Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Service-sector competition, innovation and R&D

The central prediction of the Aghion, Bloom, Blundell and Howitt model is an inverted U-shaped relationship between innovation and competition. The model is built on the assumption of a product market and has not yet been tested on the service sector. Using detailed firm-level data on Swedish service-sector firms, we find evidence of an inverse U-shaped relationship for exporting service-sector firms. A further breakdown of innovation expenditures shows that the inverse U-shaped pattern holds for intramural R&D and training, but not for extramural R&D. Finally, the results indicate that as competition increases, small firms tend to seek strategic alliances with competitors, whereas large firms tend to reduce collaboration with competitors. The behavior of large firms can partly be due to their superior capacity to handle innovation projects internally, which will become more important if increased competition results in higher pay-offs to innovation.
Methodological Advantages of Panel Studies: Designing the New National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) in Germany

There is a huge demand for high-quality data as education is a key factor in modern societies for individual life courses and chances as well as for economic growth. The need for panel data in case of observational studies is explained by us because describing and testing theories on causes and consequences of educational careers is highly limited using cross sectional data. Consequently a National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) has been established in Germany. Besides the methodological advantages of panel data such an instrument needs a strong theoretical base. We give a short overview on the major topics and characteristics of German longitudinal studies as well as some notes on the situation in other industrialized countries. Considering different strategies used in Germany and elsewhere and the need to provide fast and up-to-date information on educational processes, we opt for a multi-cohort-sequence design. This means, that the NEPS starts with six different cohorts at important stages in the educational career or life course within a small time range and that samples will be refreshed later on. To get detailed information on the learning environments and to capture the influences of parallel processes on competence development and educational choices we also survey the parents and the teachers of the minor persons.
Is it possible to assess the spatial variability of vine water status

Aims: Plant water status monitoring during the vineyard growth cycle constitutes a basic parameter for both harvest quality and vineyard management. Unfortunately, the plant water status measurement requires skills and heavy devices which drastically limit the number of repetitions either in space or in time. Moreover, due to the significant spatial variability in viticulture, extrapolation of one local measurement to a larger scale, vine field or vineyard, is difficult. Therefore, the design of tools and methods to characterize and to assess the spatial variability of plant water status constitutes a big challenge. The aim of this paper is to propose an approach allowing the spatial variability of the plant water status to be assessed.Methods and results: This work proposes a complete literature review of previous works using different approaches to assess the vine water status. Based on this review, it leads to a conceptual approach considering the Spatial (S) and Temporal (T) variability of the plant water status assessment at a whole vineyard scale. This paper is divided into three sections: (i) description of plant water status reference methods based on direct measurements on the plant, (ii) plant water status assessment methods based on auxiliary information (i.e. weather, soil and plant vegetative expression), and finally (iii) a proposal for combining local reference measurement and auxiliary information to characterize the spatial variability of the vine water status at the vineyard scale.Conclusion: Taking into account restrictive assumptions, this paper points out the possibility to provide relevant spatial assessment of the vine water status. This possibility is illustrated with a simple example.Significance and impact of the results: This work gives an answer to the significant problem of vine water status assessment over space. It proposes an approach based on high spatial resolution auxiliary information to extrapolate a measurement (PLWP or SWP) made at a given time on a reference site. This proposal determines the different steps for further investigations aiming at proposing a spatial model of vine water status.
What Drives the Increase in Health Care Costs with Age

The aim of the article is to show the role of the drivers of health care costs increases with age. An innovative decomposition strategy has been proposed and applied to the population-wide data on health care expenditure in Poland. We have found that the health care costs dynamics with age are driven by the rise in prevalence and the frequency of the use of the health care system. The cost of procedures and the share of decedents play minor roles here. If the pattern of morbidity remains constant, mortality constitutes an important restraint that prevents the costs of care exploding.
Comparing contact and immersion freezing from continuous flow diffusion chambers

Abstract. Ice nucleating particles (INPs) in the atmosphere are responsible for glaciating cloud droplets between 237 and 273 K. Different mechanisms of heterogeneous ice nucleation can compete under mixed-phase cloud conditions. Contact freezing is considered relevant because higher ice nucleation temperatures than for immersion freezing for the same INPs were observed. It has limitations because its efficiency depends on the number of collisions between cloud droplets and INPs. To date, direct comparisons of contact and immersion freezing with the same INP, for similar residence times and concentrations, are lacking. This study compares immersion and contact freezing efficiencies of three different INPs. The contact freezing data were obtained with the ETH CoLlision Ice Nucleation CHamber (CLINCH) using 80 µm diameter droplets, which can interact with INPs for residence times of 2 and 4 s in the chamber. The contact freezing efficiency was calculated by estimating the number of collisions between droplets and particles. Theoretical formulations of collision efficiencies gave too high freezing efficiencies for all investigated INPs, namely AgI particles with 200 nm electrical mobility diameter, 400 and 800 nm diameter Arizona Test Dust (ATD) and kaolinite particles. Comparison of freezing efficiencies by contact and immersion freezing is therefore limited by the accuracy of collision efficiencies. The concentration of particles was 1000 cm−3 for ATD and kaolinite and 500, 1000, 2000 and 5000 cm−3 for AgI. For concentrations
Perceptual Modeling and Reproduction of Gloss

The reproduction of gloss on displays is generally not based on perception and as a consequence does not guarantee the best visualization of a real material. The reproduction is composed of four different steps: measurement, modeling, rendering, and display. The minimum number of measurements required to approximate a real material is unknown. The error metrics used to approximate measurements with analytical BRDF models are not based on perception, and the best visual approximation is not always obtained. Finally, the gloss perception difference between real objects and objects seen on displays has not sufficiently been studied and might be influencing the observer judgement. This thesis proposes a systematic, scalable, and perceptually based workflow to represent real materials on displays. First, the gloss perception difference between real objects and objects seen on displays was studied. Second, the perceptual performance of the error metrics currently in use was evaluated. Third, a projection into a perceptual gloss space was defined, enabling the computation of a perceptual gloss distance measure. Fourth, the uniformity of the gloss space was improved by defining a new gloss difference equation. Finally, a systematic, scalable, and perceptually based workflow was defined using cost-effective instruments.
Varieties of corporate networks: Network analysis and fsQCA

The present research analyzes national corporate interlock networks and their causal conditions. The objective is two-fold: 1) to specify types of corporate networks, and 2) to pinpoint the causal configurations that give rise to each type of corporate network. First, corporate networks on basis of interlocking directorates are analyzed and compared using social network analysis to empirically derive a typology. The results show two types of corporate networks: cohesive corporate networks which are based on unification, centralization and strength ties; and dispersed corporate networks which are characterized by fragmentation, decentralization and single ties. Second, combinations of causal conditions that explain the emergence of each type of corporate networks are identified using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Finally, avenues of research on corporate interlock networks are suggested.
Horizontal Product Differentiation: Disclosure and Competition

The unraveling argument says that when a rm may produce di erent qualities and quality is unknown to consumers, the rm has an incentive to disclose the private information as in any pool of rms there is a best quality rm and this rm has an incentive to disclose. Recent literature has established that this argument does not carry over to an environment where the product is not vertically, but horizontally di erentiated. This paper argues that with horizontally di erentiated products, competition restores the unraveling argument. In a duopoly market we show that all equilibria of the disclosure game have rms fully disclosing the variety they produce.
From the SelectedWorks of Qaiser Rafique Yasser Winter 2012 Board Mix and Firm Performance

This study uses the five year data of listed companies in Pakistan to analyze the effect of duality and board organization on firm’s performance, which involves three variables, i.e., market-based Tobin Q, accounting-based ROA and Economic Value Added. The results indicated that independent variables have no effect on firm’s performance in terms of Tobin Q, ROA and EVA. When using Tobin Q, ROA and EVA as outcome variables, the results indicated that duality has no influence on firm’s performance; supervisory directors, outside independent directors and inside directors, which are variables of board structure, also have no significant effect on firm’s performance; board size and financial leverage have positive effect on firm’s performance.
How to solve it by knowledge mining

Frequently we become amazed with the increasing number of problems to be solved that fiourish while facing daily activities. Often, related to these problems we llave also an incredible amount oi data. Since we cannot allways afford time and resources to sol ve them, we keep on gathering and storing data in large databases, widening the gap between raw and interpreted data. At this point we should refiect about Polya's maxima "A great discovery solves a great problem" and realize that databases encompass the knowledge necessary for guiding the decision making process. The question that remains is how to organize and explore this knowledge. This paper presents sorne approaches to knowledge discovery in databases iound in the literature, analyzing issues in classifying and clustering large data sets.
The effect of urbanization on the quality of remnant habitats for leaf‐mining Lepidoptera on Quercus agrifolia

Previous studies suggest that urbanization alters the abundance and species richness of native insects on remnant habitat patches. However, the effects of urbanization on biological communities caused by habitat loss and fragmentation have not been separated from effects caused by altered habitat quality within remnant habitats or by the nature of the urban matrix. To test for an effect of urbanization acting via altered habitat quality or matrix characteristics, we controlled for the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation by comparing remnant habitat patches in urban and agricultural regions experiencing similar levels of habitat loss and fragmentation. We studied the species richness and abundance of the community of leaf-mining Lepidoptera on Quercus agrifolia in the San Francisco Bay Area. We measured the extent of five land-use types within a 500 m radius of each study patch. We built generalized linear models to determine if the extent of any of the landscape variables was associated with the species richness and abundance of the leaf-miner community. The extent of urbanization was not associated with species richness or total abundance. However, the abundance of three species of leaf-mining moths was associated with the extent of urbanization, but not in a consistent pattern. The abundances of Stigmella variella and Bucculatrix albertiella were higher and the abundance of Dryseriocrania auricyanea was lower at highly urbanized sites. The absence of a consistent association between urban land-use and both species richness and abundance indicates that the effects of urbanization on the community of leaf-mining moths of Q. agrifolia do not differ from the effects of replacing and fragmenting habitats with similar amounts of agricultural land-uses.
Limit cycle predictions of nonlinear multivariable feedback control systems with large transportation lags

A practical method is developed for limit-cycle predictions in the nonlinear multivariable feedback control systems with large transportation lags. All nonlinear elements considered are linear independent. It needs only to check maximal or minimal frequency points of root loci of equivalent gains for finding a stable limit-cycle. This reduces the computation effort dramatically. The information for stable limit-cycle checking can be shown in the parameter plane also. Sinusoidal input describing functions with fundamental components are used to find equivalent gains of nonlinearities. The proposed method is illustrated by a simple numerical example and applied to one 2×2 and two 3×3 complicated nonlinear multivariable feedback control systems. Considered systems have large transportation lags. Digital simulation verifications give calculated results provide accurate limit cycle predictions of considered systems. Comparisons are made also with other methods in the current literature.
Analysing International Tourist Flows to Estimate Energy Use Associated with Air Travel

Tourism is a major global industry and air travel is an increasingly vital component of international tourism. This paper examines the neglected relationship between tourism and aviation with regard to global environmental impacts, including energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Based on visitor arrival data collected by Statistics New Zealand, it estimates a total energy use of 27.8 PJ resulting from international passenger air travel to New Zealand, which would increase national energy use by 6% if international air travel were included in national inventories. This energy use translates into additional carbon dioxide emissions of 1.9 million tonnes. These estimates are discussed in terms of a tourist's 'energy bill', national and international climate change policies, and with regard to the concept of sustainable tourism development.
Determinants of exporting channel integration: an interaction approach

The framework for channel integration in international market has steadily evolved over time since late 1980s in response to new theoretical and empirical developments. By providing a comprehensive review of channel integration studies, we present a conceptual framework with an attempt to assimilate the major, generalized forces influencing channel selection in international market. The conceptual framework is then being expanded by integrating factors from an „interaction approach” to account for the potential effect of channel relation variables on the channel integration decision making.
Analysis of Software-Engineering-Processes

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is one of the biggest software development facilities in Germany. Its employees create complex software using various development processes. To assure high software quality, innovative software engineering methods and tools need to be incorporated. A current problem in the field of computer science is to identify the effectiveness of those methods and tools to ensure quality. An analysis of the incorporated processes is needed to determine which parts support the development and which parts can be improved. For this purpose, a system to record data provenance has been established in the past. The goal of this thesis is the enhancement of the current analysis of provenance data. The existing model and infrastructure is revised by examining former work at the DLR, developing new questions about the process and analyzing the recorded data. As a result, this thesis presents an overview of the software development process as a provenance graph. Existing and new questions are implemented in the graph query language Cypher. A compilation of model and recording flaws is exposed and convenient solutions are given. The outcome of this thesis supports the verification of the development process and gives an overview of the capabilities and problems of the current provenance model. Further development is necessary to expand the expressiveness of the model and to answer more complex questions.
Twisted conformal algebra related to -Minkowski space

Twisted deformations of the conformal symmetry in the Hopf algebraic framework are constructed. The first one is obtained by Jordanian twist built up from dilatation and momenta generators. The second is the light-like κ-deformation of the Poincare algebra extended to the conformal algebra, obtained by twist corresponding to the extended Jordanian r-matrix. The κ-Minkowski spacetime is covariant quantum space under both of these deformations. The extension of the conformal algebra by the noncommutative coordinates is presented in two cases, respectively. The differential realizations for κ-Minkowski coordinates, as well as their left-right dual counterparts, are also included.
Spatial distribution of similar aftershocks of a large inland earthquake, the 2000 Western Tottori earthquake, in Japan

We detected similar aftershocks of the 2000 Western Tottori earthquake and we have examined their spatial distribution on the source fault. Many similar aftershocks are distributed in the northern part of the source fault, but few in the southern part. Specifically, similar aftershocks on the source fault are located outside of the asperity. The cumulative slip estimated from the similar aftershocks is 0.4–2.4 cm. The largest one is found at the edge of the major asperity. We observe that shallower events show a larger cumulative slip than deeper events. Large cumulative slip in the shallow depth in the northern part is coincident with the geodetic observation of afterslip. These facts suggest that similar aftershocks can provide information related to afterslip. However, the slip velocity estimated from both the slip and the recurrence interval of the similar aftershocks shows no distinct distribution.
Récupération d'énergie pour système RFID [Système d'identification par radiofréquence]

Cette these s’est effectuee au Laboratoire Materiaux et Microelectronique de Provence (L2MP) dans le cadre d’un partenariat avec la societe ST Microelectronics sur un projet de developpement de systeme d’identification radiofrequence UHF (RFID). Les systemes RFID sont constitues de tags ou marqueurs qui correspondent a un couple puce antenne, apposes sur un produit ou un ensemble de produits. Ils permettent l’identification a distance, grâce a un lecteur qui capte les informations contenues dans la puce (un numero de serie, une description sommaire ou un numero de lot par exemple). A la difference des codes barres, les tags RFID ne necessitent pas que le lecteur se trouve a proximite immediate du produit pour que l’identification s’opere. Ce travail de these s’inscrit dans le cadre des systemes RFID passifs ou la source d’energie qui alimente le tag provient de l’onde radiofrequence emise par le lecteur. La puissance RF recue par le tag est convertie en puissance continue par le circuit de recuperation d’energie. Dans un premier temps, un modele analytique des multiplieurs de tension permettant de convertir l’onde radiofrequence en une tension continue d’alimentation du circuit a ete developpe. Ce modele a permis d’optimiser les parametres de conception de ces circuits et des prototypes ont ete realises qui confirment la validite du modele. Le modele de tele-alimentation a dans un second temps ete complete pour introduire l’influence de la retro-modulation. Plusieurs architectures de retro-modulation ont ete presentees et etudiees. Ceci a permis d’optimiser les performances d’un tag en retro-modulation du point de vue de la communication tag-lecteur et de l’alimentation. Suite a l’etude complete de ce systeme des limitations ont ete observees et une nouvelle architecture proposee pour ameliorer les performances des circuits de tele-alimentation. Dans le cadre d’un travail plus prospectif, l’etude d’un systeme fonctionnant a tres haute frequence (24 GHz) avec l’integration de l’antenne dans une technologie de tres faible cout a ete realisee. Parallelement a ces travaux de conception de circuits et systemes, ce travail de these a permis le developpement et la mise en place d’outils de caracterisation de puces RFID. Ainsi un banc de caracterisation sur wafer et un banc de caracterisation a distance en chambre anechoique ont ete mis en place au sein du laboratoire.