130,772 research outputs found
Essays on International economics by Sergi Basco.
No full textThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-160).This dissertation analyzes different aspects of the globalization process. In recent years we witnessed an increasing role of emerging economies in world capital markets. Moreover, there has been a large reduction in trade costs which has allowed production to be offshored to less developed economies. Both elements are part of the globalization process but they have different effects within and between countries. The first essay studies the relationship between globalization and the appearance of rational bubbles. It shows that bubbles cannot appear in a financially developed economy in autarky. In contrast, as globalization progresses, more financially underdeveloped economies have access to world capital markets and the possibility of having a bubble in the financially developed country increases. It also shows that, conditional on having a bubble, globalization raises house prices only when the bubble is attached to houses. The second essay, co-authored with Marti Mestieri, analyzes the distributional effects of two waves of globalization. A First Globalization characterized by trade liberalizations and a Second Globalization characterized by reductions in communication costs. It shows that wage inequality always rises in the South. However, wage polarization emerges in the North during the Second Globalization. Moreover, there exists a complementarity between both globalizations. Wage polarization is delayed by the extent of trade in the First Globalization. It also shows that heterogeneous participation in Second Globalization trade generates a discontinuous pattern of specialization. The third essay studies how financial institution differences affect the offshoring choice of firms. It shows that financial institution differences affect the optimal contract offered to the supplier and are enough to generate a product cycle. Production is kept in North when the good is new and it is shifted to the South as it becomes more standardized.Ph.D
Intervals for the new Brahms Chromogranin A (CGA) assay
No full textneuroendocrine tumours. To improve analytical performance
and decrease test turnaround time, we introduced the new fully
automated Brahms CGA assay performed on Kryptor platform.
As CGA results from different assays are not comparable, we
performed a study for establishing reference intervals for the
new assay.
Methods: Fresh serum samples were obtained from 200
healthy blood donors and immediately measured for CGA.
Shapiro-Wilk and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were employed to
assess distribution of CGA values and compare groups,
respectively. Multiple regression models were used to evaluate
the influence of age and sex on CGA concentrations, including
the interaction between the two factors.
Results: 4 elevated CGA values were statistical outliers and in
3 of those individuals an interfering condition possibly
increasing CGA was identified (hyperthyroidism, vitamin D
supplementation, use of hormonal contraceptives). After their
exclusion the remaining values from 196 subjects [99 males
and 97 females; median age (range) 44 years (19-67)] were
analyzed. Median (range) CGA concentration was 41.6 μg/L
(15.9-146.2), with no gender-related difference. Although
deviating from normal frequency distribution, the visual
examination of data did not suggest log transformation.
Regression analysis confirmed the lack of gender influence,
showing however that CGA concentrations increased with age
(P <0.001). The lack of biological interaction between age and
sex excluded the hypothesis that menopausal status may
influence CGA release. Aiming to decide if reference values
should be partitioned by age, we compared CGA
concentrations in subjects <45 (n=99) and ≥45 years (n=97).
Higher CGA concentrations were found in older people
(mean±SD: 49.1±18.6 μg/L vs. 41.8±19.4 μg/L, P=0.0006).
Accounting for manufacturer’s declared imprecision at CGA
range of 80-120 μg/L (CV <7%) and the estimated upper
reference limit (97.5th percentile - URL) for subjects ≥45 (98.5
μg/L) and <45 (87.0 μg/L), we however decided to adopt a
single URL for overall population (93.7 μg/L; 90%CI: 79.0-
114.1).
Conclusions: In healthy subjects age but not gender may affect
CGA release. However this does not appear to require agerelated
reference limits
Construir a cidadania digital na rede
No full textA Rede ObLID é um grupo de investigação e intervenção para a Literacia e Inclusão Digital que agrega uma comunidade de agentes coletivos e individuais. Sediada na Unidade de Investigação e Desenvolvimento LE@D, Universidade Aberta, a rede ObLID é dinamizada por investigadores da Universidade Aberta (Portugal), da Universidade Deusto (País Basco, Espanha) e ainda, por outros investigadores e profissionais provenientes de diferentes âmbitos sociais e educativos.LE@D, UID 4372info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
A MODELIZACIÓN DOS CAMBIOS NA LONXEVIDADE DA POBLACIÓN DO PAÍS BASCO E A SÚA ESTIMACIÓN FUTURA
No full textO obxectivo deste traballo é estimar a tendencia futura da mortaldade da poboación doPaís Basco a través da mellora da mortaldade para o período 1991-2013, para o cal oestudo é validable. A investigación realízase a través dun modelo estocástico bietápico aoque realizamos dúas achegas. Por unha banda, unha información inicial supervisada queposibilitará prognosticar mellor o avellentamento da poboación do País Basco baixo oscriterios de Solvencia II. E por outra, na estimación inclúese unha variante na extensión doparámetro do tempo de calendario mediante unha regresión logarítmica lineal no canto dacoñecida “random walk with drift”.
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Analysis of the Effects due to Ash Fallout from Mt. Etna on Industrial Installations
No full textThe fallout of ash from Mt Etna has caused significant problems to the resident population, road/rail and air traffic and production activities. This work is focused on the study of the potential damage to industrial structures caused by the fallout of volcanic ash and describes the main objectives of a research project aimed at defining the potentially critical scenarios for industrial installations and infrastructures due to eruptions of Mt. Etna. In the first part of this paper, a description of the method used for the analysis of the potential damage to storage tanks due to ash fallout will be given. The second part will provide the results of the application of the method
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
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