The Flattening Firm and Product Market Competition: The Effect of Trade Liberalization

This paper establishes a causal effect of competition from trade liberalization on various characteristics of organizational design. We exploit a unique panel dataset on firm hierarchies (1986-1999) of large U.S. firms and find that increasing competition leads firms to become flatter, i.e., (i) reduce the number of positions between the CEO and division managers (DM), (ii) increase the number of positions reporting directly to the CEO (span of control), (iii) increase DM total and performance-based pay. The results are generally consistent with the explanation that firms redesign their organizations through a set of complementary choices in response to changes in their environment.organizational change, hierarchy, organizational structure, incentives, complementarities, decentralization, competition

QUANTIFYING THE IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION ON THE SPANISH WELFARE STATE

The Spanish population will experience a significant aging in the coming years. This demographic change will impose a heavy burden on the national budget. In particular, expenditure on pensions and health care will grow much faster than productivity. Some authors believe that immigration could alleviate the fiscal burden on future generations by making the Spanish population younger. We use the methodology of Generational Accounting to quantify the impact of immigration on the Spanish Welfare State, by simulating alternative scenarios according to different quotas of immigrants. Our results suggest that immigration could have a positive and significant effect.Immigration, ¿scal policy, generational accounting, Welfare State.

HLA-DR in Cytotoxic T lymphocytes predicts breast cancer patients' response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Prediction of breast cancer response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy (NACT) is an urgent need to promptly direct non-responder patients to alternative therapies. Infiltrating T lymphocytes, namely cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) have been appointed as predictors of response. However, cancer cells have the ability to dampen CTLs' activity and thus, the prognostic value of the CTLs, per se, is debatable. Here, we disclose that more than the occurrence of CTLs, it is their activation state, revealed by HLA-DR expression, that can accurately predict response to NACT. Flow cytometry analysis of breast cancer biopsies showed that the frequency of CTLs and other lymphocytes were similar regardless disease stage and between NACT responders and non-responders. However, only breast cancer patients without axillary lymph node metastasis and NACT responders have HLA-DRhi CTLs. Interestingly, HLA-DR levels in tumor CTLs is correlated with HLA-DR levels in systemic CTLs. These HLA-DR+ CTLs produce IFN-γ and Granzyme B, enlightening their effector and probable anti-tumor activity profile. Moreover, the level of HLA-DR in CTLs is negatively correlated with the level of HLA-DR in T regulatory lymphocytes and with immunosuppressive and pro-tumor molecules in the tumor microenvironment. Hence, HLA-DR levels in CTLs is a highly sensitive and specific potential predictive factor of NACT-response, which can be assessed in blood to guide therapeutic decisions.Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia: PD/BD/114023/2015; PTDC/BBB-BMD/4497/2014. Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancroinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pre-College credit and Examination Programs: One Size fits All?

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to utilize a comprehensive 9-16 dataset to quantitatively examine which pre-college credit programs are the most significant predictors of college achievement as defined by college GPA, first to second year retention, time to degree and graduation date. A qualitative analysis was conducted, which via the use of a survey allowed students to share their perceptions and feeling regarding their pre-college credit experiences. Data for this study was obtained from institutional sources and consisted of 9-16 detail high school record, admissions, financial aid, scholarship and enrolled student information. Univariate and Multi-variate statistical analyses identified the effects of pre-college credit programs on college achievement when controlling for high school academic GPA and standardized test scores. Grounded theory technique was used to describe and develop in the student’s own voices their experiences with pre-college credit programs. The quantitative analysis discovered differences by pre-college credit program in the cohort performance by college GPA, first to second year retention, time to degree and graduation date. The qualitative analysis focused on students who took DE only and AP only. This study found that there were differences in student perceptions regarding their individual experiences with these programs which then helped to inform the quantitative results. The major findings indicated that AP students outperformed DE students in almost all measures. The qualitative findings revealed that there appeared to be a dis-connect in the perceptions of how DE students described their experiences with their actual performance. This study brings to the forefront, issues already articulated on the national stage regarding the efficacy of these pre-college credit programs. Firstly, the need to have a mechanism to capture student data in order to conduct outcome and assessment studies of these pre-college credit programs. Secondly, the need to have uniform quality and delivery measures for dual enrollment to assure that all students have the opportunity to be successful. Finally, policymakers and stakeholders must take a hard look at whether these pre-college credit programs are working for their student populations and adjust accordingly rather than promoting a “one size fits all” mentality regarding these programs

Weighted norm inequalities for polynomial expansions associated to some measures with mass points

Fourier series in orthogonal polynomials with respect to a measure $\nu$ on $[-1,1]$ are studied when $\nu$ is a linear combination of a generalized Jacobi weight and finitely many Dirac deltas in $[-1,1]$. We prove some weighted norm inequalities for the partial sum operators $S_n$, their maximal operator $S^*$ and the commutator $[M_b, S_n]$, where $M_b$ denotes the operator of pointwise multiplication by b \in \BMO. We also prove some norm inequalities for $S_n$ when $\nu$ is a sum of a Laguerre weight on $\R^+$ and a positive mass on $0$

Allantoin Crystal Formation in Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) Females.

Bagrada hilaris is a polyphagous herbivore reported as an invasive pest in the United States. During the course of dissecting Burmeister hilaris unique crystals were observed in both the midgut and oviducts. Crystals were identified using X-ray diffraction techniques. Both acicular (i.e., needle-like, slender, and/or tapered) and cubic (i.e., cube shaped) crystals were observed in six of 75 individuals examined (8.0%). The crystals were mainly observed in females (6.7%), followed by males (1.3%) with no crystals observed in the minimal number of nymphs examined (0%). Crystals of both types were detected in the midgut and lateral oviducts of the females and midgut in males. The acicular crystals often appeared as distinct bundles when present in the midgut and oviducts. Crystals varied in size with the acicular crystals ranging from 0.12 mm to 0.5 mm in length although the cubic crystals ranged in length from 0.25 mm to over 1.0 mm with widths of ∼0.25 mm. The cubic crystals were identified as allantoin although the acicular crystals were most likely dl-allantoin in combination with halite. While allantoin in a soluble form is often found in insect tissues and excreta; being present as a crystal, especially in such a large form, is curious and raises some interesting questions. More research is warranted to further understand mechanisms associated with such crystal formation in B. hilaris and can lead to a better understanding of the excretory process in this species and the role allantoin plays in the elimination of excess nitrogen

Enseñanza interactiva en la Ingeniería Informática

Las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) propician que la información sea más fácil de conseguir, de transmitir y esté al alcance de todos. Además Internet, a la que podríamos llamar “La biblioteca moderna de Alejandría”, proporciona información variada sobre cualquier tema, con disponibilidad “24x7”. Esto es beneficioso para la educación universitaria en particular, quien se ve además reforzada con plataformas educativas como por ejemplo “Moodle”, la cual puede ser un contenedor de tecnologías punteras aplicadas a la educación con: vídeos, presentaciones, enlaces, sugerencias del profesor, etc. Nosotros pensamos que todo lo anterior ha influido en que los alumnos universitarios tiendan a no asistir a las clases presenciales con la misma asiduidad de hace pocos años. Éstas aparecen medio vacías, mientras nuestros jóvenes universitarios se vuelven anárquicos, estudiando cuándo y dónde quieren. Sin embargo, la tasa de suspensos y de abandono en la enseñanza superior aumenta. Para dar respuesta a esta situación, nos surge la idea de motivar a los alumnos para que asistan a las clases y de utilizar las nuevas TIC para que aprendan. Plasmamos esto en un proyecto de innovación educativa con tres criterios principales: Trabajar en clase. No poner deberes para realizar fuera del aula. No hacer exámenes finales. Nuestro objetivo es aprovechar al máximo las horas lectivas (tiempo docente) desde un enfoque totalmente práctico. Hacemos nuestra la frase de Séneca: “Largo es el camino de la enseñanza por medio de teorías, breve y eficaz por medio de ejemplos”. Este artículo recoge la metodología llevada a cabo en dicho proyecto de innovación y su aplicación en una asignatura optativa, de cuarto curso, dentro del Grado de Ingeniería de Software de una universidad pública española. Finalmente, se realiza un análisis sobre los beneficios y carencias detectadas en su aplicación.The new information and communication technologies (ICT) offer easier information to obtain, to transmit and it will be available to everyone. Besides Internet, what we could call "The modern library of Alexandria" provides a variety of information on any topic, and with full availability "24x7". This is a particularly beneficial to the university education, which is reinforced by educational platforms like for example "Moodle", that can be a container of advanced technologies applied to education with: videos, presentations, links, suggestions from the teacher, etc. We think all the circumstances above have influenced that university students tend to not attending classroom with the same assiduity than few years ago. These classrooms appear half-empty, while our young university students become an anarchic aptitude, studying by their own when and where they want. However, the failure rate and dropout in higher education increases. To give an answer to this situation, we arise the idea of motivating students to attend classroom and to using new technology so that they learn. We shape this in an educational innovation project, which is founded on three main criteria: Working in class; Not ordering homework to perform outside the classroom; Not doing final exams. Our aim is to maximize teaching time from a very practical approach. We agree with the words of Seneca: "Long is the way of teaching through theory, short and effective by examples." This article describes the methodology carried out in this innovation project and its application in an optional subject, in the last year, within the Software Engineering Degree of a Spanish public university. Finally, we do an analysis on the benefits and shortcomings identified by the way of application

Characterization of Gaps and Elements of a Numerical Semigroup Using Groebner Bases

This article is partly a survey and partly a research paper. It tackles the use of Groebner bases for addressing problems of numerical semigroups, which is a topic that has been around for some years, but it does it in a systematic way which enables us to prove some results and a hopefully interesting characterization of the elements of a semigroup in terms of Groebner bases