Innovation by leaders without winner-take-all.

In innovative races with winner takes all, leading firms invest less than each follower, given exogenous entry (Reinganum, 1985). But with endogenous entry this result is reversed (Etro, 2004). It is argued here that sharing of rewards between the players may alter these predictions.Firms; Free entry; Innovation; IT; Market sharing; Patent race; Prediction; Predictions;

Industrial organization and the economics of business strategy.

Industrial organization (IO) has an important role to play in inspiring the competition and regulation policies of the government. At the same it can be used to clarify the economics of business strategies. The idea here is not to give a comprehensive review, but to draw attention to some striking tendencies, prospects and problems of the field of IO as a source of inspiration for competitive strategies. A first focus will be on credible market strategies and asymmetric information, with implications for internal organization, vertical foreclosure and markets with switching costs. A second point will look at detection of not so obvious possibilities, as there are lower prices with cooperation, disadvantageous mergers, positive side effects for rivals, and disadvantageous price discrimination. Finally some approaches will be discussed to problems concerning high requirements on rationality and lack of robustness. An example will be discussed of a search for robustness in strategic investment models in oligopoly settings with leaders and followers.Economics; Strategy;

Leader, follower. Strategic investments with asymmetric spillovers.

This paper analyzes the strategic incentives of ¯rst and second movers in sequential invest- ment games with Stackelberg competition and price leadership on the output market. The study shows that the follower can invest more than the leader when the outgoing spillover from the leader to the follower is su±ciently high, taking into account the outgoing spillover of the follower. This result tends to apply in quantity and price settings. It is also shown that when externalities have opposite signs, the ¯rm with the lowest outgoing spillover is invest- ing most. However, with externalities that have the same sign, the asymmetry of spillovers determines who invests most. A beginning is made with the investigation of the robustness of the tendencies reported.Investments; Investment; Spillovers; Incentives; Competition; Market; Studies; Price setting; Sign; Robustness;

The F-actin filament capping protein CapG is a bona fide nucleolar protein

Actin works in concert with myosin I to regulate the transcription of ribosomal genes in the nucleolus. Recently, nucleolar actin has been shown to be active in its polymeric form raising the question how actin dynamics is regulated in the nucleolus. Here, we show that the actin capping protein CapG localizes in the nucleolus of cultured cells. CapG transport to the nucleolus is an active and ATP-dependent process. Association of CapG with the nucleolus requires active RNA Polymerase I transcription. In addition, we show that activated Ran GTPase, an interaction partner of CapG, is also transported to the nucleolus. A constitutively active Ran mutant promotes CapG accumulation in the nucleolus indicating that CapG transport to the nucleolus can be supported by Ran. Our results suggest that filamentous actin in the nucleolus might be regulated by actin binding proteins such as CapG. (C

A meeting place for policy-makers and researchers : the Transatlantic forum on inclusive early years

While policy-makers and researchers in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) often seem to speak different languages, overwhelming research evidence on how quality ECEC can play a key role in alleviating the effects of disadvantage can be extremely relevant for policy-makers. In this article, we focus on how philanthropic foundations can facilitate the dialogue and bring together researchers, policy-makers and stakeholders on (particularly quality) issues in ECEC. In this article, we present a comprehensive advocacy project, designed by 13 philanthropic foundations on both sides of the Atlantic, under the leadership of the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF) (Belgium). This group of foundations wants to clarify, discuss and document some of the most relevant issues in ECEC at this point, with a focus on children from low-income and migrant families. Meetings have already taken place on accessibility, professionalisation and curriculum, parent involvement and evaluation. With the fifth forum - on integrated systems in ECEC - on its way, it is time for a short recap. Can meeting opportunities of this kind, for a limited group of policy-makers, successfully influence policy

The strategic interplay between bundling and merging in complementary markets

In this paper, two pairs of complementors have to decide whether to merge and eventually bundle their products. Depending on the degree of competitive pressure in the market, either both pairs decide to merge (with or without bundling), or only one pair merges and bundles, while rivals remain independent. The latter case can very harmful for consumers as it brings surge in prices. We also consider the case in which one pair moves first. Interestingly, we find a parametric region where first movers merge but refrain from bundling, to not induce rivals to merge as well

The role and place of ECEC in integrated working benenfitting vulnerable groups such as Roma

The main purpose of this report is to examine the added value provided by, and the prerequisites for, integrated working – as well as the crucial role played by ECEC services – in order to better serve all families, but especially vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families. Separate attention is devoted to Roma children and their families as one of the most vulnerable groups in Europe, often trapped in a vicious circle of poverty, exclusion and discriminatio

Sperm chromatin dispersion test before sperm preparation is predictive of clinical pregnancy in cases of unexplained infertility treated with intrauterine insemination and induction with clomiphene citrate

Background/aims: A large proportion of men with normal sperm results as analyzed using conventional techniques have fragmented DNA in their spermatozoa. We performed a prospective study to examine the incidence of DNA fragmentation in sperm in cases of couples with previously unexplained infertility and treated with intrauterine insemination. We evaluated whether there was any predictive value of DNA fragmentation for pregnancy outcome in such couples. Methods: The percentage of DNA fragmentation and all classical variables to evaluate sperm before and after sperm treatment were determined. We studied the probable association between these results and pregnancy outcome in terms of clinical and ongoing pregnancy rate per started first cycle. We also assessed the optimal threshold level to diagnose DNA fragmentation in our center. Results: When using threshold levels of 20, 25, and 30%, the occurrence of DNA fragmentation was 42.9, 33.3, and 28.6%, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of all cases revealed an area under the curve of 80% to predict the clinical pregnancy rate per cycle from testing the sperm motility (a + b) before treatment. We failed to generate an ROC curve to estimate pregnancy outcome from the amount of DNA fragmentation before treatment. However, when selecting only those men with a pretreatment DNA fragmentation of at least 20%, the pretreatment result was statistically different between couples who achieved a clinical pregnancy and those who did not. Conclusion: DNA fragmentation is often diagnosed in couples with unexplained infertility. Each center should evaluate the type of test it uses to detect DNA fragmentation in sperm and determine its own threshold values

Down-regulation of myopodin expression reduces invasion and motility of PC-3 prostate cancer cells

Enhanced motility of cancer cells by remodelling of the actin cytoskeleton is crucial in the process of cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Although several studies propose a tumor suppressor role for the actin bundling protein myopodin, it was also shown previously that overexpression of mouse myopodin promotes invasion in vitro. In the present study, the role of myopodin in human cancer cell motility and invasion was explored using RNA interference with siRNA duplexes designed to down-regulate all human myopodin isoforms currently identified. We show that down-regulation of myopodin expression in human cancer cells significantly reduces the invasive properties of these cells both in collagen type I and in Matrigel (R). Furthermore, the motile characteristics of cancer cells are also curbed by reduced myopodin expression whereas cell-cell contacts are reinforced. These results point to a role for myopodin as tumor activator. While these findings are at variance with the suggested tumor suppressor role for myopodin, we hypothesize that the subcellular localization of the protein is involved in its suppressor or activator function in tumorigenesis