Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Theory of Firm Selection and Growth

This paper studies the e¤ects of marketing choice to rm growth. I assume that rm-level growth is the result of idiosyncratic productivity improvements while there is continuous arrival of new potential producers. A rm enters a market if it is pro table to incur the marginal cost to reach the rst consumer and pays an increasing market penetration cost to reach additional consumers. The model is calibrated using data on the cross-section of rms and their sales across markets as well as the rate of incumbent rmexit. The calibrated model quantitatively predicts rm exit, growth, and the resulting rm size distribution in the US manufacturing data. It also predicts a distribution of rm growth rates strikingly di¤erent from the one predicted by models postulating the independence of rm-size and growth, i.e. Gibrats law. I am grateful to Timothy Kehoe, Samuel Kortum, Cristina Arellano, and Jonathan Eaton as well as Giuseppe Moscarini for their insightful comments and discussions on the topic. I am also indebted to Jonathan Eaton, Marcela Eslava, Maurice Kugler, and James Tybout for kindly providing moments from their Colombian exporting data and Jose Mata for providing me with the estimates for Portuguese rms. For their suggestions and comments, I also would to like to thank Evangelia Chalioti, Fabian Lange, Erzo G.J. Luttmer, Anastasios Magdalinos, Ellen McGrattan, Luca Opromolla, Theodore Papageorgiou, Steve Redding, Andres RodriguezClare, Peter Schott, Adam Slawski, the members of the Trade workshop at Yale University and the Trade and Development workshop at the University of Minnesota, as well as various seminar and conference participants. Treb Allen and Olga Timoshenko provided outstanding research assistance. I gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation under grant SES-0921673 and of the CESifo foundation for the CESifo Young A¢ liate Prize. All remaining errors are mine. This paper previously circulated under the title Market Penetration Costs and Trade Dynamics yContact: Department of Economics, Yale University, 28 Hillhouse ave., New Haven, CT, 06511. Email: costas.arkolakis@yale.edu. web: http://www.econ.yale.edu/~ka265/research.htm
Long‐lived explosive volcanism on Mercury

The duration and timing of volcanic activity on Mercury are key indicators of the thermal evolution of the planet and provide a valuable comparative example for other terrestrial bodies. The majority of effusive volcanism on Mercury appears to have occurred early in the planet's geological history (~4.1–3.55 Ga), but there is also evidence for explosive volcanism. Here we present evidence that explosive volcanism occurred from at least 3.9 Ga until less than a billion years ago and so was substantially more long‐lived than large‐scale lava plains formation. This indicates that thermal conditions within Mercury have allowed partial melting of silicates through the majority of its geological history and that the overall duration of volcanism on Mercury is similar to that of the Moon despite the different physical structure, geological history, and composition of the two bodies.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Validating the PVL-Delta model for the Iowa gambling task

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Step-changes in the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the Gulf of Maine, as documented by the GNATS time series

We identify step-changes in the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the Gulf of Maine (GoM) using the Gulf of Maine North Atlantic Time Series (GNATS), a series of oceanographic measurements obtained between September 1998 and December 2010 along a transect in the GoM running from Portland, ME, to Yarmouth, NS. GNATS sampled a period of extremes in precipitation and river discharge (4 of the 8 wettest years of the last century occurred between 2005 and 2010). Coincident with increased precipitation, we observed the following shifts: (1) decreased salinity and density within the surface waters of the western GoM; (2) both reduced temperature and vertical temperature gradients in the upper 50 m; (3) increased colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) concentrations and particle scattering in the western GoM; (4) increased concentrations of nitrate and phosphate across all but the eastern GoM; (5) increased silicate, particularly in the western GoM, with a sharp increase in the ratio of silicate to dissolved inorganic nitrogen; (6) sharply decreased carbon fixation by phytoplankton; (7) moderately decreased chlorophyll, particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) in the central GoM and (8) decreased POCand PIC-specific growth rates. Gulf-wide anomaly analyses suggest that (1) the surface density changes were predominantly driven by temperature, (2) dissolved nutrients, as well as POC/PON, varied in Redfield ratios and (3) anomalies for salinity, density, CDOM, particle backscattering and silicate were significantly correlated with river discharge. Precipitation and river discharge appear to be playing a critical role in controlling the long-term productivity of the Gulf of Maine by supplying CDOM and detrital material, which ultimately competes with phytoplankton for light absorption.
Differential Gerstenhaber Algebras of Generalized Complex Structures

Associated to every generalized complex structure is a differential Gerstenhaber algebra (DGA). When the generalized complex structure deforms, so does the associated DGA. In this paper, we identify the infinitesimal conditions when the DGA is invariant as the generalized complex structure deforms. We prove that the infinitesimal condition is always integrable. When the underlying manifold is a holomorphic Poisson nilmanifolds, or simply a group in the general, and the geometry is invariant, we find a general construction to solve the infinitesimal conditions under some geometric conditions. Examples and counterexamples of existence of solutions to the infinitesimal conditions are given.
The Short-Run Performance of IPOs of Privately- and Publicly-Owned Firms: International Evidence

This article compares the initial returns of privatization initial public offerings (IPOs) to those of privately-owned enterprises and investigates the determinants of short-run performance of privatization IPOs, using a sample of 185 privatization IPOs from 30 countries, over the period from 1981 to 1997. The evidence indicates that there is a general tendency for privatizations to be underpriced to a greater degree than the initial public offerings of privately-owned enterprises. In addition to comparing privatization IPOs to the private IPOs, the cross-sectional determinants of privatization initial returns are analyzed. The empirical results strongly support the theoretical models of Perotti (1995) and Biais and Perotti (1997). The degree of underpricing at the initial public offering is positively related to the stake sold at initial public offerings and to the degree of uncertainty in ex ante value of newly-privatized firms.
Regulatory T-Cells: Mechanisms of Immune Response Inhibition and Involvement in the Control of Tuberculosis Infection

Studying physiological activity of regulatory T cells (Treg) and the mechanisms of immune suppression utilized by these cells to abrogate excessive inflammation and support immune homeostasis is the hot spot of modern immunology. Treg’s physiological activity is released by both distant and contact mechanisms. In this short review, we briefly describe the main mechanisms of immune suppression used by Treg and the role of these cells in immune homeostasis and pathogenesis of tuberculosis (TB) infection.
R&D tax credits and their macroeconomic impact in the EU: an assessment using QUEST III

R&D tax credits are currently used by 25 Member States as a means to stimulate R&D investment and, ultimately, economic growth and employment. This paper is a first attempt to provide an in-depth analysis of the structural economic factors that, other things equal, affect or condition the potential macroeconomic impacts of expanding (or start implementing) R&D tax credit schemes. The analysis is based on the European Commission's QUEST III semi-endogenous growth model. Our main conclusion is that, while the short and medium-term impacts of increased R&D tax credits on Member States' GDP and other macroeconomic aggregates are overall significantly positive, there remains space to substantially improve the cost-effectiveness of these policies.
Photographic evidence of luminescence during faulting in granite

Reports on the sky being brightly illuminated before, during, or after large earthquakes have existed for many centuries. Physical processes behind this phenomena, however, has not been fully explained despite large public interest in this phenomena. In this report, we present photographic evidence that visible light is emitted from faults. We observe luminescence that occurs simultaneously with the brittle faulting, and spatial distribution of the luminescence coincides the faulting pattern. This luminescence consists of several colors and is recordable with commercial digital cameras. In our experimental setting, it was observed only during fracture of granite, and we postulate that piezoelectricity of quartz in granite plays a major role in its occurrence.
Mowing pasture to improve milk production

Mowing pasture before grazing, and topping pasture after grazing were studied as methods to increase pasture quality, dairy cow dry matter intake, and milksolids production from September 1997 to February 1998. Three 2.8-ha experimental areas were subjected to mowing, topping, or control treatments, and were grazed by three Friesian cows/ha (18 cows per treatment). Cows were allocated to each treatment according to a crossover design and pastures were grazed every 28 days. Mowing pasture, either before or after grazing, reduced pasture production by 20%, and reduced milksolids production by 11% during October, but increased milksolids production by 12% during summer. Liveweight change responded similarly; mowing or topping resulted in greater liveweight gain (0.76 kg/cow/day) during summer compared with the control. This was associated with an increase in the metabolisable energy content of summer pastures that had been mown before grazing (0.2 MJME/kg DM), or topped after grazing (0.6 MJME/kg DM). Topping pastures after grazing reduced milksolids production in October by 0.11 kg MS/cow/day, and increased milksolids production in summer by 0.13 kg MS/cow/day. Mowing pasture before grazing increased average dry matter content of the wilted material by 7.5% units compared with the control, but dry matter intake was reduced by 2.4 kg DM/cow/day in November, and milksolids production was reduced by 0.12 kg MS/cow/day during spring. Mowing before grazing increased milksolids production in summer by 0.13 kg MS/cow/day. Overall, only the topping treatment increased total milksolids produced during the six 14-day experimental periods (by 80 kg MS, or 4.6%). However, an additional 5184 kg of DM was removed from the control pastures by extra cows, which could have produced an additional 415 kg milksolids. Therefore, although mowing or topping can increase the quality of pasture and the yield of MS per cow in summer, the overall benefits for MS production per ha are small or negative.
Using Teacher Feedback to Improve the Design of a Fourth-Year High School Mathematics Curriculum

This paper presents an evaluation of a high school mathematics curriculum, NICERC’s Advanced Math for Engineering and Science (AMES), through high school teacher feedback along with conclusions from this evaluation. First, the reason behind creating such a curriculum is discussed, followed by a description of the curriculum as well as the implementation process, and lastly the evaluation and conclusion sections. The motivation for creating AMES evolved from a variety of reasons. Initial discussion and research led the developers to believe that a need for high school students to be fluent in specific mathematic concepts directly connected to engineering and science existed. Beyond the desire to improve student’s grasp of the material, the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) necessitated a curriculum that assisted teachers in executing these standards, primarily mathematical ones but also touching on language arts. The curriculum itself contains four major threads: Coordinate Systems; Vectors and Matrices; Fundamentals of Mathematics; and Conic Sections. Within each thread, a variety of units are included. For each unit, the outline is as follows: introductory activity/background, core content lessons, and a cumulative activity. Furthermore, pertinent historical facts and dates are incorporated as well as activities that require students to debate, write, or present. Implementation of this curriculum is still in the early stages as this is the first year for it to be piloted. Therefore, teacher feedback was gathered via two primary methods: surveys and the recording of verbal discussion during working group sessions. Conclusions will be made from the analysis of this data using the qualitative method of ethnography due to the open-ended nature of the surveys and field notes compiled.
Value Gains in Alliances : The Role of Related Experience and Information Technology

This paper investigates the role of related alliance experience and information technology in value creation through strategic alliances. Past research has shown that alliance experience is an important antecedent of the value of an alliance. Built on the existing literature on alliance experience, this study highlights the importance of relatedness in alliance experience and examines how various kinds of related experience affect value creation differently. This study also looks at IT-enabled knowledge management capability and proposes a moderating effect on value creation in alliances. Using abnormal returns as the measure for value gains in alliances, this paper finds evidence of the different effects on value creation of related experience as well as the interaction effect of alliance experience and IT-enabled knowledge management capability.
Integration of Sensory Information Within Touch and Across Modalities

We perceive the world surrounding us via multiple sensory modalities, including touch, vision and audition. The information derived from all these different modalities has to converge in order to form a coherent and robust percept of the world. Here, we review a model (the MLE model) that in the statistical sense describes an optimal integration mechanism. The benefit from integrating sensory information comes from a reduction in variance of the final perceptual estimate. We here illustrate this integration mechanism in the human brain with two examples: the fist example demonstrates the integration of force and position cues to shape within haptic perception; the second example highlights multimodal perception and shows that tactile and auditory information for temporal perception interacts in a way predicted by the MLE integration model.
Avoiding etomidate for emergency intubation : throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

Introduction. Recent literature questions the suitability of etomidate as a rapid-sequence intubation (RSI) drug, owing to induced relative adrenal insufficiency (AI) and possible increased mortality. Aim. This paper examines the evidence for and against etomidate in the shocked emergency patient and whether or not its use should be cautiously considered or abandoned in this patient cohort, given the AI effect. The issue is examined from the perspective of the septic shock patient, the child and the trauma patient. Method. A literature review focusing on the risk-benefit ratio and whether there are mortality differences in the outcome of patients in whom etomidate is used, that are attributable to the relative adrenal suppression with even a single bolus dose. Discussion. The evidence of relative AI is clear, but the cause-effect relationship of increased mortality is not as clear. Currently, most evidence is in the context of septic shock, with only retrospective studies in the trauma subgroup, with a small or moderate sample size. Conclusion. Etomidate should preferably be avoided as an RSI drug in the septic patient, and cautiously considered in the trauma patient, provided that steroid supplementation is provided in the event that vasopressor-resistant shock occurs.
The Association between Norms and Actions The Case of Men's Participation in Housework

Gender and family researchers are often puzzled by the differences between gender norms and actual behaviour. For example, many previous studies have shown that since the 1970s, attitudes have changed toward more modern gender role beliefs. However, this is generally not reflected in behaviour, this being especially true for men’s involvement in housework and care work. In this paper, we analyse to what extent gender norms correspond with men’s participation in housework. We examine in particular cooking, vacuum-cleaning and doing the laundry, because these activities reflect pronounced variation in norms and actions with regard to modern and traditional gender role attitudes. Going beyond previous research, which assesses the general influence of norms on practices, we investigate the relative impact of different types of gender ideologies, namely the strength with which respondents endorse (1) the male provider and female homemaker model, (2) women’s employment, (3) employment as men’s primary role, and (4) men’s participation in unpaid work. Our empirical findings indicate that positive attitudes towards male contributions to housework are a key predictor of men’s housework.
The Post-Soviet Urban Poor and Where They Live: Khrushchev-Era Blocks, “Bad” Areas, and the Vertical Dimension in Luhansk, Ukraine

Using a combination of descriptive and multivariate regression methods applied on a sample survey (n = 4,000) conducted in Luhansk, Ukraine, during Fall 2013, this article investigates demographic, socioeconomic, housing-specific, and geographical factors that predict urban poverty in countries undergoing the economic, political, and institutional transition from state socialism to the market with a specific focus on Ukraine. By doing so, it contributes to the literature on poverty under and after transition, which has a strong position within economics, and to the literature on the spatial expressions of poverty after state socialism, which is particularly prominent within geography. Inspired by Amartya Sen's notion that poverty contains an irreducible absolute core, as well as a relative component, this article makes use of a poverty index based on multiple thresholds that reflect the respondents’ capabilities to meet different needs. A fascinating result of this exercise is that poverty under transition is not only predicted by such classical factors as sex, personal and parental education, and socio-occupational status but also by housing-specific details such as location in vertical space and by classical geographical factors such as relative horizontal location and neighborhood prestige. Accordingly, this article responds to recent calls for increased sensitivity toward the third dimension of space in contemporary urbanism, at the same time making a substantial contribution to our hitherto incomplete knowledge of the patterns and sources of urban poverty and inequality in postsocialist transition.
Modelling spatial and temporal vegetation variability with the Climate Constrained Vegetation Index: evidence of CO 2 fertilisation and of water stress in continental interiors

Abstract. A model was developed to simulate spatial, seasonal and interannual variations in vegetation in response to temperature, precipitation and atmospheric CO2 concentrations; the model addresses shortcomings in current implementations. The model uses the minimum of 12 temperature and precipitation constraint functions to simulate NDVI. Functions vary based on the Koppen–Trewartha climate classification to take adaptations of vegetation to climate into account. The simulated NDVI, referred to as the climate constrained vegetation index (CCVI), captured the spatial variability (0.82
Does Employee Stock Ownership Plan Matter? An Empirical Note

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is a company program to provide incentives to managers to increase shareholder wealth and to align interests between the shareholders and the management. This ESOP is one of the most effective efforts to reduce conflicts of interest between the owners and the managers. ESOP program is basically intended to provide motivation and incentives for employees, so that employees will have a sense of concern (sense of belonging) to the company. Productivity is a reflection of the level of efficiency and effectiveness of work in total in a company. Productivity becomes very important, because it can describe the performance of a company. Performance is defined as the size or level at which individuals and organizations can achieve goals effectively and efficiently. This study aims to examine the effect of ESOP variables on company performance by using productivity as a mediating variable in non-financial companies in Indonesia Stock Exchange. The sample used in this research is companies that implement ESOP in the period 2000–2015. In this study, the company’s performance is measured by using return on assets, return on equity and Tobin’s Q, while productivity is measured by using sales per employee, cash flow per employee, and total assets turnover. Based on the results, it can be concluded that Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) has a positive and significant impact on productivity.
Inclusion of students with disabilities in formal vocational education programs in Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, individuals with disabilities have limited access to educational and vocational training opportunities. This study investigates prevailing challenges and opportunities for the participation of students with disabilities in vocational education programs in Ethiopia. Data for the study were gathered from the five biggest regions out of the 11 in the country by selecting two colleges of technical and vocational education from each region. A total of 110 trainers and 28 students with disabilities from the selected colleges completed the questionnaire. In addition, 30 regional and college-level administrators were interviewed. Finally, all 10 colleges were evaluated through direct observation in terms of the accessibility of their physical environments. The results revealed significant barriers that limited full participation of students with disabilities, such as lack of adaptive educational materials and facilities, lack of trained trainers, and systematic exclusion of students with disabilities. The results are discussed with a focus on the need for continued improvement of vocational and technical education considering international and national strategies that endorse the rights of people with disabilities.