Who Replaces Agriculture's Contribution to Settlement in Lagging Rural Areas? An Integrated Input-Output and Dynamic Simulation Analysis

This paper develops an integrated model for analysing regional economic development and structural change in agriculture. The input-output method allows the detailed description of a regional economy. Based on this description, regional growth pole sectors can be identified that are potential leverage points for growth oriented development strategies. Dynamic simulation tests the long term effects of such a development strategy. Model results show that external demand is the main driving force behind regional economic growth. However, development strategies for lagging rural areas have to be coupled to development strategies for regional centres. Only if the rural areas surrounding regional centres become an important asset for the development of these centres can rural areas be stabilised.rural regions, economic development, input-output, dynamic simulation, Community/Rural/Urban Development, C6, R11, R15, R23, R58,

movingAlps - ein neuer Weg in der Regional-entwicklung?

Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Counting and effective rigidity in algebra and geometry

The purpose of this article is to produce effective versions of some rigidity results in algebra and geometry. On the geometric side, we focus on the spectrum of primitive geodesic lengths (resp., complex lengths) for arithmetic hyperbolic 2-manifolds (resp., 3-manifolds). By work of Reid, this spectrum determines the commensurability class of the 2-manifold (resp., 3-manifold). We establish effective versions of these rigidity results by ensuring that, for two incommensurable arithmetic manifolds of bounded volume, the length sets (resp., the complex length sets) must disagree for a length that can be explicitly bounded as a function of volume. We also prove an effective version of a similar rigidity result established by the second author with Reid on a surface analog of the length spectrum for hyperbolic 3-manifolds. These effective results have corresponding algebraic analogs involving maximal subfields and quaternion subalgebras of quaternion algebras. To prove these effective rigidity results, we establish results on the asymptotic behavior of certain algebraic and geometric counting functions which are of independent interest.Comment: v.2, 39 pages. To appear in Invent. Mat

Second-to-Fourth Digit Ratio Has a Non-Monotonic Impact on Altruism

Gene-culture co-evolution emphasizes the joint role of culture and genes for the emergence of altruistic and cooperative behaviors and behavioral genetics provides estimates of their relative importance. However, these approaches cannot assess which biological traits determine altruism or how. We analyze the association between altruism in adults and the exposure to prenatal sex hormones, using the second-to-fourth digit ratio. We find an inverted U-shaped relation for left and right hands, which is very consistent for men and less systematic for women. Subjects with both high and low digit ratios give less than individuals with intermediate digit ratios. We repeat the exercise with the same subjects seven months later and find a similar association, even though subjects' behavior differs the second time they play the game. We then construct proxies of the median digit ratio in the population (using more than 1000 different subjects), show that subjects' altruism decreases with the distance of their ratio to these proxies. These results provide direct evidence that prenatal events contribute to the variation of altruistic behavior and that the exposure to fetal hormones is one of the relevant biological factors. In addition, the findings suggest that there might be an optimal level of exposure to these hormones from social perspective.Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (ECO2010{17049; ECO2009-09120), the Government of Andalusia Project for Excellence in Research (P07.SEJ.02547), the Government of the Basque Country (IT-223–07) and Fundacion Ramon Areces (I+D-2011)is gratefully acknowledged

Ignicoccus hospitalis and Nanoarchaeum equitans: ultrastructure, cell–cell interaction, and 3D reconstruction from serial sections of freeze-substituted cells and by electron cryotomography

Ultrastructure and intercellular interaction of Ignicoccus hospitalis and Nanoarchaeum equitans were investigated using two different electron microscopy approaches, by three-dimensional reconstructions from serial sections, and by electron cryotomography. Serial sections were assembled into 3D reconstructions, for visualizing the unusual complexity of I. hospitalis, its huge periplasmic space, the vesiculating cytoplasmic membrane, and the outer membrane. The cytoplasm contains fibres which are reminiscent to a cytoskeleton. Cell division in I. hospitalis is complex, and different to that in Euryarchaeota or Bacteria. An irregular invagination of the cytoplasmic membrane is followed by separation of the two cytoplasms. Simultaneous constriction of cytoplasmic plus outer membrane is not observed. Cells of N. equitans show a classical mode of cell division, by constriction in the mid-plane. Their cytoplasm exhibits two types of fibres, elongated and ring-shaped. Electron micrographs of contact sites between I. hospitalis and N. equitans exhibit two modes of interaction. One is indirect and mediated by thin fibres; in other cells the two cell surfaces are in direct contact. The two membranes of I. hospitalis cells are frequently seen in direct contact, possibly a prerequisite for transporting metabolites or substrates from the cytoplasm of one cell to the other. Rarely, a transport based on cargo vesicles is observed between I. hospitalis and N. equitans

Who Replaces Agriculture's Contribution to Settlement in Lagging Rural Areas? An Integrated Input-Output and Dynamic Simulation Analysis

This paper develops an integrated model for analysing regional economic development and structural change in agriculture. The input-output method allows the detailed description of a regional economy. Based on this description, regional growth pole sectors can be identified that are potential leverage points for growth oriented development strategies. Dynamic simulation tests the long term effects of such a development strategy. Model results show that external demand is the main driving force behind regional economic growth. However, development strategies for lagging rural areas have to be coupled to development strategies for regional centres. Only if the rural areas surrounding regional centres become an important asset for the development of these centres can rural areas be stabilised