Who Needs Agglomeration? Varying Agglomeration Externalities and the Industry Life Cycle

In this paper, the changing roles of agglomeration externalities during different stages of the industry life cycle are investigated. A central argument is that agglomeration externalities vary with mode of competition, innovation intensity, and characteristics of learning opportunities in industries. Following the Industry Life Cycle perspective, we distinguish between young and mature industries, and investigate how these benefit from MAR, Jacobs’ and Urbanization externalities. The empirical analysis builds on a Swedish plant level dataset that covers the period of 1974-2004.The outcomes of panel data regression models show that the benefits industries derive from their local environment are strongly associated with their stage in the industry life cycle. Whereas MAR externalities increase with the maturity of industries, Jacobs’ externalities decline when industries are more mature. This is in line with the hypothesis that young industries operate in an environment dominated by rapid product innovation and low levels of standardization. Hence, it pays off when knowledge can be sourced locally from many different sources, but there is still little scope for specialization benefits. Mature industries, in contrast, are associated with lower innovation intensities and a focus on cost saving process innovations. Therefore, there are major benefits to be derived from specialization, whereas knowledge spillovers from different industries are less relevant. The distinction between the product competition in young industries and price competition in mature industries is reflected in our finding that high regional factor costs are detrimental to mature industries, but not to young industries. This can also be related to the finding that high quality living environments, attractive for highly paid employees, are important to young industries. Overall, the outcomes stress that industrial life cycles have to be taken into account in the analysis of agglomeration externalities.agglomeration externalities, industry life cycle, urbanization, Sweden

IFNα and IFNγ Impede Marek’s Disease Progression

Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is an alphaherpesvirus that causes Marek’s disease, a malignant lymphoproliferative disease of domestic chickens. While MDV vaccines protect animals from clinical disease, they do not provide sterilizing immunity and allow field strains to circulate and evolve in vaccinated flocks. Therefore, there is a need for improved vaccines and for a better understanding of innate and adaptive immune responses against MDV infections. Interferons (IFNs) play important roles in the innate immune defenses against viruses and induce upregulation of a cellular antiviral state. In this report, we quantified the potent antiviral effect of IFNα and IFNγ against MDV infections in vitro. Moreover, we demonstrate that both cytokines can delay Marek’s disease onset and progression in vivo. Additionally, blocking of endogenous IFNα using a specific monoclonal antibody, in turn, accelerated disease. In summary, our data reveal the effects of IFNα and IFNγ on MDV infection and improve our understanding of innate immune responses against this oncogenic virus

The Dynamics of Agglomeration Externalities along the Life Cycle of Industries

This paper investigates the changing roles of agglomeration externalities along the industry life cycle. We argue that industries have different agglomeration needs in different stages of their life cycles because their mode of competition, innovation intensity, and characteristics of learning opportunities change over time. For 12 Swedish manufacturing industries, we determined for each year between 1974 and 2004 whether the industry was in a young, intermediate, or mature stage. Whereas MAR externalities steadily increased with the maturity of industries, the effect of local diversity (Jacobs’ externalities) was positive for young industries but declined and even became negative for more mature industries

Hantering av datamängder, programvaror och rådata vid SLU

En enkät skickades till forskare vid Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU) med frågor rörande deras hantering av forskningsdata, exempelvis vilka datatyper och mjukvaror de använder och hur stora datavolymer de hanterar, deras kunskaper om juridiska aspekter på datahantering och deras attityder till att göra data öppet tillgängliga. I rapporten diskuteras svaren på enkätfrågorna och deras implikationer för framtida arbete med datakurering vid universitetet

Open Access vid SLU 2012-2014

Open access (OA) är ett sätt att göra forskningsresultat fritt tillgängliga över internet och har på relativt kort tid blivit en global företeelse som har förändrat hur forskare publicerar sina resultat. Syftet med detta arbete har varit att undersöka metoder för att kunna mäta Sveriges lantbruksuniversitets (SLU) OA-publicering, liksom att ta fram siffror över hur stor andel av SLU:s vetenskapliga artiklar som publiceras OA. Utöver detta syfte, så har vi även undersökt hur OA-andelen fördelar sig mellan olika typer av OA (s.k. guld, grön och hybrid), vilka tidskrifter SLU:s forskare mest frekvent publicerar i, samt hur andelen OA ser ut på SLU:s institutioner. Mätningen har begränsats till refereegranskade tidskriftsartiklar publicerade under åren 2012-2014. Publikationsdata hämtades ur publikationsdatabasen SLUpub. För artiklar som har publicerats i OA-tidskrifter (guld OA) har SLUpub-datan samkörts med data från Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). För parallellpublicerade artiklar (grön OA) har vi räknat antal artiklar i Epsilon, SLU:s öppna arkiv. För OA-artiklar publicerade i prenumerationstidskrifter (hybrid OA) genomfördes en stickprovskontroll utifrån ett randomiserat urval av hela underlaget. Resultat: andelen artiklar för hela SLU under perioden 2012-2014 var 4543. Av dessa var 790 tillgängliga guld OA vilket innebär 17,3 procent av den totala publiceringen. Trenden är uppåtgående då OA-andelen för 2012 var 16,3 procent och för 2014 19,2 procent. Andelen gröna OA-artiklar som återfanns i Epsilon och som inte kunde avskrivas som guld OA uppgick till 175 st. Dessa publikationer utgör 3,8 procent av det totala antalet publicerade artiklar under perioden. Stickprovet av det randomiserade urvalet visade på en andel hybrid OA på 16,5 procent av den totala artikelpubliceringen, vilket endast ska ses som en indikation. I rapporten redovisas även de tidskrifter som SLU-forskare publicerat mest i under perioden 2012-2014, där PLoS ONE med god marginal innehar förstaplatsen. Andelen OA på institutionsnivå redovisar endast resultat för guld OA, inte grön eller hybrid OA pga. att strukturerad data för dessa är resurskrävande att få fram. I slutsatserna diskuteras att SLU publicerar en relativt låg andel grön OA och att det även finns tämligen stora skillnader mellan institutionernas OA-publicering. Rapporten ger rekommendationer för SLU-bibliotekets vidare arbete, såsom att ta fram en förnyad strategi för utformning av stöd till grön OA och till institutioner som idag generellt publicerar OA i liten utsträckning

Cerebral connectivity and psychotic personality traits: A diffusion tensor imaging study

This study aims to investigate the relationship between regional connectivity in the brain white matter and the presence of psychotic personality traits, in healthy subjects with psychotic traits. Thirteen healthy controls were administered the MMPI-2, to assess psychotic traits and, according to MMPI results, a dichotomization into a group of "high-psychotic” and "low-psychotic” was performed. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used as a non-invasive measure, in order to obtain information about the fractional anisotropy (FA), an intravoxel index of local connectivity and, by means of a voxelwise approach, the between-group differences of the FA values were calculated. The "high-psychotic” group showed higher FA in the left arcuate fasciculus. Subjects with low scores for psychotic traits had significantly higher FA in the corpus callosum, right arcuate fasciculus, and fronto-parietal fibers. In line with previous brain imaging studies of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, our results suggest that psychotic personality traits are related to altered connectivity and brain asymmetr

Ordered Phases of Ethylene Adsorbed on Charged

In spite of extensive investigations of ethylene adsorbed on graphite, bundles of nanotubes, and crystals of fullerenes, little is known about the existence of commensurate phases; they have escaped detection in almost all previous work. Here we present a combined experimental and theoretical study of ethylene adsorbed on free C60 and its aggregates. The ion yield of measured by mass spectrometry reveals a propensity to form a structurally ordered phase on monomers, dimers and trimers of C60 in which all sterically accessible hollow sites over carbon rings are occupied. Presumably the enhancement of the corrugation by the curvature of the fullerene surface favors this phase which is akin to a hypothetical 1 × 1 phase on graphite. Experimental data also reveal the number of molecules in groove sites of the C60 dimer through tetramer. The identity of the sites, adsorption energies and orientations of the adsorbed molecules are determined by molecular dynamics calculations based on quantum chemical potentials, as well as density functional theory. The decrease in orientational order with increasing temperature is also explored in the simulations whereas in the experiment it is impossible to vary the temperature

Standardization for Defence Procurement - European Handbook : CEN Workshop 10

The European Commission (EC), DG Enterprise, endeavours the competitiveness of the European Defence Industry. The plethora of (national) standards, more than 10.000, are recognised by the EC as a major constraint and cost driver. Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) or Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (EEE) are considered by the EC as a major topic, with 7 other topics such as environmental engineering, energetic materials, batteries, electrical interfaces. An EMC expert group with representatives from industry, including Aerotech Telub, Intellect, EADS, Ericsson Microwave, Fincantieri, MBDA, Thales, and national MoDs rationalized in 2004 a list of 329 EEE standards, implicitly abandoning national, including American, standards, and develop guidelines for the procurement process. A limited number of widely accepted and cost effective standards, suitable for use by MoD’s (acquisition) and industry (product development), has been defined after making comparisons. Comparisons were carried out on some standards against STANAG 4370 AECTP 500. The Expert Group agreed; That no one standard is better or worse than another in achieving an end goal. Differences are not sufficient to prevent the use of AECTP 500. There are sufficient similarities to AECTP 500 to adopt this as the fundamental replacement standard. There was sufficient agreement on NATO-, IEC- and EN-produced standards to make worthwhile agreement to use a number of standards as replacement for some (or some parts) of existing National Standards. This document gives recommendations on the use of the standards, the scope and \ud limitations. It also emphasizes the constraints with respect to the standardisation process of National MoD’s, NATO, Industry and EN/IEC