Who participates in R&D subsidy programs? The case of spanish manufacturing firms.

Empirical evidence on the effectiveness of R&D subsidies to firms has produced mixed results so far. One possible explanation is that firms and project selection rules may be quite heterogeneous both across agencies and across industries, leading to different outcomes in terms of the induced additional private effort. Here we focus on the participation stage. Using a sample of Spanish firms, we test for differences across agencies and industries. Our results suggest that firms in the same industry face different hurdles to participate in different agencies’ programs, that participation patterns may reflect a combination of agency goals, and that patterns differ across high-tech and low-tech industries.

Assessing the assignation of public subsidies: Do the experts choose the most efficient R&D projects?

The implementation of public programs to support business R&D projects requires the establishment of a selection process. This selection process faces various difficulties, which include the measurement of the impact of the R&D projects as well as selection process optimization among projects with multiple, and sometimes incomparable, performance indicators. To this end, public agencies generally use the peer review method, which, while presenting some advantages, also demonstrates significant drawbacks. Private firms, on the other hand, tend toward more quantitative methods, such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), in their pursuit of R&D investment optimization. In this paper, the performance of a public agency peer review method of project selection is compared with an alternative DEA method.

A multi-purpose grammar generating a multi-scale integrated analysis of Laos

In this study we propose an application of the MuSIASEM approach which is used to provide an integrated analysis of Laos across different scales. With the term “integrated analysis across scales” we mean the generation of a series of packages of quantitative indicators, characterizing the performance of the socioeconomic activities performed in Laos when considering: (i) different hierarchical levels of organization (farming systems described at the level of household, rural villages, regions of Laos, the whole country level); and (ii) different dimensions of analysis (economic dimension, social dimension, ecological dimension, technical dimension). What is relevant in this application is that the information carried out by these different packages of indicators is integrated in a system of accounting which establishes interlinkages across these indicators. This is a essential feature to study sustainability trade-offs and to build more robust scenarios of possible changes. The multi-scale integrated representation presented in this study is based on secondary data (gathered in a three year EU project – SEAtrans and integrated by other available statistical sources) and it is integrated in GIS, when dealing with the spatial representation of Laos. However, even if we use data referring to Laos, the goal of this study is not that of providing useful information about a practical policy issue of Laos, but rather, to illustrate the possibility of using a multipurpose grammar to produce an integrated set of sustainability indicators at three different levels: (i) local; (ii) meso; (iii) macro level. The technical issue addressed is the simultaneous adoption of two multi-level matrices – one referring to a characterization of human activity over a set of different categories, and another referring to a characterization of land uses over the same set of categories. In this way, it becomes possible to explain the characteristics of Laos (an integrated set of indicators defining the performance of the whole country) in relation to the characteristics of the rural Laos and urban Laos. The characteristics of rural Laos, can be explained using the characteristics of three regions defined within Laos (Northern Laos, Central Laos and Southern Laos), which in turn can be defined (using an analogous package of indicators), starting from the characteristics of three main typologies of farming systems found in the regions.

Cultural leaders and the clash of civilizations

This article builds a micro founded model of the clash of cultures. The clash is defined as the parent's fear of a trait change by their child in an overlapping generations model with intergenerational transmission of cultural traits. The extent of the clash is manipulated by cultural leaders who benefit from the cultural education effort by parents. We identify three channels through which the leaders can affect the clash of cultures: (i) by providing beneficial cultural values, (ii) by claims of cultural superiority and (iii) by cultural alienation, i.e. by inducing cultural dislike towards their own group. We show that all three channels can be in the leader's interest but channels (ii) and (iii) reduce the utility of the leader's goup members. This hints to a strong conflict of interest within groups - between the population at large and the benefactors of radicalization. We further show how the use of alienation relates to the economic opportunities available to a group.

Avaluació de la capacitat de segrest de carboni d'un sòl restaurat amb fangs de depuradora: estabilitat de la matèria orgànica

L’avaluació de la capacitat de segrest de carboni d���un sòl denudat per l’extracció de calcàries i la seva posterior restauració amb fangs de depuradora s’ha realitzat mitjançant l’anàlisi de l’estabilitat de la matèria orgànica del sòl (MOS) en funció de la dosi de fangs aplicada. Els resultats d���aquest treball demostren dos fets fonamentals per a l’estudi de la capacitat de segrest de carboni, els qual són: la conservació del contingut total de MOS i l’augment de la seva estabilitat fins a nivells més alts que els de la MOS de les parcel·les de control. Aquests resultats són explicables per (i) la conservació i augment de la MOS recalcitrant, i (ii) la protecció d���una porció més o menys rellevant de la MO làbil continguda amb els fangs gràcies a l’acció simultània dels mecanismes d���estabilització de la MOS, com són: l’estabilització bioquímica (humificació), química, física, a més de la pròpia hidrofobicitat de la MOS, aquests dos últims potenciats per l’addicció del fangs de depuradora.

Revisiting the size-R&D productivity relation: introducing the mediating role of decision-making style on the scale and quality of innovative output

We develop a mediation model in which firm size is proposed to affect the scale and quality of innovative output through the adoption of different decision styles during the R&D process. The aim of this study is to understand how the internal changes that firms undergo as they evolve from small to larger organizations affect R&D productivity. In so doing, we illuminate the underlying theoretical mechanism affecting two different dimensions of R&D productivity, namely the scale and quality of innovative output which have not received much attention in previous literature. Using longitudinal data of Spanish manufacturing firms we explore the validity of this mediation model. Our results show that as firms evolve in size, they increasingly emphasize analytical decision making, and consequently, large-sized firms aim for higher-quality innovations while small firms aim for a larger scale of innovative output.

Characterization of larval moulting cycles in Maja brachydactyla (Brachyura, Majidae) reared in the laboratory

The moulting cycles of all larval instars (zoea I, zoea II, and megalopa) of the spider crab Maja brachydactyla Balss 1922 were studied in laboratory rearing experiments. Morphological changes in the epidermis and cuticle were photographically documented in daily intervals and assigned to successive stages of the moulting cycle (based on Drach's classification system). Our moult-stage characterizations are based on microscopical examination of integumental modifications mainly in the telson, using epidermal condensation, the degree of epidermal retraction (apolysis), and morphogenesis (mainly setagenesis) as criteria. In the zoea II and megalopa, the formation of new setae was also observed in larval appendages including the antenna, maxillule, maxilla, second maxilliped, pleopods, and uropods. As principal stages within the zoea I moulting cycle, we describe postmoult (Drach's stages A–B combined), intermoult (C), and premoult (D), the latter with three substages (D0, D1, and D2). In the zoea II and megalopa, D0 and D1 had to be combined, because morphogenesis (the main characteristic of D1) was unclear in the telson and did not occur synchronically in different appendices. The knowledge of the course and time scale of successive moult-cycle events can be used as a tool for the evaluation of the developmental state within individual larval instars, providing a morphological reference system for physiological and biochemical studies related to crab aquaculture.

New Radicals and new applications of Dynamic Nuclear Polarization of biological systems

Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) is an emerging technique that could revolutionize the NMR study of small molecules at very low concentrations by the increase in sensitivity that results from transfer of polarization between electronic and nuclear spins. Although the underlying physics has been known for a long time, in the last few years there has been a lot of excitement on the chemistry and biology NMR community caused by the demonstration that the highly polarized nuclei that are prepared in solid state at very low temperatures (1-2 K) could be rapidly transferred to liquid samples at room temperature and studied in solution by conventional NMR techniques. In favorable cases several order of magnitude increases in sensitivity have been achieved. The technique is now mature enough that a commercial instrument is available. The efficiency of DNP depends on two crucial aspects: i) the efficiency of the nuclear polarization process and ii) the efficiency of the transfer from the initial solid state to the fluid state in which NMR is measured. The preferred areas of application (iii) will be dictated by situations in which the low concentration of the sample or its intrinsic low receptivity are the limiting factors .

Parallel scheduling of multiclass M/M/m queues: Approximate and heavy-traffic optimization of achievable performance

We address the problem of scheduling a multiclass $M/M/m$ queue with Bernoulli feedback on $m$ parallel servers to minimize time-average linear holding costs. We analyze the performance of a heuristic priority-index rule, which extends Klimov's optimal solution to the single-server case: servers select preemptively customers with larger Klimov indices. We present closed-form suboptimality bounds (approximate optimality) for Klimov's rule, which imply that its suboptimality gap is uniformly bounded above with respect to (i) external arrival rates, as long as they stay within system capacity;and (ii) the number of servers. It follows that its relativesuboptimality gap vanishes in a heavy-traffic limit, as external arrival rates approach system capacity (heavy-traffic optimality). We obtain simpler expressions for the special no-feedback case, where the heuristic reduces to the classical $c \mu$ rule. Our analysis is based on comparing the expected cost of Klimov's ruleto the value of a strong linear programming (LP) relaxation of the system's region of achievable performance of mean queue lengths. In order to obtain this relaxation, we derive and exploit a new set ofwork decomposition laws for the parallel-server system. We further report on the results of a computational study on the quality of the $c \mu$ rule for parallel scheduling.

Teaching, research and service: Experience and opinions of accounting Spanish academics

Research, teaching and service are the main activities carried out in almost all European universities. Previous research, which has been mainlycentred in North-American universities, has found solid results indicatingthat research and teaching are not equally valued when deciding on facultypromotion. This conclusion creates a potential conflict for accountingacademics on how to distribute working time in order to accomplish personalcareer objectives. This paper presents the results of a survey realisedin two European countries: Spain and the United Kingdom, which intendedto explore the opinions and personal experience of accounting academicsworking in these countries. Specifically, we focus on the following issues:(i) The impact of teaching and service on time available for research;(ii) The integration of teaching and research; (iii) The perceived valueof teaching and research for career success and (iv) The interaction betweenprofessional accounting and accounting research. The results show thatboth in Spain and in the United Kingdom there is a conflict between teachingand research, which has its origin in the importance attached to researchactivities on promotion decisions. It also seems evident that so far, theconflict is being solved in favour of research in prejudice of teaching.

Calbindin D-28K and parvalbumin immunoreactivity in the frontal cortex in patients with frontal lobe dementia of non-Alzheimer type associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The morphology and distribution of local-circuit neurons (interneurons) were examined, by calbindin D-28k and parvalbumin immunocytochemistry, in the frontal cortex (area 8) in two patients with frontal lobe dementia of non-Alzheimer type associated with classical amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and in seven normal cases. The density of calbindin D-28k immunoreactive cells was dramatically reduced in ALS patients, but the density of parvalbumin-immunoreactive neurons was preserved. Decreased density of calbindin D-28k-immunoreactive neurons, which are mainly located in the upper cortical layers, may interfere with the normal processing of cortico-cortical connections, whereas integrity of parvalbumin-immunoreactive cells may be associated with the preservation of the major inhibitory intracortical circuits in patients with frontal lobe dementia.