Barriers for hiring personnel

Studie naar de vraag hoeveel eigenaren van kleine bedrijven minder personeel in dienst hebben dan ze werkelijk nodig hebben, en de verklarende factoren voor dit verschijnsel. Uit gegevens van meer dan 3000 Nederlandse kleinbedrijven blijkt dat ongeveer 18% minder personeel in dienst heeft dan noodzakelijk.

Identification Through Heteroscedasticity in a Multicountry and Multimarket Framework

This paper formally proves that Rigobon and Sack (2004)'s approach of identifying monetary policy shocks through heteroscedasticity can be extended to a multimarket and multicountry framework. Applying our multivariate framework allows deriving consistent estimators of monetary policy effects. The advantage of our extended approach is illustrated by applying it to European financial markets. We analyse monetary policy actions of the European Central Bank (ECB), the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank, and the Swedish Riksbank on major stock indices. First, in line with the Rigobon and Sack (2004) approach, we find an increase in the variance of European stock and money market returns on days when monetary policy committee meetings are held. Second, monetary policy actions have a significant impact on financial markets. Third, we discover that ECB monetary policy moves have spillover effects on the British and Swiss financial markets, but find no evidence of reverse causality.Financial markets, instrumental variable estimation, identification through heteroscedasticity, spillover effects

Electromigration early resistance increase measurements

An early resistance change measurement set-up, using an AC bridge technique, has been developed, and measurements have been performed. Large sample-to-sample variations occur. The characteristic time for the resistance change curve is shorter for resistance increase (under current stress) than for resistance decay (during recovery)

Caring for people living with AIDS

This paper discusses the concept of care and its implementation with reference to caring for people living with AIDS (PLWA) as 'a labour of love'. The first part of the paper elaborates on care as love, an emotion, and care as labour, an activity, followed by a discussion on four interconnected phases of care, namely 'caring about', 'taking care of', 'care-giving' and 'care-receiving' and the requirements for 'good' care. The gendered nature of care and the resources required for adequate quality care are also discussed. The emphasis in this paper is on the arrangement of care for PLWA, at the micro-level of the household as provided by family and community members, while recognising the role of the state and the market in care provision. This framework is applied to cases from non-urban KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The cases, presented according to the four phases of care, not only illustrate care for PLWA as emotion and hard work, but also reveal the gendered nature of care and the resources required to provide quality care. The discussion, the last part of the paper, reflects on care as emotion and care as work and what it entails for different gender groups in this cultural setting characterised by limited access to especially economic resources, where social capital proved to be a crucial resource for the PLWA to access care. It also goes beyond the four phases of care by incorporating the experiences of the caregiver and her/his response to the feedback received from the care receiver

Five Essays on International Spillovers of Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy and Financial Markets

The recent financial and real economic crises have made it clear that macroeconomists need to better account for the influence of financial markets. This paper explores the consequences of treating the interaction between different financial markets, monetary policy, and the real economy seriously by developing a fully dynamic theoretical model in continuous time. Starting from a standard New Keynesian framework, we reformulate and extend the model by means of stochastic differential equations so as to analyse spillover effects and steady-state properties. We solve the nonlinear model using stochastic differential equations rather than third-order perturbation. Applying Bayesian estimation methods, we estimate the model for the US economy and analyse the financial markets influence on business cycles and monetary policy

An empirical model for early resistance changes due to electromigration

A new heuristic description for electromigration-induced early resistance changes is given. The basis is formed by two coupled partial differential equations, one for vacancies, and one for imperfections. These equations are solved numerically for a grain boundary bamboo structure. It is shown that this model is capable of simulating the typical effects as observed in early resistance change measurements. These early resistance changes are due to the redistributions of the vacancies and the generation of imperfections. Simulations are performed that closely match the measured resistance change curves

A test chip for automatic reliability measurements of interconnect vias

A test circuit for electromigration reliability measurements was designed and tested. The device under test (DUT) is a via-hole chain. The test circuit permits simultaneous measurements of a number of DUTs, and a fatal error of one DUT does not influence the measurement results of the other DUTs. Measurements require only a few measurement instruments. Comparing the measurement results of a single DUT io the measurement results of the test circuit shows that the test circuit may be used for reliability measurements

Expression of HNF4alpha in the human and rat choroid plexus – Implications for drug transport across the blood-cerebrospinal-fluid (CSF) barrier

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The choroid plexus consists of highly differentiated epithelium and functions as a barrier at the interface of the blood-cerebrospinal-fluid (CSF). This tissue may therefore determine the bioavailability and transport of drugs to the brain. Little is known about the expression of drug and xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes (DME) and of drug transporters in the human choroid plexus. Notably, the transcription factor and zinc finger protein HNF4alpha is a master regulator of DMEs and of drug transporters. As of today its activity in the blood-CSF barrier is unknown. Here we report our efforts in determining HNF4alpha activity in the regulation of ABC transporters in the human and rat choroid plexus.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We report expression of HNF4alpha by qRT-PCR and by immunohistochemistry and evidence transcript expression of the ATP-binding cassette transporters ABCB1, ABCB4, ABCC1-6 in choroid plexus. Additionally, HNF4alpha DNA binding activity at regulatory sequences of ABCB4 and ABCC1 was determined by EMSA bandshift assays with a specific antibody. We then performed siRNA mediated functional knock down of HNF4alpha in Caco-2 cells and found ABCC1 gene expression to be repressed in cell culture experiments.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study evidences activity of HNF4alpha in human and rat choroid plexus. This transcription factor targets DMEs and drug transporters and may well determine availability of drugs at the blood-CSF barrier.</p