Trust-based trade

Weak enforcement of international contracts can substantially reduce international trade. We develop a model where agents build reputations to overcome the difficulties that this institutional failure causes in a context of incomplete information. The model describes the interplay between institutional quality, reputations and the dynamics of international trade. We find that the conditional probability that a firm will stop exporting decreases and its foreign sales increase as the firm acquires greater export experience. The reason is that the informational costs that an exporter faces fall as the exporter becomes more confident about the reliability of its distributor. An improvement in the institutional quality of a country affects its imports through several distinct channels, as it changes the incentives of both current and potential exporters. Trade liberalization induces current exporters to increase their sales. It could induce entry as well, but this will happen only when the initial tariff is high and/or the institutional quality of the country is low

Regional financial development and firm growth in Peru

This paper documents the relationship between regional financial development and firm growth in the Peruvian manufacturing sector. In order to control for mutual causality between credit availability and firm growth, industry differences in financial dependence on external funds are exploited. The 1994 and 2008 rounds of the National Economic Census are used, permitting analysis at the firm level as well as the activity level. Results suggest a significant and positive effect of financial deepening on surviving firms` growth. However, this effect is smaller for micro enterprises, suggesting that the cost of external funding decreases with financial development mainly for large firms. The conclusions remain unchanged when entering and exiting firms are included. The paper further finds that credit expansion have encouraged not only firm growth but also firm entry. The results are robust using an alternative measure of financial dependence.

First-Principles Analysis of Molecular Conduction Using Quantum Chemistry Software

We present a rigorous and computationally efficient method to do a parameter-free analysis of molecular wires connected to contacts. The self-consistent field approach is coupled with Non-equilibrium Green's Function (NEGF) formalism to describe electronic transport under an applied bias. Standard quantum chemistry software is used to calculate the self-consistent field using density functional theory (DFT). Such close coupling to standard quantum chemistry software not only makes the procedure simple to implement but also makes the relation between the I-V characteristics and the chemistry of the molecule more obvious. We use our method to interpolate between two extreme examples of transport through a molecular wire connected to gold (111) contacts: band conduction in a metallic (gold) nanowire, and resonant conduction through broadened, quasidiscrete levels of a phenyl dithiol molecule. We obtain several quantities of interest like I-V characteristic, electron density and voltage drop along the molecule.Comment: Accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phys. (Special issue on molecular electronics, Ed. Mark Ratner

Spectral data for doubly excited states of helium with non-zero total angular momentum

A spectral approach is used to evaluate energies and widths for a wide range of singlet and triplet resonance states of helium. Data for total angular momentum $L=1,...,4$ is presented for resonances up to below the 5th single ionization threshold. In addition the expectation value of $\cos(\theta_{12})$ is given for the calculated resonances.Comment: 35 pages, 16 tables, to be published in Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Table

Bound States in Time-Dependent Quantum Transport: Oscillations and Memory Effects in Current and Density

The presence of bound states in a nanoscale electronic system attached to two biased, macroscopic electrodes is shown to give rise to persistent, non-decaying, localized current oscillations which can be much larger than the steady part of the current. The amplitude of these oscillations depends on the entire history of the applied potential. The bound-state contribution to the {\em static} density is history-dependent as well. Moreover, the time-dependent formulation leads to a natural definition of the bound-state occupations out of equilibrium.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Femininities and Masculinities in Highly Skilled Migration : Peruvian Graduates’ Narratives of Employment Transitions and Binational Marriages in Switzerland

Biographic research about migrant’s gender identities grasps tendencies of normativity change chronologically and transnationally. Transition to employment stories of Peruvian graduates from Swiss universities evoke continuities and changes in femininities and masculinities from Peru to Switzerland. Binational marriages that mediate employment transition after graduation play an ambivalent role in the attainment of jobs commensurate to skills. Career, partner, and care are key elements of transgressing and reinforcing non/hegemonic masculinities and un/desirable femininities from super scientist women to failing male breadwinners. Feminization of highly skilled migration from Peru is linked to urban middle classes where femininities are increasingly based on career advancement. However, these professional-oriented femininities might be neutralized in favour of care-oriented femininities from family models in Switzerland. While Peruvian female graduates constructed an ideal of care/career integration predominantly, male counterparts emphasized the risk of career success at the expense of partnership

Using real-time truck transportation information to predict customer rejections and refrigeration-system fuel efficiency in packaged salad distribution

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-141).Companies that operate cold supply chains can greatly benefit from information availability and data generation. The abundance of information now available to cold chain operators and harvested from every echelon of the supply chain, ranging from the procurement process to the sales and customer service processes, provides an opportunity for logistics organizations to monitor and improve their operations. It is increasingly imperative to transform data into meaningful information that creates a competitive advantage for early adopters. This thesis attempts to determine how to make best use of and effectively interpret the information generated by trailer mounted temperature sensors and geospatial data collection devices during refrigerated transportation of packaged salads. The study covers only the transportation segment from the manufacturer's distribution center to the customer's (grocery retailer) distribution center. This thesis uses regression analysis in an effort to create a model that effectively uses realtime transportation information to identify the elements that can create a competitive advantage for cold chain operators. The main performance measurements subject to analysis in this thesis are reefer-unit fuel consumption and rejections of salad products at the customer's drop location. Regression yields a formula that can predict more than 70% reefer fuel consumption. However, with the independent variables available in the data at our disposal, it is not possible to build a model the effectively predicts product rejections. The findings of this thesis can help operators of transportation cold chains better manage fuel consumption by isolating and improving the independent variables we identified.by Carlos Seminario and Emmanuel Marks.M.Eng.in Logistic

Analyzing plant stress granules in response to plant viruses

Plant viruses have the ability to redirect host machineries and processes to establish a productive infection. Virus-host interactions lead to the reprogramming of the plant cell cycle and transcriptional controls, inhibition of cell death pathways, interference with cell signaling and protein turnover, and suppression defense pathways. Stress granules (SGs) are structures within cells that regulate gene expression during stress response, e.g. viral infection. In mammalian cells assembly of SGs is dependent on the Ras-GAP SH3-domain–binding protein (G3BP). The C-terminal domain of the viral nonstructural protein 3 (nsP3) of Semliki Forest virus (SFV) forms a complex with mammalian G3BP and sequesters it into viral RNA replication complexes in a manner that inhibits the formation of SGs. The binding domain of nsP3 to HsG3BP was mapped to two tandem ‘FGDF’ repeat motifs close to the C-terminus of the viral proteins. It was speculated that plant viruses employ a similar strategy to inhibit SG function.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Vicerrectorado de Investigación y Programa de doctorado "Biotecnología Avanzada