Product Recalls, Imperfect Information, and Spillover Effects: Lessons from the Consumer Response to the 2007 Toy Recalls

In 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued 276 recalls of toys and other children's products, a sizeable increase from previous years. The overwhelming majority of the 2007 toy recalls were due to high levels of lead content and almost all of these toys were manufactured in China. This period of recalls was characterized by substantial media attention to the issue of consumer product safety and eventually led to the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. This paper examines consumer demand for toys following this wave of dangerous toy recalls. The data reveal four key findings. First, the types of toys that were involved in recalls in 2007 experienced above average losses in Christmas season sales. Second, Christmas sales of infant/preschool toys produced by manufacturers who did not experience any recalls were about 25 percent lower in 2007 as compared to earlier years, suggesting industry-wide spillovers. Third, a manufacturer’s recall of one type of toy did not lead to a disproportionate loss in sales of their other types of toys. And, finally, recalls of toys that are part of a brand had either positive or negative effects on the demand for other toys in the property, depending on the nature of the toys involved. Our examination of the stock market performance of toy firms over this period also reveals industry wide spillovers. The finding of sizable spillover effects of product recalls to non-recalled products and non-recalled manufacturers has important implications for regulation policy.

Productividad de la mano de obra y nivel de desperdicio de los materiales en construcciones de albañilería –Cajamarca.

El presente trabajo de investigación es de tipo descriptivo no experimental, cuyo objetivo fue determinar la productividad de la mano de obra y nivel de desperdicio de los materiales en construcciones de albañilería - Cajamarca. Este estudio se realizó debido al bajo porcentaje de trabajo productivo y alto porcentaje de desperdicio de los materiales en las obras de ingeniería. Se estudió cuatro obras en ejecución que se encuentran en la zona sur-este de ciudad de Caja marca". Para determinar el trabajo productivo se utilizó la herramienta carta balance registrando 384 observaciones a la cuadrilla de trabajadores, con una frecuencia de un minuto, ya que de esta forma se obtiene una confiabilidad de 95% y un error no mayor de +/- 5%. Las partidas que se analizaron son: colocación de concreto en zapatas. Obteniendo un trabajo productivo en promedio del 12% con una productividad 5% menos a la establecida por CAPECO y la partida muro de ladrillo de arcilla de soga con un trabajo productivo del 53% y una productividad equivalente a la de CAPECO. Asimismo se determinó el porcentaje de desperdicio de 5.43% para el cemento y 4.98% para el hormigón. Estos desperdicios se calcularon utilizando la fórmula de Soibelman.Tesi

Personal non-commercial use only

ABSTRACT. Objective. To determine the effects of bedtime very low dose (VLD) cyclobenzaprine (CBP) on symptoms and sleep physiology of patients with fibromyalgia (FM), unrefreshing sleep, and the α-nonREM sleep electroencephalographic (EEG) anomaly at screening. Methods. Of 37 patients with FM in the screened population, 36 were randomized and treated in this 8-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalating study of VLD CBP 1-4 mg at bedtime. We evaluated changes in subjective symptoms including pain, tenderness, fatigue, mood [Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD)], and objective EEG sleep physiology (at screening, baseline, and Weeks 2, 4, and 8). Results. In the VLD CBP-treated group (n = 18) over 8 weeks, musculoskeletal pain and fatigue decreased, tenderness improved; total HAD score and the HAD depression subscore decreased; patient-rated and clinician-rated fatigue improved. In the placebo-treated group (n = 18), none of these outcome measures changed significantly. Compared to placebo at 8 weeks, VLD CBP significantly improved pain, tenderness, and the HAD Depression subscore. Analysis of cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) sleep EEG revealed that significantly more subjects in the VLD CBP group than the placebo group had increased nights of restorative sleep in which CAP A2+A3 /CAP A1+A2+A3 = CAP A2+A3(Norm) ≤ 33%. For VLD CBP-treated subjects, the increase in nights with CAP A2+A3(Norm) ≤ 33% was correlated to improvements in fatigue, total HAD score, and HAD depression score. Fibromyalgia syndrome (FM) is a common, chronic musculoskeletal pain disorder, diagnosed predominantly in women, that is characterized by widespread pain, increased sensitivity to pain (or tenderness) at multiple tender points, fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, and depressed mood 1 . Cyclobenzaprine (CBP) has been studied in FM in a number of randomized trials employing doses of 10-40 mg per day, with mixed result

Replication data for: Product Recalls, Imperfect Information, and Spillover Effects: Lessons from the Consumer Response to the 2007 Toy Recalls

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Virus design strategy.

<p>(<b>a</b>) Cloned synthetic DNA fragments used to assemble HPXV. Nine different clones were synthesized spanning all but the first and last 40 bp in GenBank entry DQ792504, each overlapping the adjacent fragment by ~1 kbp. All of the <i>Aar</i>I and <i>Bsa</i>I restriction sites were eliminated from fragments 1A to 7, inclusive, using silent mutations and the same strategy was used to add <i>Ava</i>I and <i>Stu</i>I sites in Frag_2. To facilitate virus recovery a gene encoding a YFP-gpt fusion protein was inserted into Frag_3, at the site of the HPXV thymidine kinase locus. An additional HPXV095 fragment spans the thymidine kinase locus and was subsequently used to delete and replace the YFP-gpt marker using homologous recombination. (<b>b</b>) Synthetic hairpin telomeres. Because the HPXV genome was not sequenced to the ends, we substituted two hairpin sequences based upon those reported for VACV strain WR (green coloured nucleotides). These are called “fast” and “slow” forms based upon their electrophoretic properties. The nucleotides coloured in black come from the HPXV genome sequence and provide an element essential for telomere resolution.</p

Size and location of each synthetic DNA fragment within HPXV (Accession #DQ792504).

<p>Size and location of each synthetic DNA fragment within HPXV (Accession #DQ792504).</p

Virulence and vaccine properties of scHPXV.

<p><b>a</b>. Virulence studies. Immune competent BALB/c mice (5 per group) were inoculated intranasally with the indicated viruses. scHPXV was tested using doses ranging from 10⁵−10⁷ pfu per mouse. Some weight loss due to illness was seen in animals inoculated with 5×10³ pfu VACV strain WR (¢), or 1×10⁷ pfu of VACV strain DPP15 (<b>Δ</b>), but no illness was detected in any of the animals infected with HPXV clones. <b>b</b>. VACV challenge studies. Four weeks after exposure to the indicated agent as shown in panel <b>a</b> (or mock treatment with buffered saline), the mice were exposed to a lethal dose of VACV strain WR (1×10⁶ pfu) by the same route (day 0 in <b>b</b> is day 28 in graph <b>a</b>). The animals were monitored for signs of disease and euthanized if the weight loss exceeded 25% of the initial body weight. The scHPXV strain provided good protection at the two highest pre-challenge doses (1×10⁶ and 1×10⁷ pfu). <b>c</b>. Disease course in HPXV vaccinated mice. The mice were inspected to detect four signs of disease (ruffled fur, hunched posture, difficulty breathing, and reduced mobility) and a clinical score calculated from the sum of the individual scores averaged across all five (or surviving) mice per cohort. Little or no signs of illness were detected in mice first vaccinated with 1×10⁶ or 1×10⁷ pfu scHPXV <b>d</b>. Kaplan-Meyer analysis of survivorship. All of the mock-vaccinated (i.e. saline-treated) mice succumbed to VACV strain WR challenge, whereas treatment of animals vaccinated with either VACV strain WR, VACV strain DPP15, or all doses of scHPXV (10⁵−10⁷ pfu per mouse) protected 100% of the animals.</p

Sequencing and restriction endonuclease mapping of reactivated scHPXV YFP-gpt::095 clones.

<p><b>a</b>. Pulsed field gel electrophoretic analysis. Three independent HPXV clones plus a VACV (strain WR) control virus were purified and then left either untreated, or digested with <i>Bsa</i>I or <i>Hin</i>dIII. The larger size of HPXV relative to VACV is apparent in the uncut samples, and the absence of nearly all of the <i>Bsa</i>I sites in the HPXV clones is also apparent. The selective manner in which only the <i>Bsa</i>I sites were modified by gene synthesis is illustrated by the retention of all the <i>Hin</i>dIII restriction sites in scHPXV YFP-gpt::095. The <i>Hin</i>dIII digest also demonstrates the similarities between HPXV and VACV as illustrated by the related digestion patterns. The faint DNA bands marked with asterisks (*) are from monkey cell mitochondria, which co-purify with poxvirus particles. <b>b</b>. Sequence reads associated with the hairpin telomeres. The viruses were sequenced using Illumina technology and the genomes assembled using CLC genomics software. A subset of the longest sequencing reads, extending beyond the known end of the HPXV sequence, are shown aligned against a poly·dC template. (This method captures sequences extending beyond the point where the reference sequence ends.) These reads span the entire length of the unfolded hairpins as was provided using synthetic oligonucleotides. Because of the inverted terminal duplications, all of the reads “pile up” together. Both F- and S-forms of the VACV hairpin are detected and the ratio of F- to S-reads in this region was 1.03±0.01 (SEM) in eight different virus-sequencing reactions.</p