A Model of Firms' Decisions to Export or Produce Abroad

This paper is a theoretical analysis of the factors influencing production location decisions by a multinational corporation. It starts with a simple model of optimization for a firm facing the choice between exporting and producing abroad a single differentiated final product and then develops the model to take account of production of intermediate as well as final products, the existence of scale economies, and finally, the effects of transport cost and of factors affecting the cost of production. The share of foreign output is shown to be related to the level of transport cost, to the size of host-country markets, to host-country wage levels relative to those of the home country, in combination with labor intensities of production. All of these relationships in turn are shown to interact in various ways with economies of scale in affecting the choice of production locations.

Energy and precious fuels requirements of fuel alcohol production. Volume 4: Appendices G and H, methanol from coal

Coal mine location, mining technology, energy consumption in mining, coal transport, and potential availability of coal are discussed. Methanol from coal is also discussed

Just How Epic Is the Fortnite-Apple Lawsuit?

Epic Games is known for its over-the-top and bombastic video games such as the smash hit, Fortnite. It turns out Epic Games’ approach to legal disputes is just as bombastic as its approach to game development. On August 13, 2020, Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging antitrust violations. Instead of merely filing a lawsuit and a press release, Epic has turned this legal challenge into a media blitz with a parody of Apple’s famous 1984 ad and even an in–game event. Epic’s marketing campaign has been successful, prompting CNN to wonder if Fortnite has killed the App Store as we know it. Is this lawsuit as epic as commentators claim? This post was originally published on the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal website on October 26, 2020. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above

Energy and precious fuels requirements of fuel alcohol production. Volume 2, appendices A and B: Ethanol from grain

Energy currently used in grain production, the effect of ethanol production on agricultural energy consumption, energy credits for ethanol by-products, and land availability and the potential for obtaining ethanol from grain are discussed. Dry milling, wet milling, sensitivity analysis, potential for reduced energy consumption are also discussed

Reclassifying conflict narratives in the Israeli news media

This article presents a general framework for deconstructing and classifying conflict news narratives. This framework, based on a nuanced and contextual approach to analyzing media representations of conflict actors and events, addresses some of the weaknesses of existing classification schemes, focusing in particular on the dualistic approach of the peace journalism model. Using quantitative content analysis, the proposed framework is then applied to the journalistic coverage in the Israeli media of three Middle-Eastern conflicts: the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the conflict surrounding Iran's nuclear program, and the Syrian civil war. The coverage is examined in three leading news outlets – Haaretz, Israel Hayom, and Ynet – over a six-month period. Based on hierarchical cluster analysis, the article identifies four characteristic types of narratives in the examined coverage. These include two journalistic narratives of violence: one inward-looking, ethnocentric narrative, and one outward-looking narrative focusing on outgroup actors and victims; and two political-diplomatic narratives: one interactional, and one outward-looking. In addition to highlighting different constellations of points of view and conflict measures in news stories, the identified clusters also challenge several assumptions underlying existing models, such as the postulated alignment between elite/official actors and violence frame

An Analysis of the Success of the Civil Rights Movement

Between 1964 and 1968, at least four major civil rights acts were passed: the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the 1968 Housing Act. Each piece of legislation sought to address racial problems during the time. Taken together, these acts advanced the major goals of civil rights leaders of the time: improvement of black economic opportunity, voting rights for African Americans, and desegregation. Civil rights activities and demonstrations between 1954 and 1968 undoubtedly led to the passage of these acts. But the ultimate effectiveness of the legislation is one of a matter of degree. To what extent was the civil rights movement successful in achieving its goals? Did the 1964 Civil Rights Act improve economic conditions for African Americans? I will address that question by examining trends in unemployment, poverty, and wages and income of African Americans. Did the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act provide African Americans with an undeterred vote? I will answer that question using participation and registration rates and data on black congressional representation. Finally, did the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and 1968 Housing Act establish desegregation? I will evaluate this question by examining the extent of segregation in schools, public places, and housing. While African American civil rights leaders defined these three goals through their speeches and interviews, they sought to improve black Americans’ conditions, not just in absolute terms but also relative to whites. Therefore, I will compare data on African Americans in these three areas to the data on whites. Ultimately, I draw varying conclusions about the extent to which the major civil rights acts, inspired by the efforts of the civil rights movement, were successful in gaining equality between whites and blacks and improving for blacks in terms of economic opportunity, voting, 4 and desegregation. I will first establish that these three goals were central for the civil rights movement, drawing upon primary sources from major civil rights leaders. I will then analyze the progress made in each goal as the result of civil rights legislation using time series data and bivariate analyses in the short term, long term, and in comparison to whites. Finally, I will offer an interpretation as to the degree and level of advancements and success the movement has had. African Americans have seen drastic improvements in public place desegregation and voting registration and participation. But they still lag far behind their white counterpart in terms of economic conditions. While African Americans have seen some areas of improvement within all three of these goals, with some far greater than others, African Americans overall are still in an inferior position to whites and still need to see significant improvements in many notable areas. The four civil rights acts passed provided opportunities for African Americans. They opened the door to potential improvements. The lack of complete success in these areas cannot be fully attributed to the failures of the legislation itself. Rather it is the result of the persistent effects of segregation and discrimination, as well as a variety of outside factors. The future for African Americans after the civil rights acts was inevitably shaped by the long history of discrimination and disadvantage that preceded the legislation’s enactment

Chapter 8 Persistent Optimism under Political Uncertainty

This chapter examines the social dynamics of projections about the outcomes and implications of the repeated elections in Israel. Based on a combination of a panel survey and focus groups, we analyze citizens’ evolving predictions regarding the expected largest party, the next prime minister, the coalition composition, and the future of Israel more generally. Introducing a conceptual framework that breaks political projections into several constituent elements, we study what probabilities and evaluations people assign to their predictions, how they explain them, and what their implications are for political participation. We show that despite the deepening political crisis, Israeli citizens’ political optimism did not decrease during the three 2019–2020 election campaigns. Furthermore, we find an important link between intention to vote and the expected level of happiness about the predicted outcomes. Based on these findings, we argue that persistent optimism is one explanation for the higher voter turnout in each round of elections. In the epilogue we consider additional insights from the 2021 election, which saw a reversal in voters’ growing optimism and turnout, but which eventually fulfilled hopes of the anti-Netanyahu camp for political change

PRT062607 Achieves Complete Inhibition of the Spleen Tyrosine Kinase at Tolerated Exposures Following Oral Dosing in Healthy Volunteers

The spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) regulates immune cell activation in response to engagement of a variety of receptors,making it an intriguing target for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders as well as certain B-cell malignancies.We have previously reported on the discovery and preclinical characterization of PRT062607,a potent and highly selective inhibitor of SYK that exhibits robust anti-inflammatory activity in a variety of animal models.Here we present data from our first human studies aimed at characterizing the pharmacokinetics (PK),pharmacodynamics (PD), and safety of PRT062607 in healthy volunteers following single and multiple oral administrations.PRT062607 demonstrated a favorable PK profile and the ability to completely inhibit SYK activity in multiple whole-blood assays.The PD half-life in the more sensitive assays was approximately 24 hours and returned to predose levels by 72 hours.Selectivity for SYK was observed at all dose levels tested.Analysis of the PK/PD relationship indicated an IC50 of 324 nM for inhibition of B-cell antigen receptor-mediated B-cell activation and 205 nM for inhibition of FcRI-mediated basophil degranulation. PRT062607was safe and well tolerated acrossthe entire range ofdoses.Clinical PK/PDwas related to in vivo anti-inflammatoryactivity of PRT062607 in the rat collagen-induced arthritis model, which predicts that therapeutic concentrations may be safely achieved in humans for the treatment of autoimmune disease.PRT062607 has a desirable PK profile and is capable of safely,potently,and selectively suppressing SYK kinase function in humans following once-daily oral dosing

Aseptic meningitis in a patient taking etanercept for rheumatoid arthritis: a case report

Background \ud We report a case of a 53 year old lady recently commenced on etanercept, an anti-TNF (tumour necrosis factor) therapy for rheumatoid arthritis presenting with \ud confusion, pyrexia and an erythematous rash. \ud \ud Case presentation \ud A lumbar puncture was highly suggestive of bacterial meningitis, but CSF cultures produced no growth, and polymerase chain reactions (PCR) for all previously reported bacterial, fungal and viral causes of meningitis were negative. \ud \ud Conclusions \ud This case report describes aseptic meningitis as a previously unreported complication of etanercept therapy, and serves as a reminder of the rare but potentially lifethreatening risk of serious infections in patients taking anti-TNF therapy for a variety of conditions