ESSAYS ON URBAN ECONOMICS, SOCIAL NETWORKS AND INNOVATION

My dissertation comprises two papers on urban economics, social networks, and innovation. The main question that connects these two papers is what the trade-off between inventor teams and social networks in patent development is. Two papers provide empirical evidence and answer the question from different perspectives. Chapter 1 examines the joint effect of inventor social networks and team size on patent impact. Using data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) from 1975 to 2010, results confirm that the marginal effect of network size on patent impact decreases as team size expands, indicating that inventor networks and team size are substitutes. The substitution effect is stronger for teams and networks within a shared technology field. The marginal effect of inventor networks on the amount of knowledge and the speed with which new knowledge in a field is adopted also diminishes as team size increases. Chapter 2 identifies the causal effect of non-compete clause enforceability on patent inventor team size, external network size and accessibility using a quasi-natural experiment of the Michigan Antitrust Reform Act (MARA) in 1985. Compared with states with similar enforceability from 1980 to 1990, patents in Michigan are 4% less likely developed by single inventors and 1.3% more likely produced by large teams with at least four inventors. Old firms, especially those relying heavily on hiring inventors from other firms for patent development, experience a fast expansion in inventor team size in the short run. Meanwhile, patent development in Michigan is 2.6% less likely to access external knowledge and information through inventors recently hired from other firms within the same state. However, there is no clear relationship between MARA and the external network sizes. Most of these findings are in support of the results of Chapter 1

Household water consumption: Insight from a survey in Greece and Poland

© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Determining the behavior of domestic water consumers can facilitate a more proactive approach to water demand management, and serves as the foundation for the development of any intervention strategies that seek to bring about sustained and substantial reductions in domestic water consumption. As part of the European Union (EU) funded project Integrated Support System for Efficient Water Usage and Resources Management (ISS-EWATUS), a household water consumption survey was administered to address the question of how water was used within the home in the EU. The survey was distributed by the University of Thessaly in Greece, and the Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas in Poland. This paper represents the research output of the survey, including the analysis of three major elements pertinent to the behavior of domestic water consumers: end use behaviors; socio-demographic and property characteristics; and psychosocial constructs such as attitudes and beliefs

Integrators of the Cytoskeleton that Stabilize Microtubules

AbstractSensory neurodegeneration occurs in mice defective in BPAG1, a gene encoding cytoskeletal linker proteins capable of anchoring neuronal intermediate filaments to actin cytoskeleton. While BPAG1 null mice fail to anchor neurofilaments (NFs), BPAG1/NF null mice still degenerate in the absence of NFs. We report a novel neural splice form that lacks the actin-binding domain and instead binds and stabilizes microtubules. This interaction is functionally important; in mice and in vitro, neurons lacking BPAG1 display short, disorganized, and unstable microtubules defective in axonal transport. Ironically, BPAG1 neural isoforms represent microtubule-associated proteins that when absent lead to devastating consequences. Moreover, BPAG1 can functionally account for the extraordinary stability of axonal microtubules necessary for transport over long distances. Its isoforms interconnect all three cytoskeletal networks, a feature apparently central to neuronal survival

Navigating Text-To-Image Customization:From LyCORIS Fine-Tuning to Model Evaluation

Text-to-image generative models have garnered immense attention for their ability to produce high-fidelity images from text prompts. Among these, Stable Diffusion distinguishes itself as a leading open-source model in this fast-growing field. However, the intricacies of fine-tuning these models pose multiple challenges from new methodology integration to systematic evaluation. Addressing these issues, this paper introduces LyCORIS (Lora beYond Conventional methods, Other Rank adaptation Implementations for Stable diffusion) [https://github.com/KohakuBlueleaf/LyCORIS], an open-source library that offers a wide selection of fine-tuning methodologies for Stable Diffusion. Furthermore, we present a thorough framework for the systematic assessment of varied fine-tuning techniques. This framework employs a diverse suite of metrics and delves into multiple facets of fine-tuning, including hyperparameter adjustments and the evaluation with different prompt types across various concept categories. Through this comprehensive approach, our work provides essential insights into the nuanced effects of fine-tuning parameters, bridging the gap between state-of-the-art research and practical application.Comment: 77 pages, 54 figures, 6 table