Is Cartelisation Profitable? A Case Study of the Rhenish Westphalian Coal Syndicate, 1893-1913

We examine the effect of one of the presumably most powerful cartels ever on the profitability of its members. More precisely, we consider the Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate, a coal cartel that operated in Imperial Germany in the late 19th and early 20th century, using a newly constructed dataset and two different methodological approaches. At first, we employ event study methodology to asses the reaction of the stock market to the foundation of the cartel and two major revisions of its original contract. Furthermore, we look at different performance measures calculated from accounting and financial data in a dynamic panel data framework. Overall, our results suggest that the investigated cartel had no significant effect on the profitabil-ity of its members. However, we also find that it was able to stabilise coal prices and powerful enough to ensure that on average, prices were set high enough to avert negative repercussions on company performance.Cartel, Economic history, Event study, Germany pre-1913

Incentives and Innovation? R&D Management in Germany’s High-Tech Industries During the Second Industrial Revolution

The allocation of intellectual property rights between firms and employed researchers causes a principal-agent problem between the two parties. We investigate the working contracts of inventors employed by German chemical, pharmaceutical, and electrical engineering firms at the turn of the 20th century and show that some firms were aware of the principal-agent problem and offered performance-related compensation schemes to their scientists. However, neither a higher total compensation nor a higher share of variable compensation in total compensation is correlated with a higher innovative output. Thus, incentives techniques were already used during the early history of industrial research laboratories, but their impact on innovative output was unsystematic.Compensation packages; incentives; innovation; economic history; Germany, pre-1913

The design of licensing contracts: Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, and Electrical Engineering in Imperial Germany

We investigate a sample of 180 technology licensing contracts closed by German chemical, pharmaceutical, and electrical engineering companies between 1880 and 1913. Our empirical results suggest that strategic behaviour seems to be relevant for the design of licensing contracts, whereas inventor moral hazard and risk aversion of licensor or licensee seem to be irrelevant. Moreover, our results suggest that uncertainty regarding the profitability of licensed technology influenced the design of licensing contracts. More specifically, profit sharing agreements or producer milestones were typically included into licensing contracts.Economic History, Germany, pre-1913, Licensing contracts, Technology transfer

Profiling Seropositive Arthralgia Patients

Verweij, C.L. [Promotor]Bijlsma, J.W.J. [Promotor]Schaardenburg, D. van [Promotor]Bontkes, H.J. [Copromotor

A HYBRID MULTI-CORE ARCHITECTURE FOR REAL-TIME VIDEO TRACKING

In this paper, we present an implementation of real-time video tracking on a novel reconfigurable multi-core architecture capable of reacting to changing workload while minimizing the number of active cores. The system is comprised of multiple processor cores executing sequential software threads, and hardware cores implemented in an FPGA executing dynamically reconfigurable hardware threads. SW and HW threads interact using a unified multithreaded programming model, which allows on-the-fly reconfiguration to shift workload between hardware and software components. Our self-adaptation technique effectively re-partitions threads across hardware and software cores to keep the performance of a video object tracking application within a predefined budget while minimizing the number of used processing elements and, thus, saving power consumption. 1

Displacement of biased random walk in a one-dimensional percolation model

Suppose an ant is placed in a randomly generated, infinite maze. Having no orientation whatsoever, it starts to move along according to a nearest neighbour random walk. Now furthermore, suppose the maze is slightly tilted, such that the ant makes a step along the slope with higher probability than in the opposite direction. Tracking the ant's position, we are interested in the long-term behaviour of the corresponding random walk. We study this model in the context that the maze is given by a one-dimensional percolation cluster. Depending on the bias parameter of the walk, its linear speed converges almost surely towards a deterministic value. This limit exhibits a phase transition from positive value to zero at a critical value of the bias. We investigate the typical order of fluctuations of the walk around its linear speed in the ballistic speed regime, and the order of displacement from the origin in the critical and subballistic speed regimes. Additionally, we show a law of iterated logarithm in the subdiffusive speed regime

Checklist, assemblage composition, and biogeographic assessment of Recentbenthic foraminifera (Protista, Rhizaria) from São Vincente, Cape Verdes

We describe for the first time subtropical intertidal foraminiferal assemblages from beach sands on São Vincente, Cape Verdes. Sixty-five benthic foraminiferal species were recognised, representing 47 genera, 31 families, and 8 superfamilies. Endemic species were not recognised. The new checklist largely extends an earlier record of nine benthic foraminiferal species from fossil carbonate sands on the island. Bolivina striatula, Rosalina vilardeboana and Millettiana milletti dominated the living (rose Bengal stained) fauna, while Elphidium crispum, Amphistegina gibbosa, Quinqueloculina seminulum, Ammonia tepida, Triloculina rotunda and Glabratella patelliformis dominated the dead assemblages. The living fauna lacks species typical for coarse-grained substrates. Instead, there were species that had a planktonic stage in their life cycle. The living fauna therefore received a substantial contribution of floating species and propagules that may have endured a long transport by surface ocean currents. The dead assemblages largely differed from the living fauna and contained redeposited tests deriving from a rhodolith-mollusc carbonate facies at <20 m water depth. A comparison of the Recent foraminiferal inventory with other areas identified the Caribbean and Mediterranean as the most likely source regions. They have also been constrained as origin points for littoral to subtidal macroorganisms on other Cape Verdean islands. Micro-and macrofaunal evidences assigned the Cape Verde Current and North Equatorial Current as the main trajectories for faunal immigrations. The contribution from the NW African coast was rather low, a pattern that cannot be explained by the currently available information

Climate-Adapted Soil Cultivation as an Aspect for Sustainable Farming – Task-Technology-Fit of a Decision Support System

Due to global climate change and its impact on local weather conditions, decision support systems are becoming more important in agriculture. Such systems allow farmers to adapt more effectively to the complex changes affecting their farms. Marginal production sites must apply new tillage strategies adapted to new climatic conditions. Information about proper strategy adjustments is often disseminated through agricultural extension services and journals. A new internet information platform, KlimaBob, which focuses on climate-flexible tillage, was established under the auspices of the Innovation Network of Climate Change Adaptation Brandenburg Berlin. Successful and permanent introduction of such a system requires analysis and verification of its acceptance among individual farmers. This study addresses this need by applying the established task-technology fit approach. A survey was conducted among farmers in the Brandenburg region. The resulting data provided the basis for a structural equation model that explains and evaluates the task-technology fit of the KlimaBob platform. The results indicate that the performance spectrum of the system exerts a strong influence on the task-technology fit when assessed by both the name characteristics of KlimaBob and the individual characteristics of users (for example, time management, technology affinity and risk attitude)