The Tangible Contribution of R&D Spending Foreign-Owned Plants to a Host Region: a Plant Level Study of the Irish Manufacturing Sector (1980-1996)

Using plant level data from the Irish manufacturing sector, we explore the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth in Ireland. The central question explored in this paper is whether the tangible contribution of MNC plants which undertake R&D investment in Ireland is greater than the tangible contribution of MNC plants which undertake no R&D investment. We conclude that the scale of R&D activity in a plant is an important determinant in (i) lengthening the duration over which that plant will remain in Ireland and (ii) in improving the quality of employment created in that plant.

History of Papillion, Nebraska

A territory is opened for settlement and the people pour in. Homesteads spring up in all directions and soon towns begin to dot the landscape. A nucleus of local government is formed and, as time passes, it broadens and strengthens. The territory gradually develops into a state and takes its place in the nation. The coming to statehood lures more settlers, as well as speculators, and the cycle repeats--more homesteads; more towns; still more government. In this humble manner began the great state of Nebraska and with it the beautiful little town of Papillion

Shannon Goes to the Museum: Drawing Lines Across Boundaries

The DOCAM’15 theme called for an examination of the challenges ahead with our understanding of documents in a continuously changing information landscape. One such challenge has been to find specific intersecting areas of the information sciences on which authors from different disciplines might collaborate. We take ourselves as one such case study. One of us works in information science and often thinks about applications of Information Theory. One of us works on developing models for museum practice, that is, theory upon which museum work might become more intentional and robust. Thinking about Documents Unbounded has led us to align some of our recent work, and, by doing so, demonstrate that manifestations of information theory abound across the information disciplines, which have origin in and continuing relevance with the document, museum, communications, and library studies realms. In this philosophical experiment, we try to draw lines between Wood and Latham’s (2013) Object Knowledge Framework (OKF) and O’Connor, Kearns & Anderson’s (2008) notion of Question (Q), in order to make some assertions about drawing lines between disciplines

How Perpetrator Identity (Sometimes) Influences Media Framing Attacks as “Terrorism” or “Mental Illness”

Do media frame attacks with Muslim perpetrators as “terrorism” and attacks with White perpetrators as the result of “mental illness”? Despite public speculation and limited academic work with relatively small subsets of cases, there have been no systematic analyses of potential biases in how media frame terrorism. We addressed this gap by examining the text of print news coverage of all terrorist attacks in the United States between 2006 and 2015. Controlling for fatalities, affiliation with a group, and existing mental illness, the odds that an article references terrorism are approximately five times greater for a Muslim versus a non-Muslim perpetrator. In contrast, the odds that an article references mental illness do not significantly differ between White and non-White perpetrators. Results partially confirm public speculation and are robust against numerous alternative explanations. Differences in media framing can influence public (mis)perceptions of violence and threats, and ultimately harm counterterrorism policy

When Data Do Not Matter: Exploring Public Perceptions of Terrorism

Public perceptions of terrorism are out of line with reality. How can perceptions be changed? Using a 4 × 2 experimental design with a national sample of U.S. adults, we examine how source of information and details provided impact views of terrorism. Sources, details, and individual-level factors—Islamophobia, trust in media, and trust in science—impact perceived accuracy of terrorism data. Many people updated their views on terrorism after reading factual information, yet only trust in science was related with this change. In short, people can be persuaded by factual information on terrorism, but it is less clear why they change beliefs

Why Do Some Terrorist Attacks Receive More Media Attention Than Others?

Terrorist attacks often dominate news coverage as reporters seek to provide the public with information. Yet, not all incidents receive equal attention. Why do some terrorist attacks receive more media coverage than others? We argue that perpetrator religion is the largest predictor of news coverage, while target type, being arrested, and fatalities will also impact coverage. We examined news coverage from LexisNexis Academic and CNN.com for all terrorist attacks in the United States between 2006 and 2015 (N=136). Controlling for target type, fatalities, and being arrested, attacks by Muslim perpetrators received, on average, 357% more coverage than other attacks. Our results are robust against a number of counterarguments. The disparities in news coverage of attacks based on the perpetrator’s religion may explain why members of the public tend to fear the “Muslim terrorist” while ignoring other threats. More representative coverage could help to bring public perception in line with reality

Fragile three-dimensionality in the quasi-one-dimensional cuprate PrBa_2Cu_4O_8

In this article we report on the experimental realization of dimensional crossover phenomena in the chain compound PrBa$_2$Cu$_4$O$_8$ using temperature, high magnetic fields and disorder as independent tuning parameters. In purer crystals of PrBa$_2$Cu$_4$O$_8$, a highly anisotropic three-dimensional Fermi-liquid state develops at low temperatures. This metallic state is extremely susceptible to disorder however and localization rapidly sets in. We show, through quantitative comparison of the relevant energy scales, that this metal/insulator crossover occurs precisely when the scattering rate within the chain exceeds the interchain hopping rate(s), i.e. once carriers become confined to a single conducting element.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, published at http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1367-2630/8/9/172/njp6_9_172.htm

Support for political mobilization and protest in Egypt and Morocco: an online experimental study

Why do individuals engage in or support acts of contentious politics? Building from previous work, this article uses a 2 (high/low grievance) × 2 (high/low risk) × 2 (high/low opportunity) online experimental design to examine the impact of these factors on political action with participants from Egypt (n = 517) and Morocco (n = 462). Participants assumed a first-person perspective as a member of a fictional oppressed ethnic minority group in one of eight vignettes. Participants then indicated the extent to which they would engage in various forms of protest and violence, and how justified such actions were. Participants answered several social-personality measures: Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), and Activism and Radicalism Intentions Scale (AIS and RIS). Analyses show that higher SDO and RIS scores largely drive violent engagement and justification for these actions. Higher AIS scores predicted protest engagement and justification, while SDO negatively influenced non-violence. RWA scores decreased engagement in and support for any form of political action. In contrast with previous experimental findings, grievance did not impact decisions about political mobilization

A parabolic approach to the control of opinion spreading

We analyze the problem of controlling to consensus a nonlinear system modeling opinion spreading. We derive explicit exponential estimates on the cost of approximately controlling these systems to consensus, as a function of the number of agents N and the control time-horizon T. Our strategy makes use of known results on the controllability of spatially discretized semilinear parabolic equations. Both systems can be linked through time-rescalin