Modelling leadership and institutional factors in endogenous regional development.

Theories and approaches to endogenous growth and regional development tend to neglect or at best underplay the role of leadership and the way institutional factors are considered is usually simplistic. This paper builds on work the authors have been developing over the last year or so to develop a model framework of regional economic development that explicitly incorporates leadership and institutional factors along with the consideration of resource endowments and market fit and of entrepreneurship. An approach to operationalizing the model is proposed.

Micromechanical tuning elements in a 620-GHz monolithic integrated circuit

While monolithic integrated-circuit technology promises a practical means for realizing reliable reproducible planar millimeter and submillimeter-wave circuits, conventional planar circuits do not allow for critical post-fabrication optimization of performance. A 620-GHz quasi-optical monolithic detector circuit is used here to demonstrate the performance of two integrated micromechanical planar tuning elements. This is the first reported demonstration of integrated micromechanical tuning at submillimeter wavelengths. The tuning elements, called sliding planar backshorts (SPBs), are used to adjust the electrical length of planar transmission-line tuning stubs to vary the power delivered between a substrate-lens coupled planar antenna and a thin-film bismuth detector over a range of nearly 15 dB. The circuit performance agrees with theoretical calculations and microwave measurements of a -0.06-dB reflection coefficient made for a scale model of the integrated tuners. The demonstrated tuning range for the SPB tuners indicates that they can be valuable for characterizing components in developmental circuits and for optimizing the in-use performance of various millimeter and submillimeter-wave integrated circuits

Liderazgo e instituciones factores endógenos del desarrollo de la economía regional

This paper proposes that a virtuous circle for the sustainable development of a city or region is achieved through a process whereby proactive and strong leadership and effective institutions enhance the capacity and capability of a place to better use its resource endowments and gain an improved market fit in becoming competitive and being entrepreneurial. It is proposed that the performance of a city or region at a point in time and the path of its economic development over time may be represented by its position in a Regional Competitiveness Performance Cube. The paper proposes a new model framework whereby a city or region’s economic development and performance is an outcome dependent on how its resource endowments and market fit as quasi-independent variables are mediated by the interaction between leadership, institutions, and entrepreneurship as intervening variables. The experiences of a number of case study cities from a variety of settings in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia are explored within that framework.Este artículo propone que un círculo virtuoso para el desarrollo sostenible de una ciudad o región se logra a través de un proceso por el que el liderazgo proactivo y fuerte y las instituciones efectivas refuerzan la capacidad y aptitud de un lugar para hacer un mejor uso de sus dotaciones de recursos y lograr un mercado mejorado que consiga ser competitivo y emprendedor. Se propone que el funcionamiento de una ciudad o región en un punto en el tiempo y la trayectoria de su desarrollo económico a lo largo del tiempo puede representarse por su posición en un Cubo de resultados de Competitividad Regional. El artículo propone una nueva estructura de modelo donde el desarrollo económico y funcionamiento de una ciudad o región sea un resultado dependiente de cómo sus dotaciones de recursos y mercado ajustadas como variables cuasi-independientes son mediadas por la interacción entre el liderazgo, instituciones y espíritu empresarial como variables intervinientes. Las experiencias de un cierto número de casos de estudio de ciudades dentro de una variedad de lugares en EE.UU., Europa, Asia y Australia se exploran dentro de esa estructura

Reassessment of vertebrate ichnotaxa from the Upper Carboniferous ‘Fern Ledges’, Lancaster Formation, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

Vertebrate ichnotaxa described by George Frederic Matthew in 1910 from the Upper Carboniferous (Lower Pennsylvanian) ‘Fern Ledges’ of Saint John, New Brunswick, were dismissed as dubious trackways by previous authors. Thus, three new ichnospecies Matthew described appeared in the 1975 Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology as “unrecognized or unrecognizable” and were mostly forgotten by vertebrate ichnologists. These traces include Hylopus (?) variabilis, Nanopus (?) vetustus and Bipezia bilobata. One ichnospecies, Hylopus (?) variabilis, here is retained as a valid tetrapod footprint ichnotaxon and reassigned to the ichnogenus Limnopus as a new combination, together with other poorly preserved specimens Matthew labeled, but never described. Nanopus (?) vetustus and Bipezia bilobata named by Matthew in the same paper, have been reexamined and remain as nomina dubia.

Sound-producing mechanisms of Buenoa macrotibialis Hungerford (Hemiptera: Notonectidae)

In Buenoa macrotibialis, experimental results indicate that the stridulatory mechanism composed of the tibial combs and rostral prongs is involved in producing trills, chirps, and dart-chirps; the femoral ridges and coxal peg mechanism is involved in producing grasping-chirps and cleaning-chirps; and the forelegs probably stridulate in unison. Either half of the tibial comb can produce trills, chirps and dart-chirps, though these signals are usually altered from normal. Both combs are normally involved in signal production, but one tibial comb can produce these signals with only slight alterations. The frequency spectrum of acoustic signals of macrotibialis is generated by resonation, not by rate of stridulation. The body proper, or some part(s) thereof, apparently functions as the resonator. Vibrations created by stridulation of the tibial comb-rostral prong and femoral ridge-coxal peg mechanisms probably are transmitted to the resonator by the rostrum and/or coxae.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/22083/1/0000507.pd

Synthesis, characterization and 11C radiolabeling of aminophenyl benzothiazoles:structural effects on the alkylation of amino group

Several aminophenyl benzothiazoles were prepared with a view to using them as amyloid binding agents for imaging β-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease. These precursors were radiolabeled with 11C-positron-emitting radioisotope using an automated synthesizer and selected radiolabeled compounds were further purified by HPLC. Our results demonstrate that changes in structure have a major influence on the radioactive yield and the ease with which the radiolabel can be introduced. Aminophenyl benzothiazoles with an attached isopropyl group resisted dialkylation perhaps due to steric hindrance caused by this group. Straight chain attachment of methyl, ethyl, butyl, and crotyl groups in the structure decreased the radiochemical yield. Notably, the o-aminophenyl benzothiazole derivatives were difficult to alkylate despite stringent experimental conditions. This reactivity difference is attributed to the hydrogen bonding characteristics of the o-amino group with the nitrogen atom of the thiazole ring

Quantifying the contribution of pathways of nosocomial acquisition of COVID-19 in English hospitals

BACKGROUND: Despite evidence of the nosocomial transmission of novel coronavirus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in hospitals worldwide, the contributions of the pathways of transmission are poorly quantified. METHODS: We analysed national records of hospital admissions and discharges, linked to data on SARS-CoV-2 testing, using an individual-based model that considers patient-to-patient, patient-to-healthcare worker (HCW), HCW-to-patient and HCW-to-HCW transmission. RESULTS: Between 1 March 2020 and 31 December 2020, SARS-CoV-2 infections that were classified as nosocomial were identified in 0.5% (0.34-0.74) of patients admitted to an acute National Health Service trust. We found that the most likely route of nosocomial transmission to patients was indirect transmission from other infected patients, e.g. through HCWs acting as vectors or contaminated fomites, followed by direct transmission between patients in the same bay. The risk of transmission to patients from HCWs over this time period is low, but can contribute significantly when the number of infected inpatients is low. Further, the risk of a HCW acquiring SARS-CoV-2 in hospital is approximately equal to that in the community, thereby doubling their overall risk of infection. The most likely route of transmission to HCWs is transmission from other infected HCWs. CONCLUSIONS: Current control strategies have successfully reduced the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between patients and HCWs. In order to reduce the burden of nosocomial COVID-19 infections on health services, stricter measures should be enforced that would inhibit the spread of the virus between bays or wards in the hospital. There should also be a focus on inhibiting the spread of SARS-CoV-2 between HCWs. The findings have important implications for infection-control procedures in hospitals

The declining representativeness of the British party system, and why it matters

In a recent article, Michael Laver has explained ‘Why Vote-Seeking Parties May Make Voters Miserable’. His model shows that, while ideological convergence may boost congruence between governments and the median voter, it can reduce congruence between the party system and the electorate as a whole. Specifically, convergence can increase the mean distance between voters and their nearest party. In this article we show that this captures the reality of today’s British party system. Policy scale placements in British Election Studies from 1987 to 2010 confirm that the pronounced convergence during the past decade has left the Conservatives and Labour closer together than would be optimal in terms of minimising the policy distance between the average voter and the nearest major party. We go on to demonstrate that this comes at a cost. Respondents who perceive themselves as further away from one of the major parties in the system tend to score lower on satisfaction with democracy. In short, vote-seeking parties have left the British party system less representative of the ideological diversity in the electorate, and thus made at least some British voters miserable

High resolution study of low-lying correlation satellites below 25 eV in xenon probed by pulsed-field-ionization-zero-kinetic-energy photoelectron spectroscopy

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