DIMI

This study explores the process of firms' participation in financial subsidies supporting outward foreign direct investments. Policy makers should be concerned about the existence of self-selection mechanisms among eligible firms as they could fail to reach the target population. Using firm-level data on subsidised firms and potential applicants, we show that firms self-select according to the balance between application costs and expected benefits. These findings have interesting policy implications. First, participation rate among the target group could be enhanced by lowering application costs. Second, in order to avoid deadweight effects, expected benefits should carry a higher value for target firms.

La letteratura internazionale testimonia che l'educational mismatch, ossia l'incontro imperfetto fra domanda e offerta di istruzione scolastica nel mercato del lavoro, è un fenomeno ben radicato sia nei Paesi industrializzati sia in quelli di più recente sviluppo (Yue e Yang, 2006). La presenza di tale squilibrio induce a interrogarsi sulle ragioni del mancato allineamento fra domanda ed offerta di competenze, ossia se questo debba essere attribuito a carenze sul versante delle imprese o su quello dei lavoratori o, ancora, se non derivi piuttosto da problemi di misurazione del fenomeno stesso (Green e McIntosh, 2007).

The paper explores the relationship between employees' p erformance, skills and satis- faction at changing workplaces. Based on individual data, the paper argues that skills significantly affect firm performance, but skill level s strongly depend on skills evolu- tion and perceived satisfaction. The introduction of innovat ive technologies and high performance work practices to improve employee performance should therefore take into account the impact of workplace change on both ski lls and satisfaction. Empirical tests base on an original archive of over 3,600 Italian em ployees from the private sector, which provides detailed information about workplace features, skills, and working ex- perience.

The workshop format that is offered by ECER as an alternative to papers sessions or symposia was used to present the outline of INDUCT. INDUCT is a feasibility study on companies' recruitment, induction and training practices.Researchers working in related fields were invited to share their experiences with conducting employer and employee surveys and research on labour market supply and demand. A set of questions that was agreed with the workshop contributors in advance provided the structure for the workshop. Every workshop discussant had the possibility to emphasize one of the following overarching questions: What are the major results of prior research on recruitment, induction and in-company training? How could experiences and concrete instruments from prior research be used in the presented feasibility study? How to capture recruitment, induction and training for "skilled work" on a cross national basis? From those contributions as well as from responses and rema...

Based on an analysis of the behaviour of firms app lying for outward FDI (foreign direct investment) incentives, this st udy explores firm participation processes in policy programmes. This paper identifi es and empirically tests the determinants of self-selection as firms apply for o utward FDI incentives while controlling for the guidelines followed by the agen cies that allocate incentives.

Ring rolling is a hot forming process used in the production of railway tyres, anti friction bearing races and different ring shaped workpieces for automotive and aerospace applications. The advantages of ring rolling process include short production time, uniform quality, closed tolerances, good material quality and considerable saving in material cost. Despite the benefits some problems still exist according to a correct selection of the process parameters. Due to the nature of the process different rolling mills (driving, idle and axial rolls) are involved and the correct selection of the process parameters is not so feasible. Moreover an experimental approach to solve this problem risks to be more expensive. Actually FE codes are available to simulate the non linear problem that characterizes a ring rolling process. In this work a FE model, based on Deform 3D software, was tested versus experimental results acquired from an industrial plant. The accuracy of the FE model was analyzed through a dual comparison: by geometrical and by physical aspects. A good agreement was found between the experimental and the numerical results for both comparisons and, as a consequence, this code could be used in order to investigate and optimize the process parameters that characterize the ring rolling process in a virtual not expensive environment.

The aim of the present experimental study is to highlight the help provided by infrared thermography in the characterization of materials. Infrared thermography is a two-dimensional, non-contact technique of surface temperature mapping which can be usefully exploited for quality assurance of manufacturing processes as well as for non-destructive evaluation of end products. Non-destructive evaluation with infrared thermography can be performed in two basic ways: pulse thermography (PT), or modulated lockin thermography (MT). Both techniques are able to reveal material inhomogeneties, which can arise either during manufacturing processes, or in service. In particular, within the MT technique a phase angle value may be associated to a specific characteristic (density, porosity, hardness, etc.) of the material. Thus, MT can be exploited for characterization of many materials either metallic, or plastics, composites, etc. which are commonly used in different fields: alimentary, architectural, automotive, aeronautical, mains. Results prove the capability of MT to discriminate between materials very similar and this feature can be advantageously exploited to evaluate modifications that occur in material characteristics as consequence of ageing, or exposure to adverse environmental conditions.

Titanium alloys, due to their high mechanical properties coupled with light weight and high corrosion resistance, are finding a widespread use in the aeronautic industry. The use of titanium in replacing the conventional alloys, such as aluminum alloys and steel, is reduced by both the high cost of the raw material (it costs anywhere from 3 to 10 times as much as steel or aluminium) and the machining costs (at least 10 times that to machine aluminium). For such a reason new technologies have been studied and developed. In particular many researchers are searching for technologies, such as the precision hot forming, that allows to obtain components with a low buy to fly ratio. Many of the airframe component structures are designed to fit against the inside radius of the fuselage curvature. By combining traditional stretch forming technology with hot titanium forming techniques, the HSF guarantees a saving in material and machining time, which are two serious cost issues for today's aircraft manufacturers. In addition, the process allows for consistent quality in a productively efficient manner, assuring the sustainable attainment of delivery and build schedules. In order to develop and improve the HSF process a modeling of the process itself was executed in order to study the stresses and strains undergone by the material among the deformation. The FEM model was validated through the residual stresses, and in particular the residual stresses provided by the model were compared with the ones experimentally measured using the hole drilling technique. Good agreement, in terms of stress range, was recorded both for the maximum and the minimum stress.