Critical holes in undercooled wetting layers

The profile of a critical hole in an undercooled wetting layer is determined by the saddle-point equation of a standard interface Hamiltonian supported by convenient boundary conditions. It is shown that this saddle-point equation can be mapped onto an autonomous dynamical system in a three-dimensional phase space. The corresponding flux has a polynomial form and in general displays four fixed points, each with different stability properties. On the basis of this picture we derive the thermodynamic behaviour of critical holes in three different nucleation regimes of the phase diagram.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 6 figures Postscript, submitted to J. Phys.

Is innovation always beneficial? A meta-analysis of the relationship between innovation and performance in SMEs

The performance implications of innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have attracted considerable interest among academics and practitioners. However, empirical research on the innovation–performance relationship in SMEs shows controversial results. This meta-analysis synthesizes empirical findings in order to obtain evidence whether and especially under which circumstances smaller, resource-scarce firms benefit from innovation. We find that innovation–performance relationship is context dependent. Factors such as the age of the firm, the type of innovation, and the cultural context affect the impact of innovation on firm performance to a large extent

META-ANALYTIC EVIDENCE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRODUCT DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGIES AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Auf Basis meta-analytischer Integration von 82,742 empirischen Befunden aus 104 publizierten Studien testen wir die weitverbreitete Theorie, dass Produktdiversifikationsstrategien den finanziellen Erfolg von Unternehmen beeinflussen. Wir unterscheiden dabei explizit Korrelationen, die lediglich eine Assoziation suggerieren, von Korrelationen, die es erlauben, auf Kausalität zu schließen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Sequenz der Variablenmessung sowie die Multidimensionalität der Variablenkonstrukte empirisch beobachtete Zusammenhänge zwischen Diversifikationsstrategien und Erfolg stark beeinflussen. Unter anderem zeigt die Analyse, dass verwandte und unverwandte Diversifikation lediglich mit simultan gemessenem- und nicht mit zeitlich verzögertem bilanz- und markt-basiertem Unternehmenserfolg signifikant korrelieren. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt diese Studie vormalige metaanalytische Ergebnisse sowie Teile der vorherrschenden Theorie zu Erfolgseffekten von Diversifikationsstrategien in Frage. Des weiteren bietet unsere Studie wichtige Hinweise für das Design der Mess-Strategien zukünftiger Forschung in diesem Themenkreis.Corporate Strategy, Financial Performance, Meta-Analysis, Product Diversification

Relation Between Bulk and Interface Descriptions of Alloy Solidification

From a simple bulk model for the one-dimensional steady-state solidification of a dilute binary alloy we derive an interface description, allowing arbitrary values of the growth velocity. Our derivation leads to exact expressions for the fluxes and forces at the interface and for the set of Onsager coefficients. We, moreover, discover a continuous symmetry, which appears in the low-velocity regime, and there deletes the Onsager sign and symmetry properties. An example is the generation of the sometimes negative friction coefficient in the crystallization flux-force relation

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF GERMAN COMPANIES INTO THE CHINESE MARKET - AN EVENT STUDY ON THE CONSEQUENCES ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FROM A RBV PERSPECTIVE

After its economic opening in 1978, China has become more and more attractive for foreign direct investments and has developed into a strong internationalization target for other countries. This study analyzes the internationalization-performance relationship of German companies entering the Chinese market. The analysis is carried out for a sample of 257 announcements of the internationalization of German firms into China between 1978 and 2005. The event study methodology is used to measure the German stock market reaction to this event in order to enable a conclusion on the creation or destruction of share-holder value of German firms internationalizing into China.Internationalization, market entry, China, financial performance

Similarity based hierarchical clustering of physiological parameters for the identification of health states - a feasibility study

This paper introduces a new unsupervised method for the clustering of physiological data into health states based on their similarity. We propose an iterative hierarchical clustering approach that combines health states according to a similarity constraint to new arbitrary health states. We applied method to experimental data in which the physical strain of subjects was systematically varied. We derived health states based on parameters extracted from ECG data. The occurrence of health states shows a high temporal correlation to the experimental phases of the physical exercise. We compared our method to other clustering algorithms and found a significantly higher accuracy with respect to the identification of health states.Comment: 39th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC