Bertrand Competition with an Asymmetric No-discrimination Constraint. Bruges European Economic Research (BEER) 23/June 2012

Regulators and competition authorities often prevent firms with significant market power or dominant firms from practicing price discrimination. The goal of such an asymmetric no- discrimination constraint is to encourage entry and serve consumers’ interests. This constraint prohibits the firm with significant market power to practice both behaviour-based price discrimination within the competitive segment and third-degree price discrimination across the monopolistic and competitive segments. We find that this constraint hinders entry and reduces welfare when the monopolistic segment is small.

Immigrant labour market participation in Belgium - high time to mainstream. IES Policy Brief Issue 2015/2 March 2015

The gap in labour market participation between natives and people with an immigrant background is significant in Belgium, one of the largest in the OECD. In this Policy Brief, we present research1 that investigated one of the possible causes of this poor performance, and we propose three main policy recommendations. The research project studied whether Belgium’s complex federal state structure, and the subsequent division of responsibilities and lack of intergovernmental cooperation helps to explain this poor performance. The study concluded that governance complexity does not appear to be a main cause for Belgium’s poor results. However, more policy coordination would improve policy efficiency.

Genetically attenuated, P36p-deficient malarial sporozoites induce protective immunity and apoptosis of infected liver cells.

Immunization with Plasmodium sporozoites that have been attenuated by gamma-irradiation or specific genetic modification can induce protective immunity against subsequent malaria infection. The mechanism of protection is only known for radiation-attenuated sporozoites, involving cell-mediated and humoral immune responses invoked by infected hepatocytes cells that contain long-lived, partially developed parasites. Here we analyzed sporozoites of Plasmodium berghei that are deficient in P36p (p36p(-)), a member of the P48/45 family of surface proteins. P36p plays no role in the ability of sporozoites to infect and traverse hepatocytes, but p36p(-) sporozoites abort during development within the hepatocyte. Immunization with p36p(-) sporozoites results in a protective immunity against subsequent challenge with infectious wild-type sporozoites, another example of a specifically genetically attenuated sporozoite (GAS) conferring protective immunity. Comparison of biological characteristics of p36p(-) sporozoites with radiation-attenuated sporozoites demonstrates that liver cells infected with p36p(-) sporozoites disappear rapidly as a result of apoptosis of host cells that may potentiate the immune response. Such knowledge of the biological characteristics of GAS and their evoked immune responses are essential for further investigation of the utility of an optimized GAS-based malaria vaccine.

La construcción de la imagen : Un análisis interaccional del discurso político

El trabajo se propone analizar algunas de las estrategias mediante las cuales el uso del lenguaje en el discurso político influye en la conformación de las representaciones sociales. Específicamente, abordará desde una perspectiva interactiva las construcciones simbólicas del contexto en y a través del discurso. Esto significa considerar ciertas estructuras del contexto como consecuencias de la práctica discursiva misma; entre ellas se encuentran las situaciones, los participantes y sus roles e identidades. La hipótesis explorada es que las formas de representación de estos elementos generan una para-realidad discursiva que va conformando una construcción simbólica determinada de la imagen del hablante. El análisis se llevará a cabo dentro del marco teórico del Análisis Crítico del Discurso (ACD), en la línea propuesta por Fairclough y Wodak (2000), van Dijk (2000) y Bolívar (1997). Se partirá de la base de que el dicurso político es hegemónico, implica relaciones de poder y control, y actúa como un medio de dominación, realizando una labor ideológica en la medida en que articula ciertas y determinadas representaciones de la realidad y de las identidades individuales y grupales. Por tanto, es una tarea esencial desenmascarar y cuestionar esa dominación mediante un análisis discursivo que ponga en evidencia las estrategias empleadas y las representaciones que éstas generan y ocultan. Los textos seleccionados para el análisis corresponden a los dos discursos que el Presidente de la Argentina, Dr. Fernando de la Rúa, dirigió al país los días 16/3/01 y 18/3/01 en oportunidad de la presentación de un nuevo Plan Económico

La construcción de la imagen : Un análisis interaccional del discurso político

El trabajo se propone analizar algunas de las estrategias mediante las cuales el uso del lenguaje en el discurso político influye en la conformación de las representaciones sociales. Específicamente, abordará desde una perspectiva interactiva las construcciones simbólicas del contexto en y a través del discurso. Esto significa considerar ciertas estructuras del contexto como consecuencias de la práctica discursiva misma; entre ellas se encuentran las situaciones, los participantes y sus roles e identidades. La hipótesis explorada es que las formas de representación de estos elementos generan una para-realidad discursiva que va conformando una construcción simbólica determinada de la imagen del hablante. El análisis se llevará a cabo dentro del marco teórico del Análisis Crítico del Discurso (ACD), en la línea propuesta por Fairclough y Wodak (2000), van Dijk (2000) y Bolívar (1997). Se partirá de la base de que el dicurso político es hegemónico, implica relaciones de poder y control, y actúa como un medio de dominación, realizando una labor ideológica en la medida en que articula ciertas y determinadas representaciones de la realidad y de las identidades individuales y grupales. Por tanto, es una tarea esencial desenmascarar y cuestionar esa dominación mediante un análisis discursivo que ponga en evidencia las estrategias empleadas y las representaciones que éstas generan y ocultan. Los textos seleccionados para el análisis corresponden a los dos discursos que el Presidente de la Argentina, Dr. Fernando de la Rúa, dirigió al país los días 16/3/01 y 18/3/01 en oportunidad de la presentación de un nuevo Plan Económico

La construcción de la imagen : Un análisis interaccional del discurso político

El trabajo se propone analizar algunas de las estrategias mediante las cuales el uso del lenguaje en el discurso político influye en la conformación de las representaciones sociales. Específicamente, abordará desde una perspectiva interactiva las construcciones simbólicas del contexto en y a través del discurso. Esto significa considerar ciertas estructuras del contexto como consecuencias de la práctica discursiva misma; entre ellas se encuentran las situaciones, los participantes y sus roles e identidades. La hipótesis explorada es que las formas de representación de estos elementos generan una para-realidad discursiva que va conformando una construcción simbólica determinada de la imagen del hablante. El análisis se llevará a cabo dentro del marco teórico del Análisis Crítico del Discurso (ACD), en la línea propuesta por Fairclough y Wodak (2000), van Dijk (2000) y Bolívar (1997). Se partirá de la base de que el dicurso político es hegemónico, implica relaciones de poder y control, y actúa como un medio de dominación, realizando una labor ideológica en la medida en que articula ciertas y determinadas representaciones de la realidad y de las identidades individuales y grupales. Por tanto, es una tarea esencial desenmascarar y cuestionar esa dominación mediante un análisis discursivo que ponga en evidencia las estrategias empleadas y las representaciones que éstas generan y ocultan. Los textos seleccionados para el análisis corresponden a los dos discursos que el Presidente de la Argentina, Dr. Fernando de la Rúa, dirigió al país los días 16/3/01 y 18/3/01 en oportunidad de la presentación de un nuevo Plan Económico

A call to arms at the end of history: a discourse-historical analysis of George W. Bush's declaration of war on terror

In this article we take a discourse-historical approach to illustrate the significance of George W Bush's (2001) declaration of a 'war on terror'. We present four exemplary 'call to arms' speeches by Pope Urban 11 (1095), Queen Elizabeth I (1588), Adolf Hitler (1938) and George W Bush (2001) to exemplify the structure, function, and historical significance of such texts in western societies over the last millennium. We identify four generic features that have endured in such texts throughout this period: (i) an appeal to a legitimate power source that is external to the orator, and which is presented as inherently good; (ii) an appeal to the historical importance of the culture in which the discourse is situated; (iii) the construction of a thoroughly evil Other; and (iv) an appeal for unification behind the legitimating external power source. We argue further that such texts typically appear in historical contexts characterized by deep crises in political legitimacy.

Institutions and firm ownership structure:evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

FDI plays a key role in development, particularly in resource-constrained transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe with relatively low savings rates. Gains from technology transfer play a critical role in motivating FDI, yet potential for it may be hampered by a large technology gap between the source and host country. While the extent of this gap has traditionally been attributed to education, skills and capital intensity, recent literature has also emphasized the possible role of institutional environment in this respect. Despite tremendous interest among policy-makers and academics to understand the factors attracting FDI (Bevan and Estrin, 2000; Globerman and Shapiro, 2003) our knowledge about the effects of institutions on the location choice and ownership structure of foreign firms remains limited. This paper attempts to fill this gap in the literature by examining the link between institutions and foreign ownership structures. To the best of our knowledge, Javorcik (2004) is the only papers, which use firm-level data to analyse the role of institutional quality on an outward investor’s entry mode in transition countries. Our paper extends Javorcik (2004) in a number of ways: (a) rather than a cross-section, we use panel data for the period 1997-2006; (b) rather than a binary variable, we use the percentage foreign ownership as continuous variable; (c) we consider multi-dimensional institutional variables, such as corruption, intellectual property rights protection and government stability. We also use factor analysis to generate a composite index of institutional quality and see how stronger institutional environment could affect foreign ownership; (d) we explore how the distance between institutional environment in source and host countries affect foreign ownership in a host country. The firm-level data used includes both domestic and foreign firms for the period 1997-2006 and is drawn from ORBIS, a commercially available dataset provided by Bureau van Dijk. In order to examine the link between institutions and foreign ownership structures, we estimate four log-linear ownership equations/specifications augmented by institutional and other control variables. We find evidence that the decision of a foreign firm to either locate its subsidiary or acquire an existing domestic firm depends not only on factor cost differences but also on differences in institutional environment between the host and source countries.

Decomposing the sales promotion bump accounting for cross-category effects

Extant research on the decomposition of unit sales bumps due to price promotions considers these effects only within a single product category. This article introduces a framework that accommodates specific cross-category effects. Empirical results based on daily data measured at the item/SKU level show that the effects of promotions on sales in other categories are modest. Between-category complementary effects (20%) are, on average, substantially larger than between-category substitution effects (11%). Hence, a promotion of an item has an average net spin-off effect of (20 - 11 =) 9% of its own effect. The number of significant cross-category effects is low, which means that we expect that, most of the time, it is sufficient to look at within-category effects only. We also find within-category complementary effects, which implies that competitive items within the category may benefit from a promotion. We find small stockpiling effects (6%), modest cross-item effects (22%), and substantial category-expansion effects (72%). The cross-item effects are the result of cross-item substitution effects within the category (26%) and within-category complementary effects (4%). Approximately 15% (= 11% / 72%) of the category-expansion effect is due to between-category substitution effects of dependent categories.

Leveraging Existing Plasma Simulation Codes

This paper describes the process of wrapping existing scientific codes in the domain of plasma physics simulations through the use of the Sun’s Java Native Interface. We have created a Java front-end for a particular functionality, offered by legacy native libraries, in order to achieve reusability and interoperability without having to rewrite these libraries. The technique, introduced in this paper, includes two approaches – the one-to-one mapping for wrapping a number of native functions, and using peer classes for wrapping native data structures.

El discurso del poder y la lucha de contrarios en la narrativa de la esclavitud en Cuba y Estados Unidos

This dissertation explores the behavior of prejudiced discourse in the most representative narratives against inhumane slavery written in Cuba and the United States in the nineteenth century: Autobiografía de un esclavo, by Juan Francisco Manzano; Francisco, by Anselmo Suárez y Romero; Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, by Frederick Douglass; and Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriett Beecher Stowe. This study deals with the identification between race and slavery that occurred in the American continent, using racial prejudice to justify the enslavement of human beings. Such concepts were maintained, diffused and perpetuated by the dominant discourse. ^ In the nineteenth century, intellectuals from both Cuba and the United States were highly influenced by the modern philosophical ideas rooted in the European Enlightenment. These ideas contradicted by principle the "peculiar institution" of slavery, which supported a great deal of the economy of both nations. This conflict of principles was soon reflected in literature and led to the founding of Cuban and African-American narrative respectively. The common exposure to slavery brought together two nations otherwise highly dissimilar in historical and cultural circumstances. Based on the theories of discourse by Foucault, Terdiman, and van Dijk, the analysis of the discourse displayed in these literary works helps understand how discourse is utilized to subvert the dominant discourse without being expelled or excluded by it. This subversion was successfully accomplished in the American narratives, while only attempted in the Cuban works, given Cuba's colonial status and the compromised economic loyalties of the Delmontino cenacle which produced these works. ^

Assessing the effectiveness of the internationalization process in Higher Education Institutions: A case study of Florida International University

The purpose of this study was to examine a Higher Education Institution’s (HEI) process of internationalization. The theoretical model developed by Van Dijk and Miejer (1997) was used to review Florida International University (FIU)’s policy, support, and implementation dimensions and determine its position on the Internationalization Cube, and assess how FIU’s international activities fit into its different organizational processes. In addition, the study sought to shed light on student and faculty attitudes toward internationalization. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from examining organizational documents, interviews, descriptive data on FIU’s international activities using the International Dimension Index, and the Student and Faculty Survey on Internationalization. FIU’s international activities results were analyzed in relation to a panel of experts’ item relevancy index. The Likert-type survey scales’ frequencies and percentages were calculated as well as Spearman Rho correlations between the survey’s three scales and demographic and experiences variables. The study found that FIU is located on position six of a possible eight positions on the Van Dijk and Meijer Internationalization Cube with the following characteristics: Priority Policy, One-Sided Support, and Structured Implementation toward internationalization. The analysis of FIU’s results on international activities showed that FIU exhibits all the activities considered to be strong indicators of internationalization but for position seven placement special attention is needed in the areas of foreign language study, international students, study abroad, faculty movement and involvement in international projects. The survey indicated students and faculty rated the Benefits of Internationalization highly but didn’t perceive strong institutional Support for Internationalization. Faculty age and offshore programs participation; student gender, race/ethnicity and class status; and for both, study abroad and knowledge of students travel grant had significant positive correlations with student and faculty attitudes. The study concluded that an association exists between FIU’s position on the Internationalization Cube and its international activities. Recommendations for policy, implementation, and future studies were made. It was concluded that advancing FIU’s position on the Cube will require adjustments in FIU’s policy, support and implementation dimensions. Differences in student and faculty views toward internationalization should be taken into account when planning internationalization efforts.