GEOGRAPHIC DISTANCE AND R&D ACTIVITIES OF SUBSIDIARIES LOCATED IN SPAIN

This study investigates the impact of geographic distance between the home country of a Multinational Enterprise (MNE) and host countries where subsidiaries are located on the MNE’s decision to carry out overseas research and development (R&D) activities in the host market. The analysis is based on a sample of 1,161 foreign affiliates taken from the PITEC database (Techno-logical Innovation panel), based on the 2005 survey of firms’ technological innovation activities compiled by the Spanish Statistical Institute (INE). Data allow to distinguish between internal and external R&D activities of firms. I find that, in the sample of Spanish subsidiaries of foreign MNEs, geographic distance negatively affects the likelihood of affiliates sourcing external R&D, but not that of carrying out internal R&D. Furthermore, the results also show that, conditional on doing external R&D, the greater the distance between the source and the host countries, the lower the probability of subsidiaries procuring R&D from local sources in the host country. Résumé - Cette étude examine l’impact de la distance géographique entre le pays d’origine des firmes multinationales et le pays où sont situées leurs filiales sur leur décision d’entreprendre des activités de Recherche et Développement (R&D). L’analyse utilise un échantillon de 1161 filiales étrangères installées en Espagne collectées à partir de la base de données PITEC (Panel d’Innovation Technologique), fondée sur le questionnaire de l’année 2005 sur l’activité d’innovation technologique des firmes de l’Institut Espagnol de Statistiques (INE). Les données permettent de distinguer entre les activités de R&D internes et externes des filiales. Les résultats d’un modèle biprobit montrent que pour les filiales étrangères en Espagne, la distance a un impact négatif sur la proba-bilité de recourir à la R&D externe. Toutefois, la distance n’a pas d’effet statis-tiquement significatif sur la probabilité de faire de la R&D pour les filiales des firmes étrangères. Par ailleurs, les résultats montrent que plus la distance entre les entreprises-mères et les filiales situées en Espagne est grande, moins celles-ci sont susceptibles d’acquérir la technologie de source locale.GEOGRAPHIC DISTANCE, EXTERNAL R&D, INTERNAL R&D, MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES

Adhesion energy of single wall carbon nanotube loops on various substrates

The physics of adhesion of one-dimensional nano structures such as nanotubes, nano wires, and biopolymers on different material substrates is of great interest for the study of biological adhesion and the development of nano electronics and nano mechanics. In this paper, we present force spectroscopy experiments of a single wall carbon nanotube loop using our home-made interferometric atomic force microscope. Characteristic force plateaux during the peeling process allows us to access to quantitative values of the adhesion energy per unit length on various substrates: graphite, mica, platinum, gold and silicon. By combining a time-frequency analysis of the deflexion of the cantilever, we access to the dynamic stiffness of the contact, providing more information on the nanotube configurations and its intrinsic mechanical properties

Statistical post-processing of hydrological forecasts using Bayesian model averaging

Accurate and reliable probabilistic forecasts of hydrological quantities like runoff or water level are beneficial to various areas of society. Probabilistic state-of-the-art hydrological ensemble prediction models are usually driven with meteorological ensemble forecasts. Hence, biases and dispersion errors of the meteorological forecasts cascade down to the hydrological predictions and add to the errors of the hydrological models. The systematic parts of these errors can be reduced by applying statistical post-processing. For a sound estimation of predictive uncertainty and an optimal correction of systematic errors, statistical post-processing methods should be tailored to the particular forecast variable at hand. Former studies have shown that it can make sense to treat hydrological quantities as bounded variables. In this paper, a doubly truncated Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method, which allows for flexible post-processing of (multi-model) ensemble forecasts of water level, is introduced. A case study based on water level for a gauge of river Rhine, reveals a good predictive skill of doubly truncated BMA compared both to the raw ensemble and the reference ensemble model output statistics approach.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

Raman spectra of misoriented bilayer graphene

We compare the main feature of the measured Raman scattering spectra from single layer graphene with a bilayer in which the two layers are arbitrarily misoriented. The profiles of the 2D bands are very similar having only one component, contrary to the four found for commensurate Bernal bilayers. These results agree with recent theoretical calculations and point to the similarity of the electronic structures of single layer graphene and misoriented bilayer graphene. Another new aspect is that the dependance of the 2D frequency on the laser excitation energy is different in these two latter systems

Fabrication de cellules triple-jonction à multi-terminaux

Dans l’industrie du photovoltaïque à concentration, les cellules utilisées sont des cellules à jonctions multiples vu qu’elles permettent d’atteindre des efficacités élevées. Celles qui nous intéressent sont des cellules monolithiques triple-jonction à base d’InGaP/ InGaAs/Ge pouvant atteindre un rendement plus que 40 % sous concentration. Communément, on dépose deux contacts sur la face avant et en dessous de la face arrière qui constituent consécutivement le contact émetteur et le contact base, d’où l’architecture à deux terminaux. Dans cette architecture, les sous-cellules sont électriquement interconnectées en série. Si on veut améliorer les performances de la cellule triple-jonction, il est primordial d’avoir des informations électriques sur chaque sous-cellule, d’où la nécessité de les caractériser individuellement. Cependant, avec l’architecture à deux-terminaux, les caractérisations des sous-cellules ne sont pas évidentes. D’où l’idée de fabriquer des cellules triple-jonction à multi-terminaux telles que les sous-cellules sont électriquement indépendantes, ce qui permet d’avoir un accès direct à chacune d’elles et les caractériser sur une base individuelle. Dans le cadre de cette recherche, un procédé de gravure chimique sélective des différentes couches d’empilement à base d’InGaP/InGaAs/Ge a été développé en utilisant des solutions chimiques à base de H2SO4/H2O2/H2O et HCl/ H3PO4. Ce procédé a visé à réaliser une architecture permettant, par la suite, le dépôt des contacts métalliques Pd/Ge/Ti/Pd/Al, Pt/Ti/Au, Cu/Pt/Ti/Au and Ni/Au sur chacune des sous-cellules en utilisant les techniques de fabrication souvent utilisées telles que la photolithographie et l’évaporation. Finalement, des caractérisations en obscurité des différentes sous-cellules indépendantes électriquement ont été effectuées afin de montrer la fiabilité du procédé de fabrication proposé.Abstract : In the concentrated photovoltaic industry, cells often used are multi-junction cells as they can achieve high efficiencies. Cells of interest are monolithic triple-junction cells based on InGaP/InGaAs/Ge that can achieve efficiencies higher than 40% under concentration. Commonly, two contacts are deposited on the front side and underneath the back side which consecutively constitutes the emitter contact and the base contact, hence the two-terminal architecture. In this architecture, the sub-cells are electrically interconnected in series. To improve the performance of the triple-junction cell, it is essential to have electrical information about each sub-cell, hence the need to characterize them individually. However, with the two-terminal architecture, characterizations of sub-cells are not straightforward. Hence, the idea of fabricating multi-terminal triple-junction cells such that sub-cells are electrically independent, allowing direct access to each of them and characterizing them on an individual basis. In this research, a process for wet selective etching of the InGaP/InGaAs/Ge’s stack layers was developed using chemical solutions based on H2SO4/H2O2/H2O and HCl/H3PO4. This process aimed to achieve an architecture allowing the subsequent deposition of Pd/Ge/Ti/Pd/Al, Pt/Ti/Au, Cu/Pt/Ti/Au and Ni/Au metal contacts on each of the sub-cells using commonly used fabrication techniques such as photolithography and evaporation. Finally, dark characterisations of different electrically independent sub-cells were carried out to test the reliability of the proposed fabrication process

Yield stress and elasticity influence on surface tension measurements

We have performed surface tension measurements on carbopol gels of different concentrations and yield stresses. Our setup, based on the force exerted by a capillary bridge on two parallel plates, allows to measure an effective surface tension of the complex fluid and to investigate the influence of flow history. More precisely the effective surface tension measured after stretching the bridge is always higher than after compressing it. The difference between the two values is due to the existence of a yield stress in the fluid. The experimental observations are successfully reproduced with a simple elasto-plastic model. The shape of successive stretching-compression cycles can be described by taking into account the yield stress and the elasticity of the gel. We show that the surface tension $\gamma_{LV}$ of yield stress fluids is the mean of the effective surface tension values only if the elastic modulus is high compared to the yield stress. This work highlights that thermodynamical quantities measurements are challenged by the fluid out-of-equilibrium state implied by jamming, even at small scales where the shape of the bridge is driven by surface energy. Therefore setups allowing deformation in opposite directions are relevant for measurements on yield stress fluids.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figures in Soft Matter 201

Gender, globalization and beyond in Karen Tei Yamashita's Tropic of Orange and Jhumpa Lahiri's The Interpreter of Maladies

Ce mémoire explore deux concepts majeurs : la mondialisation et la diaspora et leur impact sur la représentation des femmes dans la série de nouvelles The Interpreter of Maladies de Jhumpa Lahiri et dans le roman Tropic of Orange de Karen Tei Yamashita. Dans le premier chapitre, en s’appuyant sur la théorie de Vijay Mishra, Literature of the Indian Diaspora: Theorizing the Diasporic Imaginary, ce mémoire examinera l’état diasporique de Mrs. Sen à travers la notion de « deuil impossible ». Mrs. Sen sera juxtaposée à deux autres personnages féminins dans le but de démontrer que la mobilité et le passage des frontières n’affectent pas toutes les femmes de la même façon, surtout lorsqu’elles viennent de classes et de milieux sociaux différents. De plus, la condition de Mrs. Sen sera également comparée à celle de son mari pour soutenir que l’impact de l’immigration est plus bénéfique à lui qu’à elle. Ce mémoire repense donc certaines des raisons qui poussent les gens à migrer à travers le monde, ainsi qu’aux impacts de cette migration sur les individus, en particulier les femmes dont le déplacement limite souvent la mobilité, la liberté et l’indépendance. Dans le second chapitre, la théorie de Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Feminism without Borders, sera utilisée pour souligner les différences entre la femme occidentale et la femme dite du tiers monde. En outre, l’essai de Mohanty Under Western Eyes’ Revisited, qui condamne les effets néfastes du capitalisme et de la mondialisation pour promouvoir un projet social basé sur la solidarité, sera utilisé pour étudier la description d’Emi et de Rafaela, deux personnages centraux du roman de Yamashita, et ce, dans le contexte de la mondialisation et de ses opérations déviantes. C’est en tenant compte des modes opérationnels criminels et criminisalisant du capitalisme que la mondialisation sera analysée, et ce, à travers la complicité et la résistance des personnages féminins de Yamashita face au capitalisme global.This thesis explores two major concepts: globalization and diaspora and their impact on the literary representation of women in Jhumpa Lahiri’s collection of short stories The Interpreter of Maladies and Karen Tei Yamashita’s novel Tropic of Orange. In the first chapter, using Vijay Mishra’s theory on the Literature of the Indian Diaspora: Theorizing the Diasporic Imaginary, the thesis examines the diasporic state of Mrs. Sen through Mishra’s notion of “impossible mourning”. I juxtapose Mrs. Sen’s character to two other female characters to argue that mobility and crossing borders do not affect all women equally, especially if they come from different social class and caste backgrounds. In addition, I compare Mrs. Sen’s diasporic condition to her husband’s to contend that the impact of immigration is more beneficial to him than her. This thesis, hence, rethinks some of the reasons why people migrate across the world and its various impacts on individuals, especially women whose displacement often curtails rather than expands their mobility, freedom and independence. In the second chapter, therefore, I use Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s Feminism without Borders to highlight the difference between Western women and so-called Third World women. Furthermore, using Mohanty’s essay “‘Under Western Eyes’ Revisited,” which condemns the detrimental effects of capitalism and globalization and promotes an anti-capitalist and anti-global project based on solidarity, I study the characterization of Emi and Rafaela, two central characters of Yamashita’s novel, within the context of globalization and its deviant operations. Referring to the criminal and criminalizing operative modes of global capitalism, including organ and sex trafficking, deviant globalization is a critical concept in this thesis through which I read Yamashita’s novel and its female characters’ complicity with and resistance to global capitalism