bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Does Learning by Exporting Happen? Evidence from the Automobile Industry in China
Authors: Luong Tuan Anh 
Published: July 2013

AbstractThe concept that exporters learn from their exporting experience is a theoretical result that needs to be tested empirically. However, the literature provides mixed evidence. In this paper, to estimate productivity, an approach suggested by De Loecker is applied, which corrects for econometric and consistency problems. Using a dataset for the Chinese automobile between 1998 and 2007, no evidence of learning by exporting was found. The data also suggests explanations for why it does not support this hypothesis.
Characteristics of Acquirers and Targets in Domestic and Cross‐border Mergers and Aquisitions
Authors: Liu Qing , Qiu Larry D. 
Published: July 2013

AbstractTo help understand mergers and acquisitions (M&As), this paper utilizes the most recent M&A data (1991–2007) to establish empirical facts on a variety of performance measures for M&A acquirers, targets, and non‐participants. Unlike the finance literature which mainly focuses on abnormal returns, our performance measures include firm size, technology, productivity, and profitability. Generally, in domestic M&As, in cross‐border M&As, in the pre‐merger period and in the post‐merger period, acquirers perform better than targets, whereas targets perform better than non‐participants. Firms' performance is improved after the M&As. We also find that in the pre‐merger period, US firms that acquire foreign firms in developing countries are significantly better than those that acquire foreign firms in developed countries.
An Application of the Melitz Model to Chinese Firms
Authors: Sun Churen , Tian Guoqiang , Zhang Tao 
Published: July 2013

AbstractWhen the Melitz model is implemented in practice, the industrial productivity distribution is often assumed to be of Pareto form. In this case, a fundamental relationship κ > σ − 1 must hold to guarantee the convergence of the industrial average productivity, where κ is the concentration degree of the industrial productivity Pareto distribution and σ is the substitution elasticity across varieties in the industry. This paper estimates the concentration degrees of the Pareto distribution in industrial productivity and industrial substitution elasticities using firm‐level data of 40 Chinese manufacturing industries between 1998 and 2007. However, the paper shows that the above fundamental assumption κ > σ − 1 does not hold for nearly all the industries for Chinese firm‐level data. An explanation is proposed as a result of the distorted firm size and productivity for Chinese characteristics.
The Dynamics of Expansion to Emerging Markets: Evidence from Canadian Exporters
Authors: Sui Sui , Yu Zhihao 
Published: July 2013

AbstractThis study investigates the expansion patterns of Canadian firms towards emerging markets. A unique large‐scale longitudinal (1997–2004) dataset which includes 2600 Canadian exporters is constructed by linking multiple administrative databases at Statistics Canada. Our results suggest traditional sequential exporting patterns do not apply to all Canadian exporters. Since 2001, there has been an increasing trend among a new generation of exporters to target emerging markets as their initial export destination; and both macroeconomic and firm‐specific factors seem to account for this development. Compared with foreign‐controlled firms, Canadian‐controlled firms are less likely to export to the emerging markets. In order to successfully expand into emerging markets, Canadian firms have had to improve their productivity and reduce their labor costs.
Occupational Choice, Aggregate Productivity, and Trade
Authors: Meckl Jürgen , Weigert Benjamin 
Published: July 2013

AbstractWe propose occupational decisions of heterogeneous individuals as an alternative mechanism of explaining the distribution of firm productivities emphasized by empirical studies. Thus, we integrate the frameworks of Melitz (Econometrica 71 (2003):1695–725), and of Manasse and Turrini (Journal of International Economics 54 (2001):97–117) that establish the theoretical base of trade models with heterogeneous firms. Our model is technically much simpler than the Melitz approach while preserving the main results on firm‐selection effects caused by international market integration. Our approach paves the way for detailed analysis of institutions in a heterogeneous firm model to better understand the link between institutions and an economy's productivity distribution.
Does Human Capital Endowment of Foreign Direct Investment Recipient Countries Really Matter? Evidence from Cross‐country Firm Level Data
Authors: Bhaumik Sumon Kumar , Dimova Ralitza 
Published: July 2013

AbstractThe stylized literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) suggests that developing countries should invest in the human capital of their labor force in order to attract FDI. However, if educational quality in developing country is uncertain such that formal education is a noisy signal of human capital, it might be rational for multinational enterprises to focus more on job‐specific training than on formal education of the labor force. Using cross‐country data from the textiles and garments industry, we demonstrate that training indeed has a greater impact on firm efficiency in developing countries than formal education of the workforce.
On the State Advertising Policy under Quality Information Bias
Authors: Ishii Yasunori 
Published: July 2013

AbstractThis paper analyzes the effects of the state advertising policy of a developing country on the quality–price competition between its firm and a developed country's firm in an international duopoly. It considers the quality information bias under which the product quality of the developing country's firm is underestimated and the state advertising policy that is implemented by the developing country in order to improve such information bias at a national expense. We show that while a rise in the state advertising expense of the developing country raises (reduces) the quality, price, and profit of the firm in the developing (developed) country, it makes the firms’ quality–price competition more intense, and vice versa. We also find that the developing country's state advertising policy is an incomplete‐bias‐adjusting policy that does not completely eradicate the quality information bias of its firm.
Who Benefited More from the North American Free Trade Agreement: Small or Large Farmers? Evidence from Mexico
Authors: Prina Silvia 
Published: July 2013

AbstractThis paper measures the impact of increasing trade openness between Mexico and the USA resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the income of small versus large farmers in Mexico. Benefits resulting from higher prices of export goods as well as losses incurred from greater import competition are considered. First, relating NAFTA cuts in trade restrictions to border prices of Mexican exports and imports, it is found that NAFTA‐induced tariff reductions decreased the border price of corn, Mexico's main agricultural import, and increased the border prices of tomatoes and melons, Mexico's main agricultural exports. Then, it is shown that the rise in fruit and vegetable prices benefited small farmers more than large farmers; while the drop in corn prices hurt large farmers more. Finally, the results from the regional‐level analysis suggests that the effects are stronger in the central states than in the northern and southern states.
The Dynamic Effects of Fiscal Stimulus in a Two‐Sector Open Economy
Authors: Guest Ross , Makin Anthony 
Published: July 2013

AbstractIn 2009/10 governments around the world implemented unprecedented fiscal stimulus in order to counter the impact of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/09. This paper analyzes the impact of fiscal stimulus using a dynamic open economy, overlapping generations model that allows for feedback effects of fiscal stimulus on private sector expenditure via changes in the tax rate and the interest rate. There are two types of goods—traded (T) and nontraded (N) goods—which differ in their capital intensities. The main qualitative result is that the dynamic output gains from fiscal stimulus depend on the productivity of the initial stimulus spending, on the speed of repayment of debt, on the sensitivities of the interest rate to government debt and of labor supply to the tax rate. Also, the overlapping generations framework allows an intergenerational welfare analysis. Among the biggest winners from stimulus are those about to retire. The biggest losers are those near the start of their working lives when the stimulus is implemented.
Hemodialysis and Water Quality
Authors: Coulliette Angela D. , Arduino Matthew J. 
Published: July 2013

AbstractOver 383,900 individuals in the U.S. undergo maintenance hemodialysis that exposes them to water, primarily in the form of dialysate. The quality of water and associated dialysis solutions have been implicated in adverse patient outcomes and is therefore critical. The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation has published both standards and recommended practices that address both water and the dialyzing solutions. Some of these recommendations have been adopted into Federal Regulations by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as part of the Conditions for Coverage, which includes limits on specific contaminants within water used for dialysis, dialysate, and substitution fluids. Chemical, bacterial, and endotoxin contaminants are health threats to dialysis patients, as shown by the continued episodic nature of outbreaks since the 1960s causing at least 592 cases and 16 deaths in the U.S. The importance of the dialysis water distribution system, current standards and recommendations, acceptable monitoring methods, a review of chemical, bacterial, and endotoxin outbreaks, and infection control programs are discussed.
Prevention of Peritonitis in Peritoneal Dialysis
Authors: Segal Jonathan H. , Messana Joseph M. 
Published: July 2013

AbstractReducing the frequency of peritonitis for patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD) continues to be a challenge. This review focuses on recent updates in catheter care and other patient factors that influence infection rates. An experienced nursing staff plays an important role in teaching proper PD technique to new patients, but nursing staff must be cognizant of each patient's unique educational needs. Over time, many patients become less adherent to proper dialysis technique, such as washing hands or wearing a mask. This behavior is associated with higher risk of peritonitis and is modifiable with re‐training. Prophylactic antibiotics before PD catheter placement can decrease the infection risk immediately after catheter placement. In addition, some studies suggest that prophylaxis against fungal superinfection after antibiotic exposure is effective in reducing fungal peritonitis, although larger randomized studies are needed before this practice can be recommended for all patients. Over time, exit site and nasal colonization with pathogenic organisms can lead to exit‐site infections and peritonitis. For patients with Staphylococcus aureus colonization, exit‐site prophylaxis with either mupirocin or gentamicin cream reduces clinical infection with this organism. Although there are limited data for support, antibiotic prophylaxis before gastrointestinal, gynecologic, or dental procedures may also help reduce the risk of peritonitis.
The Economics of Hemodialysis Catheter‐Related Infection Prophylaxis
Authors: Kosa S. Daisy , Lok Charmaine E. 
Published: July 2013

AbstractHemodialysis central venous catheter (CVC) use is associated with the highest morbidity, mortality, and cost of all types of hemodialysis vascular access. CVC‐related infection drives much of the cost associated with CVC use. The magnitude of the cost associated with CVC‐related infection varies depending on the type and severity of that infection; however, estimates of the total direct and indirect costs associated with hospitalizations due to hemodialysis CVC‐related infections range from 17,000 USD to 32,000 USD per episode. Thus, it is critically important, to not only have effective strategies to limit CVC‐related infection but also evaluate whether these strategies are an efficient use of resources. Prophylactic strategies can be considered economically efficient only if the value of its implementation and the corresponding drop in infection rate offer greater value than standard care. The optimal CVC‐related infection prophylaxis strategy should work to limit infection risk with minimal risk, inconvenience, and discomfort to the patient, and at minimal cost. The aim of this review was to examine the clinical and economic impact of some commonly described interventions used for CVC infection prophylaxis.
A Systematic Review of Buttonhole Cannulation Practices and Outcomes
Authors: Grudzinski Alexa , Mendelssohn David , Pierratos Andreas , Nesrallah Gihad 
Published: July 2013

AbstractButtonhole (constant site) cannulation has emerged as an attractive technique for needling arteriovenous fistulae. However, the balance of benefits and harms associated with this intervention is unclear. We conducted a systematic review of studies reporting outcomes with buttonhole cannulation. The setting and population included adult patients receiving home or center hemodialysis. We searched MEDLINE, Embase (1980‐June 2012), and CINAHL (1997‐June 2012), for randomized and observational studies. We also searched conference proceedings (2009–2011). The interventions included: 1) buttonhole cannulation established by sharp needles, with or without a polycarbonate peg, 2) rope‐ladder cannulation. Outcomes of interest included: Facility practices, systemic infection, local infection, access survival, access interventions, access‐related hospitalization, patient survival, pain, quality of life, and aneurysm formation. We identified 23 full‐text articles and 4 abstracts; 3 were open‐label trials, and the remainder observational studies of varying design and methodological quality. Studies were predominantly descriptive and lacked direct comparisons between buttonhole and rope‐ladder cannulation. No qualitative differences in outcomes were noted among home and center hemodialysis patients using buttonhole cannulation. Rates of bacteremia were generally higher with buttonhole cannulation. Studies reporting access survival, hospitalization, quality of life, pain, and aneurysm formation had serious methodological limitations that limited our confidence in their estimates of effect. Among the various facility practices that were described, only the application of mupirocin cream was noted to be associated with reduced risk of infection. Limitations in included studies were short follow‐up, crossover designs, lack of parallel control groups, and the use of patient‐reported outcome measures that were not well validated. The main limitation of this review was a limited literature search. Buttonhole cannulation may be associated with an increased risk of infection. Larger, more definitive studies are needed to determine whether this technique is safe for broader use.
The epidemiology of human T‐cell lymphotropic virus types I and II in Canadian blood donors
Authors: O'Brien S. F. , Goldman M. , Scalia V. , Yi Q. ‐L. , Fan W. , Xi G. , Dines I. R. , Fearon M. A. 
Published: July 2013

SUMMARYObjectivesBlood donors in Canada have been tested for Human T‐Cell Lymphotropic Virus (HTLV) since 1990. We report the epidemiology, risk factors and lookback/traceback of HTLV‐positive donors/recipients.MethodsThe annual HTLV rate was calculated from 1990 to 2010. Residual risk was estimated as the product of incidence and window period. Twenty‐nine HTLV‐positive donors and 116 matched controls (ratio 1 : 4) were interviewed about risk factors. For HTLV‐positive donations, lookback investigations involved identification of all previous donations, and attempting to locate and test recipients. Traceback was initiated when transfusion transmission was queried for HTLV‐positive blood recipients. All donors of products that the recipient received were identified, with an attempt to locate and test them.ResultsThe HTLV rate decreased from 9·35 per 100 000 donations in 1990 to 1·11 in 2010. The residual risk of infection was 1 in 7·6 million donations. In logistic regression birth overseas (OR 18·7), history of sexually transmitted diseases (OR 32·9), sex with unknown background (OR 5·4) and blood transfusion (OR 8·9) were significant predictors. In the lookback study, of 109 HTLV‐positive donors, 508 components were transfused, of whom 147 recipients were tested and 18 (12%) were positive. All were transfused prior to the implementation of donor testing. Twenty‐three traceback investigations were requested involving 324 transfused untested products,of whom 219 (67·6%) of donors were tested and 13 (6%) were positive for HTLV.ConclusionsWith testing of the blood supply, the risk from HTLV is very low and while most HTLV‐positive donors have risk factors, deferrable risk is rare.
Serosurvey and Observational Study of US Army Veterinary Corps Officers for Q Fever Antibodies from 1989 to 2008
Authors: Vest K. G. , Clark L. L. 
Published: July 2013

SummarySince World War II, the military has experienced outbreaks of Q fever among deploying units including recent case reports of Q fever in US military personnel returning from serving in the Middle East during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Occupational exposure and prevalence of Q fever among US Army Veterinary Corps officers have not been examined. A retrospective serosurvey and observational study of 500 military veterinarians were conducted using archived serum specimens from military veterinarians who entered and served between 1989 and 2008 and were tested for exposure to Coxiella burnetii. Corresponding longitudinal health‐related, demographic, medical and deployment data were examined. A total of 69 (13.8%) individuals at military entry and 85 (17%) had late career positive titres. A total of 18 (3.6%) individuals showed seroconversion. Women were more likely to be seropositive after military service [prevalence ratio (PR) 1.96; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15–3.35] and were also more likely to seroconvert (incidence rate ratio 3.55; 95% CI 1.19–12.7). Women who deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom were more likely to be seropositive (PR 3.17; 95% CI 1.03–9.71). Veterinarians with field service and pathology specialties had the highest incidence rates (7.0/1000 PY; 95% CI 4–12 and 3–19, respectively). This is the first report documenting US military veterinarians' exposure to C. burnetii. Military veterinarians are at risk prior to service, with moderate number of new cases developing during service and most maintaining titres for long periods of time. Women consistently demonstrated higher seroprevalence and incidence levels. As increasing numbers of women enter the veterinary profession and subsequently the US Army, this may warrant close monitoring. This study likely underestimates exposure and risk and does not address chronic health effects, which may be valuable to explore in future health studies.
Optimum Integration of a Bottoming Heat Recovery System in a Geothermal Power Plant Application
Authors: Ojo Collins O. , Pont Damien , DeSimone Andrea , Speirs Donald 
Published: July 2013

Geothermal power is becoming more and more significant in the renewable power mix of several countries in the world. The thermal conditions of the geothermal fluids exhausting from geothermal power plants shows additional potential for improved heat utilization through the integration of a low heat recovery system. This paper addresses the optimum integration of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) as bottoming cycle with a geothermal steam power plant as topping cycle over a range of geothermal fluid interface temperatures.
A reference geothermal based steam turbine power plant of 50MW capacity with indirect cycle configuration has been chosen for the study. At design point of the reference plant, optimized Organic Rankine Cycles based on three working fluids n-pentane, R123, and R245fa have been integrated at the exhaust of the geothermal fluid leaving the geothermal plant. An overall optimization of the power plant has been carried out by downsizing and over sizing the topping cycle with the integration of the bottoming cycle. One of the optimization variables for the overall plant is the interface temperature, which is a consequence of the resizing of the topping cycle. The procedure is repeated for the three different organic working fluids. By applying this procedure, it is then possible to know within a given interface temperature range, the organic working fluid that will give optimum plant performance.
The choice of ORC integration option is not only driven by the best techno-economic solution but additionally by environmental, health and safety compliance.
Thermo-Economic Analysis of the Ultra-Supercritical 900 MW Power Unit With the Various Configurations of the Auxiliary Steam Turbine
Authors: Stępczyńska Katarzyna , Łukowicz Henryk , Dykas Sławomir , Rulik Sebastian 
Published: July 2013

Coal-based electric power generation remains the basic source of obtaining energy. With increasing pressure to reduce CO2 emissions, improving power unit efficiency has become an issue of utmost significance. The development of technologies related to coal-fired power units does not focus solely on the steam parameters ahead of the turbine. Increasing the live steam parameters usually constitutes the greatest contribution to the rise in the efficiency of a power unit, but the sum of efficiency gains related to the application of other solutions can also be significant and can, in some cases, exceed the effects related to raising the temperature and steam pressure values. A paper presents thermodynamic and economic analysis of various configurations of the ultra-supercritical coal-fired 900 MW power unit with the auxiliary steam turbine. Main subject of research was a power unit considered within the Strategic Research Programme – Advanced Technologies for Energy Generation with the parameters of live and reheat steam: 30 MPa/650°C/670°C. The base configuration of the power unit has single steam reheat and electric drive boiler feed pump. Analysis of ultra-supercritical 900 MW power unit involves configuration with a single and double reheat. The following configurations of the auxiliary steam turbine will be presented and compared:
• extraction-backpressure steam turbine fed with steam from cold reheat line with bleed and steam outlet directed to the feed water heaters;
• extraction-backpressure steam turbine fed with steam from cold reheat line with bleed and steam outlet directed to the feed water heaters; the auxiliary turbine drives the boiler feed pump;
• backpressure turbine fed with steam from a hot reheat steam line operating in parallel with the intermediate-pressure turbine; the auxiliary turbine drives the boiler feed pump.
The analysis of the operation of the 900 MW unit was carried out for three load levels: for the nominal mass flow of live steam, and for the partial mass flow of 75% and 50%. For all presented solutions thermodynamic and economic analysis was performed, which has taken into account the charge for CO2 emissions.