Matthew effects and R&D subsidies: knowledge cumulability in high-tech and low-tech industries

The paper explores the causes and effects of persistence in the discretionary allocation of public subsidies to R&D activities performed by private firms in high-tech and low-tech industries. It applies the distinction between virtuous Matthew-effects and vicious Matthew-effects. The former qualifies the persistence in the discretionary allocation of public subsidies in terms of sheer reputation based upon previous awards. The latter is identified by the role of the accumulation of competence stemming from past grants in current R&D activities. Virtuous Matthew effects are found in high-tech industries where knowledge cumulability is higher. In traditional industries, vicious Matthew effects prevail for the lower levels of knowledge cumulability. Here reputation-Matthew-effects can lead to substitution of private funds with public ones. The empirical analysis is based on Transition Probability Matrices, probit regressions and Propensity Score Matching on around 700 Italian firms in the years 1998-2003.Innovation; R&D subsidies; Matthew effects; past dependence; path dependence

Recombinant Knowledge and Growth: The Case of ICTs

The economics of recombinant knowledge is a promising field of investigation. New technological systems emerge when strong cores of complementary knowledge consolidate and feed an array of coherent applications and implementations. However, diminishing returns to recombination eventually emerge, and the rates of growth of technological systems gradually decline. Empirical evidence based on analysis of the co-occurrence of technological classes within two or more patent applications, allows the identification and measurement of the dynamics of knowledge recombination. Our analysis focus on patent applications to the European Patent Office, in the period 1981-2003, and provides empirical evidence on the emergence of the new technological system based upon information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their wide scope of applications as the result of a process of knowledge recombination. The empirical investigation confirms that the recombination process has been more effective in countries characterized by higher levels of coherence and specialization of their knowledge space. Countries better able to master the recombinant generation of new technological knowledge have experienced higher rates of increase of national multifactor productivity growth.

Pecuniary Knowledge Externalities: Evidence from European Regions

The paper investigates the effects of agglomeration and specialization of technological activities on regional productivity growth,applying the notion of pecuniary knowledge externalities. The latter are indirect interdependencies between firms mediated by the price system. Pecuniary knowledge externalities enable to appreciate both the positive and negative effects associated with the regional concentration of knowledge generating activities. Our analysis leads to specify the hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped relationship between the agglomeration of innovation activities and productivity growth. The empirical investigation, based upon 138 European regions in the years 1996 through 2003, supports the hypothesis that agglomeration yields diminishing positive net effects beyond a maximum. The homogeneity of knowledge generating activities however reduces absorption costs and hence rises the net benefits at each agglomeration level.

Productivity Growth and Pecuniary Knowledge Externalities: An Empirical Analysis of Agglomeration Economies in European Regions

International audienceThe article investigates the effects of the agglomeration of technological activities on the growth in regional productivity, applying the notion of pecuniary knowledge externalities. Pecuniary knowledge externalities enable one to appreciate both the gains and losses associated with the regional concentration of knowledge-generating activities. Both are two sides of the same coin. The gains are due to the reduction in the prices of knowledge as input into its dedicated markets, while the losses stem from the reduction in the prices of knowledge as an output. This analysis allows us to contextualize the effect of geographic proximity on knowledge externalities and their impact on regional growth. Our analysis leads to the hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped relationship between the agglomeration of innovation activities and productivity growth. The empirical analysis based on a large sample of European regions from 1996 to 2003 supports the hypothesis that agglomeration yields diminishing net positive effects beyond a maximum

CRP Predicts Safe Patient Discharge after Colorectal Surgery. Reply

Reply: We would like to thank Aurelie´n Dupre`, Johan Gagnie´r, Heloı¨se Samba, Michel Rivoire, and Karem Slim for their comments about our article ‘‘Procalcitonin Reveals Early Dehiscence in Colorectal Surgery: The PREDICS Study.’’1 It is very rewarding to realize that this paper is stimulating so many observations, this means thatwe are talking about an interesting topic

Geofísica aplicada na exploração de ouro do alvo Torre, Bacia de Castro-PR

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Maximilian FriesCoorientador: Prof. Dr. Francisco José Fonseca FerreiraDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências da Terra, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geologia. Defesa : Curitiba, 19/03/2020Inclui referênciasResumo: A exploração de ouro na Bacia de Castro não é um procedimento simples. Além da complexidade geológica e de estar disseminado em baixos teores, o minério muitas vezes é alojado em veios que raramente afloram devido à alta densidade da cobertura vegetal e espessa camada do solo. De modo a facilitar a determinação de novas jazidas minerais, o presente trabalho sugere a aplicação de métodos geofísicos aéreos e terrestres. Dados aerogamaespectrométricos e aeromagnetométricos foram utilizados na seleção de possíveis depósitos, uma vez que zonas de alteração hidrotermal e feições estruturais podem ser relacionadas com parâmetros radiométricos e lineamentos magnéticos, respectivamente, e estes, por sua vez, ter associação com o minério. A partir do mapa prospectivo da Bacia de Castro gerado com auxílio da aerogeofísica, uma área potencial foi selecionada para as etapas de aquisição da geofísica terrestre. Métodos elétricos, pelo emprego da eletrorresistividade e polarização induzida, e métodos magnéticos, pela utilização da magnetometria e susceptibilidade magnética, foram desempenhados como ferramentas auxiliares nas pesquisas exploratórias da Verdau Mineração Ltda. Os resultados obtidos com o método de polarização induzida (IP) acusaram uma zona de alta cargabilidade até então desconhecida, que deve ser resposta do veio tabular de composição quartzo-adulária, calcedônia e sericita mineralizado com parcela de sulfetos metálicos disseminados, e da zona de alteração argilítica formada por minerais do grupo ilita. As seções de resistividade foram de fundamental importância para mapear falhas de baixo ângulo, caracterizadas nas seções por faixas verticais condutoras, e desta maneira diferenciar os limites da intrusão da rocha hospedeira com a encaixante. A magnetometria revelou uma zona anômala intermediária que pode indicar concentrações de magnetita em meio à matriz de brechas hidráulicas de origem hidrotermal. Respostas magnetométricas usadas em conjunto com o modelo digital de elevação removeram a ambiguidade das anomalias de IP, diferenciando as cargabilidades vinculadas ao depósito das relacionadas ao solo residual e produto dos processos assíncronos de intemperismo dos diques diabásicos. Os resultados obtidos a partir de dados geofísicos 2D e 3D foram confirmados pelas amostras de furos de sondagem. Este trabalho pode ser usado como guia para fases iniciais de campanhas de prospecção aurífera na Bacia de Castro, uma vez que os métodos e técnicas aplicados se mostraram adequados e eficazes.Abstract: The exploration of gold in the Castro Basin is a challenging task. Besides the geology complex and low content, the ore sometimes is hosted in subsurface veins of quartzadularia with almost none outcrops, by reason of dense vegetation and thick soil cap. Due to these facts, the present work suggests to apply geophysical methods to help to unveil mineralization zones. Airborne gamma-ray and magnetic data were used to select potential deposits since they can indicate hydrothermal alteration zones and geologic structures related to gold, specifically through radiometric parameters and magnetic lineaments, respectively. From the generated prospectivity map of the Castro Basin it was selected an area to employ geophysics on ground, and the chosen area was the Torre Target. Electrical methods, applied by electrical resistivity and induced polarization, and magnetic methods, by use of magnetometry and magnetic susceptibility, were used to aid the exploration research of Verdau Mineração Ltda through the detection of favorable locals of gold mineralization in the target. The induced polarization method accused an anomalous and unknown zone that must be related with an argillitic alteration zone but also the quartz-adularia, chalcedony and sericite vein, rock where the ore presents higher concentrations of gold and where are parcels of disseminated metallic sulfides. Resistivity sections were fundamental for map vertical faults, features that could be linked with the vein intrusion. Magnetic signals revealed an intermediate zone that must be associated to the concentration of magnetite amid the matrix of breccias, which in turn are associated with the same hydrothermal events. Besides have helped to understand the structural framework of the area, magnetometric responses used together with the digital elevation model removed ambiguities of the induced polarization results, separating the chargeabilities of the deposit from the chargeabilities of the residual soil cap, product of the diabase dykes weathering processes and with no connection. Results obtained from 2D and 3D geophysical data were compared with drilling holes samples and showed good correlation. This work can be used as a guide for exploration research in the Castro Basin since the methods and techniques applied exhibited to be adequate