventions that used evidence-based theories, which took into account cultural aspects and individual factors, used biomarkers as a behavior change measurement, and involved the community in the development of the intervention had the best results in terms of behavior change. The strategies of educational interventions identified in this review that produced good results have the potential to inform future researchers and policy makers in the design and implementation of public health interventions, programs and policies to improve the health of farmers and their families.status: publishe