CONCENTRATION, MARKET POWER, AND COST EFFICIENCY IN THE CORN SEED INDUSTRY

The paper presents a model developed to examine the effects of industry concentration on market power and cost efficiency in the seed industry. In addition, the paper presents preliminary measures of the relative strengths of these effects for the case of the U.S. corn seed industry over the past 3 decades. The model uses conjectural elasticities and is estimated using data collected from USDA sources. The empirical results allow us to distinguish between the market power and cost effects of concentration, and to ascertain the tradeoff between the cost efficiency and market power resulting from higher concentration in the corn seed industry.Marketing,

Supersymmetric methods in the traveling variable: inside neurons and at the brain scale

We apply the mathematical technique of factorization of differential operators to two different problems. First we review our results related to the supersymmetry of the Montroll kinks moving onto the microtubule walls as well as mentioning the sine-Gordon model for the microtubule nonlinear excitations. Second, we find analytic expressions for a class of one-parameter solutions of a sort of diffusion equation of Bessel type that is obtained by supersymmetry from the homogeneous form of a simple damped wave equations derived in the works of P.A. Robinson and collaborators for the corticothalamic system. We also present a possible interpretation of the diffusion equation in the brain contextComment: 14 pages, 1 figur

La propaganda en las portadas de libros de la orden de San Basilio en España. Siglo XVII

La rama española de la orden monástica de San Basilio fue creada a finales del siglo XVI; los monjes basilios necesitaban dar a conocer su nueva orden para poder abrirse paso entre aquellas otras establecidas desde hacía siglos. Para ello utilizaron, entre otros medios, el soporte propagandístico de las portadas de los libros publicados por los miembros de su comunidad. En ellas desarrollaron un programa coherente y sistemático que buscaba difundir los símbolos de identidad de la nueva orden (iconografía de su santo titular, de su escudo y de los santos basilios), destacar la importancia de los protectores de la orden a través de su presencia heráldica, así como justificar la existencia y necesidad de la propia orden a través de la utilización de la ambigüedad del lenguaje emblemático. Todo un conjunto de portadas calcográficas que constituye un notable ejemplo de lo que fue este tipo de propaganda al servicio de una orden religiosa.The Spanish branch of the monastic Order of Saint Basil was established at the end of XVI century; by that time, the basilian monks needed to make their new Order known to survive among those Orders found centuries before. For this reason they used, among others means, the first covers of the books published by the members of his community as advertising media. With the use of this method, they developed a coherent and systematic program to spread out their new Order identity symbols (iconography of their founder saint, their heraldic shield and the basilian saints), emphasizing the importance of the protectors of their Order through their heraldic presence, as well as to justify the existence and necessity of the Order itself through the use of the ambiguity of the emblematic language. A whole set of engraved first covers that constitute a considerable example of this type of advertising to the service of a religious Order

The Magic of the Puppets in the Spanish Golden Theater: the Máquina Real in the Corral de la Montería of Seville

El objetivo del presente artículo es la visualización en 3D, de la reconstrucción virtual de la Máquina Real sobre el escenario del Corral de la Montería de Sevilla y la temprana apropiación por las compañías de titiriteros de los corrales de comedias como espacio para el ejercicio de sus diversas actividades y del estatuto jurídico de las compañías profesionales de comediantes.The aim of the present paper is to offer a 3D display of the virtual reconstruction of the Royal Machine on the stage of the Corral de la Montería in Seville and the early appropriation of the corrales de comedias by puppeteer companies as spaces for the practice of their various activities and of the legal status of the professional comedian companies

Noticias de Francisco Herrera el Viejo en Madrid y del retablo mayor del Colegio de San Basilio de Sevilla

En este artículo se dan a conocer documentos que certifican la presencia en Madrid del pintor Francisco de Herrera el Viejo en 1647 y 1648. Además, se aportan importantes novedades acerca del retablo de San Basilio, de Sevilla: las medidas de su arquitectura; el retraso en casi diez años de su instalación y pago al pintor; y, sobre todo, las tres pinturas localizadas - un Niño Jesús, de la puerta del sagrario y los retratos de San Basilio el Mayor y de Santa Eumelia, padres de San Basilio - que continúan insertas en un fragmento del retablo original.Documents are presented here attesting to the presence of the painter Francisco de Herrera el Viejo in Madrid between 1647 and 1648. Likewise, important new information concerning the altarpiece of San Basilio in Seville is brought to light: the measurements of the architectural structure, the delay of almost ten years in its installation and payment to the artist; and, above all, the three paintings now located – a Christ Child from the door of the ciborium, and the portraits of Saint Basil the Great and Saint Eumelia, parents of Saint Basil – still attached to a fragment of the original alterpiece