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.

The BTZ black hole as a Lorentz-flat geometry

It is shown that 2+1 dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetimes are Lorentz-flat. This means, in particular, that any simply-connected patch of the BTZ black hole solution can be endowed with a Lorentz connection that is locally pure gauge. The result can be naturally extended to a wider class of black hole geometries and point particles in three-dimensional spacetime.Comment: 2 page

A certificação ISO 9001 no continente americano: análise estatística

Esse artigo apresenta um conjunto de análises qualitativas e quantitativas sobre a certificação ISO 9001 a nível mundial e ao nível dos países da América, utilizando para a pesquisa os países que fizeram parte da ISO Survey 2011 (ISO, 2012)). Para análise desse continente foram utilizados 18 países, pois os demais apresentavam valores de certificação insignificantes, ou seja, abaixo de 100 certificações no ano de 2011. Como resultado, percebe-se uma relação positiva entre o número de certificados emitidos em cada país por mil habitantes e os indicadores de desenvolvimento econômico, inovação e fatores de sofisticação. Outro dado importante é que China, Itália e Japão detém juntos mais da metade dos certificados emitidos em todo mundo. Finalizando o trabalho, percebe-se que os resultados obtidos mostram que a América Latina e o Brasil continuarão com tendência de crescimento para os próximos dois anos

Lean product development: nothing new under the sun?

The concept of lean product development has attracted the attention of many scholars since its inception in the 1990s derived from practices at Toyota Motor Company. Key to this approach to new product development (NPD) are a few methods derived from lean production as well as longer established practices such as concurrent engineering. This makes one wonder whether lean product development is a new practice, a new method or an encapsulation of already existing methods at the time; this quest for the roots and tenets of lean product development, also in comparison with other methods for NPD, is the focus of this paper. This journey takes this propositional paper not only to the roots of lean product development and the context of its era of conception, but also to what this concept adds to other extant methods for NPD. In particular, this comparison draws out that other methods are trying to achieve the same objectives: the creation of products and services with value to the customer, the reduction of time-to-market and the efficient use of resources. This inference implies that managers of new product (and service) development can choose from a wider pallet of methods and approaches to enhance the performance of R&D and to connect better to manufacturing (including supply chains). Inevitably, this has implications for research on (lean) product and service development; hence, this paper sets out a research agenda based on the deliberations and gaps that have been uncovered in the discourse

Comparison of common tests performance for Mycobacterium bovis infection diagnosis in low prevalence dairy cattle herds of southern Chile

The aim of the present study was to assess the performance of routinely used diagnostic tests to detect M. bovis infection in cattle populations with very low infection prevalence. A cross-sectional study was performed using 609 animals from 17 herds that were sampled for blood interferon, and tested with the caudal fold tuberculin test (CFT). It was planned that animals which showed CFT positive results were sent to the slaughterhouse for post mortem confirmation testing. However, not all the animals considered in the initial sampling were culled. Paired population proportions of positive results for the different diagnostic tools were compared. Apparent sensitivity and specificity was also estimated. Overall, intradermal tuberculin based diagnostics showed better performance in comparison to interferon based test, even though interferon was slightly more specific. From these results, it may be suggested that specific cut-off lines for interferon based techniques for certain areas with particular low bTB prevalence should be considered, as well as the modification of more specific antigens and the use of better combinations of PPDs if in vitro testing is intended must be taken into consideration. The uncertain role of interference bacteria that could be affecting the results of the in vitro analysis must be considered, and perhaps this could explain the apparent lack of consensus of the results obtained in Chile versus the ones obtained elsewhere. More studies must be performed in order to assess this issue

Radiosterilization of historical documents: the potential effects of gamma irradiation on paper and printing inks

The controlled exposition to gamma radiation is a physical process which can be used for the preservation and recovery of historical documents. Depending on the intrinsic characteristics of the material to be treated, it is necessary to research and stablish, from time to time, the optimum dose rate and total dose, the conditions to eliminate or reduce the biological threat, the equipment and its logistics, the economic aspects and any other impact caused by radiation on the material to be treated. The references indicate that through research it is possible to consolidate the knowledge about gamma radiation emitted from 60Co in order to completely remove or at least greatly reduce infestation by insects or biodeterioration microorganisms. On this work we have used a MDS Nordion self-contained 60Co research irradiator, model Gamacell Excel 220, at Postgraduate Institute of Engineering and Research Alberto Luiz Coimbra, in Rio de Janeiro Federal University. The analysis of the samples submitted to controlled thermal dry aging and to gamma radiation made possible to verify the differences between treated and untreated samples. The results of the chromatic measures indicate that, with the optimum total dose, the gamma radiation treatment does not significantly alter the properties of paper or printing inks. This way, it is possible to conclude that even though the gamma irradiation of historical documents is a complex procedure which demands a detailed study in order to assure its safe application, it is environmentally safer than the use of chemical pesticides