Die zusätzlichen Wohlfahrtseffekte von Investitionen in die Verkehrsinfrastruktur: Agglomeration und unvollkommener Wettbewerb im allgemeinen Gleichgewicht

The wider impacts of transport infrastructure investments are pecuniary externalities that are commonly reckoned to be positive. At least when inferred from partial equilibrium analysis, this can be viewed as reasonable. Though, for an economy with limited resources, it might be reasonable to presume that positive wider impacts are rather redistributive effects than self-contained benefits. If they are, what is the sign of the net wider impact? To study this sign and its determinants, I set up various general equilibrium models of spatial economies in which the costs of transportation are brought down by means of some tax-funded scheme. Applying two separate classes of models, I study the wider impacts both from imperfectly competitive markets in the wider economy and from the agglomeration of economic activity. The former contains a comprehensive base model, markets with exogenous mark-ups, industries with zero profits, monopolies, duopolies and monopolistically competitive industries, including one model with endogenous firm entry. The latter is a New Economic Geography model that is devised as to allow for a welfare analysis. The signs of the net wider impacts are found to be highly ambiguous.Die Zusatzeffekte (wider impacts) von Investitionen in die Transportinfrastruktur sind pekuniäre Externalitäten, die häufig als positiv angegeben werden. Dies kann als sinnvoll angesehen werden, zumindest wenn es aus einer Partialanalyse abgeleitet wird. Doch bei einer Volkswirtschaft mit begrenzten Ressourcen könnte es sinnvoll sein, zu vermuten, dass positive Zusatzeffekte vielmehr Umverteilungseffekte sind als eigenständige Wohlfahrtsgewinne. Falls dem so ist, was ist das Vorzeichen des Netto-Zusatzeffektes? Um dieses Vorzeichen sowie dessen Bestimmungsgrößen zu untersuchen, formuliere ich verschiedene allgemeine Gleichgewichtsmodelle räumlicher Volkswirtschaften, in denen die Transportkosten durch irgendeine steuerfinanzierte Maßnahme gesenkt werden. Unter Verwendung zweier separater Klassen von Modellen untersuche ich zum einen die Zusatzeffekte, die durch unvollkommene Märkte in der Volkswirtschaft entstehen, und zum anderen die Zusatzeffekte, die durch die Agglomeration ökonomischer Aktivität entstehen. Erstere beinhaltet ein umfassendes Basismodell, Märkte mit exogenen Preisaufschlägen, Industrien mit Nullgewinnen, Monopole, Duopole und Industrien mit monopolistischer Konkurrenz, inklusive eines Modells mit endogenem Markteintritt. Letztere ist ein Modell der Neuen Ökonomischen Geographie, welches für eine Wohlfahrtsanalyse konzipiert ist. Die Vorzeichen der Netto-Zusatzeffekte sind jeweils höchst uneindeutig

Identification of cDNAs from Japanese pufferfish (Fugu rubripes) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) coding for homologues to tetrapod prion proteins

AbstractWe identified cDNAs coding for homologues to tetrapod prion proteins (PrPs) in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and Japanese pufferfish (Fugu rubripes), which were termed ‘similar to PrPs’ (stPrPs). Besides significant sequence homologies the fish stPrPs display characteristic structural features in common with tetrapod PrPs. In addition, two stPrPs were shown to be highly expressed in brain tissue. None of the so far identified PrP-homologues of fish resembles doppel. Hence, the duplication of the PrP gene, which generated doppel, may have occurred not in fish but later in the tetrapod lineage. The identification of fish PrPs provides a basis to address concerns about a possible susceptibility of fish to prion infections

Quantitative Risk from Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Salmonella and Campylobacter Due to Treatment of Dairy Heifers with Enrofloxacin for Bovine Respiratory Disease

The objective of this study was to evaluate the human health impact of using fluoroquinolones to treat bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in dairy heifers less than 20 months of age. Specifically, this study quantified the probability of persistent symptoms in humans treated with a fluoroquinolone, for a fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter, Salmonella, or multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella infection acquired following the consumption of ground beef. To comply with a Food and Drug Administration requirement for approval of enrofloxacin use in dairy heifers, a binomial event tree was constructed following Food and Drug Administration guidance 152. Release was estimated from the slaughter of dairy cattle carrying fluoroquinolone-resistant bacteria attributed to the proposed use in dairy heifers. For exposure, human foodborne exposure to Campylobacter, Salmonella, and MDR Salmonella after consumption of ground beef was estimated. The consequence assessment included illness, fluoroquinolone treatment, and persistent symptoms in patients treated with a fluoroquinolone. Using best available data to estimate the parameters and probabilities of each event, stochastic simulation was used to represent uncertainty and variability in many of the parameters. A scenario analysis was performed to evaluate the uncertainty of the following parameters: (1) probability of resistance development in treated animals, (2) portion of illnesses attributable to ground beef, and (3) probability of persistent symptoms in patients 18 years of age and over treated with a fluoroquinolone. The population at risk was restricted to people 18 years of age and over, as fluoroquinolones are not labeled for treatment of gastroenteritis in children. The mean annual increased risk of cases in the U.S. population (18 years of age and over) where compromised fluoroquinolone treatment resulted in persistent symptoms was estimated to be 1 in 61 billion (one case every 293 years) for Salmonella, 1 in 33 billion (one case every 158 years) for MDR Salmonella, and 1 in 2.8 billion (one case every 13 years) for Campylobacter

Effect of Originator Infliximab Treatment on Disease-Related Hospitalizations, Work Productivity and Activity Impairment, and Health Resource Utilization in Patients with Crohn’s Disease in a Real-Life Setting: Results of a Prospective Multicenter Study in Germany

Introduction: Infliximab (IFX) therapy is efficacious for inducing and maintaining symptomatic remission in patients with Crohn’s disease (CD), but whether this benefit results in reduced hospitalization rates and therefore may improve patients’ quality of life in an economically sensible way is conflicting so far. Methods: We conducted a noninterventional, multicenter, open-label, prospective study to evaluate the effect of originator IFX treatment on patient-reported outcomes and disease-related hospitalizations in adult CD patients in Germany treated for the first time with IFX according to label. Results: Two hundred and ninety-four patients were included in the study. We observed a statistically significant reduction in the number of CD-related hospitalizations from the year before baseline (mean 1.00 per patient, SD ± 0.93) to the mean value of the 1st (0.62, SD ± 0.95) and 2nd year (0.32, SD ± 0.75) of the observation period ( p < 0.0001). After 3 months of IFX therapy, work productivity and activity increased by an average of 12.6 and 17.1%, respectively. Patient’s clinical outcome was markedly improved as the total CD activity index (CDAI) sum score continuously decreased from baseline to month 24 and the mean score of the total inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire (IBDQ) changed substantially from 141 at baseline to 172 after 24 months of IFX treatment. Additionally, the number of work incapacity days declined. Recently, no new safety issues of IFX have been identified. Conclusion: In this large, prospective, multicenter study on disease-related hospitalization rates, work productivity, capacity for daily activities, and HRQoL in patients with CD, IFX significantly reduces their hospitalization rates and improves work productivity, daily activity, and quality of life over 24 months

Federated Searching Interface Techniques for Heterogeneous OAI Repositories

Federating repositories by harvesting heterogeneous collections with varying degrees of metadata richness poses a number of challenging issues: (1) how to address the lack of uniform control for various metadata fields in terms of building a rich unified search interface, and (2) how easily new collections and freshly harvested data in existing repositories can be incorporated into the federation supporting a unified interface? This paper focuses on the approaches taken to address these issues in Arc, an Open Archives Initiative compliant federated digital library. At present Arc contains over 1M metadata records from 75 data providers from various subject domains. Analysis of these heterogeneous collections indicates that controlled vocabularies and values are widely used in most repositories. Usage is extremely variable, however. In Arc we solve the problem by implementing an advanced searching interface that allows users to search and select in specific fields with data we construct from the harvested metadata, and also by an interactive search for the subject field. As the metadata records are incrementally harvested we address how to build these services over frequently added new collections and harvested data. The initial result is promising, showing the benefits of immediate feedback to the user in enhancing the search experience as well as in increasing the precision of the user\u27s search

Suppression of electrical breakdown phenomena in liquid TriMethyl Bismuth based ionization detectors

Organometallic liquids provide good properties for ionization detectors. TriMethyl Bismuth (TMBi) has been proposed as a detector medium with charge and Cherenkov photon readout for Positron Emission Tomography. In this work, we present studies for the handling of TMBi at different electric fields and under different environmental conditions to find applicable configurations for the suppression of electrical breakdowns in TMBi at room temperature. A simple glass cell with two electrodes filled with TMBi was constructed and tested under different operation conditions. Working at the vapour pressure of TMBi at room temperature of about 40 mbar and electric fields of up to 20 kV/cm in presence of a small oxygen contamination we found the formation of a discharge channel in the liquid and a steady increase in the current. Further reduction of pressure by pumping caused the TMBi to boil and a spontaneous combustion. Eliminating the oxygen contamination led the TMBi under the same condition to only decompose. When operating the setup under an argon atmosphere of 1 bar we did not observe breakdowns of the electrical potential up to field strengths of 20 kV/cm. Still, in presence of a small oxygen contamination fluctuating currents in the nA range were observed, but no decomposition or combustion. We conclude from our experiments that TMBi at room temperature in a pure argon atmosphere of 1 bar remains stable against electrical breakdown at least up to electric field strengths of 20 kV/cm, presumably because the formation of gaseous TMBi was prevented.Comment: 14 page, 8 figure

20th Annual UD International Tea Scheduled

News release announces the 20th Annual International Tea at the University of Dayton with the theme Where In The World Are You

Alaska Earthquake Center Quarterly Technical Report October-December 2021

This series of technical quarterly reports from the Alaska Earthquake Center (AEC) includes detailed summaries and updates on Alaska seismicity, the AEC seismic network and stations, field work, our social media presence, and lists publications and presentations by AEC staff. Multiple AEC staff members contributed to this report. It is issued in the following month after the completion of each quarter Q1: January-March, Q2: April-June, Q3: July-September, and Q4: October-December.1. Introduction 2. Seismicity 3. Field network 4. Data Quality assurance 5. Real-time earthquake detection system 6. Computer systems 6.1 Computer resources 6.2 Waveform storage 6.3 Metadata 6.4 Software development 7. Fieldwork 8. Social media and outreach 8.1. Website 8.2. Twitter 8.3. Facebook (Page) 8.4. Facebook (Group) 9. Publications and presentations 9.1. Publications 9.2. Public Presentations 9.3. Lunch Seminar Talks 10. References Appendix A: Data availability for broadband stations from the AK network. Appendix B: Gaps for broadband stations from the AK network

Rubber vs. oil palm: an analysis of factors influencing smallholders' crop choice in Jambi, Indonesia

The rapid expansion of the oil palm area in many tropical countries has raised concerns about its negative impact on local communities, food security, and on the environment. While the expansion of oil palm in early stages was mainly driven by large private and public companies, it is expected that smallholders will outnumber large estates in the near future. For policy formulation it is hence important to better understand who these smallholders are and why they have started to cultivate oil palm. In this paper, we used a rich dataset collected in the province of Jambi, which is one of the most important production areas for oil palm, to analyse smallholders’ decision making by combining qualitative, quantitative, and experimental methods. We identified agricultural expertise, lacking flexibility in labour requirements, availability of seedlings, and investment costs as the major constraints for farmers to cultivate oil palm. Important reasons for oil palm cultivation are the higher returns to labour and the shorter immature phase of oil palm. We also showed that oil palm farmers are neither risk-averse nor risk-loving, rather, they appear to be risk-neutral