The effects of knowledge management on innovative success: an empirical analysis of German firms

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of knowledge management on the innovation success of firms in Germany. Using a matching procedure on data from the German Innovation Survey of 2003 (Mannheim Innovation Panel), we pair firms applying knowledge management with twin firms with similar characteristics not applying knowledge management. Our focus is on investigating the effects of knowledge management techniques on the economic success of firms with product and process innovations. The results of our matching analysis reveal that firms which apply knowledge management perform better in terms of higher-than-average shares of turnover with innovative products compared to their twins. We do not find a significant effect of knowledge management on the share of cost reductions with process innovation. --knowledge management,innovation,matching estimator

Investigation of two-frequency Paul traps for antihydrogen production

Radio-frequency (rf) Paul traps operated with multifrequency rf trapping potentials provide the ability to independently confine charged particle species with widely different charge-to-mass ratios. In particular, these traps may find use in the field of antihydrogen recombination, allowing antiproton and positron clouds to be trapped and confined in the same volume without the use of large superconducting magnets. We explore the stability regions of two-frequency Paul traps and perform numerical simulations of small, multispecies charged-particle mixtures that indicate the promise of these traps for antihydrogen recombination.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Imidazolium-Based Organic Structure Directing Agents for the Synthesis of Microporous Materials

The central theme of this thesis is the use of imidazolium-based organic structure directing agents (OSDAs) in microporous materials synthesis. Imidazoliums are advantageous OSDAs as they are relatively inexpensive and simple to prepare, show robust stability under microporous material synthesis conditions, have led to a wide range of products, and have many permutations in structure that can be explored. The work I present involves the use of mono-, di-, and triquaternary imidazolium-based OSDAs in a wide variety of microporous material syntheses. Much of this work was motivated by successful computational predictions (Chapter 2) that led me to continue to explore these types of OSDAs. Some of the important discoveries with these OSDAs include the following: 1) Experimental evaluation and confirmation of a computational method that predicted a new OSDA for pure-silica STW, a desired framework containing helical pores that was previously very difficult to synthesize. 2) Discovery of a number of new imidazolium OSDAs to synthesize zeolite RTH, a zeolite desired for both the methanol-to-olefins reaction as well as NOX reduction in exhaust gases. This discovery enables the use of RTH for many additional investigations as the previous OSDA used to make this framework was difficult to synthesize, such that no large scale preparations would be practical. 3) The synthesis of pure-silica RTH by topotactic condensation from a layered precursor (denoted CIT-10), that can also be pillared to make a new framework material with an expanded pore system, denoted CIT-11, that can be calcined to form a new microporous material, denoted CIT-12. CIT-10 is also interesting since it is the first layered material to contain 8 membered rings through the layers, making it potentially useful in separations if delamination methods can be developed. 4) The synthesis of a new microporous material, denoted CIT-7 (framework code CSV) that contains a 2-dimensional system of 8 and 10 membered rings with a large cage at channel intersections. This material is especially important since it can be synthesized as a pure-silica framework under low-water, fluoride-mediated synthesis conditions, and as an aluminosilicate material under hydroxide mediated conditions. 5) The synthesis of high-silica heulandite (HEU) by topotactic condensation as well as direct synthesis, demonstrating new, more hydrothermally stable compositions of a previously known framework. 6) The synthesis of germanosilicate and aluminophosphate LTA using a triquaternary OSDA. All of these materials show the diverse range of products that can be formed from OSDAs that can be prepared by straightforward syntheses and have made many of these materials accessible for the first time under facile zeolite synthesis conditions

Preparing Students for Success in Blended Learning Environments: Future Oriented Motivation and Self-Regulation

Blended learning (semi-virtual) environments provide an alternative format to pure onsite or online learning environments combining the advantages of both formats for optimal teaching and learning. An innovative method and for fostering and encouraging student success in learning environments using online formats is to incorporate aspects of student future orientation into instruction. Using social cognitive theory as a framework, this paper presents a program of research examining whether perceptions of student motivation, self-regulation, goal orientation, and future time perspective (FTP) can be positively influenced through future oriented instruction in a blended learning environment at a German university. This research contributes to the body of literature on FTP with its focus on the operation of FTP as a topic of instruction and through the longitudinal examination (2 semesters) of student self perceptions. Multiple analysis of variance and regression analysis were conducted on the three groups of first-year university students receiving future oriented, non-future oriented, or no (control measure) instruction. The findings support previous research regarding the relationship between perceived FTP and learning process factors such as motivation and self-regulation. Furthermore, the findings indicate that future oriented instruction benefits students in terms of goal-orientation, motivation and self-regulation, increasing the chances for successful participation in blended learning environments

CIT-7, a crystalline, molecular sieve with pores bounded by 8 and 10-membered rings

A new crystalline molecular sieve, denoted CIT-7, is synthesized using an imidazolium-based diquaternary organic structure directing agent (OSDA). The framework structure is determined from a combination of rotation electron diffraction and synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data. The structure has 10 crystallographically unique tetrahedral atoms (T-atoms) in the unit cell, and can be described as an ordered arrangement of the [4^(2)5^(4)6^(2)] mtw building unit and a previously unreported [4^(4)5^(2)] building unit. The framework contains a 2-dimensional pore system that is bounded by 10 T-atom rings (10-ring, 5.1 Å × 6.2 Å opening) that are connected with oval 8-rings (2.9 Å × 5.5 Å opening) through medium-sized cavities (~7.9 Å) at the channel intersections. CIT-7 can be synthesized over a broad range of compositions including pure-silica and heteroatom, e.g., aluminosilicate and titanosilicate, containing variants

Second-Order Perturbation Theory in Continuum Quantum Monte Carlo Calculations

We report on the first results for the second-order perturbation theory correction to the ground-state energy of a nuclear many-body system in a continuum quantum Monte Carlo calculation. Second-order (and higher) perturbative corrections are notoriously difficult to compute in most \textit{ab~initio} many-body methods, where the focus is usually on obtaining the ground-state energy. By mapping our calculation of the second-order energy correction to an evolution in imaginary time using the diffusion Monte Carlo method, we are able to calculate these corrections for the first time. After benchmarking our method in the few-body sector, we explore the effect of charge-independence breaking terms in the nuclear Hamiltonian. We then employ the new approach to investigate the many-body, perturbative, order-by-order convergence that is fundamental in modern theories of the nucleon-nucleon interaction derived from chiral effective field theory. Our approach is quite general and promises to be of wide applicability.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Hydrodynamic electron flow and Hall viscosity

The authors acknowledge support from the Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems initiative of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (T. S.) and NSF DMR-1507141 and a Simons Investigatorship (J. E. M.). We also acknowledge the support of the Max Planck Society and the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under Grant No. EP/I032487/1.In metallic samples of small enough size and sufficiently strong momentum-conserving scattering, the viscosity of the electron gas can become the dominant process governing transport. In this regime, momentum is a long-lived quantity whose evolution is described by an emergent hydrodynamical theory. Furthermore, breaking time-reversal symmetry leads to the appearance of an odd component to the viscosity called the Hall viscosity, which has attracted considerable attention recently due to its quantized nature in gapped systems but still eludes experimental confirmation. Based on microscopic calculations, we discuss how to measure the effects of both the even and odd components of the viscosity using hydrodynamic electronic transport in mesoscopic samples under applied magnetic fields.PostprintPeer reviewe