Market Power and/or Efficiency: An Application to U.S. Food Processing

This article separates oligopoly-power and cost-efficiency effects of changes in industrial concentration and assesses their impact on output prices in 32 food-processing industries. Empirical results indicate that although concentration induces cost efficiency in one-third of the industries, oligopoly-power effects either dominate cost efficiency or reinforce inefficiency, resulting in higher output prices in most industries. The article also provides fresh econometric estimates of oligopoly power and economies of size for the industries in question.industrial concentration, economies of scale, industrial organization, oligopoly power, food processing, Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Productivity Analysis, L00, L11, L13, L66,

M31's Heavy Element Distribution and Outer Disk

Hubble Space Telescope imaging of 11 fields in M31 were reduced to color-magnitude diagrams. The fields were chosen to sample all galactocentric radii to 50 kpc. Assuming that the bulk of the sampled stellar populations are older than a few Gyr, the colors of the red giants map to an abundance distribution with errors of order 0.1 dex in abundance. The radially sampled abundance distributions are all about the same width, but show a mild abundance gradient that flattens outside ~20 kpc. The various distributions were weighted and summed with the aid of new surface brightness profile fits to obtain an abundance distribution representative of the entirety of M31. M31 is a system near chemical maturity. This ``observed closed box'' is compared to analytical closed box models. M31 suffers from a lack of metal-poor stars and metal-rich stars relative to the simplest closed-box model in the same way as the solar neighborhood.Comparing to several simple chemical evolution models, neither complete mixing of gas at all times nor zero mixing, inhomogeneous models give the most convincing match to the data. As noted elsewhere, the outer disk of M31 is a factor of ten more metal-rich than the Milky Way halo, ten times more metal-rich than the dwarf spheroidals cospatial with it, and more metal-rich than most of the globular clusters at the same galactocentric radius. Difficulties of interpretation are greatly eased if we posit that the M31 disk dominates over the halo at all radii out to 50 kpc. In fact, scaling from current density models of the Milky Way, one should not expect to see halo stars dominating over disk stars until beyond our 50 kpc limit. A corollary conclusion is that most published studies of the M31 "halo" are actually studies of its disk.Comment: 28 pages, 11 black-and-white figures, in press, Astrophysical Journa

Thermodynamics of viscous dark energy in an RSII braneworld

We show that for an RSII braneworld filled with interacting viscous dark energy and dark matter, one can always rewrite the Friedmann equation in the form of the first law of thermodynamics, $dE=T_hdS_h+WdV$, at apparent horizon. In addition, the generalized second law of thermodynamics can fulfilled in a region enclosed by the apparent horizon on the brane for both constant and time variable 5-dynamical Newton's constant $G_5$. These results hold regardless of the specific form of the dark energy. Our study further support that in an accelerating universe with spatial curvature, the apparent horizon is a physical boundary from the thermodynamical point of view.Comment: 11 page

Onecut-dependent Nkx6.2 transcription factor expression is required for proper formation and activity of spinal locomotor circuits.

In the developing spinal cord, Onecut transcription factors control the diversification of motor neurons into distinct neuronal subsets by ensuring the maintenance of Isl1 expression during differentiation. However, other genes downstream of the Onecut proteins and involved in motor neuron diversification have remained unidentified. In the present study, we generated conditional mutant embryos carrying specific inactivation of Onecut genes in the developing motor neurons, performed RNA-sequencing to identify factors downstream of Onecut proteins in this neuron population, and employed additional transgenic mouse models to assess the role of one specific Onecut-downstream target, the transcription factor Nkx6.2. Nkx6.2 expression was up-regulated in Onecut-deficient motor neurons, but strongly downregulated in Onecut-deficient V2a interneurons, indicating an opposite regulation of Nkx6.2 by Onecut factors in distinct spinal neuron populations. Nkx6.2-null embryos, neonates and adult mice exhibited alterations of locomotor pattern and spinal locomotor network activity, likely resulting from defective survival of a subset of limb-innervating motor neurons and abnormal migration of V2a interneurons. Taken together, our results indicate that Nkx6.2 regulates the development of spinal neuronal populations and the formation of the spinal locomotor circuits downstream of the Onecut transcription factors

Improving Urban Public Operation: Experience Of Rostov-On-Don (Russia)

This paper estimates experience of development of urban public transport in city Rostov-on- Don, Russia. The main aims of policy of municipal authorities on reforming public transport are analysed. The integrated decision of a problem included achievement of the following purposes: creation most appropriate structure of management of city public transport, change of form of ownership of public transport operators, improvement of competition on the entry of market of transport services, optimization of a routes network of public transport.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Peer-to-peer, community self-consumption, and transactive energy: A systematic literature review of local energy market models

Peer-to-peer, community or collective self-consumption, and transactive energy markets offer new models for trading energy locally. Over the past five years, there has been significant growth in the amount of academic literature examining how these local energy markets might function. This systematic literature review of 139 peer-reviewed journal articles examines the market designs used in these energy trading models. A modified version of the Business Ecosystem Architecture Modelling framework is used to extract market model information from the literature, and to identify differences and similarities between the models. This paper examines how peer-to-peer, community self-consumption and transactive energy markets are described in current literature. It explores the similarities and differences between these markets in terms of participation, governance structure, topology, and design. This paper systematises peer-to-peer, community self-consumption and transactive energy market designs, identifying six archetypes. Finally, it identifies five evidence gaps which require future research before these markets could be widely adopted. These evidence gaps are the lack of: consideration of physical constraints; a holistic approach to market design and operation; consideration about how these market designs will scale; consideration of information security; and, consideration of market participant privacy

Emerging business models in local energy markets: A systematic review of peer-to-peer, community self-consumption, and transactive energy models

The emergence of peer-to-peer, collective or community self-consumption, and transactive energy concepts gives rise to new configurations of business models for local energy trading among a variety of actors. Much attention has been paid in the academic literature to the transition of the underlying energy system with its macroeconomic market framework. However, fewer contributions focus on the microeconomic aspects of the broad set of involved actors. Even though specific case studies highlight single business models, a comprehensive analysis of emerging business models for the entire set of actors is missing. Following this research gap, this paper conducts a systematic literature review of 135 peer-reviewed journal articles to examine business models of actors operating in local energy markets. From 221 businesses in the reviewed literature, nine macro-actor categories are identified. For each type of market actor, a business model archetype is determined and characterised using the business model canvas. The key elements of each business model archetype are discussed, and areas are highlighted where further research is needed. Finally, this paper outlines the differences of business models for their presence in the three local energy market models. Focusing on the identified customers and partner relationships, this study highlights the key actors per market model and the character of the interactions between market participants

N-glycans of Human Protein C Inhibitor: Tissue-Specific Expression and Function

Protein C inhibitor (PCI) is a serpin type of serine protease inhibitor that is found in many tissues and fluids in human, including blood plasma, seminal plasma and urine. This inhibitor displays an unusually broad protease specificity compared with other serpins. Previous studies have shown that the N-glycan(s) and the NH2-terminus affect some blood-related functions of PCI. In this study, we have for the first time determined the N-glycan profile of seminal plasma PCI, by mass spectrometry. The N-glycan structures differed markedly compared with those of both blood-derived and urinary PCI, providing evidence that the N-glycans of PCI are expressed in a tissue-specific manner. The most abundant structure (m/z 2592.9) had a composition of Fuc3Hex5HexNAc4, consistent with a core fucosylated bi-antennary glycan with terminal Lewisx. A major serine protease in semen, prostate specific antigen (PSA), was used to evaluate the effects of N-glycans and the NH2-terminus on a PCI function related to the reproductive tract. Second-order rate constants for PSA inhibition by PCI were 4.3±0.2 and 4.1±0.5 M−1s−1 for the natural full-length PCI and a form lacking six amino acids at the NH2-terminus, respectively, whereas these constants were 4.8±0.1 and 29±7 M−1s−1 for the corresponding PNGase F-treated forms. The 7–8-fold higher rate constants obtained when both the N-glycans and the NH2-terminus had been removed suggest that these structures jointly affect the rate of PSA inhibition, presumably by together hindering conformational changes of PCI required to bind to the catalytic pocket of PSA