Emergent Properties in Structurally Dynamic Disordered Cellular Networks

We relate structurally dynamic cellular networks, a class of models we developed in fundamental space-time physics, to SDCA, introduced some time ago by Ilachinski and Halpern. We emphasize the crucial property of a non-linear interaction of network geometry with the matter degrees of freedom in order to emulate the supposedly highly erratic and strongly fluctuating space-time structure on the Planck scale. We then embark on a detailed numerical analysis of various large scale characteristics of several classes of models in order to understand what will happen if some sort of macroscopic or continuum limit is performed. Of particular relevance in this context is a notion of network dimension and its behavior in this limit. Furthermore, the possibility of phase transitions is discussed.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, 6 figure

Periodic points for good reduction maps on curves

The periodic points of a morphism of good reduction for a smooth projective curve with good reduction over the p-adics form a discrete set. This is used to give an interpretation of the morphic height in terms of asymptotic properties of periodic points, and a morphic analogue of Jensen's formula

Financial Deepening, Trade Openness and Economic Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean

This contribution investigates the direct and indirect causal interactions between financial deepening, trade openness and economic growth for 13 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Using a rather general approach to identify indicators for financial deepening and to detect Granger causality within a VAR/VECM framework, we find almost no evidence for the popular hypothesis of finance-led growth. Evidence of bidirectional finance-growth causality is stronger but mostly unstable in the long run. Most results indicate a demand-following or insignificant relationship between finance and growth in Latin America. This finding seems to be consistent with regard to the weakness and deficiencies of the region's financial systems. Further, there is no evidence that finance indirectly and unilaterally induces growth via the channel of trade openness. Thus, policies that prioritize financial and trade liberalization cannot be supported by this study. Instead, a holistic policy approach seems to be preferable that promotes the determinants of both real sector growth and financial development. As a result, financial factors may positively and significantly contribute to economic development in the region.Financial Markets, Economic Growth, Openness, Hsiao’s Granger Causality, Latin America and Caribbean

NK and T cells constitute two major, functionally distinct intestinal epithelial lymphocyte subsets in the chicken

Non-mammalian NK cells have not been characterized in detail; however, their analysis is essential for the understanding of the NK cell receptor phylogeny. As a first step towards defining chicken NK cells, several tissues were screened for the presence of NK cells, phenotypically defined as CD8(+) cells lacking T- or B-lineage specific markers. By this criteria, approximately 30% of CD8(+) intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL), but <1% of splenocytes or peripheral blood lymphocytes were defined as NK cells. These CD8(+)CD3(-) IEL were used for the generation of the 28-4 mAb, immunoprecipitating a 35-kDa glycoprotein with a 28-kDa protein core. The CD3 and 28-4 mAb were used to separate IEL into CD3(+) IEL T cells and 28-4(+) cells, both co-expressing the CD8 antigen. During ontogeny, 28-4(+) cells were abundant in the IEL and in the embryonic spleen, where two subsets could be distinguished according to their CD8 and c-kit expression. Most importantly, 28-4(+) IEL lysed NK-sensitive targets, whereas intestinal T cells did not have any spontaneous cytolytic activity. These results define two major, phenotypically and functionally distinct IEL subpopulations, and imply an important role of NK cells in the mucosal immune system

The Community Structure of R&D Cooperation in Europe. Evidence from a social network perspective

The focus of this paper is on pre-competitive R&D cooperation across Europe, as captured by R&D joint ventures funded by the European Commission in the time period 1998-2002, within the 5th Framework Program. The cooperations in this Framework Program give rise to a bipartite network with 72,745 network edges between 25,839 actors (representing organizations that include firms, universities, research organizations and public agencies) and 9,490 R&D projects. With this construction, participating actors are linked only through joint projects. In this paper we describe the community identification problem based on the concept of modularity, and use the recently introduced label-propagation algorithm to identify communities in the network, and differentiate the identified communities by developing community-specific profiles using social network analysis and geographic visualization techniques. We expect the results to enrich our picture of the European Research Area by providing new insights into the global and local structures of R&D cooperation across Europe

How do distinct firm characteristics affect behavioural additionalities of public R&D subsidies? Empirical evidence from a binary regression analysis

In the recent past, interest of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) policies to influence the innovation behaviour of firms has been increased considerably. This gives rise to the notion of behavioural additionality, broadening traditional evaluation concepts of input and output additionality. Though there is empirical work measuring behavioural additionalities, we know little about what role distinct firm characteristics play for their occurrence. The objective is to estimate how distinct firm characteristics influence the realisation of behavioural additionalities. We use survey data on 155 firms, considering the behavioural additionalities stimulated by the Austrian R&D funding scheme in the field of intelligent transport systems in 2006. We focus on three different forms of behavioural additionality – project additionality, scale additionality and cooperation additionality – and employ binary regression models to address this question. Results indicate that R&D related firm characteristics significantly affect the realisation of behavioural additionality. Firms with a high level of R&D resources are less likely to substantiate behavioural additionalities, while small, young and technologically specialised firms more likely realise behavioural additionalities. From a policy perspective, this indicates that direct R&D promotion of firms with high R&D resources may be misallocated, while attention of public support should be shifted to smaller, technologically specialised firms with lower R&D experience.

Total factor productivity effects of interregional knowledge spillovers in manufacturing industries across Europe

The objective of this study is to identify knowledge spillovers that spread across regions in Europe and vary in magnitude for different industries. The study uses a panel of 203 NUTS-2 regions covering the 15 pre-2004 EU-member-states to estimate the impact over the period 1998-2003, and distinguish between five major industries. The study implements a fixed effects panel data regression model with spatial autocorrelation to estimate effects using patent applications as a measure of R&D output to capture the contribution of R&D (direct and spilled-over) to regional productivity at the industry level. The results suggest that interregional knowledge spillovers and their productivity effects are to a substantial degree geographically localised and this finding is consistent with the localisation hypothesis of knowledge spillovers. There is a substantial amount of heterogeneity across industries with evidence that two industries (electronics, and chemical industries) produce interregional knowledge spillovers that have positive and highly significant productivity effects. The study, moreover, confirms the importance of spatial autoregressive disturbance in the fixed effects model for measuring the TFP impact of interregional knowledge spillovers at the industry level.Total factor productivity, manufacturing industries, knowledge spillovers,patents, European regions, spatial econometrics