Has the internet increased trade? Evidence from industrial and developing countries

If the Internet made it easier for firms to enter new markets by reducing communication and search costs, then it may also have made it easier to export goods and services. The authors find that higher Internet penetration in developing countries is correlated with greater exports to industrial countries, but not with trade between developing countries or with exports from industrial countries. Interpreting the correlations is difficult because causation may run from Internet use to exports or from trade openness to Internet use. To test whether Internet use affects export behavior, the authors endogenize Internet use by using countries'regulation of data services and Internet provision as instrumental variables. The results are robust to endogenizing Internet penetration, suggesting that access to the Internet does affect the export performance of firms in developing countries. In other words, Internet access appears to stimulate exports from poor countries to rich countries. Moreover, the analysis suggests that regulatory policies affecting telecommunications and Internet development indirectly affect trade, further emphasizing the importance of deregulating potentially competitive services in the telecommunications industry.Rural Communications,Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Knowledge Economy,Information Technology,Knowledge Economy,Education for the Knowledge Economy,Economic Theory&Research,Information Technology,Rural Communications

Universal(ly bad) service - providing infrastructure services to rural and poor urban consumers

Until recently, utility services (telecommunications, power, water, and gas) throughout the world were provided by large, usually state-owned, monopolies. However, encouraged by technological change, regulatory innovation, and pressure from international organizations, many developing countries are privatizing state-owned companies and introducing competition. Some observers worry that even if reforms improve efficiency, they might compromise an important public policy goal-ensuring"universal access"for low-income and rural households. The authors review the motivation for universal service, methods used to try to achieve it under monopoly service provision, how reforms might affect these approaches, and the theoretical and empirical evidence of the impact of reform on these consumers. Next, using household data from around the world, they investigate empirically the historical performance of public monopolies in meeting universal service obligations and the impact of reform. The results show the massive failure of state monopolies to provide service to poor and rural households everywhere except Eastern Europe. Moreover, while the data are limited, the evidence suggests that reforms have not harmed poor and rural consumers, and in many cases have improved their access to utility services. Nevertheless, because competition undermines traditional methods of funding universal service objectives (cross-subsidies), the authors also review mechanisms that could finance these objectives without compromising the benefits of reforms.Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Municipal Financial Management,Environmental Economics&Policies,Decentralization,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Municipal Financial Management

The effect of changing player numbers on the physiological responses and time-motion characteristics of a soccer-specific training drill

Soccer-specific training (SST) drills are used to develop physiological adaptations, technical and tactical skills, and provide coaches with greater control of external training load. Despite widespread use, there has been little analysis of SST drills. This study quantified the effect of manipulating player numbers on the physiological demands of an SST drill. Fourteen players completed nine trials (3 × 8, 10, 12 players) of a 4-min SST drill modelled on soccer time-motion data. Physiological intensity measures (heart rate, blood lactate concentration [BLa-], rating of perceived exertion [RPE]) and GPS time-motion data (movement distances and velocities) were collected for each drill. A repeated measures analysis of variance determined significant (p < 0.05) between-drill differences. Results showed variables such as total running distance (TD), mean percentage of maximum heart rate, RPE, and [BLa-] were greater for the 8-player SST drill. The 10-player drill also had a 22% greater TD and 21% higher average speed compared to the 12-player drill, which tended to have a lower activity profile. The 8-player SST drill could be used to develop aerobic capacity and repeat-sprint ability (RSA) because of a higher activity profile. The 10- and 12-player drills would be suited for RSA and sprint acceleration enhancement

Implications of Diet for the Extinction of Saber-Toothed Cats and American Lions

The saber-toothed cat, Smilodon fatalis, and American lion, Panthera atrox, were among the largest terrestrial carnivores that lived during the Pleistocene, going extinct along with other megafauna ~12,000 years ago. Previous work suggests that times were difficult at La Brea (California) during the late Pleistocene, as nearly all carnivores have greater incidences of tooth breakage (used to infer greater carcass utilization) compared to today. As Dental Microwear Texture Analysis (DMTA) can differentiate between levels of bone consumption in extant carnivores, we use DMTA to clarify the dietary niches of extinct carnivorans from La Brea. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that times were tough at La Brea with carnivorous taxa utilizing more of the carcasses. Our results show no evidence of bone crushing by P. atrox, with DMTA attributes most similar to the extant cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, which actively avoids bone. In contrast, S. fatalis has DMTA attributes most similar to the African lion Panthera leo, implying that S. fatalis did not avoid bone to the extent previously suggested by SEM microwear data. DMTA characters most indicative of bone consumption (i.e., complexity and textural fill volume) suggest that carcass utilization by the extinct carnivorans was not necessarily more complete during the Pleistocene at La Brea; thus, times may not have been tougher than the present. Additionally, minor to no significant differences in DMTA attributes from older (~30-35 Ka) to younger (~11.5 Ka) deposits offer little evidence that declining prey resources were a primary cause of extinction for these large cats

The thermodynamic evolution of the cosmological event horizon

By manipulating the integral expression for the proper radius $R_e$ of the cosmological event horizon (CEH) in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe, we obtain an analytical expression for the change \dd R_e in response to a uniform fluctuation \dd\rho in the average cosmic background density $\rho$. We stipulate that the fluctuation arises within a vanishing interval of proper time, during which the CEH is approximately stationary, and evolves subsequently such that \dd\rho/\rho is constant. The respective variations 2\pi R_e \dd R_e and \dd E_e in the horizon entropy $S_e$ and enclosed energy $E_e$ should be therefore related through the cosmological Clausius relation. In that manner we find that the temperature $T_e$ of the CEH at an arbitrary time in a flat FRW universe is $E_e/S_e$, which recovers asymptotically the usual static de Sitter temperature. Furthermore, it is proven that during radiation-dominance and in late times the CEH conforms to the fully dynamical First Law T_e \drv S_e = P\drv V_e - \drv E_e, where $V_e$ is the enclosed volume and $P$ is the average cosmic pressure.Comment: 6 page

Preparation and Solid-state Structural, Electronic, and Magnetic Properties of the 5-Cyano-1,3-benzene-Bridged Bis(1,2,3,5-dithiadiazolyl) and Bis(1,2,3,5-diselenadiazolyl) [5-CN-1,3-C6H3(CN2E2)2] (E = S, Se)

The preparation and solid-state characterization of the bifunctional radicals [4,4’-(5-cyanobenzene)-1,3-bis(1,2,3,5-dithiadiazolyl)] and [4,4’-(5-cyanobenzene)-1,3-bis( 1,2,3,5-diselenadiazolyl)] [5-CN-1,3-C6H3(CN2E2)2] (E = S, Se) are described. The crystals of the two title compounds are isomorphous and belong to the monoclinic space group P21/c, with (for E = S) a = 7.00(2), b = 30.050(6), c = 10.713(8) Å, β = 104.80(10)°, V = 2179(6) Å3, Z = 8 and (for E = Se) a = 7.124(4), b = 30.50(2), c = 10.874(2) Å, β = 105.46(3)°, V = 2277(2) Å3, Z = 8. The crystal structures consist of stacks of diradicals running parallel to x; radical dimerization up and down the stack generates a zigzag arrangement, as seen in the related 1,3-phenylene structures. Along the stacking axis the mean intradimer E-E contacts are 3.12 (E = S) and 3.23 Å (E = Se), while the mean interdimer E- - -E distances are 3.89 (E = S) and 3.91 Å (E = Se). Magnetic and conductivity data are presented and discussed in light of extended Hückel band structure calculations

Yang-Lee and Fisher Zeros of Multisite Interaction Ising Models on the Cayley-type Lattices

A general analytical formula for recurrence relations of multisite interaction Ising models in an external magnetic field on the Cayley-type lattices is derived. Using the theory of complex analytical dynamics on the Riemann sphere, a numerical algorithm to obtain Yang-Lee and Fisher zeros of the models is developed. It is shown that the sets of Yang-Lee and Fisher zeros are almost always fractals, that could be associated with Mandelbrot-like sets on the complex magnetic field and temperature planes respectively.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; with minor correction

The Impact of Interorganizational Imitation on New Venture International Entry and Performance

We examine the impact of interorganizational imitation on new venture international entry and subsequent performance. Using a sample of 150 U.S.-based publicly held new ventures, we find that new venture international entry is in part an imitative response to the internationalization of other firms in the venture\u27s home country industry and/or subsets of firms with certain traits or outcomes. We also find that interorganizational imitation moderates the relationship between new venture international entry and profitability, but not the relationship between new venture international entry and sales growth. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature on new venture internationalization

Recent glitches detected in the Crab pulsar

From 2000 to 2010, monitoring of radio emission from the Crab pulsar at Xinjiang Observatory detected a total of nine glitches. The occurrence of glitches appears to be a random process as described by previous researches. A persistent change in pulse frequency and pulse frequency derivative after each glitch was found. There is no obvious correlation between glitch sizes and the time since last glitch. For these glitches $\Delta\nu_{p}$ and $\Delta\dot{\nu}_{p}$ span two orders of magnitude. The pulsar suffered the largest frequency jump ever seen on MJD 53067.1. The size of the glitch is $\sim$ 6.8 $\times 10^{-6}$ Hz, $\sim$ 3.5 times that of the glitch occured in 1989 glitch, with a very large permanent changes in frequency and pulse frequency derivative and followed by a decay with time constant $\sim$ 21 days. The braking index presents significant changes. We attribute this variation to a varying particle wind strength which may be caused by glitch activities. We discuss the properties of detected glitches in Crab pulsar and compare them with glitches in the Vela pulsar.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc