Imaging infection and inflammation

No abstract availabl

Improving "National Brands": Reputation for Quality and Export Promotion Strategies

This paper studies the effect of firm and country reputation on exports when buyers cannot observe quality prior to purchase. Firm-level demand is determined by expected quality, which is driven by the dynamics of consumer learning through experience and the country of origin's reputation for quality. We show that asymmetric information can result in multiple steady-state equilibria with endogenous reputation. We identify two types of steady states: a high-quality equilibrium (HQE) and a low-quality equilibrium (LQE). In a LQE, only the lowest-quality and the highest-quality firms are active; a range of relatively high-quality firms are permanently kept out of the market by the informational friction. Countries with bad quality reputation can therefore be locked into exporting low-quality, low-cost goods. Our model delivers novel insights about the dynamic impact of trade policies. First, an export subsidy increases the steady-state average quality of exports and welfare in a LQE, but decreases both quality and welfare in a HQE. Second, there is a tax/subsidy scheme based on the duration of export experience that replicates the perfect information outcome. Third, a large reputation shock is self-fulfilling when the economy has multiple steady states. Finally, a minimum quality standard can help an economy initially in a LQE moving to a HQE, but is not necessarily welfare improving

Improving “National Brands”: Reputation for Quality and Export Promotion Strategies

This paper studies the effect of firm and country reputation on exports when buyers cannot observe quality prior to purchase. Firm-level demand is determined by expected quality, which is driven by the dynamics of consumer learning through experience and the country of origin’s reputation for quality. We show that asymmetric information can result in multiple steady-state equilibria with endogenous reputation. We identify two types of steady states: a high-quality equilibrium (HQE) and a low-quality equilibrium (LQE). In a LQE, only the lowest-quality and the highest-quality firms are active; a range of relatively high-quality firms are permanently kept out of the market by the informational friction. Countries with bad quality reputation can therefore be locked into exporting low-quality, low-cost goods. Our model delivers novel insights about the dynamic impact of trade policies. First, an export subsidy increases the steady-state average quality of exports and welfare in a LQE, but decreases both quality and welfare in a HQE. Second, there is a tax/subsidy scheme based on the duration of export experience that replicates the perfect information outcome. Third, a minimum quality standard can help an economy initially in a LQE moving to a HQE

Un SIG pour analyser les stratégies de mise en valeur du milieu par des éleveurs de moutons

Une base de données géographique «Milieu naturel - pratiques d’élevage» a été mise en place sur un secteur de l’arrière-pays méditerranéen, le Lodévois (Hérault)

Education and military rivalry

What makes countries engage in reforms of mass education? Motivated by historical evidence on the relation between military threats and expansions of primary education, we assemble a panel dataset from the last 150 years in European countries and from the postwar period in a large set of countries. We uncover three stylized facts: (i) investments in education are associated with military threats, (ii) democratic institutions are negatively correlated with education investments, and (iii) education investments respond more strongly to military threats in democracies. These patterns continue to hold when we exploit rivalries in a country’s neighborhood as an alternative source of variation. We develop a theoretical model that rationalizes the three empirical findings. The model has an additional prediction about investments in physical infrastructures, which finds support in the data

Bilan sur la conservation des objets en matières plastiques : étude de trois collections

Un des nombreux objectifs du programme POPART était de donner une méthode d’évaluation, un vocabulaire descriptif pour la dégradation des matières plastiques et d’identifier les marqueurs de dégradation. Nous avons élaboré en groupe un glossaire descriptif des dégradations et une hiérarchisation des niveaux de dégradation. Une base de données a permis de collecter les informations puis de les exploiter quantitativement. Ces outils ont servi à évaluer des biens composés de plastiques directement dans les collections du musée d’Art moderne et d’Art contemporain de Nice, du musée d’Art moderne de Saint-Étienne et du musée Galliera, musée de la Mode et du Textile de la Ville de Paris. Cet article propose une approche critique de la méthode et donne le bilan des observations faites sur les collections étudiées.One of the numerous objectives of the POPART programme was to provide a descriptive vocabulary as well as a method of assessing the deterioration of plastic materials and identifying the signs of degradation. Our group has drawn up a descriptive glossary of deterioration in plastics and a list in order of importance of the degrees of deterioration. A database enabled us to collect information and to evaluate it quantitatively. These tools were used in situ to assess the condition of plastic artefacts in the collections of the Musée d’Art moderne et d’Art contemporain de Nice, the Musée d’Art moderne de Saint-Étienne and the Musée Galliera, Musée de la Mode et du Textile de la Ville de Paris. This paper proposes a critical analysis of the method and takes stock of the observations made about the collections under study

Essays on International Trade and Political Economy

This dissertation consists of two essays in international trade and one essay in political economy. The first essay analyzes the role of firm-level and country-level reputation for quality in international transactions. It studies the entry and pricing strategies of high-quality and low-quality exporters when buyers cannot observe the quality of a product prior to purchase. In a steady-state industry equilibrium, country reputations are endogenously set by the quality of their exports, leading to the possibility of multiple equilibria and low-quality traps. We show that export subsidies have a positive long-run effect on average quality, reputation and welfare in countries exporting low-quality goods. However, they have the opposite consequences in countries that export high-quality products. We present some evidence consistent with the model in the empirical pattern of US export prices. The second essay studies the choice between home country and host country financing for multinationals facing demand uncertainty. Three main channels are identified. The cost of capital depends on local financial development. A diversification channel arises from the ability of geographically diversified firms to generate more stable cash flows. By contrast, contagion risk may result in inefficient liquidations when firms raise funds exclusively on their home market. In particular, the model predicts that the prevalence of affiliate production and the share of parent finance should increase with the correlation of business cycles between the home and host markets. Moreover, exchange rate risk tilts the financing decision towards local debt. The third essay deals with the emergence of mass education. Using data from the last 150 years in 137 countries, we show that large investments in primary education systems tend to occur when countries face military rivals or threats from their neighbors. Interestingly, democratic transitions are negatively associated with education investments, although democratic political institutions magnify the positive effect of military rivalries. These empirical results are robust to a number of statistical concerns and hold when we instrument military rivalries with commodity prices or rivalries in a given country’s immediate neighborhood. We also present historical case studies, as well as a simple model, that are consistent with the econometric evidence.Economic

Education and Military Rivalry

Using data from the last 150 years in a small set of countries, and from the postwar period in a large set of countries, we show that large investments in state primary education systems tend to occur when countries face military rivals or threats from their neighbors. By contrast, we find that democratic transitions are negatively associated with education investments, while the presence of democratic political institutions magnifies the positive effect of military rivalries. These empirical results are robust to a number of statistical concerns and continue to hold when we instrument military rivalries with commodity prices or rivalries in a certain country's immediate neighborhood. We also present historical case studies, as well as a simple model, that are consistent with the econometric evidence.Economic

0171: Identification of complicated carotid plaques by adding functional fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomographic imaging to morphological characteristics on computed tomographic angiography

AimWe developed a simple semi-quantitative score for the analysis of carotid plaques with FDG-PET-CTA imaging and tested whether adding functional imaging criteria extracted from FDG-PET imaging to morphological plaque characteristics identified with CTA might improve the detection of complicated plaques.Material and MethodsTwenty-eight patients scheduled for carotid endarterectomy were imaged with PET after injection of FDG followed by CTA of the supra-aortic trunks. Morphological aspects of plaques identified with CTA and metabolic activity quantified with FDG-PET (Tissue to Background ratio, TBR) were measured in the carotid segment with the highest degree of luminal stenosis and graded using semi-quantitative CT and PET scores. Combined score was calculated for each carotid artery by summing CT and PET scores. After carotid endarterectomy, vascular surgeons classified carotid plaques macroscopically as complicated or non-complicated.ResultsTwenty-eight carotid arteries were operated in 26 patients (24 symptomatic patients). Sixteen plaques were classified macroscopically as complicated. CTA detected hypodense regions and ulcerations in 81% and 25%, of complicated plaques, and in 33% and 0% of non-complicated plaques, respectively. Hypodense areas on CTA identified complicated plaques with a sensitivity of 87% and a specificity of 67%. Mean TBR with FDG-PET was measured at 2.2±0.4 in complicated plaques and 1.9±0.3 in non-complicated plaques (p<0.05). Values for the semi-quantitative score based on plaques characteristics with CTA and FDG-PET were 5.4±1.7 in complicated plaques and 2.5±2.4 in non-complicated plaques (p<0.05). A combined PET-CT score≥3 identified complicated plaques with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 67%.ConclusionsAdding FDG-PET imaging criteria to morphological characteristics of plaques on CTA improved the sensitivity of the detection of complicated carotid plaques