1,153 research outputs found

    Foreign market entry, upstream market power, and endogenous mode of downstream competition

    Get PDF
    In a differentiated duopoly model of trade and FDI featuring both horizontal and ver tical product differentiation, we examine whether globalization and trade policy mea sures can generate welfare gains by leading firms to change their mode of competition. We show that when a high-quality foreign variety is manufactured under large frictions due to upstream monopoly power, a foreign firm can become a Bertrand competitor against a Cournot local rival in equilibrium, especially when the relative product quality of the foreign variety is sufficiently high and trade costs are sufficiently low (implying higher input price distortions due to double marginalization). Our results suggest that such strategic asymmetry is welfare improving and that the availability of FDI as an alternative to trade can make welfare-enhancing strategic asymmetry even more likely, especially when both input trade costs and fixed investment costs are sufficiently low and trade costs in final goods are sufficiently large

    A high resolution wire scanner for micron-size profile measurements at the SLC

    Full text link
    Fine conductive fibers have been used to measure transverse beam dimensions of a few microns at the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC). The beam profile is obtained by scanning a fiber across the beam in steps as small as 1 [mu]m, and recording the secondary emission signal at each step, using a charge sensitive amplifier. We first outline the mechanical construction and the analogue electronics of the wire scanner. We then describe its performance in test beams and in actual operation. The article closes with a brief discussion of performance limitations of such a beam profile monitor.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/28112/1/0000561.pd

    Commissioning and validation of a novel commercial TPS for ocular proton therapy

    Get PDF
    Abstract Background Until today, the majority of ocular proton treatments worldwide were planned with the EYEPLAN treatment planning system TPS . Recently, the commercial, computed tomography CT based TPS for ocular proton therapy RayOcular was released, which follows the general concepts of model based treatment planning approach in conjunction with a pencil beam type dose algorithm PBA . Purpose To validate RayOcular with respect to two main features accurate geometrical representation of the eye model and accuracy of its dose calculation algorithm in combination with an Ion Beam Applications IBA eye treatment delivery system. Methods Different 3D printed eye ball phantoms were fabricated to test the geometrical representation of the corresponding CT based model, both in orthogonal 2D images for X ray image overlay and in fundus view overlaid with a funduscopy. For the latter, the phantom was equipped with a lens matching refraction of the human eye. Funduscopy was acquired in a Zeiss Claus 500 camera. Tantalum clips and fiducials attached to the phantoms were localized in the TPS model, and residual deviations to the actual position in X ray images for various orientations of the phantom were determined, after the nominal eye orientation was corrected in RayOcular to obtain a best overall fit. In the fundus view, deviations between known and displayed distances were measured. Dose calculation accuracy of the PBA on a 0.2 mm grid was investigated by comparing between measured lateral and depth dose profiles in water for various combinations of range, modulation, and field size. Ultimately, the modeling of dose distributions behind wedges was tested. A 1D gamma test was applied, and the lateral and distal penumbra were further compared. Results Average residuals between model clips and visible clips fiducials in orthogonal X ray images were within 0.3 mm, including different orientations of the phantom. The differences between measured distances on the registered funduscopy image in the RayOcular fundus view and the known ground truth were within 1 mm up to 10.5 mm distance from the posterior pole. No clear benefit projection of either polar mode or camera mode could be identified, the latter mimicking camera properties. Measured dose distributions were reproduced with gamma test pass rates of gt;95 with 2 0.3 mm for depth and lateral profiles in the middle of spread out Bragg peaks. Distal falloff and lateral penumbra were within 0.2 mm for fields without a wedge. For shallow depths, the agreement was worse, reaching pass rates down to 80 with 5 0.3 mm when comparing lateral profiles in air. This is caused by low energy protons from a scatter source in the IBA system not modeled by RayOcular. Dose distributions modified by wedges were reproduced, matching the wedge induced broadening of the lateral penumbra to within 0.4 mm for the investigated cases and showing the excess dose within the field due to wedge scatter. Conclusion RayOcular was validated for its use with an IBA single scattering delivery nozzle. Geometric modeling of the eye and representation of 2D projections fulfill clinical requirements. The PBA dose calculation reproduces measured distributions and allows explicit handling of wedges, overcoming approximations of simpler dose calculation algorithms used in other systems. Keywords RayOcular; proton therapy; uveal melanom

    Search for charged Higgs decays of the top quark using hadronic tau decays

    Full text link
    We present the result of a search for charged Higgs decays of the top quark, produced in ppˉp\bar{p} collisions at s=\surd s = 1.8 TeV. When the charged Higgs is heavy and decays to a tau lepton, which subsequently decays hadronically, the resulting events have a unique signature: large missing transverse energy and the low-charged-multiplicity tau. Data collected in the period 1992-1993 at the Collider Detector at Fermilab, corresponding to 18.7±\pm0.7~pb1^{-1}, exclude new regions of combined top quark and charged Higgs mass, in extensions to the standard model with two Higgs doublets.Comment: uuencoded, gzipped tar file of LaTeX and 6 Postscript figures; 11 pp; submitted to Phys. Rev.

    Inclusive jet cross section in pˉp{\bar p p} collisions at s=1.8\sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV

    Full text link
    The inclusive jet differential cross section has been measured for jet transverse energies, ETE_T, from 15 to 440 GeV, in the pseudorapidity region 0.1η\leq | \eta| \leq 0.7. The results are based on 19.5 pb1^{-1} of data collected by the CDF collaboration at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The data are compared with QCD predictions for various sets of parton distribution functions. The cross section for jets with ET>200E_T>200 GeV is significantly higher than current predictions based on O(αs3\alpha_s^3) perturbative QCD calculations. Various possible explanations for the high-ETE_T excess are discussed.Comment: 8 pages with 2 eps uu-encoded figures Submitted to Physical Review Letter

    Measurement of Dijet Angular Distributions at CDF

    Get PDF
    We have used 106 pb^-1 of data collected in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV by the Collider Detector at Fermilab to measure jet angular distributions in events with two jets in the final state. The angular distributions agree with next to leading order (NLO) predictions of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) in all dijet invariant mass regions. The data exclude at 95% confidence level (CL) a model of quark substructure in which only up and down quarks are composite and the contact interaction scale is Lambda_ud(+) < 1.6 TeV or Lambda_ud(-) < 1.4 TeV. For a model in which all quarks are composite the excluded regions are Lambda(+) < 1.8 TeV and Lambda(-) < 1. 6 TeV.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, LaTex, using epsf.sty. Submitted to Physical Review Letters on September 17, 1996. Postscript file of full paper available at http://www-cdf.fnal.gov/physics/pub96/cdf3773_dijet_angle_prl.p

    Search for New Particles Decaying to Dijets at CDF

    Get PDF
    We have used 106 pb^-1 of data collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab to search for new particles decaying to dijets. We exclude at the 95% confidence level models containing the following new particles: axigluons and flavor universal colorons with mass between 200 and 980 GeV/c, excited quarks with mass between 80 and 570 GeV/c^2 and between 580 and 760 GeV/c^2, color octet technirhos with mass between 260 and 480 GeV/c^2, W' bosons with mass between 300 and 420 GeV/c^2, and E_6 diquarks with mass between 290 and 420 GeV/c^2.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Submitted to Physical Review D Rapid Communications. Postscript file of paper is also available at http://www-cdf.fnal.gov/physics/pub97/cdf3276_dijet_search_prd_rc.p

    Retinal inner nuclear layer volume reflects inflammatory disease activity in multiple sclerosis; a longitudinal OCT study.

    Get PDF
    BACKGROUNG: The association of peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (pRNFL) and ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness with neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis (MS) is well established. The relationship of the adjoining inner nuclear layer (INL) with inflammatory disease activity is less well understood. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship of INL volume changes with inflammatory disease activity in MS. METHODS: In this longitudinal, multi-centre study, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and clinical data (disability status, relapses and MS optic neuritis (MSON)) were collected in 785 patients with MS (68.3% female) and 92 healthy controls (63.4% female) from 11 MS centres between 2010 and 2017 and pooled retrospectively. Data on pRNFL, GCIPL and INL were obtained at each centre. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in INL volume in eyes with new MSON during the study (N = 61/1562, β = 0.01 mm(3), p < .001). Clinical relapses (other than MSON) were significantly associated with increased INL volume (β = 0.005, p = .025). INL volume was independent of disease progression (β = 0.002 mm(3), p = .474). CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrate that an increase in INL volume is associated with MSON and the occurrence of clinical relapses. Therefore, INL volume changes may be useful as an outcome marker for inflammatory disease activity in MSON and MS treatment trials
    corecore