1,427 research outputs found
New Technologies, Workplace Organisation and the Age Structure of the Workforce: Firm-Level Evidence
This paper investigates the relationships between new technologies, innovative workplace practices and the age structure of the workforce in a sample of French manufacturing firms. We find evidence that the wage bill share of older workers is lower in innovative firms and that the opposite holds for younger workers. This age bias is also evidenced within occupational groups, thus suggesting that skills do not completely protect workers against the labour market consequences of ageing. More detailed analysis of employment inflows and outflows shows that new technologies essentially affect older workers through reduced hiring opportunities, whereas organisational innovations mainly increase their probability of exit. This suggests that some skill obsolescence may be at work in our sample.new work practices, technology, older workers, labour demand
Time-dependent quantum transport: an exact formulation based on TDDFT
An exact theoretical framework based on Time Dependent Density Functional
Theory (TDDFT) is proposed in order to deal with the time-dependent quantum
transport in fully interacting systems. We use a \textit{partition-free}
approach by Cini in which the whole system is in equilibrium before an external
electric field is switched on. Our theory includes the interactions between the
leads and between the leads and the device. It is well suited for calculating
measurable transient phenomena as well as a.c. and other time-dependent
responses. We show that the steady-state current results from a
\textit{dephasing mechanism} provided the leads are macroscopic and the device
is finite. In the d.c. case, we obtain a Landauer-like formula when the
effective potential of TDDFT is uniform deep inside the electrodes.Comment: final version, 7 pages, 1 figur
Driven activation versus thermal activation
Activated dynamics in a glassy system undergoing steady shear deformation is
studied by numerical simulations. Our results show that the external driving
force has a strong influence on the barrier crossing rate, even though the
reaction coordinate is only weakly coupled to the nonequilibrium system. This
"driven activation" can be quantified by introducing in the Arrhenius
expression an effective temperature, which is close to the one determined from
the fluctuation-dissipation relation. This conclusion is supported by
analytical results for a simplified model system.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Stability of critical bubble in stretched fluid of square-gradient density-functional model with triple-parabolic free energy
The square-gradient density-functional model with triple-parabolic free
energy, that was used previously to study the homogeneous bubble nucleation [J.
Chem. Phys. 129, 104508 (2008)], is used to study the stability of the critical
bubble nucleated within the bulk under-saturated stretched fluid. The stability
of the bubble is studied by solving the Schr\"odinger equation for the
fluctuation. The negative eigenvalue corresponds to the unstable growing mode
of the fluctuation. Our results show that there is only one negative eigenvalue
whose eigenfunction represents the fluctuation that corresponds to the
isotropically growing or shrinking nucleus. In particular, this negative
eigenvalue survives up to the spinodal point. Therefore the critical bubble is
not fractal or ramified near the spinodal.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Journal of Chemical Physics accepted for
publicatio
Compton telescope with coded aperture mask: Imaging with the INTEGRAL/IBIS Compton mode
Compton telescopes provide a good sensitivity over a wide field of view in
the difficult energy range running from a few hundred keV to several MeV. Their
angular resolution is, however, poor and strongly energy dependent. We present
a novel experimental design associating a coded mask and a Compton detection
unit to overcome these pitfalls. It maintains the Compton performance while
improving the angular resolution by at least an order of magnitude in the field
of view subtended by the mask. This improvement is obtained only at the expense
of the efficiency that is reduced by a factor of two. In addition, the
background corrections benefit from the coded mask technique, i.e. a
simultaneous measurement of the source and background. This design is
implemented and tested using the IBIS telescope on board the INTEGRAL satellite
to construct images with a 12' resolution over a 29 degrees x 29 degrees field
of view in the energy range from 200 keV to a few MeV. The details of the
analysis method and the resulting telescope performance, particularly in terms
of sensitivity, are presented
Derivation of the transverse force on a moving vortex in a superfluid
We describe an exact derivation of the total nondissipative transverse force
acting on a quantized vortex moving in a uniform background. The derivation is
valid for neutral boson or fermion superfluids, provided the order parameter is
a complex scalar quantity. The force is determined by the one-particle density
matrix far away from the vortex core, and is found to be the Magnus force
proportional to the superfluid density.Comment: Latex, 6 page
Moving boundary approximation for curved streamer ionization fronts: Solvability analysis
The minimal density model for negative streamer ionization fronts is
investigated. An earlier moving boundary approximation for this model consisted
of a "kinetic undercooling" type boundary condition in a Laplacian growth
problem of Hele-Shaw type. Here we derive a curvature correction to the moving
boundary approximation that resembles surface tension. The calculation is based
on solvability analysis with unconventional features, namely, there are three
relevant zero modes of the adjoint operator, one of them diverging;
furthermore, the inner/outer matching ahead of the front has to be performed on
a line rather than on an extended region; and the whole calculation can be
performed analytically. The analysis reveals a relation between the fields
ahead and behind a slowly evolving curved front, the curvature and the
generated conductivity. This relation forces us to give up the ideal
conductivity approximation, and we suggest to replace it by a constant
conductivity approximation. This implies that the electric potential in the
streamer interior is no longer constant but solves a Laplace equation; this
leads to a Muskat-type problem.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure
Conserving approximations in time-dependent quantum transport: Initial correlations and memory effects
We study time-dependent quantum transport in a correlated model system by
means of time-propagation of the Kadanoff-Baym equations for the nonequilibrium
many-body Green function. We consider an initially contacted equilibrium system
of a correlated central region coupled to tight-binding leads. Subsequently a
time-dependent bias is switched on after which we follow in detail the
time-evolution of the system. Important features of the Kadanoff-Baym approach
are 1) the possibility of studying the ultrafast dynamics of transients and
other time-dependent regimes and 2) the inclusion of exchange and correlation
effects in a conserving approximation scheme. We find that initial correlation
and memory terms due to many-body interactions have a large effect on the
transient currents. Furthermore the value of the steady state current is found
to be strongly dependent on the approximation used to treat the electronic
interactions.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
On apparent breaking the second law of thermodynamics in quantum transport studies
We consider a model for stationary electronic transport through a
one-dimensional chain of two leads attached to a perturbed central region
(quantum dot) in the regime where the theory proposed recently by Capek for a
similar model of phonon transport predicts the striking phenomenon of a
permanent current between the leads. This result based on a rigorous but
asymptotic Davies theory is at variance with the zero current yielded by direct
transport calculations which can be carried out in the present model. We find
the permanent current to be within the error of the asymptotic expansion for
finite couplings, and identify cancelling terms of the same order.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Coherent manipulation of charge qubits in double quantum dots
The coherent time evolution of electrons in double quantum dots induced by
fast bias-voltage switches is studied theoretically. As it was shown
experimentally, such driven double quantum dots are potential devices for
controlled manipulation of charge qubits. By numerically solving a quantum
master equation we obtain the energy- and time-resolved electron transfer
through the device which resembles the measured data. The observed oscillations
are found to depend on the level offset of the two dots during the manipulation
and, most surprisingly, also the on initialization stage. By means of an
analytical expression, obtained from a large-bias model, we can understand the
prominent features of these oscillations seen in both the experimental data and
the numerical results. These findings strengthen the common interpretation in
terms of a coherent transfer of electrons between the dots.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure
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