Persistent heterogeneity of R&D intensities within sectors: Evidence and policy implications

Do firms in the same sector converge towards the same R&D intensities? Previous research has often assumed this to be true. A closer examination, using microdata from the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard for the years 2000–2015, shows considerable heterogeneity in R&D intensities among firms in the same sector, and that this heterogeneity persists over time. Statistical tests of convergence show that the variation in R&D intensities does not decrease over time (i.e. no σ-convergence), although firms with an R&D intensity below the industry average do seem to catch up with the leaders (i.e. evidence of β-convergence). Overall, firms in the same industry do not converge to a common R&D intensity. Policy implications are discussed.     

An investigation of the accuracy and reliability of body composition assessed with a handheld electrical impedance myography device

The purpose of this study was to compare the body fat per cent (BF%) assessed with a unique handheld electrical impedance myography (EIM) device, along with other popular methods, to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Participants included 33 males (aged 24.3?±?4.6 years) and 38 females (aged 25.3?±?8.9 years) who completed 2 visits separated by 24–72?h. The assessments included DXA, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), skinfold measures (SKF), and three separate EIM measurements. No significant differences in BF% (P?>?0.05) were found between all EIM assessments when compared against DXA for both males and females for each visit. All methods showed no significant differences in BF% (P?>?0.05) between days within themselves. Across both days, the standard error of the estimate (SEE) for the EIM measurements ranged from 2.66% to 3.15%, the SEE for BIA was 2.80 and 2.85, and for SKF was 2.90 and 2.82. The 95% limits of agreement ranged from ±5.34% to ±6.38% for EIM measurements and were highest for SKF (±7.42% and ±7.47%). The total error for both days was largest for SKF (5.20% and 5.35%) and lowest for the EIM measurements (2.48–3.24%). This investigation supports use of a handheld EIM device as an accurate and reliable method of estimating BF% compared to DXA in young, apparently healthy individuals with BF% in the range of 10–22% for males and 20–32% in females and suggests this EIM device be considered a viable alternative to other established field measurements in this population.     

High-school students' need for cognition,self-control capacity,and school achievement: Testing a mediation hypothesis

In the present article, we examine the hypothesis that high-school students' motivation to engage in cognitive endeavors (i.e., their need for cognition; NFC) is positively related to their dispositional self-control capacity. Furthermore, we test the prediction that the relation between NFC and school achievement is mediated by self-control capacity. A questionnaire study with grade ten high-school students (N = 604) revealed the expected relations between NFC, self-control capacity, and school achievement. Sobel tests showed that self-control capacity mediated the relation between NFC and school grades as well as grade retention.     

The ideology of student engagement research

In a series of recent papers, Nick Zepke has criticised those researching student engagement in higher education for uncritically supporting neoliberalism. The current highly politicised nature of higher education means that clarity about the political implications of engagement research is crucial. This conceptual paper argues that in focusing on literature on students’ engagement in learning, Zepke overlooks another substantial body of engagement literature, on students’ participation in decisions about learning and teaching. By exploring the political alignment of two of the key models used to conceptualise students’ engagement in decision-making, the paper argues that a central element of the research into student engagement is in fact directly opposed to neoliberal approaches to higher education. Student engagement has been deployed both for and against neoliberalism. Zepke has argued that the research on engagement sides with neoliberalism; I show that the research that focuses on student engagement in decision-making supports the opposition.     

Patenting the bomb: nuclear weapons, intellectual property, and technological control

During the course of the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government secretly attempted to acquire a monopoly on the patent rights for inventions used in the production of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. The use of patents as a system of control, while common for more mundane technologies, would seem at first glance to conflict with the regimes of secrecy that have traditionally been associated with nuclear weapons. In explaining the origins and operations of the Manhattan Project patent system, though, this essay argues that the utilization of patents was an ad hoc attempt at legal control of the atomic bomb by Manhattan Project administrators, focused on the monopolistic aspects of the patent system and preexisting patent secrecy legislation. From the present perspective, using patents as a method of control for such weapons seems inadequate, if not unnecessary; but at the time, when the bomb was a new and essentially unregulated technology, patents played an important role in the thinking of project administrators concerned with meaningful postwar control of the bomb.     

Innovation and firm growth in high-tech sectors: A quantile regression approach

We relate innovation to sales growth for incumbent firms in high-tech sectors. A firm, on average, experiences only modest growth and may grow for a number of reasons that may or may not be related to innovative activity. However, given that the returns to innovation are highly skewed and that growth rates distributions are heavy-tailed, it may be misleading to use regression techniques that focus on the ‘average effect for the average firm’. Using a quantile regression approach, we observe that innovation is of crucial importance for a handful of ‘superstar’ fast-growth firms.     

From classified to commonplace: the trajectory of the hydrogen bomb 'secret'

The secret of the hydrogen bomb went from being an icon of nuclear secrecy to something that could be widely reproduced on the Internet and in children's textbooks. The rise and fall of the H-bomb secret reveals both changing attitudes towards state secrecy in general and the contingent nature of secrecy, depending on an imagined threat as guidance.     

服务创新与网络:全球学习与本土学习的模式

从第三、第四欧共体创新调查(CIS-3、CIS-4)的实证结果,可得出以下结论:在创新过程中,服务企业一般比制造企业有更高的合作倾向,尤其是商业和金融中介服务行业.数据还揭示了这样一个重要趋势:商业服务企业比其他服务企业更倾向于合作.国际创新合作的趋势也表明不同的行业和不同国家中的情况也不一样.本文探索了不同区域的服务创新的相互影响,确定创新过程中全球及本土合作联系的部门性模式.全球互动在一些服务行业的创新过程中发挥着日益重要的作用,这些服务行业在知识的跨国传播中也发挥了作用.这个全球性的学习过程与这些服务活动市场的国际化有关.同时,实证结果表明地区/国家间的合作对多数服务活动实际上是非常重要的.