bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Loss of Caveolin-1 Gene Expression Accelerates the Development of Dysplastic Mammary Lesions in Tumor-Prone Transgenic Mice
Authors: Williams Terence M. , Cheung Michelle W.-C. , Park David S. , Razani Babak , Cohen Alex W. , Muller William J. , Di Vizio Dolores , Chopra Neeru G. , Pestell Richard G. , Lisanti Michael P.
Published: March 2003

Caveolin-1 is the principal structural component of caveolae microdomains, which represent a subcompartment of the plasma membrane. Several independent lines of evidence support the notion that caveolin-1 functions as a suppressor of cell transformation. For example, the human CAV-1 gene maps to a suspected tumor suppressor locus (D7S522/7q31.1) that is frequently deleted in a number of carcinomas, including breast cancers. In addition, up to 16% of human breast cancers harbor a dominant-negative mutation, P132L, in the CAV-1 gene. Despite these genetic associations, the tumor suppressor role of caveolin-1 still remains controversial. To directly assess the in vivo transformation suppressor activity of the caveolin-1 gene, we interbred Cav-1 (−/−) null mice with tumor-prone transgenic mice (MMTV-PyMT) that normally develop multifocal dysplastic lesions throughout the entire mammary tree. Herein, we show that loss of caveolin-1 gene expression dramatically accelerates the development of these multifocal dysplastic mammary lesions. At 3 wk of age, loss of caveolin-1 resulted in an approximately twofold increase in the number of lesions (foci per gland; 3.3 ± 1.0 vs. 7.0 ± 1.2) and an approximately five- to sixfold increase in the total area occupied by these lesions. Similar results were obtained at 4 wk of age. However, complete loss of caveolin-1 was required to accelerate the appearance of these dysplastic mammary lesions, because Cav-1 (+/−) heterozygous mice did not show any increases in foci development. We also show that loss of caveolin-1 increases the extent and the histological grade of these mammary lesions and facilitates the development of papillary projections in the mammary ducts. Finally, we demonstrate that cyclin D1 expression levels are dramatically elevated in Cav-1 (−/−) null mammary lesions, consistent with the accelerated appearance and growth of these dysplastic foci. This is the first in vivo demonstration that caveolin-1 can function as a transformation suppressor gene.
Tor Kinases Are in Distinct Membrane-associated Protein Complexes inSaccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Wedaman Karen P. , Reinke Aaron , Anderson Scott , Yates John , McCaffery J. Michael , Powers Ted
Published: March 2003

Tor1p and Tor2p kinases, targets of the immune-suppressive antibiotic rapamycin, are components of a highly conserved signaling network that couples nutrient availability and cell growth. To gain insight into the molecular basis underlying Tor-dependent signaling, we used cell fractionation and immunoaffinity chromatography to examine the physical environment of Tor2p. We found that the majority of Tor2p associates with a membrane-bound compartment along with at least four other proteins, Avo1p-Avo3p and Lst8p. Using immunogold electron microscopy, we observed that Tor2p, as well as Tor1p, localizes in punctate clusters to regions adjacent to the plasma membrane and within the cell interior, often in association with characteristic membranous tracks. Cell fractionation, coimmunoprecipitation, and immunogold electron microscopy experiments confirmed that Lst8 associates with both Tor2p as well as Tor1p at these membranous sites. In contrast, we find that Kog1, the yeast homologue of the mammalian Tor regulatory protein Raptor, interacts preferentially with Tor1p. These findings provide evidence for the existence of Tor signaling complexes that contain distinct as well as overlapping components. That these complexes colocalize to a membrane-bound compartment suggests an intimate relationship between membrane-mediated signaling and Tor activity.
Traditional and electronic study packs: a case study of the production process
Authors: Secker Jane , Plewes Louise
Published: March 2003

This paper reports on research undertaken at University College London (UCL) for two projects funded by Higher Education Funding Council for England’s (HEFCE’s) Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund (TQEF). This paper documents the production processes, costs and resources for both traditional (printed) and electronic study (course) packs. We concentrate on a comparison of in‐house and outsourced copyright clearance and digitisation services for electronic study packs. UCL’s use of the HERON service is evaluated. The paper concludes electronic study packs would provide a valuable addition to teaching support services, but there are implications for equipment and staff which are discussed. Although this paper is based on a case study from UCL, we hope that other academic libraries considering introducing an electronic course pack service or electronic reserve will find some useful evidence of the integration of electronic and traditional library activities.
Supply chain collaboration alternatives: understanding the expected costs and benefits
Authors: McLaren Tim , Head Milena , Yuan Yufei
Published: March 2003

Collaboration is a recent trend in supply chain management (SCM) that focuses on joint planning, coordination, and process integration between suppliers, customers, and other partners in a supply chain. Its competitive benefits include cost reductions and increased return on assets, and increased reliability and responsiveness to market needs. Recent advances in inter‐enterprise software and communication technologies, along with a growing use of strategic partnering and outsourcing relationships, has resulted in a confusing assortment of alternative information systems approaches for supporting collaborative SCM. This paper analyzes the alternatives and presents a framework for understanding the expected costs and benefits of each type of system. These costs include not only the total cost of ownership of the system, but also the partnership opportunity cost – the cost of being tied to a partner due to system inflexibility. The benefits of collaborative SCM include process, inventory, and product cost reductions as well as increased cycle times, service levels, and market intelligence.
Strategic debt with multi‐task technologies
Authors: Dalmazzo Alberto
Published: March 2003

In this paper it is shown that when employees have ex post bargaining power, the entrepreneur will try to avoid technologies that are based on a large number of complementary tasks. We demonstrate that the entrepreneur can shelter profit from the employees’ rent‐seeking behaviour by raising debt. Moreover, the strategic use of debt financing can favour the adoption of technologies that rely on synergies. JEL Classification: G31, J30, L20

Dette stratégique en présence de technologies impliquant plusieurs tâches. Ce mémoire montre que quand les employés ont un pouvoir de négociation ex post, l'entrepreneur va tenter d'éviter les technologies qui sont basées sur un grand nombre de tâches complémentaires. On montre que l'entrepreneur peut protéger ses profits des activités de chasse aux rentes des employés en accroissant sa dette. De plus, l'utilisation stratégique du financement par la dette peut favoriser l'adoption de technologies qui dépendent de synergies.
Outlet types and the Canadian Consumer Price Index
Authors: White Alan G.
Published: March 2003

Recent phenomenal growth in popularity of large warehouse/discount stores has important implications for price measurement. Consumer substitution to such outlets could produce a bias in consumer price indexes (CPIs), which may be exacerbated by unrepresentative sampling and discount outlets’ apparent slower rates of price increases. It is shown that in 1990‐96 unit value indexes rose at a lower rate than the corresponding Canadian CPI subaggregate indexes for other household equipment, non‐prescribed medicines, and audio equipment, and biases arising from unrepresentative sampling and differential rates of price increases across outlets have resulted in an additional overstatement for these subaggregates.

La croissance dans la popularité des magasins/entrepôts à forts escomptes au cours des der;chnières années a été fort importante et a eu des effets importants sur la mesure des prix. Le comportement du consommateur qui choisit ces magasins pourrait entraîner un biais dans la mesure des indices de prix à la consommation. Un échantillonage non représentatif et le fait que ces magasins semblent avoir des augmentations de prix plus faibles dans le temps peuvent biaiser encore plus les indices. Cette recherche montre que entre 1990 et 1996 les indices de la valeur unitaire ont cru à un taux plus faible que les indices correspondant de prix à la consommation pour des sous‐agrégats comme autre ´equipement des ménages, médicaments non‐prescrit, et ´equipement audio. Il semble que les biais engendrés par les différentiels de croissance des prix entre magasins et un échantillonnage non représentatif se soient traduits par un biais à la hausse dans ces sous‐agrégats
Endogenous factor market distortion, risk aversion, and international trade under input uncertainty
Authors: Beladi Hamid , Chau Nancy H.
Published: March 2003

In the context of non‐diversifiable and sector‐specific risks in labour markets, we show that the resulting factor market distortion – attributable to an endogenous intersectoral wage differential – can provide a possible rationale that explains why larger wage dispersion prevails in developing nations. We also demonstrate how endogenous wage distortions spill over to capital markets, with capital‐poor economies offering lower rates of returns. In addition, we show that inequality in the distribution of wealth further deviates factor allocation away from first‐best and impairs intersectoral mobility of the poor.

Ce mémoire montre que la distorsion dans le marché des facteurs qui résulte de risques non diversifiables et spécifiques à certains secteurs (et qui se traduit par un différentiel de salaire endogène entre secteurs) peut expliquer pourquoi on observe une dispersion plus grande des salaires dans les pays en voie de développement.On montre aussi comment des distorsions endogènes de salaires débordent vers les marchés de capitaux,ce qui fait que les pays pauvres en capital ont des rendements plus faibles.De plus, on montre que l'inégalité dans la distribution de la richesse contribue à faire dévier l'allocation des ressources de son optimum de premier ordre et nuit à la mobilité inter‐sectorielle des pauvres.
Government debt spillovers and creditworthiness in a federation
Authors: Landon Stuart , Smith Constance E.
Published: March 2003

Estimates are presented for the impact of debt accumulation by the central and subcentral governments of a federation on the creditworthiness of other federation member governments. The estimates, calculated using an ordered probit model and Canadian provincial data, indicate that debt accumulation by the central government has reduced the creditworthiness of indebted provincial governments. Interprovincial debt accumulation effects are negative but relatively small, except for the debt of the largest province, which has a strong positive effect on the creditworthiness of the other provinces. These findings may have implications for other federations and associated jurisdictions, such as the European Union. JEL Classification: H63, F36

Les effets de retombée de la dette gouvernementale et la cote de crédit dans une fédération. On calcule l'impact de l'accumulation de la dette par les gouvernements fédéral et sub‐fédéraux dans une fédération sur la cote de crédit des autres gouvernements de la fédération. Ces calibrations, à l'aide d'un modèle probit en utilisant les données provinciales canadiennes, montrent que l'accumulation de la dette par le gouvernement central a réduit la cote de crédit des gouvernements provinciaux endettés. Les effets trans‐provinciaux de l'accumulation de la dette sont négatifs mais relativement faibles, sauf dans le cas de la province la plus grande, laquelle a un fort effet sur la cote de crédit des autres provinces. Ces résultats peuvent avoir des implications pour d'autres fédérations comme l'Union Européenne.
Dynamics of income distribution
Authors: Li Hongyi , Xie Danyang , Zou Heng‐Fu
Published: March 2003

In this paper, we have obtained closed‐form solutions in Cass‐Koopmans growth models with heterogeneous agents. The relationship between the form of the production function and the dynamics of income distribution is made explicit. We then use this relationship to determine what production structure is simultaneously consistent with facts on growth and income inequality. Our empirical findings give support to models with decreasing returns in the reproducible factor. JEL Classification: D3, O1, O4

Dans ce mémoire, les auteurs obtiennent des solutions pour des modèles de croissance à la Cass‐Koopmans dans le cas où les agents sont hétérogènes. On explicite la relation entre la forme de la fonction de production et la dynamique de la répartition des revenus. On utilise alors cette relation pour déterminer quelle structure de production est arrimée aux faits connus à la fois quant à la croissance économique et à la répartition des revenus. Les résultats empiriques supportent les modèles où les rendements sur les acteurs de production reproductibles sont décroissants.
Aggregate spillovers magnify the welfare benefits of tax reform
Authors: Knoop Todd A. , Matheny Kenneth J.
Published: March 2003

Relatively small degrees of aggregate increasing returns to scale ubstantially magnify both welfare benefits and income effects associated with tax reform. External returns to scale of 10 per cent increase the welfare benefits of tax reform by roughly one‐third and increase changes in income by significantly more than a model characterized by constant returns to scale. Aggregate spillovers of 20 per cent increase welfare benefits by roughly three‐fourths. Aggregate spillovers significantly reduce tax revenue‐maximizing capital tax rates. This research convincingly demonstrates the importance of precisely identifying the degree of aggregate returns to scale before the benefits of tax reform can be accurately assessed. JEL Classification: E62, O40

Des degrés relativement faibles de rendements croissants à l'échelle augmentent substantiellement les effets positifs de bien‐être et les effets de revenus associés à une réforme fiscale. Des rendements externes à l'échelle de 10 pour‐cent accroissent les effets positifs de bien‐être d'une réforme fiscale d'un bon tiers, et les effets de revenus d'une manière significative par rapport à ce qui'ils seraient dans le cas de rendements constants à l'échelle. Des effets agrégés de retombée de 20 pour‐cent augmentent les effets positifs de bien‐être des trois quarts. Ces effets agrégés de retombée tendent à réduire les taux d'imposition du capital qui maximisent les revenus. Ces travaux montrent l'importance d'une identification précise du degré des rendements agrégés à l'échelle si l'on veut jauger avec justesse les effets positifs de bien‐être d'une réforme fiscale.
A model of substitution of non‐tariff barriers for tariffs
Authors: Yu Zhihao
Published: March 2003

In this paper some coherent explanations are suggested for tariff reductions and substitution of non‐tariff barriers for tariffs, taking into account both organized special interests and unorganized consumer interests. The focus is on how the presence of informed consumers affects the political equilibrium choice of trade policy. Three effects are identified that interact with each other as an incumbent government substitutes a NTB for a tariff, and, among other things, it is found that an increase in foreign competition will not cause the government to substitute NTBs for tariffs, but a rise in the government's valuation of political contribution might do so. JEL Classification: F13, D72

Ce mémoire propose des explications cohérentes de la réduction des droits de douane et de la substitution de barrières non‐tarifaires (BNT) pour les droits de douane dans un cadre d'analyse qui tient compte des groupes d'intérêt organisés et de la désorganisation des groupes de consommateurs. L'analyse insiste sur l'impact de consommateurs informés sur les choix politiques qui sous‐tendent la politique commerciale. Le mémoire identifie trois effets (effet de bienêtre social, effet de lobbying, effet d'information) qui jouent au moment où un gouvernement substitue une barrière non‐tarifaire à un droit de douane. On montre, entre autres choses, qu'un accroissement de la concurrence étrangère n'engendre pas de substitution de BNT pour un droit de douane, mais qu'un accroissement de la valeur accordée aux contributions électorales peut fort bien avoir cet effet.
Linear Pigovian taxes and the optimal size of a polluting industry
Authors: McKitrick Ross , Collinge Robert A.
Published: March 2003

Confusion surrounding the appropriateness of long‐run considerations in effluent regulation has arisen in the literature and recently carried over into textbooks. We use a factor input model under oligopsony to show that, when firms can influence the level of marginal damages, a linear pollution tax does not satisfy the long‐run entry‐exit condition. Previous results to the contrary are shown to depend on restrictive assumptions. Efficient policy design requires a lump‐sum refund or any one of various non‐linear pricing schemes. JEL Classification: Q2, L1

Il y a beaucoup de confusion dans les débats qui entourent la réglementation des effluents, et son caractère plus ou moins appropriéà long terme, tant dans la littérature spécialisée que dans les manuels. Les auteurs tentent d'éliminer cette confusion en analysant les émissions à l'aide d'un modèle standard de demande d'intrant. Quand les entreprises peuvent influencer la valeur présente des dommages marginaux, un impôt linéaire sur la pollution n'entraîne pas nécessairement les décisions appropriées d'entrée et de sortie. On peut corriger le problème à l'aide d'un remboursement forfaitaire ou de l'une ou l'autre des formes de tarification non‐linéaire.
Inflation, taxes, and the coordination of monetary and fiscal policy by use of a game of chicken
Authors: Barnett Richard C.
Published: March 2003

In this study some of the consequences of an uncertain policy struggle (‘game of chicken’) between independent taxing agencies (a monetary and a fiscal authority) are examined. We show that policy uncertainty may improve upon regimes where there is no uncertainty and one agency succeeds in implementing a low‐tax policy at the expense of the other agency. An uncertain tax policy never dominates a fully coordinated tax policy, but it can move average tax rates in the right direction. In this sense, the game of chicken between agencies can be beneficial and can compensate for the lack of a specific coordinating administration. (JEL Classification: E61)

Inflation, fiscalité et la coordination des politiques fiscale et monétaire par l'utilisation du ‘jeu du premier qui se dégonfle.’ Cette étude examine certaines conséquences d'un combat politique incertain (jeu du premier qui se dégonfle) entre des agences indépendantes de taxation (une autorité monétaire et une autorité fiscale). On montre que l'incertitude politique peut constituer un régime qui fait mieux que des régimes où il n\'y a pas d'incertitude et où une agence réussit à mettre en place une politique de faible imposition au dépens de l'autre agence. Une politique de taxation incertaine ne domine jamais une politique de taxation pleinement coordonnée, mais elle peut déplacer les taux moyen d'imposition dans la bonne direction. En ce sens, le \′jeu du premier qui se dégonfle\' entre agences peut être bénéfique et peut compenser pour le manque de coordination spécifiquement gérée.
Pension coverage and retirement savings of young and prime‐aged workers in Canada, 1986–1997
Authors: Morissette René , Drolet Marie
Published: March 2003

In this paper, we assemble data from several household surveys to document how pension coverage of young and prime‐aged workers has evolved in Canada between the mid‐1980s and the mid‐1990s. We show that between 1986 and 1997 pension coverage has fallen significantly for men, has dropped slightly for young women, and has increased for prime‐aged women. The decline in union density and employment shifts towards low‐coverage industries explain most of the decline in pension coverage of men and young women. In contrast, most of the increase in coverage of prime‐aged women remains unexplained. While pension coverage has fallen for men and young women, their real average contributions to registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) have increased substantially. As a result, the sum of the amounts they contributed to registered pension plans (RPPs) and RRSPs has increased markedly. JEL Classification: J26, J32

Couverture des régimes de rentes et épargnes pour la retraite des travailleurs jeunes et de ceux dans la force de l'âge au Canada (1986–1997). Dans ce mémoire, les auteurs assemblent des données de plusieurs enquêtes sur les ménages pour documenter l'évolution de la couverture des régimes de rentes des travailleurs jeunes et dans la force de l'âge entre le milieu des années 80 et le milieu des années 90. On montre que cette couverture a chuté de manière significative pour les hommes, a décliné légèrement pour les femmes, et s'est accrue pour les femmes dans la force de l'âge. La chute du taux de syndicalisation et les déplacements de l'emploi vers des secteurs où la couverture est plus faible expliquent le gros du déclin de couverture pour les hommes et les jeunes femmes. Quant à l'accroissement de la couverture pour les femmes dans la force de l'âge, il demeure inexpliqué. Alors que la couverture des deux premiers groupes a décliné, leurs contributions aux régimes enregistrés d'épargne retraite (REER) ont augmenté substantiellement. En conséquence, le total des sommes qu'ils ont contribuées aux régimes de rentes enregistrés et aux REER ont augmenté de manière importante.
In and out of the labour market: long‐term income consequences of child‐related interruptions to women's paid work
Authors: Phipps Shelley , Burton Peter , Lethbridge Lynn
Published: March 2003

Why do Canadian mothers have lower incomes than women who have never had children? Microdata from the 1995 GSS allow examination of two hypotheses: (1) mothers have spent more time out of the labour force, thus acquiring less human capital; (2) higher levels of unpaid work lead to fatigue and/or scheduling difficulties. Measuring work history does little to account for the ‘family gap.’ The estimated child penalty is reduced by allowing for ‘human capital depreciation’ and controlling for unpaid work hours, but the two hypotheses together cannot entirely explain the gap. JEL Classification: J0, J3

Entrées et sorties: marché du travail et conséquences à long terme des interruptions dans l'expérience sur le marché du travail à cause des enfants. Ce mémoire se demande pourquoi les femmes canadiennes qui ont eu des enfants ont des revenus plus bas que ceux des femmes qui n'en ont pas eus. Les microdonnées de l'Enquête sociale générale de 1995 de Statistiques Canada permettent d'examiner deux hypothèses: (1) les mères ont passé plus de temps en dehors de la main d'oeuvre active et donc ont accumulé moins de capital humain, ou (2) des niveaux plus élevés de travail non‐rémunéré peuvent entraîner fatigue ou difficultés d'organisation du temps. Des efforts pour construire une meilleure image de l'expérience de travail des femmes ne permettent pas d'expliquer cet ‘écart familial,’ même si la possibilité qu'il y ait ‘dépréciation du capital humain’ réduit la pénalisation attachée au fait d'avoir un enfant en particulier si l'interruption dans l'expérience sur le marché du travail est suivie d'un changement d'emploi. Le nombre hebdomadaire d'heures de travail non payé est relié négativement aux revenus, et si l'on normalise pour tenir compte des heures de travail non payé cela réduit la pénalisation attachée au fait d'avoir un enfant. Cependant les deux hypothèses combinées ne suffisent pas pour expliquer l'écart.
On the spread and impact of anti‐dumping
Authors: Prusa Thomas J.
Published: March 2003

In this paper two key costs of AD protection are documented. First, once AD has been adopted, countries often have a difficult time restraining its use. In recent years \′new' users have accounted for half of the overall world total. Many of the heaviest AD users are countries who did not even have an AD statute a decade ago. Second, I will show that that, on average, AD duties cause the value of imports to fall by 30–50 per cent. I find that trade falls by almost as much for settled cases as for those that result in duties. I also find that, even for those cases that are rejected, imports fall. JEL Classification: F13

A propos de la généralisation et de l'impact des mesures anti‐dumping. Ce mémoire souligne deux coûts importants des mesures de protection anti‐dumping (AD). D'abord, une fois la mesure en place, les pays ont souvent de grandes difficultés à en restreindre l'usage. Au cours des années récentes, les “nouveaux” utilisateurs de ces mesures comptent pour la moitié de l'activité AD dans le monde. Et plusieurs des pays qui en font un usage intensif n'avaient pas de loi AD il y a une décennie. Ensuite, en moyenne, les droits de douane AD entraînent une chute des importations de l'ordre de 30%à 50%. Et le commerce chute de presque autant pour les cas où il y a résolution du problème que pour ceux où un tarif de rétorsion est imposé. Fait intéressant, il appert que les importations chutent même dans les cas où la plainte est rejetée.
Self‐employment dynamics and self‐employment trends: a study of Canadian men and women, 1982–1998
Authors: Kuhn Peter J. , Schuetze Herb J.
Published: March 2003

Self‐employment has risen dramatically in Canada, accounting for a disproportionate share of job growth since the 1980s. Using hitherto unexploited information on labour force transitions from sixteen waves of the Survey of Consumer Finances between 1982 and 1998, we show that the changes in transition patterns underlying these increases were very different for women and men. For women, most of the increase in self‐employment is attributable to an increase in retention rates in self‐employment. For men, most is attributable to a decrease in the stability of paid employment. Self‐employment thus rose both in secularly improving (women's) and deteriorating (men's) labour markets. JEL Classification: J23, J63

Dynamique et tendances du travail autonome: une étude des hommes et des femmes au Canada, 1982–1998. Le travail autonome a augmenté dramatiquement au Canada et a été une source relativement importante de la croissance des emplois dans les années 1980. En utilisant des données qu'on n'avait pas utilisées auparavant sur seize transitions dans l'expérience de travail (données obtenues par les Enquêtes sur les finances des consommateurs entre 1982 et 1998), les auteurs montrent que les changements dans les patterns de transition qui soustendent cet accroissement dans le travail autonome sont très différents pour les hommes et les femmes. Pour les femmes, le gros de l'accroissement est attribuable à un accroissement du taux de rétention d'emploi dans le travail autonome. Pour les hommes, le gros de l'accroissement est attribuable à un déclin dans la stabilité de l'emploi rémunéré. Le travail autonome croît donc à la fois dans les secteurs où le marché du travail a le vent dans les voiles (pour les femmes) et dans ceux où le marché du travail se détériore (pour les hommes).
Using Economic Base Models to Explain New Trends in Rural Income
Authors: Nelson Peter B. , Beyers William B.
Published: March 2003

The economics or urban and rural areas in the United States continue to experience change in their structure, leading to changes in their economic base. This paper argues that nontraditional sources of income, employment, and business activity have become more important in the economic base of rural areas. Current trends in rural parts of the western United States are used to document this argument. In spite of the decline in the relative or absolute important of traditional natural‐resource‐oriented industries in the rural West, in the 1990s this region is experiencing population growth rates well above those of the nation as whole. This reversal of development experience from the 1990s is analyzed empirically, and extended economic base models are proposed to capture forces which now are found to be of growing significance in explaining current development trends in western rural economics.
The Interaction of Economic Reforms, Socio‐economic Structure and Agriculture in Mexico
Authors: Biles James J. , Pigozzi Bruce W.
Published: March 2003

National policydecisions in developing countries contribute to the increasing integration of agriculture into national and world economies. The spatial consequences of national policies, however, vary across regions and agricultural systems. Employing and adapting a methodology first proposed by King (1970), this study explores the relationship between national policy, agriculture, and population characteristics at the regional level in Mexico during the presidency of Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988–94). Statistical analyses corroborate the hypothesis that the impact of policy reforms on the agricultural sector in Mexico is mediated by the characteristics of the population. Results suggest that government credit for agriculture and federal funding of rural development during the Salinas de Gortari administration were mediated by factors associatedwith the level of urbanization. The provision of commercial credit at the regional level, however, does not appear to depend on population characteristics. Disparities in the impact of national policies are attributed to a historical urban bias, the differential ability of more highly urbanized states to attract government funding, manage and implement programs, and the existence of highly profitable, commercial agriculture in more developed states.
Measuring Potential Ethnic Conflict in Southeast Asia
Authors: Fuller Gary A. , Murphy Alexander B. , Ridgley Marl A. , Ulack Richard
Published: March 2003

This article offers insights into the identification of cases with a significant potential for ethnic conflict over a 2‐3 year time horizon through an examination of the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to the analysis of ethnic conflict potential in those cases. The goal is to suggest an analytical framework with applicability to the assessment of ethnic conflicts in Southeast Asia and beyond; thus, factors are identified that tend to precipitate or facilitate ethnic conflict in a world dominated by the norms of the modern state system.

Twenty‐four ethnic minority groups are identified in Southeast Asia that havesome potential for conflict over the next 2‐3 years. The AHP methodology is then employed as a means to measure the potential for ethnic conflict among these twenty‐four groups. Potential is defined as the product of desire or motivation to act (i.e., the motivating factors) and the ability or capability to act (i.e., the enabling conditions), such that: POTENTIAL = (MOTIVATION) X (ABILITY). This approach to ethnic conflict analysis promotes consideration of the contextual factors that influence feelings of marginalization and capacity to effect change—a considerable step forward over approaches that are based on (inevitably problematic) generalizations about the shared attributes or historically rooted prejudices toward ethnic groups.
Maquiladoras and U.S.‐Bound Migration in Central Mexico
Authors: Jones Richard C.
Published: March 2003

Over the past one and a half decades, smaller cities and nonmetropolitan areas in Mexico have attracted manufacturing plants, led by the export manufacturing sector. Maquiladoras in particular are increasingly locating their plants in such places in the “deep interior” Mexico—outside of the border states. Using 1980 and 1990 Mexican census data for 19 growth centers and 27 high‐emigration municipios (counties) in Central Mexico, this paper suggests that foreign‐owned assembly (maquiladora) jobs decentralized significantly over the 1980s, locating closer to emigrant municipios. An examination of 17 emigrant municipios in the industrialized states of Jalisco and Guanajuato found that an emigrant municipio's accessibility to maquiladora jobs, and jobs indirectly related to maquiladora growth, was positively related to its overall employment growth, which was, in turn, negatively related to its U.S. migration rate over the decade. Although the migration reduction inherent in these relationships is relatively small, it could be accelerated by U.S. and Mexican policies giving incentives for more peripheral locations of export‐oriented and other manufacturing.
Determinants of the Travel Behavior of the Suburban Elderly
Authors: Smith Geoffrey C. , Sylvestre Gina M.
Published: March 2003

In recent years, a significant feature of population change in North American metropolitan areas has been the rapid suburbanization of elderly people. The ability to engage in routine activity may be a necessary condition for the maintenance of independent life styles and psychological well‐being among older suburbanites. Using a conceptual framework based on Parmelee and Lawton's ecological model of aging, this article offers an exploratory investigation of the determinants of the travel of separate samples of elderly male and female suburbanites to each of five destination categories of key service/activity sites in a Canadian city. The results of the tests of ten multiple regression models disclose that the levels of explanation of trip frequency afforded by “autonomy components” (e.g. health‐related characteristics, living arrangements, and income level) vary according to destination category. However, the explanatory power of “security components” (i.e. variables concerning access to destination categories) is generally low. Overall, the findings of the study provide a basis for developing a deeper understanding of the repetitive travel behavior of elderly suburbanites.
Why Some States Grow Faster than Others: New Growth Models for State Economic Policy
Authors: Polzin Paul E.
Published: March 2003

Recent studies have identified factors statistically related to differences in state economic growth. These findings relate to regional policy because they appear to identify political options that could then be justified as improving growth. This paper evaluates the reliability of these studies as policy guides. It finds that most statistical conclusions are fragile and are ttherefore risky policy guides Economic base theory performs well, and provides the most reliable state level policy options. These policies, however, have to be crafted carefully to avoid pitfalls associated with traditional (and perhaps unpopular) basic industries.
Institutional Structure, Industrialization and Rural Development: An Evolutionary Interpretation of the Italian Experience
Authors: Esposti Roberto , Sotte Franco
Published: March 2003

This paper proposes an evolutionary reading of rural development referred to cases of rapid industrial growth, where a strong concentration process has involved the main urban centers and the successful industrial districts. This territorial development pattern has gradually extinguished rural society and its institutional basis, creating a clear separation between new central and peripheral areas. The consequent effects on local economy and social dynamics reveal the long‐term risks raised in terms of development sustainability. An empirical study of two Italian provinces is also carried out to show how this framework can be helpful in interpreting real historical patterns.
Motivations and Performance Conditions for Ethnic Entrepreneurship
Authors: Masurel Enno , Nijkamp Peter , Tastan Murat , Vindigni Gabriella
Published: March 2003

Ethnic entrepreneurship has become a popular concept in a modern multi–cultural society. This paper seeks to offer an overview of the potential of ethnic entrepreneurship for solving inter alia the structural unemployment problems of ethnic groups in cities. There is a general lack of empirical evidence on this issue in the current literature. The present paper aims to fill this gap by addressing in particular the critical success conditions for ethnic entrepreneurs. The focus of the research is on variations in success across three ethnic groups in the Amsterdam area. By means of structured personal interviews with many ethnic entrepreneurs, a systematic qualitative data base was created. The paper sets out to identify empirically the driving forces for business success, such as education or the role of informal networks. The explanatory framework deployed for the identification of these qualitative success factors for distinct ethnic groups is based on a particular, recently developed artificial intelligence method, viz. rough set analysis. This multidimensional classification approach appears to be able to identify various important factors for the motivation and performance of ethnic enterprises. Two major findings emerge from this investigation: (i) performance conditions vary across ethnic groups, and (ii) informal networks are crucial for business success.
Sources of Bank Interest Rate Risk
Authors: Fraser Donald R. , Madura Jeff , Weigand Robert A.
Published: March 2003

We investigate bank stocks’sensitivity to changes in interest rates and the factors affecting this sensitivity. We focus on whether the exposure of commercial banks to interest rate risk is conditioned on certain balance sheet and income statement ratios. We find a significantly negative relation between bank stock returns and changes in interest rates over the period 1991–1996. We also find that bank characteristics measured from basic financial statement information explain bank stocks’sensitivity to interest rate changes. These results suggest that bank managers, analysts, and regulators can use this information to assess the relative risk exposure of banks.
A Pattern‐Based Approach Using Compound Unit Recognition and Its Hybridization with Rule‐Based Translation
Authors: Jung Hanmin , Yuh Sanghwa , Kim Taewan , Park Sangkyu
Published: March 2003

This paper describes a compound unit (CU) recognizer as a pattern‐based approach and its hybridization with rule‐based translation. A compound unit is a combined concept including collocations, idioms, and compound nouns. CU recognition reduces part of speech ambiguities by combining several words into a unit and consequently lessening the parsing load. It also provides pretranslated natural equivalents. Our focus in this paper is to obtain flexibility and efficiency from pattern‐based machine translation, and high‐quality translation by hybridization. A modified trie, our search index structure using “method” strategy is used to manage heterogeneous property of the constituents. Syntactic verification is integrated to obtain precise CU recognition by means of pruning wrongly recognized units that are caused by improper variable hypotheses. The experimental result with verification shows that the precision of CU recognition is increased to 99.69% with 31 CFG rules on the cyclic trie structure for 1,268 Wall Street Journal articles of the Penn Treebank. Another experiment with CU recognition also shows that it raises the understandability of translation for Web documents.
Feasible Formation of Coalitions Among Autonomous Agents in Nonsuperadditive Environments
Authors: Shehory Onn , Kraus Sarit
Published: March 2003

Cooperating and sharing resources by creating coalitions of agents are important ways for autonomous agents to execute tasks and to maximize payoff. Such coalitions will form only if each member of a coalition gains more by joining the coalition than it could gain otherwise. There are several ways of creating such coalitions and dividing the joint payoff among the members. In this paper we present algorithms for coalition formation and payoff distribution in nonsuperadditive environments. We focus on a low‐complexity kernel‐oriented coalition formation algorithm. The properties of this algorithm were examined via simulations. These have shown that the model increases the benefits of the agents within a reasonable time period, and more coalition formations provide more benefits to the agents.
A Complexity Model and a Polynomial Algorithm for Decision‐Tree‐Based Feature Construction
Authors: Major Raymond L.
Published: March 2003

Using decision trees as a concept description language, we examine the time complexity for learning Boolean functions with polynomial‐sized disjunctive normal form expressions when feature construction is performed on an initial decision tree containing only primitive attributes. A shortcoming of several feature‐construction algorithms found in the literature is that it is difficult to develop time complexity results for them. We illustrate a way to determine a limit on the number of features to use for building more concise trees within a standard amount of time. We introduce a practical algorithm that forms a finite number of features using a decision tree in a polynomial amount of time. We show empirically that our procedure forms many features that subsequently appear in a tree and the new features aid in producing simpler trees when concepts are being learned from certain problem domains. Expert systems developers can use a method such as this to create a knowledge base of information that contains specific knowledge in the form of If‐Then rules.
Integrating Web‐Based Documents, Shared Knowledge Bases, and Information Retrieval for User Help
Authors: Skuce Doug
Published: March 2003

We describe a prototype system, IKARUS, with which we investigated the potential of integrating web‐based documents, shared knowledge bases, and information retrieval for improving knowledge storage and retrieval. As an example, we discuss how to implement both a user manual and an online help system as one system. The following technologies are combined: a web‐based design, a frame‐based knowledge engine, use of an advanced full‐text search engine, and simple techniques to control terminology. We have combined graphical browsing with several unusual forms of text retrieval—for example, to the sentence and paragraph level.
A Qualitative Model for Time Granularity
Authors: Becher Gérard , Clérin‐Debart Françoise , Enjalbert Patrice
Published: March 2003

This paper addresses the problem of granularity in temporal representation in the context of text analysis. In contrast with other fields where granularity levels are essentially quantitative, in natural language the different levels are not always precisely defined and granularity is of a more subtle and qualitative nature. A model is proposed for representing such phenomena, based on time units and time units intervals. Time units represent chunks of time which are considered indivisible at a given granularity level, but which may be refined and contain other time units or intervals at a higher granularity level. The structure of the set of time units and intervals is studied and a relation algebra is defined which extends the traditional Allen's Point or Interval Algebra. Weak and strong representations of this algebra are proposed. We claim that such representations, called grained temporal structures, are adequate for coping with dynamic qualitative changes of granularity. A logic with restricted quantifiers is proposed for formalizing temporal knowledge and examples are discussed which show the relevance of the model for natural language analysis.
On Resolving Conflicts Between Arguments
Authors: Roos Nico
Published: March 2003

Argument systems are based on the idea that one can construct arguments for propositions—structured reasons justifying the belief in a proposition. Using defeasible rules, arguments need not be valid in all circumstances, therefore, it might be possible to construct an argument for a proposition as well as its negation. When arguments support conflicting propositions, one of the arguments must be defeated, which raises the question of which (sub‐) arguments can be subject to defeat.

In legal argumentation, metarules determine the valid arguments by considering the last defeasible rule of each argument involved in a conflict. Since it is easier to evaluate arguments using their last rules, can a conflict be resolved by considering only the last defeasible rules of the arguments involved?

We propose a new argument system where, instead of deriving a defeat relation between arguments, arguments for the defeat of defeasible rules are constructed. This system allows us to determine a set of valid (undefeated) arguments in linear time using an algorithm based on a JTMS, allows conflicts to be resolved using only the last rules of the arguments, allows us to establish a relation with Default Logic, and allows closure properties such as cumulativity to be proved. We propose an extension of the argument system based on a proposal for reasoning by cases in default logic.
Blurring or Shifting of Policy Frames?: Institutionalization of the Economic‐Environmental Policy Linkage in the European Community
Authors: Lenschow Andrea , Zito Anthony R.
Published: March 2003

This article investigates how “policy frames” have shaped the way European Community actors perceive the policy linkage between market integration and environmental policy. The article contends that there are three Community policy frames: conditional, classic, and sustainability. They form alternative “packages” of policy ideas defining the relationship between economic and environmental policy. The article provides an analysis of how actors embed these frames in the Community's institutional framework.To illustrate the general impact of policy frames on the environmental arena, the article explores two cases: waste management policy, and the integration of environmental concerns into the Community's agricultural policy. The article concludes by highlighting the different factors that promote and undermine the formation of “thick” institutional structures likely to integrate environmental and economic policy objectives.
Learning from Abroad: The Role of Policy Transfer in Contemporary Policy‐Making
Authors: Dolowitz David P. , Marsh David
Published: March 2003

In recent years there has been a growing body of literature within political science and international studies that directly and indirectly uses, discusses and analyzes the processes involved in lesson‐drawing, policy convergence, policy diffusion and policy transfer. While the terminology and focus often vary, all of these studies are concerned with a similar process in which knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in one political setting (past or present) is used in the development of policies, administrative arrangements, institutions and ideas in another political setting.

Given that this is a growing phenomenon, it is something that anyone studying public policy needs to consider. As such, this article is divided into four major sections. The first section briefly considers the extent of, and reasons for, the growth of policy transfer. The second section then outlines a framework for the analysis of transfer. From here a third section presents a continuum for distinguishing between different types of policy transfer. Finally, the last section addresses the relationship between policy transfer and policy “failure.”