Competition, restructuring and firm performance: evidence of an inverted-U relationship from a cross-country survey of firms in transition economies

This paper examines the importance of competition in the growth anddevelopment of firms. We draw on a survey of 3,300 firms in 25transition countries to shed light on the factors that influencerestructuring by firms and their subsequent performance. These datahave three main advantages over those used in previous work. First,they measure directly the degree of competition perceived by each firmin its principal market rather than attempting to infer this from marketdata as measured by statistical agencies. Second, the fact that transitioncountries have market structures inherited from the past avoids some ofthe endogeneity problems associated with measures of competition inmarket economies. Third, the breadth of cross-country variationprovides a method of dealing with the fact that firm-level measures ofthe external environment will not be independent of the firm?s ownperformance. We find evidence of a robust inverted-U effect ofcompetition on performance that is both statistically and economicallysignificant. This paper examines the importance of competition in the growth anddevelopment of firms. We draw on a survey of 3,300 firms in 25transition countries to shed light on the factors that influencerestructuring by firms and their subsequent performance. These datahave three main advantages over those used in previous work. First,they measure directly the degree of competition perceived by each firmin its principal market rather than attempting to infer this from marketdata as measured by statistical agencies. Second, the fact that transitioncountries have market structures inherited from the past avoids some ofthe endogeneity problems associated with measures of competition inmarket economies. Third, the breadth of cross-country variationprovides a method of dealing with the fact that firm-level measures ofthe external environment will not be independent of the firm?s ownperformance. We find evidence of a robust inverted-U effect ofcompetition on performance that is both statistically and economicallysignificant

Evolutionary Roots of Property Rights; The Natural and Cultural Nature of Human Cooperation

Debates about the role of natural and cultural selection in the development of prosocial, antisocial and socially neutral mechanisms and behavior raise questions that touch property rights, cooperation, and conflict. For example, some researchers suggest that cooperation and prosociality evolved by natural selection (Hamilton 1964, Trivers 1971, Axelrod and Hamilton 1981, De Waal 2013, 2014), while others claim that natural selection is insufficient for the evolution of cooperation, which required in addition cultural selection (Sterelny 2013, Bowles and Gintis 2003, Seabright 2013, Norenzayan 2013). Some scholars focus on the complexity and hierarchical nature of the evolution of cooperation as involving different tools associated with lower and the higher levels of competition (Nowak 2006, Okasha 2006); others suggest that humans genetically inherited heuristics that favor prosocial behavior such as generosity, forgiveness or altruistic punishment (Ridley 1996, Bowles and Gintis 2004, Rolls 2005). We argue these mechanisms are not genetically inherited; rather, they are features inherited through cultural selection. To support this view we invoke inclusive fitness theory, which states that individuals tend to maximize their inclusive fitness, rather than maximizing group fitness. We further reject the older notion of natural group selection - as well as more recent versions (West, Mouden, Gardner 2011) – which hold that natural selection favors cooperators within a group (Wynne-Edwards 1962). For Wynne-Edwards, group selection leads to group adaptations; the survival of individuals therefore depends on the survival of the group and a sharing of resources. Individuals who do not cooperate, who are selfish, face extinction due to rapid and over-exploitation of resources

Clonal karyotype evolution involving ring chromosome 1 with myelodysplastic syndrome subtype RAEB-t progressing into acute leukemia

s Karyotypic evolution is a well-known phenomenon in patients with malignant hernatological disorders during disease progression. We describe a 50-year-old male patient who had originally presented with pancytopenia in October 1992. The diagnosis of a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) FAB subtype RAEB-t was established in April 1993 by histological bone marrow (BM) examination, and therapy with low-dose cytosine arabinoside was initiated. In a phase of partial hernatological remission, cytogenetic assessment in August 1993 revealed a ring chromosome 1 in 13 of 21 metaphases beside BM cells with normal karyotypes {[}46,XY,r(1)(p35q31)/46,XY]. One month later, the patient progressed to an acute myeloid leukemia (AML), subtype M4 with 40% BM blasts and cytogenetic examination showed clonal evolution by the appearance of additional numerical aberrations in addition to the ring chromosome{[}46,XY,r(1),+8,-21/45,XY,r(1),+8,-21,-22/46, XY]. Intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy was applied to induce remission in preparation for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from the patient's HLA-compatible son. After BMT, complete remission was clinically, hematologically and cytogenetically (normal male karyotype) confirmed. A complete hematopoietic chimerism was demonstrated. A relapse in January 1997 was successfully treated using donor lymphocyte infusion and donor peripheral blood stem cells (PB-SC) in combination with GM-CSF as immunostimulating agent in April 1997, and the patient's clinical condition remained stable as of January 2005. This is an interesting case of a patient with AML secondary to MDS. With the ring chromosome 1 we also describe a rare cytogenetic abnormality that predicted the poor prognosis of the patient, but the patient could be cured by adoptive immunotherapy and the application of donor's PB-SC. This case confirms the value of cytogenetic analysis in characterizing the malignant clone in hernatological neoplasias, the importance of controlling the quality of an induced remission and of the detection of a progress of the disease. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

Comparative Chromosome Maps of Neotropical Rodents Necromys lasiurus and Thaptomys nigrita (Cricetidae) Established by ZOO-FISH

This work presents chromosome homology maps between Mus musculus (MMU) and 2 South American rodent species from the Cricetidae group: Necromys lasiurus (NLA, 2n = 34) and Thaptomys nigrita (TNI, 2n = 52), established by ZOO-FISH using mouse chromosome-specific painting probes. Extending previous molecular cytogenetic studies in Neotropical rodents, the purpose of this work was to delineate evolutionary chromosomal rearrangements in Cricetidae rodents and to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships among the Akodontini species. Our phylogenetic reconstruction by maximum parsimony analysis of chromosomal characters confirmed one consistent clade of all Neotropical rodents studied so far. In both species analyzed here, we observed the syntenic association of chromosome segments homologous to MMU 8/13, suggesting that this chromosome form is a synapomorphic trait exclusive to Neotropical rodents. Further, the previously described Akodontini-specific syntenic associations MMU 3/18 and MMU 6/12 were observed in N. lasiurus but not in T. nigrita, although the latter species is considered a member of the Akodontini tribe by some authors. Finally, and in agreement with this finding, N. lasiurus and Akodon serrensis share the derived fission of MMU 13, which places them as basal sister clades within Akodontini. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

An electrically driven, computer controlled robotics platform for orchard use

As automation in agriculture progresses, more automation systems will be placed into farms & orchards. Systems that service the crops directly are likely to have positioning requirements that make traditional tractor-trailer units unsuitable. This paper introduces a platform built for transporting robotics modules through a kiwifruit orchard. Performance figures, design considerations and a general hardware overview are presented. The platform is controlled either by remote or computer generated drive commands - facilitating autonomous navigation. In-orchard testing shows the system is well suited for the target application, achieving stable speed control and repeatable positioning

Sex and sexuality: An evolutionary view

In this article, I first offer a summary of Darwin’s main ideas, especially relating to sex, and explain how these have been elaborated by more recent evolutionary scholars. I then give an account of the historical divergence between psychoanalysis and classical Darwinian thought, and describe how the early psychoanalyst Sabina Spielrein tried to counter this by addressing some biological themes in her work. Following a review of some contemporary attempts to bring psychoanalysis and evolutionary thought into alignment with each other, I make some suggestions regarding a view of sex and sexuality that would be sound in evolutionary terms while also being helpful in psychoanalytic ones

Zinc Finger Nuclease mediated knockout of ADP dependent Glucokinase in Cancer cell lines: Effects on cell survival and Mitochondrial Oxidative Metabolism

<div><p>Zinc finger nucleases (ZFN) are powerful tools for editing genes in cells. Here we use ZFNs to interrogate the biological function of <i>ADPGK</i>, which encodes an ADP-dependent glucokinase (ADPGK), in human tumour cell lines. The hypothesis we tested is that ADPGK utilises ADP to phosphorylate glucose under conditions where ATP becomes limiting, such as hypoxia. We characterised two ZFN knockout clones in each of two lines (H460 and HCT116). All four clones had frameshift mutations in all alleles at the target site in exon 1 of <i>ADPGK,</i> and were ADPGK-null by immunoblotting. <i>ADPGK</i> knockout had little or no effect on cell proliferation, but compromised the ability of H460 cells to survive siRNA silencing of hexokinase-2 under oxic conditions, with clonogenic survival falling from 21±3% for the parental line to 6.4±0.8% (p = 0.002) and 4.3±0.8% (p = 0.001) for the two knockouts. A similar increased sensitivity to clonogenic cell killing was observed under anoxia. No such changes were found when <i>ADPGK</i> was knocked out in HCT116 cells, for which the parental line was less sensitive than H460 to anoxia and to hexokinase-2 silencing. While knockout of <i>ADPGK</i> in HCT116 cells caused few changes in global gene expression, knockout of <i>ADPGK</i> in H460 cells caused notable up-regulation of mRNAs encoding cell adhesion proteins. Surprisingly, we could discern no consistent effect on glycolysis as measured by glucose consumption or lactate formation under anoxia, or extracellular acidification rate (Seahorse XF analyser) under oxic conditions in a variety of media. However, oxygen consumption rates were generally lower in the <i>ADPGK</i> knockouts, in some cases markedly so. Collectively, the results demonstrate that <i>ADPGK</i> can contribute to tumour cell survival under conditions of high glycolytic dependence, but the phenotype resulting from knockout of <i>ADPGK</i> is cell line dependent and appears to be unrelated to priming of glycolysis in these lines.</p></div

Structure of the Lassa virus glycan shield provides a model for immunological resistance

Lassa virus is an Old World arenavirus endemic to West Africa that causes severe hemorrhagic fever. Vaccine development has focused on the envelope glycoprotein complex (GPC) that extends from the virion envelope. The often inadequate antibody immune response elicited by both vaccine and natural infection has been, in part, attributed to the abundance of N-linked glycosylation on the GPC. Here, using a virus-like-particle system that presents Lassa virus GPC in a native-like context, we determine the composite population of each of the N-linked glycosylation sites presented on the trimeric GPC spike. Our analysis reveals the presence of underprocessed oligomannose-type glycans, which form punctuated clusters that obscure the proteinous surface of both the GP1 attachment and GP2 fusion glycoprotein subunits of the Lassa virus GPC. These oligomannose clusters are seemingly derived as a result of sterically reduced accessibility to glycan processing enzymes, and limited amino acid diversification around these sites supports their role protecting against the humoral immune response. Combined, our data provide a structure-based blueprint for understanding how glycans render the glycoprotein spikes of Lassa virus and other Old World arenaviruses immunologically resistant targets

Failure modes of CFRP panels under hypervelocity impact: the effects of strain rate between 1 km/s and 6 km/s

Studying the effects of hypervelocity impacts on structural materials is essential for the aerospace and defense fields. However, there is a paucity of open-source and accessible data in the literature concerning the hypervelocity impact response of CFRP composites. This paper details our results from an experimental research program designed to aid in addressing this limitation by providing extensive data from multiple analysis techniques. This is part of a wider body of research focused on identifying failure modes and their evolution at elevated strain rates. Experimental work on the impact of commercially available CFRP composites at impact velocities between 1000 and 6000 m/s is presented and discussed. This work provides further validation for the response of an aerospace-relevant material to extreme loading conditions, with wider implications for the design and use of these structures in various industries. Preliminary results from optical imaging, HSV capture, SEM, VP-SEM, and target mass loss analysis are included and show a strain rate dependence in the CFRP material studied.This work was funded through an Engineering and Physical Sciences Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Partnership/studentship (20233/2023) to Cranfield University.17th Hypervelocity Impact Symposium 202