Concentration Levels in the U.S. Advertising and Marketing Services Industry: Myth vs. Reality

This paper analyzes changes in concentration levels in the U.S. Advertising and Marketing Services (A&MS) industry using publicly released data that have been largely ignored in past discussions of the industrial organization of this industry, namely those available from the U.S. Census Bureau's quinquennial Economic Census and the Service Annual Survey. We define the A&MS industry in terms of nine sectors, each of which is represented by a separate 5 digit NAICS category. In so doing, we have sought to redress some of the measurement problems surrounding estimates found in the existing literature. Our main findings are threefold. First, in the case of the core and largest sector, Advertising Agencies, firm level concentration as measured by Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) increased slightly but remained relatively low from 1977 to 2002. All of the HHI estimates readily satisfied the standard widely used to characterize an industry as "unconcentrated." We find mixed support for the hypotheses that the ranks of mid-sized agencies were depleted by ongoing waves of mergers and acquisitions and resulted in a polarized size structure. The size distributions of agency revenue have become more polarized in the sense that over time they appear more skewed, more dispersed, and exhibit greater inequality. The share of total receipts realized by small agencies fell while that of large agencies rose. However, the position of mid-sized agencies appears to have changed little over the period 1977- 2002, as measured by the shares of agencies and receipts they represent. Second, concentration levels in 1997 and 2002 varied across the nine sectors comprising the A&MS industry, but all were within the range generally considered as indicative of a competitive industry. Third, we developed concentration ratios at the level of holding companies (HC's) and find that the four largest HC's captured between a fifth and a quarter of total revenue from the A&MS industry, a share that remained quite stable over the period, 2002-2006. These estimates are lower by an order of magnitude than estimates often cited in the trade press. Reasons for the discrepancy are discussed.

Sustaining the Olympic Ideal

The ancient Olympics are arguably the birthplace of sport and the Olympic Games remain the quintessential expression of international sport. The first recorded Olympic victor was a sprinter from Elis, Coroebus, in 776 B.C. and through Pausanias\u27 travel logs and Pindar\u27s Olympic odes, which first appeared in the 16th century, we have learned about the ancient Olympic Games: the events, the venues, its heroes, and rewards . The ancient games were discontinued in 394 A.D. after Theodosi us the Great decreed to stop measuring time by Olympiads and the Romans did not have the same religious respect for the games

Near-Field Electrospinning and Characterization of Biodegradable Small Diameter Vascular Grafts

The ideal “off the shelf” tissue engineering, small-diameter (\u3c 6 mm inner diameter (ID)) vascular graft hinges on designing a template that facilitates transmural ingrowth of capillaries to regenerate an endothelized neointimal surface. Previous traditionally electrospun (TES) approaches to create bioresorbable vascular grafts lack the pore sizes required to facilitate transmural capillary ingrowth required for successful in situ neovascular regeneration. Therefore, the ability to create scaffolds with program-specific architectures independent of fiber diameter via the relatively recent sub-technique of near-field electrospinning (NFES) represents a promising solution to create tissue engineering vascular grafts. These programmed large pore sizes are anticipated to promote in situ regeneration and improve the outcomes as well as the quality of life of patients with arterial disease. In this dissertation, we manufactured via NFES as well as characterized biodegradable polydioxanone (PDO) small-diameter vascular grafts. Chapter 1 introduces the need for off-the-shelf, small-diameter vascular grafts to facilitate in situ regeneration, the process and pore size limitations of TES vascular grafts, and the promising use of NFES to develop precisely tailored PDO vascular grafts. Chapter 2 describes the process of NFES and details the current progress in NFES of biomedical polymers as well as the major limitations that exist in the field. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 contain primary research exploring the creation of an NFES vascular graft scaffold and characterizing the mechanical as well as biological response of these scaffolds. Specifically, in Chapter 3 we demonstrate a NFES apparatus designed around a commercial 3D printer to write PDO microfibers. The processing parameters of air gap, polymer concentration, translational velocity, needle gauge, and applied voltage were characterized for their effects on PDO fiber diameter. The processing parameters of polymer concentration and translational fiber deposition velocity were further characterized for their effects on fiber crystallinity and individual fiber uniformity. The precision of fiber stacking via a 3D printer was qualitatively evaluated to inform the creation of 3D scaffolds to guide the alignment of human gingival fibroblasts. It was found that fiber diameters correlate positively with polymer concentration, applied voltage, and needle gauge and inversely correlate with translational velocity and air gap distance. Individual fiber diameter variability decreases, and crystallinity increases with increasing translational fiber deposition velocity. These data resulted in the creation of tailored PDO 3D scaffolds which guided the alignment of primary human fibroblast cells. Together, these results suggest that NFES of PDO can be scaled to create precise geometries with tailored fiber diameters for vascular graft scaffolds. In Chapter 4, we demonstrated a NFES device to semi-stably write PDO microfibers. The polymer spinneret was programmed to translate in a stacking grid pattern, which resulted in a scaffold with highly aligned grid fibers that were intercalated with low density, random fibers. As a consequence of this random switching process, increasing the grid dimensions resulted in both a lower density of fibers in the center of each grid in the scaffold as well as a lower density of “rebar-like” stacked fibers per unit area. These hybrid architecture scaffolds resulted in tailorable as well as greater surface pore sizes as given by scanning electron micrographs and effective object permeability as indicated by fluorescent microsphere filtration compared to TES scaffolds of the same fiber diameter. Furthermore, these programmable scaffolds resulted in tailorability in the characterized mechanical properties ultimate tensile strength, percent elongation, yield stress, yield elongation, and Young’s modulus independent of fiber diameter compared to the static TES scaffold characterization. Lastly, the innate immune response of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) was further attenuated on NFES scaffolds compared to TES scaffolds. These results suggest that this novel NFES scaffold architecture of PDO can be highly tailored as a function of programming for small diameter vascular graft scaffolds. In Chapter 5, we created two types of NFES PDO architectures, as small-diameter vascular graft scaffolds. The first architecture type consisted of a 200 x 200 µm and 500 x 500 µm grid geometry with random fiber infill produced from one set of processing parameters, while the second architecture consisted of aligned fibers written in a 45°/45° and 20°/70° offset from the long axis, both on a 4 mm diameter cylindrical mandrel. These vascular graft scaffolds were characterized for their effective object transit pore size, mechanical properties, and platelet-material interactions compared to TES scaffolds and Gore-Tex® vascular grafts. It was found that effective pore size, given by 9.9 and 97 µm microsphere filtration through the scaffold wall for NFES grafts, was significantly more permeable compared to TES grafts and Gore-Tex® vascular grafts. Furthermore, the characterized mechanical properties of ultimate tensile strength, percent elongation, suture retention, burst pressure, and Young’s modulus were all tailorable for NFES grafts, independent of fiber diameter, compared to TES graft characterization. Lastly, platelet adhesion was attenuated on large pore size NFES grafts compared to the TES grafts which approximated the low level of platelet adhesion measured on Gore-Tex® grafts, with all grafts showing minimal platelet activation given by P-selectin surface expression. Together, these results suggest a highly tailorable process for the creation of the next generation of small-diameter vascular grafts. Lastly, Chapter 6 expounds future considerations for continuing research in NFES technology, NFES for general tissue engineering, and NFES for vascular tissue engineering as well as gives final conclusions. Together, the finding of this dissertation indicated that NFES vascular grafts result in seamless, small diameter tubular scaffolds with programmable pore sizes on the magnitude anticipated to facilitate transmural endothelialization as well as programmable mechanical properties that approximate native values. Thus, this work represents the next step in developing bioinstructive designed scaffolds to facilitate in situ vascular regeneration to improve the outcomes as well as the quality of life of patients with arterial vascular disease

Population Dynamics in Predynastic Upper Egypt: Paleodemography of Cemetery HK43 at Hierakonpolis

The site of Hierakonpolis is considered to have played an important role in the development of the Egyptian state, which formed at end of the fourth millennium BC. Archaeological evidence suggests that, for the Middle and Late Predynastic periods (ca. 3900-3200 BC), Hierakonpolis may be characterized as having experienced the following: a growth in both settlement and population size, an increased reliance on cereal agriculture, development of craft specialization, and the presence of a Social hierarchy as interpreted from an observed increase in the differentiation of mortuary behavior. Historical data suggest that these Social and economic changes would have affected (and been affected by) the demographic properties of the population there. This dissertation reports the results of a paleodemographic analysis of the human skeletal assemblage recovered from cemetery HK43, which represents a nonelite population from the Predynastic period at the site of Hierakonpolis. In an effort to reassess previous studies of the age-at-death distribution for HK43, this study begins with an evaluation of the use of dental attrition in estimating age-at-death for a subset of the HK43 sample. Age-at-death estimates using dental attrition are heavily influenced by the particular method used to calculate the yearly attrition rate for each tooth. Similar to results reported elsewhere, the young age-at-death distribution for the subset of individuals with dental attrition data precluded using them as a population-specific reference sample for HK43. Results of the analysis of three aggregate age measures have a number of implications. The results suggest that juvenile mortality may have improved during the period of cemetery use at HK43. Further these results suggest that birth rate and population growth rates increased during the period of cemetery use at HK43, and the rates of population growth during this period may have been higher than previously assumed. In an examination of adult mortality patterns using hazard analysis, this study finds that males and females of HK43 had a different mortality experience. Generally, males exhibit higher rates of mortality than females. Further, results suggest that female mortality, specifically for those during child-bearing years, improved over the period of cemetery use. This may be attributed to the increasing frequency of males being conscripted for activities not related to regular agricultural production. The observed improvement in mortality for reproductive-age females (and juveniles) likely had a positive impact on the birth rate and population growth rate. These results suggest that Hierakonpolis may have enjoyed a demographic advantage over rival administrative centers in Upper Egypt during middle and latter parts of the Predynastic. Finally, the use of more-recent methods, proposed in the Rostock Manifesto (Hoppa and Vaupel, 2002a), produced an age-at-death distribution slightly younger than that using a more traditional approach to paleodemographic reconstruction. Thus, these newer statistical techniques, by themselves, may not completely address the peculiar age-at-death distributions and associated demographic estimates for archaeologically-derived skeletal samples. This study illustrates that, despite its critics, paleodemography has much to offer to the study of past population dynamics. At the same time, the field must continue working toward theoretically-grounded approaches of modeling the complex process that leads from a living population to one that may be studied hundreds or thousands of years in the future

HEALTH Living Wills: Allow Pregnant Women and Patients in a Coma or Persistent Vegetative State to Have Life-Sustaining Measures Withheld or Withdrawn

The act expands the living wills provisions of the Georgia Code to allow the declarant of a living will to authorize the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining measures in the event that the declarant subsequently enters into a coma or persistent vegetative state. The Act also allows life-sustaining measures to be withheld or withdrawn from a pregnant woman as long as her fetus is not viable when the question arises as to whether to withhold or withdraw such life-sustaining measures. The Act further allows health care facilities to provide patients with forms for living wills in accordance with federal law

HEALTH Living Wills: Allow Pregnant Women and Patients in a Coma or Persistent Vegetative State to Have Life-Sustaining Measures Withheld or Withdrawn

The act expands the living wills provisions of the Georgia Code to allow the declarant of a living will to authorize the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining measures in the event that the declarant subsequently enters into a coma or persistent vegetative state. The Act also allows life-sustaining measures to be withheld or withdrawn from a pregnant woman as long as her fetus is not viable when the question arises as to whether to withhold or withdraw such life-sustaining measures. The Act further allows health care facilities to provide patients with forms for living wills in accordance with federal law