bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Molecular characterization and the effect of salinity on cyanobacterial diversity in the rice fields of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India
Authors: Srivastava Ashish Kumar , Bhargava Poonam , Kumar Arvind , Rai Lal Chand , Neilan Brett A
Published: April 2009

Background

Salinity is known to affect almost half of the world's irrigated lands, especially rice fields. Furthermore, cyanobacteria, one of the critical inhabitants of rice fields have been characterized at molecular level from many different geographical locations. This study, for the first time, has examined the molecular diversity of cyanobacteria inhabiting Indian rice fields which experience various levels of salinity.

Results

Ten physicochemical parameters were analyzed for samples collected from twenty experimental sites. Electrical conductivity data were used to classify the soils and to investigate relationship between soil salinity and cyanobacterial diversity. The cyanobacterial communities were analyzed using semi-nested 16S rRNA gene PCR and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Out of 51 DGGE bands selected for sequencing only 31 which showed difference in sequences were subjected to further analysis. BLAST analysis revealed highest similarity for twenty nine of the sequences with cyanobacteria, and the other two to plant plastids. Clusters obtained based on morphological and molecular attributes of cyanobacteria were correlated to soil salinity. Among six different clades, clades 1, 2, 4 and 6 contained cyanobacteria inhabiting normal or low saline (having EC < 4.0 ds m-1) to (high) saline soils (having EC > 4.0 ds m-1), however, clade 5 represented the cyanobacteria inhabiting only saline soils. Whilst, clade 3 contained cyanobacteria from normal soils. The presence of DGGE band corresponding to Aulosira strains were present in large number of soil indicating its wide distribution over a range of salinities, as were Nostoc, Anabaena, and Hapalosiphon although to a lesser extent in the sites studied.

Conclusion

Low salinity favored the presence of heterocystous cyanobacteria, while very high salinity mainly supported the growth of non-heterocystous genera. High nitrogen content in the low salt soils is proposed to be a result of reduced ammonia volatilization compared to the high salt soils. Although many environmental factors could potentially determine the microbial community present in these multidimensional ecosystems, changes in the diversity of cyanobacteria in rice fields was correlated to salinity.
Prolonged treatment with N-acetylcystine delays liver recovery from acetaminophen hepatotoxicity
Authors: Yang Runkuan , Miki Keita , He Xin , Killeen Meaghan E , Fink Mitchell P
Published: April 2009

Introduction

Acetaminophen (APAP) toxicity is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the US and Europe. Massive hepatocyte necrosis is the predominant feature of APAP-induced acute liver injury (ALI). Liver regeneration is a vital process for survival after a toxic insult, it occurs at a relative late time point after the injurious phase. Currently, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a glutathione precursor, is the antidote for acetaminophen overdose. However, NAC is effective only for patients who present within hours of an acute overdose, and is less effective for late-presenting patients. It is possible that in delayed patients, previously reduced endogenous glutathione (GSH) level has restored and prolonged treatment with NAC might be toxic and impair liver regeneration. Therefore, we hypothesize that prolonged treatment with NAC impairs liver regeneration in ALI induced by APAP.

Methods

ALI was induced in C57BL/6 male mice by a single dose of APAP (350 mg/kg) by intraperitoneal injection. After two hours of APAP challenge, the mice were given 100 mg/kg NAC dissolved in 0.6 mL saline, or saline treatment every 12 hours for a total of 72 hours.

Results

Seventy-two hours after APAP challenge, compared with saline treatment, NAC treatment significantly increased serum transaminases (alanine transaminase/aspartate aminotransferase), induced evident hepatocyte vacuolation in the periportal area and delayed liver regeneration seen in histopathology. This detrimental effect was associated with reduced hepatic nuclear factor (NF)-κB DNA binding and decreased expression of cell cycle protein cyclin D1, two important factors in liver regeneration.

Conclusions

Prolonged treatment with NAC impairs liver regeneration in ALI induced by APAP.
In-Store Media and Distribution Channel Coordination
Authors: Dukes Anthony , Liu Yunchuan
Published: April 2009

We study the effects of retailer in-store media on distribution channel relationships. Retailers open in-store media (ISM) and allow manufacturers to advertise to shoppers. Our results suggest that ISM has an important role in coordinating a distribution channel on advertising volume and product sales, and on mitigating supplier competition. Improved channel coordination is achieved through the internalization of advertising decisions from commercial forms of media (e.g., radio, TV, newspaper). A retailer may strategically subsidize manufacturers for their advertising on ISM. This subsidy is optimal even if ISM is more effective than commercial media. With manufacturer competition, a retailer can strategically use a “competitive premium” to ration excessive advertising between competing suppliers in a category. When manufacturers are asymmetric with preadvertising brand awareness, a retailer has an incentive to price discriminate by charging lower prices to manufacturers whose brand awareness is higher.
OM Practice—Work Expands to Fill the Time Available: Capacity Estimation and Staffing Under Parkinson's Law
Authors: Hasija Sameer , Pinker Edieal , Shumsky Robert A.
Published: April 2009

We develop a method to estimate the capacity of agents who answer e-mail in a contact center, given aggregate historical data that have been distorted both by constraints on work availability and by internal incentives to slow down when true capacity exceeds demand. We use the capacity estimate to find a contact center's optimal daily staffing levels. The implementation results, from an actual contact center, demonstrate that the method provides accurate staffing recommendations. We also examine and test models in which agents exhibit speed-up behavior and in which capacity varies over time. Finally, we use the capacity estimates to examine the implications of solving the staffing problem with two different model formulations, the service-level constraint formulation used by the contact center and an alternate profit-maximization formulation.
The Coordination of Pricing and Scheduling Decisions
Authors: Chen Zhi-Long , Hall Nicholas G.
Published: April 2009

This paper considers the coordination of pricing and scheduling decisions in a make-to-order environment. Following common industry practice, we assume knowledge of a deterministic demand function that is nonincreasing in price. We consider three alternative measures of scheduling cost: total work-in-process inventory cost of orders, total penalty for orders delivered late to customers, and total capacity usage. The objective is to maximize the total net profit, i.e., revenue less scheduling cost, resulting from the pricing and scheduling decisions. We develop computationally efficient optimal algorithms for solving the three pricing and scheduling problems. Because these problems are formally intractable, much faster algorithms are not possible. We develop a fully polynomial time approximation scheme for each problem. We also estimate the value of coordinating pricing and production scheduling decisions by comparing solutions delivered by (a) an uncoordinated approach where pricing and scheduling decisions are made independently, (b) a partially coordinated approach that uses only general information about scheduling that a marketing department typically knows, (c) a simple heuristic approach for solving the coordinated problem, and (d) our optimal algorithm for solving the coordinated problem. Our main managerial insight is that there is a significant benefit even if pricing and scheduling are only heuristically or partially coordinated. Moreover, heuristic and partial coordination are simple to achieve.
Robust Controls for Network Revenue Management
Authors: Perakis Georgia , Roels Guillaume
Published: April 2009

Revenue management models traditionally assume that future demand is unknown but can be described by a stochastic process or a probability distribution. Demand is, however, often difficult to characterize, especially in new or nonstationary markets. In this paper, we develop robust formulations for the capacity allocation problem in revenue management using the maximin and the minimax regret criteria under general polyhedral uncertainty sets. Our approach encompasses the following open-loop controls: partitioned booking limits, nested booking limits, displacement-adjusted virtual nesting, and fixed bid prices. In specific problem instances, we show that a booking policy of the type of displacement-adjusted virtual nesting is robust, both from maximin and minimax regret perspectives. Our numerical analysis reveals that the minimax regret controls perform very well on average, despite their worst-case focus, and outperform the traditional controls when demand is correlated or censored. In particular, on real large-scale problem sets, the minimax regret approach outperforms by up to 2% the traditional heuristics. The maximin controls are more conservative but have the merit of being associated with a minimum revenue guarantee. Our models are scalable to solve practical problems because they combine efficient (exact or heuristic) solution methods with very modest data requirements.
Renewal Through Reorganization: The Value of Inconsistencies Between Formal and Informal Organization
Authors: Gulati Ranjay , Puranam Phanish
Published: April 2009

We develop a theoretical perspective on how inconsistencies between formal and informal organization arising from reorganization can help create ambidextrous organizations. We argue that under some conditions, the informal organization can compensate for the formal organization by motivating a distinct but valuable form of employee behavior that the formal organization does not emphasize, and vice versa—an effect we label compensatory fit. We illustrate the concept of compensatory fit by drawing on qualitative data from a reorganization at Cisco Systems. We also derive formal boundary conditions for compensatory fit using a simple game theoretic representation. We show that compensatory fit can only work when there is a powerful informal organization already in existence, and when the gains from ambidexterity are substantial. Further, depending on the strength of the informal organization, breakdown in the conditions necessary for compensatory fit may lead to performance declines and further reorganizations.
Dynamic Capabilities and the Role of Managers in Business Strategy and Economic Performance
Authors: Augier Mie , Teece David J.
Published: April 2009

This paper discusses some developments in the theory of the organizational capabilities of the business enterprise. Antecedents are recognized, and some promising new developments and areas for future research are identified. The role of managers in the economic system is highlighted and discussed within the context of economic and organizational research. Suggestions for future developments of dynamic capability research involve employment of evolutionary and behavioral theories.
Structural characterization of (Cu2+,Na+)- and (Cu2+, )-exchanged bentonites upon thermal treatment
Authors: Seiffarth Torsten , Kaps Christian
Published: April 2009

Bentonites are excellent materials for sequestering various metal cations because of the cation fixation ability of the constituent montmorillonite layers, but sometimes, such as in the case of Cu2+, the exact location of cation fixation with respect to the clay layers is difficult to determine. Na-montmorillonite was prepared from the <2 µm fraction of the bentonite Calcigel (from Bavaria, Germany) and exchanged by Cu2+ and Na+ or by Cu2+ and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:c="http://cambridge.org/core/content" xmlns:core="http://cambridge.org/core" xmlns:m="http://cambridge.org/core/metadata" xmlns:cup="http://contentservices.cambridge.org" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:mnf="http://cambridge.org/core/manifest">NH4+\$\end{document} cations. The resulting materials (bi-ionic Cu-Na and Cu-NH4 samples, respectively, as well as homo-ionic forms with Cu2+, Na+ and <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:c="http://cambridge.org/core/content" xmlns:core="http://cambridge.org/core" xmlns:m="http://cambridge.org/core/metadata" xmlns:cup="http://contentservices.cambridge.org" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:mnf="http://cambridge.org/core/manifest">NH4+\$\end{document}) were heated for 24 h at temperatures of 300 and 450°C and the structural evolution characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis.

The XRD patterns showed that the Cu sample and the Cu-Na sample have basal spacings of 12.5 Å. Upon heating at 300 and 450°C, the layers collapsed to 9.5 Å. In contrast, the d001 value in the NH4 sample and Cu-NH4 sample decreased to 10.0 Å and 10.2 Å, respectively, during the heat treatment. The Cu2+ ions migrated irreversibly into the montmorillonite structure.

For the NH4 and the Cu-NH4 samples, DSC analyses show that NH3 evolved at between 300 and 400°C though the octahedral sheet was not altered substantially by the H+ generated. Infrared spectra show that the bands of the Si-O and OH vibrations of all samples were changed upon heating due to the movement of the dehydrated cations into the hexagonal holes of the tetrahedral sheet. Apparently no Cu2+ was trapped in the octahedral sheet. In the case of the Cu-NH4 form, both Cu2+ fixation and de-ammonization occurred during the heat treatment. Other than maintaining the basal spacing, no effect of the presence of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:c="http://cambridge.org/core/content" xmlns:core="http://cambridge.org/core" xmlns:m="http://cambridge.org/core/metadata" xmlns:cup="http://contentservices.cambridge.org" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:mnf="http://cambridge.org/core/manifest">NH4+\$\end{document} on the Cu2+ fixation could be found for the montmorillonite studied.
1954: Selling Kabuki to the West
Authors: Wetmore Kevin J.
Published: April 2009

In the face of an increasingly communist Asia, the Japanese government worked in 1954 with American kabuki aficionados and the Azuma Nihon Buyo Company to market kabuki to the United States as an aggressively capitalistic, inherently democratic, brilliantly theatrical form. In doing so, they were not only selling kabuki, but also selling Japan, a former enemy, as a political and military ally. Several strategies were employed to do so: the endorsement of literary and dramatic celebrities, emphasis on exoticizing and feminizing the onnagata role while simultaneously downplaying the homoeroticism, and focus on kabuki as business. Therefore the first “kabuki” brought to the United States was the Azuma Company, which presented a mixture of buyo and kabuki. The group was led by a female dancer and deemphasized the more challenging aspects of traditional kabuki. The Americans promoting the tour also had an ulterior motivation: to offer a new model to an American theatre grown stale on naturalism in the postwar period.

Kevin J. Wetmore Jr. (PhD, University of Pittsburgh) is an associate professor of theatre at Loyola Marymount University. He is the editor of Revenge Drama in European Renaissance and Japanese Theatre (New York: Palgrave, 2008), the coeditor of Modern Japanese Theatre and Performance (Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2006), and the author of other books and many articles on Asian, African, and cross-cultural theatre.
Paris and the Quest for a National Stage in Meiji Japan and Late-Qing China
Authors: Liu Siyuan
Published: April 2009

Two models in late nineteenth-century Paris foreground the ideological and dramaturgical connections between colonial nationalism in the West and theatre’s role in nation building in Meiji Japan and late Qing China. The first involves manifestations of French nationalism after the Franco-Prussian War as witnessed by Japanese and Chinese diplomats in the 1870s, in particular the Paris Opéra and a panorama titled The Siege of Paris. Such firsthand experiences led to an effort to create national theatres out of traditional theatrical forms. The second instance involves two French colonial war plays seen in 1893 by the Japanese new drama star Kawakami Otojirō, who subsequently appropriated them to stage the First Sino-Japanese War, thus providing a blueprint for performing nationalism in the burgeoning Western-style theatres in Japan and China.

Siyuan Liu is a Franklin Fellow and visiting assistant professor at the University of Georgia. He received his PhD in theatre and performance studies from University of Pittsburgh and has published several research articles on modern Chinese and Japanese theatre in Theatre Journal, Asian Theatre Journal, and Text & Presentation.
Decade of Dreams: Democracy and the Birth of Nepal’s Engaged Stage, 1980–1990
Authors: Davis Carol C.
Published: April 2009

The decade between 1980 and 1990 was a time of political upheaval and change in Nepal as the populace demanded a voice in the system that governed their lives. It was also an important period in the development of Nepal’s theatre as democracy was won with the help of the fledgling political theatre movement, which began in the university, was taken to the streets, and was emulated throughout the kingdom. Particularly important was the work of Asesh Malla of Sarwanam and Sunil Pokharel of Aarohan. The work culminated in the Jana Andolan (People’s Movement), which climaxed in April 1990. As the citizens of Nepal wrestled absolute power from the hands of their king the relationship between Nepal’s theatre and society was changed forever. This paper illuminates this exciting period and the people at the forefront of Nepal’s socially engaged theatre.

Carol C. Davis is an associate professor of theater at Franklin and Marshall College. She is also the founding artistic director of the Nepal Health Project, an educational and charitable theatre company that treks to villages throughout Nepal with plays and workshops on health and hygiene, and teaches creative dramatics to children in the orphanages of Kathmandu. Carol has acted and directed in California and Nepal, and her articles have appeared in Asian Theatre Journal, Theatre Symposium, Mime Journal, Education About Asia, Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006), and Not For Sale: Bearing Witness, Making Politics (Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2004).
The Singapore Arts Festival at Thirty: Going Global, Glocal, Grobal
Authors: Peterson William
Published: April 2009

The Singapore Arts Festival celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2007, an appropriate milestone for taking stock of the country’s premiere cultural event. Under the leadership of Goh Ching Lee since 1999, the festival has sought to carve out a distinctive identity that is Asian and cuttingedge, while providing a model for other arts festivals in the region. By programming international work and commissioning Singaporean work that is slick, glossy, and easily transferable across cultural and geographic boundaries, the festival may be pointing toward a future in which the work circulating at international festivals assumes a form and content that is, in the words of George Ritzer (2007), increasingly “grobal,” that is to say global and accessible, but increasingly devoid of content and removed from any concrete or stable cultural, political, or social context.

William Peterson is a senior lecturer and director of the Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of Theatre and the Politics of Culture in Contemporary Singapore (Wesleyan University Press, 2001) and has published widely on theatre, politics, and religion in Singapore, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the Philippines.
Return from Exile: On Ming Hwa Yuan Gezaixi Company’s Survival in the New Century
Authors: Wu Ming-Lun
Published: April 2009

Within a decade, Ming Hwa Yuan (MHY) built its fame by setting up a new image of gezaixi, Taiwanese “song opera.” MHY is acutely aware of the visual possibilities on stage, the utility of stage technology, and the company’s promotions and marketing are a classic example for commercial theatres in Taiwan. In the first half of this paper, a brief history of gezaixi is the axis on which is sketched the transformation of MHY; in the second half, an outstanding MHY production, The Legend of the White Snake, provides an example for further analysis.

Ming-Lun Wu is a PhD student in the Department of Film, Theatre and Television at the University of Reading, United Kingdom. Her research focuses on gezaixi in Taiwan and issues of influence. Her current working thesis centers on the emphasis of visual elements in gezaixi performances within the context of ideological and political backgrounds. She received her MA from the National Taiwan University.
The Yellow Earth Becomes the Yellow Dragon: Eco-Consciousness in Chinese Theatre of the 1980s
Authors: Phillips Heather
Published: April 2009

Amidst the political and cultural sea change of the 1980s in China, a refined awareness of the environment bubbled to the surface. Throughout this decade, artists and scientists alike searched for ways to convey the urgency of China’s ecological crisis. Playwrights who tackled this issue often looked to the past, rediscovering ecological models in Confucian and Daoist ethics as well as ancient myths and rites. This paper examines two such plays, The Sangshuping Chronicles (1988) and Gao Xingjian’s Wild Man (1983), both of which offer fascinating possibilities for the development of a Chinese eco-poetics consonant with Una Chaudhuri’s Western-based concept of eco-theatre.

Heather Phillips is a PhD student in the Department of Drama and Dance at Tufts University. In November 2007, she cohosted the ASTR seminar “Ethics in Translation,” and in May 2008 she cohosted a colloquium at Tufts on the translation of plays. This paper represents her first venture into the study of Chinese theatre.
Early-Modern Catholicism as a Response to the Changing World of the Long Sixteenth Century
Authors: Bireley Robert
Published: April 2009

The early-modern period constitutes a distinct period in European history, and early-modern Catholicism can best be understood as Catholicism’s response, both active and passive, to the changes of the long sixteenth century. These included the emergence of the modern state, demographic and economic expansion along with social dislocation, the outreach of Europe across the seas to Asia and America, the intellectual and cultural currents of the Renaissance, and the Protestant Reformation. Thus, early-modern Catholicism rates as a distinct period in the Church’s history, and it fits into the pattern of Catholicism’s regular accommodation to changing culture and society, an accommodation that is often contested but is necessary if the Church is to meet the needs of the times.
Involvement in Language: The Role of the Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae in the History of Lingala
Authors: Meeuwis Michael
Published: April 2009

The missionaries of Scheut (Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) played an important role in the history of the Congolese language Lingala. The linguistic policies and practices they developed not only had a serious impact on the language’s geographical spread and range of sociocultural functions but also involved an extensive “reworking” of the grammar and lexicon and led to the first appearance of the glossonym Lingala . In some parts of the colony, the language-reform program met with considerable success. In other parts, resistance and subaltern defiance took the language in other directions than originally intended.
Latin American Seminary Reform: Modernization and the Preservation of the Catholic Church
Authors: Edwards Lisa M.
Published: April 2009

As secular modernization increasingly affected the Catholic Church’s moral and legal influence in Latin America in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, ecclesiastical leaders moved to strengthen the institutional Church. To do so, they found a strategy in the concept of modernization itself, and their efforts focused on the professionalization of the clergy, particularly through seminary reform. The papacy, Latin American bishops, and seminary administrators implemented curricular and disciplinary reforms, particularly from European models, to improve the number and quality of the clergy and thus defend the Church against the rise of liberal secularism, albeit with mixed results.
Tanzania: A Bumpy Road to Consolidated Democracy
Authors: Liviga Athumani J.
Published: April 2009

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the development of strategies and methods for the promotion of the transition from authoritarian rule to consolidated democracy in Tanzania. It begins with a critique of the transition paradigm assumptions and takes stock of the transition process in the country for the last fifteen years, identifies achievements recorded so far, challenges that the process is facing and the opportunities that can be made use of. I have argued in this paper that Tanzania has made some commendable strides in moving away from authoritarian rule to democracy since the reintroduction of multiparty politics in 1992. However, I posit that in spite of the major strides recorded in the democratization process more remains to be done to consolidate democracy in Tanzania. There still remains a major constitutional problem that must be addressed including provision for real separation of powers between the three branches of government. The executive still dominates parliament and the latter's functions of control, oversight and representation are hardly fulfilled. The legal framework for an effective multiparty political system does not yet exist. It is also the argument of this paper that political parties have not been able to perform effectively as organs of political association and mouthpieces of their members by articulating their political will and interests. Finally, a way forward is suggested and this relates to changes that need to be made with regard to the constitution, electoral laws, political parties and the national parliament.
The Documentary Research Method – Using Documentary Sources in Social Research
Authors: Mogalakwe Monageng
Published: April 2009

Sociologists in particular and social scientists in general tend to quickly turn to social surveys to collect data for their research projects. This stems from mainstream social science research tradition that is dominated by positivist and empiricist tradition that emphasizes quantification. There is however another method of data collection, the documentary research method, or the use of documentary sources in social research, that is often overlooked. This paper argues that although the documentary research method is not very popular in social science research, it is nevertheless an acceptable and respectable research method that is also scientific and requires rigorous adherence to research ethics.
Disconnect Between Public Sector Management System and Decentralization Reforms: An Empirical Analysis of the Ethiopian Situation
Authors: Chanie Paulos
Published: April 2009

Post-1991 Decentralization reform in Ethiopia reveals that regional governments have technically separate power to self administer their regions, formulate and implement their socio-economic policies and strategies, bear all financial expenditures, raise revenue from specified tax bases, get subsidies from the central government and borrow from internal sources. The implementation of the reform, however, shows sustained central government dominance on expenditure and revenue assignment, continued regional dependence on central subsidy, absence of borrowing, and sustained central government interference in the administrative affair of regions. By conducting detailed field research in three regional governments, this article exposes how public sector management system (public finance and human resource management system) determines decentralization outcomes. It contends that outcomes of decentralization reforms are shaped not only by political and economic factors, as suggested in the decentralization literature, but also by the de facto public sector management system.
Financial Crash, Commodity Prices, and Global Imbalances
Authors: Caballero Ricardo J. , Farhi Emmanuel , Gourinchas Pierre-Olivier
Published: April 2009

The current financial crisis has its origins in global asset scarcity, which led to large capital flows toward the United States and to the creation of asset bubbles that eventually burst. In its first phase the crash exacerbated the shortage of assets in the world economy, which triggered a partial re-creation of the bubble in commodities markets, and oil markets in particular. This bubble in turn led to an increase in petrodollars seeking financial assets in the United States, which became a source of stability for the U.S. external balance. The second phase of the crisis is more conventional and began to emerge in the summer of 2008, when it became apparent that the financial crisis would permeate the real economy and sharply slow global growth. This slowdown worked to reverse the tight commodity market conditions required for a bubble to develop, ultimately destroying the commodity bubble.
The Unofficial Economy and Economic Development
Authors: La Porta Rafael , Shleifer Andrei
Published: April 2009

In developing countries, informal firms account for up to about half of all economic activity. Using data from World Bank firm-level surveys, we find that informal firms are small and extremely unproductive compared with even the small formal firms in the sample, and especially relative to the larger formal firms. Formal firms are run by much better educated managers than informal ones and use more capital, have different customers, market their products, and use more external finance. Few formal firms have ever operated informally. This evidence supports the dual economy (“Wal-Mart”) theory of development, in which growth comes about from the creation of highly productive formal firms. Informal firms keep millions of people alive but disappear as the economy develops.
Making Sense of the Subprime Crisis
Authors: Gerardi Kristopher , Lehnert Andreas , Sherlund Shane M. , Willen Paul
Published: April 2009

Should market participants have anticipated the large increase in home foreclosures in 2007 and 2008? Most of these foreclosures stemmed from mortgage loans originated in 2005 and 2006, raising suspicions that lenders originated many extremely risky loans during this period. We show that although these loans did carry extra risk factors, particularly increased leverage, reduced underwriting standards alone cannot explain the dramatic rise in foreclosures. We also investigate whether market participants underestimated the likelihood of a fall in home prices or the sensitivity of foreclosures to falling prices. We show that given available data, they should have understood that a significant price drop would raise foreclosures sharply, although loan-level (as opposed to ownership-level) models would have predicted a smaller rise than occurred. Analyst reports and other contemporary discussions reveal that analysts generally understood that falling prices would have disastrous consequences but assigned that outcome a low probability.
The Real Exchange Rate and Economic Growth
Authors: Rodrik Dani
Published: April 2009

I show that undervaluation of the currency (a high real exchange rate) stimulates economic growth. This is true particularly for developing countries. This finding is robust to using different measures of the real exchange rate and different estimation techniques. I also provide some evidence that the operative channel is the size of the tradable sector (especially industry). These results suggest that tradables suffer disproportionately from the government or market failures that keep poor countries from converging toward countries with higher incomes. I present two categories of explanations for why this may be so, the first focusing on institutional weaknesses, and the second on product-market failures. A formal model elucidates the linkages between the real exchange rate and the rate of economic growth.
The Central Role of Home Prices in the Current Financial Crisis: How Will the Market Clear?
Authors: Case Karl E.
Published: April 2009

This paper begins by describing some patterns in home price movements over recent decades. It then discusses some distinguishing characteristics of housing markets that will contribute to determining prices going forward: Housing is heterogeneous, making prices hard to measure. Home prices are subject to inertia and are sticky downward. Housing markets have traditionally been quantity clearing markets, with excess inventories absorbed only as new households are formed. And housing markets depend critically on credit market conditions and monetary policy. Two opposite scenarios for future home prices are both plausible: The first, noting among other things the many “underwater” mortgages and unsold inventories and the likelihood of a severe recession, foresees a slow recovery. The second observes that the market clearing process has been orderly so far and that deep regional housing busts in the past have sometimes been followed by quick recoveries, suggesting that a more rapid turnaround is possible.
Financial Regulation in a System Context
Authors: Morris Stephen , Shin Hyun Song
Published: April 2009

The global financial crisis raises questions about the proper objectives of financial regulation and how best to meet them. Traditionally, capital requirements have been the cornerstone of bank regulation. However, the run on the investment bank Bear Stearns in March 2008 led to its demise even though Bear Stearns met the letter of its regulatory capital requirements. The risk-based capital requirements that underpin the Basel approach to bank regulation fail to distinguish between the inherent riskiness of an asset and its systemic importance. Liquidity requirements that constrain the composition of assets may be a necessary complement. A maximum leverage ratio—an idea that has gained favor in the United States and more recently in Switzerland—may also prove beneficial, deriving its rationale not from the traditional view that capital is a buffer against losses on assets, but rather from the importance of stabilizing liabilities in an interrelated financial system.
Beyond Leveraged Losses: The Balance Sheet Effects of the Home Price Downturn
Authors: Hatzius Jan
Published: April 2009

This paper quantifies the impact of declining home prices, increasing mortgage credit losses, and the associated reduction in credit supply on real GDP growth. Using a state-level panel analysis, I first estimate the link between home prices and foreclosures. I estimate that an additional 15 percent home price decline from mid-2008 levels would be consistent with total residential mortgage credit losses over 2007–12 of $750 billion, although the uncertainty is high. I then gauge the impact of such losses on the supply of credit from banks, asset-backed security markets, and the government-sponsored enterprises, and in turn on real GDP growth. In the central scenario, the crisis could lower real GDP growth in 2008 and 2009 by an average of 2.6 percentage points per year. This estimate excludes both adverse multiplier effects (labor market deterioration, global trade repercussions, and credit quality feedback) and policy offsets.
Ward Churchill and the Politics of Public Memory
Authors: Schulz David P. , Reyes G. Mitchell
Published: April 2009

In a polemical essay written on September 11, 2001, Professor Ward Churchill claimed that it was America's own actions that called forth the terrible events of that morning. Four years later, a controversy exploded over Churchill's remarks. Churchill's essay, entitled "Some People Push Back," might have encouraged reflection among its readers regarding the causes of 9/11, but instead it provoked a backlash of monumental proportions. This essay concerns itself with why "Some People Push Back" incurred the wrath of the general public and how it catalyzed a national controversy. We argue that Churchill's essay sparked public indignation not simply because it violated official public memory of 9/11—several others did that without the backlash—but because it combined those violations with the destruction of sensus communis .
Renewing Tradition in Community: George W. Bush, Calvin College, and the Controversy over Identity
Authors: VanderHaagen Sara C.
Published: April 2009

Public controversy has the potential to identify and reconstitute the pertinent values, beliefs, and practices that characterize our human communities. On the occasion of President George W. Bush's 2005 commencement visit, members of the community of Calvin College in Michigan engaged in such a controversy. Their collective articulation about a shared past and tradition enabled the community to reconstitute its identity in ways that rendered it more capable of change, flexibility, and resilience.
Contaminated Communities: The Metaphor of "Immigrant as Pollutant" in Media Representations of Immigration
Authors: Cisneros J. David
Published: April 2009

Popular rhetoric about immigration often operates by constructing metaphoric representations of immigrants that concretize the social "problem" and connote particular solutions. Scholars have identified discursive connections between the rhetoric of immigration and representations of other human problems such as crime or war. This essay identifies another metaphor present in popular media coverage of immigration, particularly visual images of immigrants. The metaphor of "immigrant as pollutant" present in news media discourse on immigration can have serious consequences for societal treatment of immigrants as well as the policies designed to respond to immigration.
Making the Worse Case Appear the Better: British Reception of the Greek Sophists prior to 1850
Authors: Whedbee Karen E.
Published: April 2009

This essay surveys descriptions of the ancient Greek sophists written by British historians in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. At that time, most historians portrayed the sophists as representing the corrosive influence of populism and commercialism on the intellectual life of ancient Athens. Beginning in the 1820s, several Whig and Radical historians began to challenge the traditional interpretation. Just as before, the revisionist histories of the sophists were shaped as much by modern political, economic, and religious interests as by disagreements about the evidentiary status of textual fragments from antiquity. Among the authors discussed in this survey are William Mitford, Walter Anderson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Mitchell, John Forster, Thomas Babbington Macaulay, Connop Thirlwall, G. H. Lewes, and George Grote.
Cystatin C for Enhancement of Risk Stratification in Non–ST Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients with an Increased Troponin T
Authors: Windhausen Fons , Hirsch Alexander , Fischer Johan , van der Zee P Marc , Sanders Gerard T , van Straalen Jan P , Cornel Jan Hein , Tijssen Jan G P , Verheugt Freek W A , de Winter Robbert J ,   for the Invasive versus Conservative Treatment in Unstable Coronary Syndromes (ICTUS) Investigators
Published: April 2009

Background: We assessed the value of cystatin C for improvement of risk stratification in patients with non–ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (nSTE-ACS) and increased cardiac troponin T (cTnT), and we compared the long-term effects of an early invasive treatment strategy (EIS) with a selective invasive treatment strategy (SIS) with regard to renal function.

Methods: Patients (n = 1128) randomized to an EIS or an SIS in the ICTUS trial were stratified according to the tertiles of the cystatin C concentration at baseline. The end points were death within 4 years and spontaneous myocardial infarction (MI) within 3 years.

Results: Mortality was 3.4%, 6.2%, and 13.5% in the first, second, and third tertiles, respectively, of cystatin C concentration (log-rank P < 0.001), and the respective rates of spontaneous MI were 5.5%, 7.5%, and 9.8% (log-rank P = 0.03). In a multivariate Cox regression analysis, the cystatin C concentration in the third quartile remained independently predictive of mortality [hazard ratio (HR), 2.04; 95% CI, 1.02–4.10; P = 0.04] and spontaneous MI (HR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.05–3.63; P = 0.04). The mortality rate in the second tertile was lower with the EIS than with the SIS (3.8% vs 8.7%). In the third tertile, the mortality rates with the EIS and the SIS were, respectively, 15.0% and 12.2% (P for interaction = 0.04). Rates of spontaneous MI were similar for the EIS and the SIS within cystatin C tertiles (P for interaction = 0.22).

Conclusions: In patients with nSTE-ACS and an increased cTnT concentration, mild to moderate renal dysfunction is associated with a higher risk of death and spontaneous MI. Use of cystatin C as a serum marker of renal function may improve risk stratification.
Distribution and Correlation of Tributyltin and Organic Matter in the Sediments of Hakata Bay, Japan
Authors: Ohtsubo M. , Higashi T. , Kanayama M. , Inoue S. , Oshima Y.
Published: April 2009

Tributyltin (TBT) is used as effective antifouling agents in boat paints and has been found to be present in marine and freshwaters ecosystem at concentrations exceeding acute and chronic toxicity levels. In the present study, horizontal and vertical TBT distributions in the sediment of Hakata Bay, Japan, have been investigated. Basic properties of the sediment such as clay mineralogy, particle size and organic matter content were also determined, and their relations with TBT concentrations in the sediment were discussed, focusing on organic matter. Sediments in the study sites consist mostly of clay soil with clay fraction of 21 % to 35 %, and major clay minerals in the sediments were smectite, followed by vermiculite, illite, and kaolinite. TBT concentration in overlying water ranged from 13 to 94 ng⋅L−1 at locations within the harbor, and from 13 to 32 ng⋅L−1 at locations outside of the harbor. TBT concentration in top 3 cm sediment varied from 0.018 to 1.101 mg⋅kg−1. Sorption coefficient was in a range of 1.03 to 5.7×103 (L kg−1) for sediments at most stations, and on the order of 104 for sediments with higher organic matter content. The organic matter content and TBT concentration in sediments changed with depth in a similar pattern at all stations. The organic matter decreased with depth up to 12 cm and was almost constant below 12 cm. TBT concentrations appeared to be higher at depth above 12 cm than below 12 cm. A positive correlation was observed between TBT concentration and organic matter content for all core samples data. According to other researchers, an increase in TBT concentration due to increase in organic matter appears to be the results of sorption of TBT+ on negatively charged surfaces of organic matter as well as hydrophobic sorption of TBT compounds on organic matter.
A Materials Science-Based Approach to Characterizing Fire Resistive Materials
Authors: Bentz Dale P. , White Christopher C. , Prasad Kuldeep R. , Flynn Daniel R. , Hunston Donald L. , Tan Kar Tean
Published: April 2009

While ASTM E119-07a is commonly employed to establish a fire rating for a fire resistive material (FRM)/steel assembly, the test method provides little quantitative information on either the thermophysical or adhesion properties of the FRM, beyond indicating that they are sufficient to achieve the measured rating. As part of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) Structural Performance Under Multi-hazards program, a materials science-based approach is being applied to develop new methodologies and test methods for characterizing these complex dynamic materials. These quantitative characterizations can then be used as inputs to thermal/mechanical performance models and also for obtaining a better understanding of how these materials perform their intended role and how they could be improved. Thermophysical properties that must be characterized as a function of temperature include density, heat capacity, thermal conductivity, and heats of reactions and phase changes. For example, for high temperature thermal conductivity, a new measurement technique based on the use of a slug calorimeter has been developed and standardized in the ASTM E37 Thermal Measurements committee. In addition to adequate thermophysical properties, adhesion properties are critical to ensure that the FRM continues to protect its substrate during a fire exposure. Research on developing new test methods for both laboratory and field evaluations of adhesion will be presented. Like thermal properties, adhesion has also been observed to be strongly influenced by exposure to elevated temperatures. Finally, capabilities developed at NIST to obtain quantitative descriptions of the three-dimensional microstructures of FRMs and relate them to thermal properties such as thermal conductivity will be demonstrated. Much of this research has been completed as part of the ongoing NIST/industry consortium on “Performance Assessment and Optimization of Fire Resistive Materials.”
NTRK1 and NTRK2 receptors facilitate follicle assembly and early follicular development in the mouse ovary
Authors: Kerr Bredford , Garcia-Rudaz Cecilia , Dorfman Mauricio , Paredes Alfonso , Ojeda Sergio R
Published: April 2009

Recent studies have demonstrated that neurotrophins (NTs) and their NTRK tyrosine kinase receptors, thought to be exclusively required for the development of the nervous system, are also involved in controlling ovarian development. Here, we show that primordial follicle formation is decreased in the absence of nerve growth factor (NGF) or its receptor NTRK1, and in the absence of NTRK2, the receptor for neurotrophin-4 (NTF4) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This deficiency is not due to premature oocyte loss, because the ovaries ofNtrk1−/−andNtrk2−/−mice do not show an increased rate of oocyte death antedating the initiation of folliculogenesis. Moreover, exposure of NGF-deficient ovaries to NGF rescues the defect in follicular assembly, if NTRK1 receptors are present, suggesting that the absence of NTs causes a delay, and not an irretrievable loss, of follicle formation. Both the number of secondary follicles and FSH receptor (FSHR) expression are diminished inNtrk1- andNtrk2-null ovaries, but not in ovaries lacking the common NT receptor NGFR. Transient exposure of wild-type ovaries to NTF4 increasesFshrgene expression and enhances the ability of the ovary to respond to FSH with formation of cyclin D2, a cell cycle protein mediating the proliferative actions of FSH in the ovary. These results indicate that both NTRK1 and NTRK2 receptors are necessary for the timely assembly of primordial follicles and for sustaining early follicular development. They also suggest that a mechanism by which NTRK2 receptors facilitate subsequent follicle development is by inducing the formation of functional FSHR.