New Workplace Practices and Firm Performance: A Comparative Study of Italy and Britain

Using data from the 2004 Workplace Employee Relations Survey on British establishments and two surveys on manufacturing firms located in the North of Italy, we look at the diffusion of new workplace practices in the two countries and at their impact on the firm's value added. We find that the adoption of innovation practices has spread substantially more across the British manufacturing firms than across the Italian ones; however our results also indicate that the practices' association with the firms' VA is much lower in Britain than in Italy. The counterfactual analysis shows that had the Italian workplaces the same characteristics of the British ones, in terms of diffusion of practices, capital intensity and skills, their average predicted value added would triplicate. On the other hand, were the Italian establishments to move and operate in the British context, their performance would improve very modestly. For the British establishments, we also investigate whether management practices improve job satisfaction.Workplace practices; Financial Performance; Italy; UK

Breaking the stability pact: was it predictable?

We show analytically that the credibility problem which has affected the European Stability Pact originates from the insufficient distinction between two reasons for having binding fiscal constraints. The first reason deals with the governments’ tendency to neglect the effects of their fiscal policy on foreign governments (fiscal free-riding). The second reason follows from the governments’ tendency to raise debt by lowering taxes or increasing expenditures, and then to leave it to their successors (fiscal short-termism). An enforcement mechanism relying on governments’ collusion works if the fiscal constraints are not calibrated for curing fiscal short-termism but only for preventing fiscal free-riding.Fiscal policy, Policy coordination, Capital formation, Free-riding, Short-termism.

High-Performance Management Practices and Employee Outcomes in Denmark

High-performance work practices are frequently considered to have positive eects on corporate performance, but what do they do for employees? After showing that organizational innovation is indeed positively associated with rm performance, we investigate whether high-involvement work practices are associ- ated with higher wages, changes in wage inequality and workforce composition, using data from a survey directed at Danish private sector rms matched with linked employer-employee data. We also examine whether the relationship be- tween high-involvement work practices and employee outcomes is aected by the industrial relations contextWorkplace practices; wage inequality; workforce composition; hierarchy

Parsing with CYK over Distributed Representations

Syntactic parsing is a key task in natural language processing. This task has been dominated by symbolic, grammar-based parsers. Neural networks, with their distributed representations, are challenging these methods. In this article we show that existing symbolic parsing algorithms can cross the border and be entirely formulated over distributed representations. To this end we introduce a version of the traditional Cocke-Younger-Kasami (CYK) algorithm, called D-CYK, which is entirely defined over distributed representations. Our D-CYK uses matrix multiplication on real number matrices of size independent of the length of the input string. These operations are compatible with traditional neural networks. Experiments show that our D-CYK approximates the original CYK algorithm. By showing that CYK can be entirely performed on distributed representations, we open the way to the definition of recurrent layers of CYK-informed neural networks.Comment: The algorithm has been greatly improved. Experiments have been redesigne

Direct and Indirect Complementarity between Workplace Reorganization and New Technology

We link survey and balance sheet data to investigate the extent of complementarity between the introduction of new technology and changes in workplace practices. Across all firms, we find that new technology is complementary with higher work intensity. Similarly, changes in work techniques yield diffuse complementarity gains, particularly in firms undergoing extensive restructuring. Changes in work organization yield, on average, complementarity gains in terms of productivity growth. Substitutability between new technology and specific workplace changes is sometimes found, consistently with the presence of costs associated to learning functions or resistance to changes.workplace practices, ICT investments, complementarity.

Some reflections on reflectors and wave amplitudes

International audienceThe paper describes the refl ector from a seismic viewpoint, and investigates the imprint of such a description on the wave reflection process. More specifically, the spatial region in the vicinity of the interface which actually aff ects the refl ected wavefield is determined using the Fresnel volume and the Interface Fresnel zone (IFZ) concepts. This region is represented by a volume of integration of properties above and below the interface whose maximum lateral extent corresponds to the lateral extent of the IFZ, and whose maximum vertical extent corresponds to a thickness we evaluate accurately and which can be greater than the seismic wavelengths. Considering this description of a reflector, we then calculate the amplitude of the P-wave emanating from a point source and recorded at a receiver after its specular reflection on a smooth homogeneous interface between two elastic media. As the problem under consideration can be viewed as a problem of diff raction by the IFZ which is the physically relevant part of the interface which actually aff ects the refl ected wavefi eld in this simple case, we then apply the Angular Spectrum Approach (ASA) combined with the IFZ concept to get the 3D analytical solution. The variation in the refl ected P-wave amplitude evaluated with the ASA, as a function of the incidence angle, is fi nally compared with the plane-wave refl ection coeffi cient, and with the exact solution obtained with the 3D code OASES. Below but close to the critical angle, the prediction of our approximation better fi ts the exact solution than the plane-wave refl ection coefficient, which emphasizes the importance of accounting for the IFZ in amplitude calculations even for a very simple elastic model

Influence of the Interface Fresnel zone on the reflected P-wave amplitude modelling

International audienceThe aim of the paper is to emphasize the importance of accounting for the Fresnel volume and for the Interface Fresnel zone (IFZ) for calculating the amplitude of the P wave emanating from a point source and recorded at a receiver after its specular reflection on a smooth homogeneous interface between elastic media. For this purpose, by considering the problem of interest as a problem of diffraction by the IFZ, that is, the physically relevant part of the interface which actually affects the reflected wavefield, we have developed a method which combines the Angular Spectrum Approach (ASA) with the IFZ concept to get the 3-D analytical solution. The variation in the reflected P-wave amplitude evaluated with the ASA, as a function of the incidence angle, is compared with the plane wave (PW) reflection coefficient and with the exact solution provided by the 3-D code OASES, for one solid/solid configuration and two dominant frequencies of the source. For subcritical incidence angles the geometrical spreading compensation is mostly quite sufficient to reduce the point-source amplitudes to the PW amplitudes. On the contrary, for specific regions of incidence angles for which the geometrical spreading compensation is not sufficient anymore, that is, near the critical region and in the post-critical domain, the ASA combined with the IFZ concept yields better results than the PW theory whatever the dominant frequency of the source, which suggests that the additional application of the IFZ concept is necessary to obtain the reflected P-wave amplitude. Nevertheless, as the ASA combined with the IFZ has been used only for evaluating the contribution of the reflected wavefield at the receiver, its predictions fail when the interference between the reflected wave and the head wave becomes predominant

The Interface Fresnel Zone revisited

We determine the part of reflectors which actually affects the reflected wavefield, which is of particular interest for the characterization of the interfaces from physical and seismic viewpoints, and for seismic resolution. We reformulate the concepts of Fresnel volumes (FV) and Interface Fresnel zones (IFZ), by accounting for all possible rays defining the isochrone for the source-receiver pair and the specular reflected wave. In the case of a plane homogeneous interface, the results obtained with our reformulation (in particular, the size of the IFZ) are identical to previous published works. Nevertheless, with the help of the lens formula of geometrical optics, we propose a correction to the classical expression for the depth penetration of the FV across the interface in the transmission medium, which can result in a depth penetration 50% greater than the classical one. Additionally, we determine a region above the interface in the incidence medium, which is also involved in the wave reflection. Finally, we propose a new definition for the minimal volume of integration and homogenization of properties above and beyond the interface, which is necessary to the evaluation of an effective reflectivity of interfaces with lateral change in physical and geometrical properties

Performare il perturbante una proposta di definizione del fantastico teatrale contemporaneo a partire dall’unheimllich di Freud

Does a fantastic form exist in experimental theatre? This essay starts from the Freudian concept of Das Unheimliche to analyze the latest considerations suggested by literary critics. The argument derives from a multidisciplinary perspective including not only theatrical studies but also aesthetic ones and psychoanalytical research on the uncanny, aiming to build a critical base that will be a useful landmark for some preliminary considerations about Italian contemporary experimental theatre. The essay therefore proposes an approach linking research about the uncanny with the semiological analysis of the constitutive elements of postdramatic theatre, with the aim of defining what the constitutive elements of a theatrical uncanny-fantastic might be.Esiste un teatro di ricerca fantastico? Questo saggio nasce da una lettura del testo Das Unheimliche di Freud per articolarsi in un’analisi delle ultime argomentazioni proposte dalla critica letteraria. L’approccio pluridisciplinare rivolto agli studi teatrali, ma anche all’estetica e agli studi dedicati al perturbante emersi in ambito psicoanalitico, ha per obiettivo la costruzione di una base critica che sia utile riferimento per una riflessione sul teatro contemporaneo di ricerca italiano. Si propone uno studio inedito nel quale la ricerca sul fantastico si interseca con l’analisi semiologica degli elementi costitutivi del teatro postdrammatico, nell’intento di scoprire quali possano essere gli elementi costitutivi di un perturbante-fantastico teatrale

A short guide to KrakenZ

The purpose of this short guide is to provide some informations on how to use a new root finder for the Kraken normal program. This new root finder is based on winding number integrals and aims at providing a robust solution to the problem of mode detection. This is not a complete version since many changes have been made after this preliminary version but it performs well for configurations of the ocean which are not "critical". It is designed in order to be as fast as possible and can only solve problems with semi-infinite bottom. It means that KrakenZ in its present version is not adequate for the solution of coupled mode problem with a rigid bottom. Another version which will be able to solve ail the problems Kraken is able to solve is under constructio