Prescription opioids and new business establishments

The effects of opioid abuse on health are widely documented, however, its effects on labor market outcomes have only recently become a topic of scientific inquiry. Whereas recent economic studies focus on various measures of labor market participation, the present study analyzes whether opioid prescription rates are associated with the impetus for entrepreneurial activity. By drawing on samples of US counties and US neighbor county-pairs across state borders from the years 2007 to 2016, we find that higher opioid prescription rates are associated with fewer non-employer establishments and new firms employing 1–4 employees. In an ancillary analysis of 50 US states from the years 2006 to 2016, we further show that opioid prescription rates are associated with lower entrepreneurial activity in general and opportunity-based entrepreneurial activity in particular. Overall, both the county-level and state-level analyses show that a higher rate of opioid prescriptions is negatively associated with new business formation. Although the estimated effect sizes are small, they are sizeable in absolute terms

Management of solid waste

Solid waste is a very common term used nowadays in the context of environmental problem. The use of conventional and non-renewable energy reserves causes huge amount of solid waste. In addition to this, rapid urbanization and population explosion cause the prob­lem more acute than ever before. Huge tonnes of solid waste are generated in urban areas specially in the indus­trial and metropolitan city. In rural areas also it is increas­ing day by day. A grim situation is ahead in near future due to disposal of solid waste and environmental pollu­tion. This is going to affect the quality of life in several ways if proper measures are not taken. The composition of solid waste depends on the population of cities, standard of living which changes with time. They usually contain the ingredients like bio­degradable, paper, plastics, glass and crockery, metals, coals, inerts and others

Related and unrelated industry variety and the internationalization of start-ups

We study the relationship between industry variety in a start-up's home location and the start-up's internationalization in terms of both the likelihood of and persistence in exporting. Using a unique sample of Swedish start-ups, we find that related industry variety is positively associated with exporting likelihood and persistence, whereas unrelated industry variety is positively associated with exporting likelihood and persistence when the start-ups’ employees possess technological knowledge. We also find that employees’ international experience strengthens the positive relationship between related industry variety and start-ups’ export persistence. We provide auxiliary evidence of the proposed mechanisms through which related and unrelated industry variety affects start-ups’ internationalization—that is, through their effects on start-ups’ ability to launch novel products in foreign markets. The findings of our study provide policymakers preliminary evidence on th

ADHD and later-life labor market outcomes in the United States

This study analyzes the relation between attention-defcit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and later-life labor market outcomes in the United States and whether these relationships are mediated by educational attainment. To overcome endogeneity concerns in the estimation of these relationships, we exploit the polygenic risk score (PRS) for ADHD in a cohort where the diagnosis of and treatment for ADHD were generally not available. We fnd that an increase in the PRS for ADHD reduces the likelihood of employment, individual income, and household wealth. Moreover, it increases the likelihood of receiving social security disability benefts, unemployment or worker compensation, and other governmental transfers. We provide evidence that educational attainment mediates these relationships to a considerable extent (14–58%)

Effect of the genetic propensity for obesity on income and wealth through educational attainment

Objective: This study contributes to the literature on the income and wealth consequences of obesity by exploiting recent discoveries about the genetic basis of BMI. Methods: The relation between a genetic risk score (GRS) for BMI, which reflects the genetic predisposition to have a higher body weight, and income and wealth was analyzed in a longitudinal data set comprising 5,962 individuals (22,490 individual-year observations) from the US Health and Retirement Study. Results: Empirical analyses showed that the GRS for BMI lowers individual income and household wealth through the channel of lower educational attainment. Sex-stratified analyses showed that this effect is particularly significant among females. Conclusions: This study provides support for the negative effects of the GRS for BMI on individual income and household wealth through lower education for females. For males, the effects are estimated to be smaller and insignificant. The larger effects for females compared with males may be due to greater labor market taste-based discrimination faced by females

Discovery of a redshift 6.13 quasar in the UKIRT infrared deep sky survey

Original article can be found at: http://www.aanda.org/ Copyright The European Southern Observatory (ESO) DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/200811161Optical and near-infrared (NIR) spectra are presented for ULAS J131911.29+095051.4 (hereafter ULAS J1319+0950), a new redshift z = 6.127 0.004 quasar discovered in the Third Data Release (DR3) of the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS). The source has = 19.10 0.03, corresponding to = -27.12, which is comparable to the absolute magnitudes of the z 6 quasars discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). ULAS J1319+0950 was, in fact, registered by SDSS as a faint source with = 20.13 0.12, just below the signal-to-noise ratio limit of the SDSS high-redshift quasar survey. The faint z-band magnitude is a consequence of the weak Ly /N V emission line, which has a rest-frame equivalent width of ~20Å and provides only a small boost to the z-band flux. Nevertheless, there is no evidence of a significant new population of high-redshift quasars with weak emission lines from this UKIDSS-based search. The Ly  optical depth to ULAS J1319+0950 is consistent with that measured towards similarly distant SDSS quasars, implying that results from optical- and NIR-selected quasars may be combined in studies of cosmological reionization. Also presented is a new NIR-spectrum of the previously discovered UKIDSS quasar ULAS J020332.38+001229.2, which reveals the object to be a broad absorption line quasar. The new spectrum shows that the emission line initially identified as Ly  is actually N V, leading to a revised redshift of z = 5.72, rather than z = 5.86 as previously estimatedPeer reviewe

Are the liabilities of newness and smallness the same for male and female informal entrepreneurs? Evidence from Brazil

Though challenges to female entrepreneurship are widely acknowledged in the settings of developed countries or the context of formal firms, the challenges faced by female informal entrepreneurs in developing markets are less explored. Based on the liabilities of newness and smallness framework in organizational ecology, we draw on a sample of 2562 Brazilian informal firms, to examine the unique differences in the experience of newness and smallness between male and female informal entrepreneurs. With increasing firm age, female informal entrepreneurs realized lower firm revenues (inverted-U), however, the firm age and firm revenue association are linear for males. Informal firm performance did not vary by size between male and female informal entrepreneurs. The distinctive differences in firm revenues for male and female entrepreneurs have implications for informal entrepreneurship

Retail returns management strategy: An alignment perspective

This research aims to shed light on the formulation of returns management strategies and to identify key returns management components in developing more effective returns management strategies. Anchored in supply chain orientation and supply chain alignment research, we use a multiple confirmatory case study of six retailers operating in online commerce. Interviews with fifteen managers provided the primary empirical data source for the study. The results confirm the presence of alignment in establishing effective strategies for managing product returns and suggest a return policy. The findings provide detailed insights into seven existing misalignments that curb the strength of alignment. These serve as strategic elements for managers to consider in formulating returns management strategies and goals. The results may assist retail and supply chain professionals in their quest to develop effective strategies for managing product returns. Research on returns management strategy is scarce. This study offers a conceptual framework and provides new empirical insights into returns management strategy formulation and, in particular, potential misalignments

Simultaneous hot desulfurization and improved filtration

Coal reserves in the United States as well as abroad will remain unusable until technology is developed to meet both Clean Air Act mandates and New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for particulate, SO{sub 2}, and NO{sub x}, emissions effectively and economically. Recent breakthroughs in particulate control, specifically ceramic filtration technology, have shown that NSPS limits on particulates can be achieved at high process temperatures, thereby minimizing thermal losses and system complexity. While both calcium based and regenerable metal oxide sorbents are currently utilized for sulfur mitigation, problems such as sintering, temperature limitations, physical attrition, and cost have limited their success. This research suggests the use of waste metal oxide materials for the removal of sulfur in hot gas streams as an alternative to either traditional calcium based sorbents, or regenerable metal oxide sorbents. When classified to a desired particle size and injected into a high temperature coal utilization process, such a `once-through` sorbent can effectively remove sulfur and simultaneously increase the permeability of dust collected at a downstream ceramic filter station in a highly cost effective manner. Several waste metal oxides, including the oxides of iron, tin, and zinc, have been evaluated both individually and in combination to assess their capacity for sulfur capture in both oxidizing and reducing atmospheres. Additionally, inert materials such as silica sand as well as more traditional materials such as dolomite and limestone, were evaluated as sorbents under identical test conditions to serve as reference data

Two-Photon, Two-gluon and Radiative Decays of Heavy Flavoured Mesons

Here we present the two-photon and two-gluon decay widths of the S-wave ($\eta_{Q\in c,b}$) and P-wave ($\chi_{Q\in c,bJ}$) charmonium and bottonium states and the radiative transition decay widths of $c\bar c$, $b\bar b$ and $c\bar b$ systems based on Coulomb plus power form of the inter-quark potential ($CPP_\nu$) with exponent $\nu$. The Schr$\ddot{o}$dinger equation is solved numerically for different choices of the exponent $\nu$. We employ the masses of different states and their radial wave functions obtained from the study to compute the two-photon and two-gluon decay widths and the E1 and M1 radiative transitions. It is found that the quarkonia mass spectra and the E1 transition can be described by the same interquark model potential of the $CPP_\nu$ with $\nu=1.0$ for $c\bar c$ and $\nu=0.7$ for $b\bar b$ systems, while the M1 transition (at which the spin of the system changes) and the decay rates in the annihilation channel of quarkonia are better estimated by a shallow potential with $\nu<1.0$.Comment: 27 Pages, 8 figure