Data collection of depth and time integrated Calanus finmarchicus abundances, averaged temperatures, and integrated Chlorophyll concentration in the North Atlantic Ocean

Here we present a new, pan-North-Atlantic compilation of data on key mesozooplankton species, including the most important copepod, Calanus finmarchicus. Distributional data of eight representative zooplankton taxa, from recent (2000-2009) Continuous Plankton Recorder data, are presented, along with basin-scale data of the phytoplankton colour index. Then we present a compilation of data on C. finmarchicus, including observations of abundance, demography, egg production and female size, with accompanying data on temperature and chlorophyll. . This is a contribution by Canadian, European and US scientists and their institutions.

Chapter 8 Location Choice of Japanese Multinationals: Country Characteristics or Region Characteristics?

In the present global era in which firms choose the location of their plants beyond national borders, location characteristics are important for attracting multinational enterprises (MNEs). The better access to countries with large market is clearly attractive for MNEs. For example, special treatments on tariffs such as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) are beneficial for MNEs whose home country does not have such treatments. Not only such country characteristics but also region characteristics (i.e. province-level or city-level ones) matter, particularly in the case that location characteristics differ widely between a nation's regions. The existence of industrial concentration, that is, agglomeration, is a typical regional characteristic. It is with consideration of these country-level and region-level characteristics that MNEs decide their location abroad. A large number of academic studies have investigated in what kinds of countries MNEs locate, i.e. location choice analysis. Employing the usual new economic geography model (i.e. constant elasticity of substitution (CES) utility function, Dixit-Stiglitz monopolistic competition, and ice-berg trade costs), the literature derives the profit function, of which coefficients are estimated using maximum likelihood procedures. Recent studies are as follows: Head, Rise, and Swenson (1999) for Japanese MNEs in the US; Belderbos and Carree (2002) for Japanese MNEs in China; Head and Mayer (2004) for Japanese MNEs in Europe; Disdier and Mayer (2004) for French MNEs in Europe; Castellani and Zanfei (2004) for large MNEs worldwide; Mayer, Mejean, and Nefussi (2007) for French MNEs worldwide; Crozet, Mayer, and Mucchielli (2004) for MNEs in France; and Basile, Castellani, and Zanfei (2008) for MNEs in Europe. At the present time, three main topics can be found in this literature. The first introduces various location elements as independent variables. The above-mentioned new economic geography model usually yields the profit function, which is a function of market size, productive factor prices, price of intermediate goods, and trade costs. As a proxy for the price of intermediate goods, the measure of agglomeration is often used, particularly the number of manufacturing firms. Some studies employ more disaggregated numbers of manufacturing firms, such as the number of manufacturing firms with the same nationality as the firms choosing the location (e.g., Head et al., 1999; Crozet et al., 2004) or the number of firms belonging to the same firm group (e.g., Belderbos and Carree, 2002). As part of trade costs, some investment climate measures have been examined: free trade zones in the US (Head et al., 1999), special economic zones and opening coastal cities in China (Belderbos and Carree, 2002), and Objective 1 structural funds and cohesion funds in Europe (Basile et al., 2008). Second, the validity of proxy variables for location elements is further examined. Head and Mayer (2004) examine the validity of market potential on location choice. They propose the use of two measures: the Harris market potential index (Harris, 1954) and the Krugman-type index used in Redding and Venables (2004). The Harris-type index is simply the sum of distance-weighted real GDP. They employ the Krugman-type market potential index, which is directly derived from the new economic geography model, as it takes into account the extent of competition (i.e. price index) and is constructed using estimators of importing country dummy variables in the well-known gravity equation, as in Redding and Venables (2004). They find that "theory does not pay", in the sense that the Harris market potential outperforms Krugman's market potential in both the magnitude of its coefficient and the fit of the model to be estimated. The third topic explores the substitution of location by examining inclusive values in the nested-logit model. For example, using firm-level data on French investments both in France and abroad over the 1992-2002 period, Mayer et al. (2007) investigate the determinants of location choice and assess empirically whether the domestic economy has been losing attractiveness over the recent period or not. The estimated coefficient for inclusive value is strongly significant and near unity, indicating that the national economy is not different from the rest of the world in terms of substitution patterns. Similarly, Disdier and Mayer (2004) investigate whether French MNEs consider Western and Eastern Europe as two distinct groups of potential host countries by examining the coefficient for the inclusive value in nested-logit estimation. They confirm the relevance of an East-West structure in the country location decision and furthermore show that this relevance decreases over time. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the location choice of Japanese MNEs in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, and is closely related to the third topic mentioned above. By examining region-level location choice with the nested-logit model, I investigate the relative importance of not only country characteristics but also region characteristics. Such investigation is invaluable particularly in the case of location choice in those five countries: industrialization remains immature in those countries which have not yet succeeded in attracting enough MNEs, and as a result, it is expected that there are not yet crucial regional variations for MNEs within such a nation, meaning the country characteristics are still relatively important to attract MNEs. To illustrate, in the case of Cambodia and Laos, one of the crucial elements for Japanese MNEs would be that LDC preferential tariff schemes are available for exports from Cambodia and Laos. On the other hand, in the case of Thailand and Vietnam, which have accepted a relatively large number of MNEs and thus raised the extent of regional inequality, regional characteristics such as the existence of agglomeration would become important elements in location choice. Our sample countries seem, therefore, to offer rich variations for analyzing the relative importance between country characteristics and region characteristics. Our empirical strategy has a further advantage. As in the third topic in the location choice literature, the use of the nested-logit model enables us to examine substitution patterns between country-based and region-based location decisions by MNEs in the concerned countries. For example, it is possible to investigate empirically whether Japanese multinational firms consider Thailand/Vietnam and the other three countries as two distinct groups of potential host countries, by examining the inclusive value parameters in nested-logit estimation. In particular, our sample countries all experienced dramatic changes in, for example, economic growth or trade costs reduction during the sample period. Thus, we will find the dramatic dynamics of such substitution patterns. Our rigorous analysis of the relative importance between country characteristics and region characteristics is invaluable from the viewpoint of policy implications. First, while the former characteristics should be improved mainly by central government in each country, there is sometimes room for the improvement of the latter characteristics by even local governments or smaller institutions such as private agencies. Consequently, it becomes important for these smaller institutions to know just how crucial the improvement of region characteristics is for attracting foreign companies. Second, as economies grow, country characteristics become similar among countries. For example, the LCD preferential tariff schemes are available only when a country is less developed. Therefore, it is important particularly for the least developed countries to know what kinds of regional characteristics become important following economic growth; in other words, after their country characteristics become similar to those of the more developed countries. I also incorporate one important characteristic of MNEs, namely, productivity. The well-known Helpman-Melitz-Yeaple model indicates that only firms with higher productivity can afford overseas entry (Helpman et al., 2004). Beyond this argument, there may be some differences in MNEs' productivity among our sample countries and regions. Such differences are important from the viewpoint of "spillover effects" from MNEs, which are one of the most important results for host countries in accepting their entry. The spillover effects are that the presence of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) aises domestic firms' productivity through various channels such as imitation. Such positive effects might be larger in areas with more productive MNEs. Therefore, it becomes important for host countries to know how much productive firms are likely to invest in them. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 takes a brief look at the worldwide distribution of Japanese overseas affiliates. Section 3 provides an empirical model to examine their location choice, and lastly, we discuss future works to estimate our model.

DIRETOR DE ESCOLA: GERENTE OU EDUCADOR? POSSIBILIDADES E LIMITAÇÕES DO DESENVOLVIMENTO DA FUNÇÃO PEDAGÓGICA EM UMA ESCOLA PÚBLICA ESTADUAL PAULISTA

Há tempo, as dificuldades enfrentadas pelos diretores de escola da rede pública estadual de São Paulo constituem motivo de inquietação e impotência, pois estes têm seu trabalho engessado pela rotina burocrático-administrativa, a qual dificulta o desempenho das atividades pedagógicas. Este trabalho centra-se no estudo das possibilidades e limites no desenvolvimento da função pedagógica do Diretor de Escola, aliás, Gerente ou Educador? Nesta pesquisa utiliza-se dos documentos da Unidade Escolar, desde sua fundação em 1985 até 2007, para se entender o desenvolvimento da função de diretor de escola, neste duplo aspecto burocráticoadministrativo e pedagógico. Desta forma, foram abordadas as seguintes questões: quais são as solicitações e exigências da Secretaria de Estado da Educação de São Paulo (SEE-SP) e dos órgãos a ela subordinados em relação às atividades desenvolvidas cotidianamente pelo diretor de escola? Quais as incumbências objetivas que o diretor de escola tem que responder para a SEE-SP? A partir disso, quais são as possibilidades e os limites do diretor para desenvolver a função pedagógica no ambiente escolar? A hipótese aventada é que, o diretor de escola não consegue centrar-se no desenvolvimento das atividades pedagógicas em face do atendimento às exigências burocrático-administrativas da SEE-SP e dos órgãos a ela subordinados, os quais condicionam sua atividade profissional. Pretende-se com este estudo contribuir para o debate acerca da prática da gestão escolar e da reflexão da função e do papel do diretor de escola no processo de transformação econômico-político-social. A apresentação desta pesquisa está estruturada em três capítulos. As considerações finais apontam que o diretor de escola, devido ao grande número de solicitações e exigências de tarefas burocrático-administrativas, emanadas do poder central e de seus órgãos subordinados, vê comprometido o desempenho das funções pedagógicas.(AU)

DIRETOR DE ESCOLA: GERENTE OU EDUCADOR? POSSIBILIDADES E LIMITAÇÕES DO DESENVOLVIMENTO DA FUNÇÃO PEDAGÓGICA EM UMA ESCOLA PÚBLICA ESTADUAL PAULISTA

Há tempo, as dificuldades enfrentadas pelos diretores de escola da rede pública estadual de São Paulo constituem motivo de inquietação e impotência, pois estes têm seu trabalho engessado pela rotina burocrático-administrativa, a qual dificulta o desempenho das atividades pedagógicas. Este trabalho centra-se no estudo das possibilidades e limites no desenvolvimento da função pedagógica do Diretor de Escola, aliás, Gerente ou Educador? Nesta pesquisa utiliza-se dos documentos da Unidade Escolar, desde sua fundação em 1985 até 2007, para se entender o desenvolvimento da função de diretor de escola, neste duplo aspecto burocráticoadministrativo e pedagógico. Desta forma, foram abordadas as seguintes questões: quais são as solicitações e exigências da Secretaria de Estado da Educação de São Paulo (SEE-SP) e dos órgãos a ela subordinados em relação às atividades desenvolvidas cotidianamente pelo diretor de escola? Quais as incumbências objetivas que o diretor de escola tem que responder para a SEE-SP? A partir disso, quais são as possibilidades e os limites do diretor para desenvolver a função pedagógica no ambiente escolar? A hipótese aventada é que, o diretor de escola não consegue centrar-se no desenvolvimento das atividades pedagógicas em face do atendimento às exigências burocrático-administrativas da SEE-SP e dos órgãos a ela subordinados, os quais condicionam sua atividade profissional. Pretende-se com este estudo contribuir para o debate acerca da prática da gestão escolar e da reflexão da função e do papel do diretor de escola no processo de transformação econômico-político-social. A apresentação desta pesquisa está estruturada em três capítulos. As considerações finais apontam que o diretor de escola, devido ao grande número de solicitações e exigências de tarefas burocrático-administrativas, emanadas do poder central e de seus órgãos subordinados, vê comprometido o desempenho das funções pedagógicas.(AU)

Determinants and impact of suboptimal asthma control in Europe : The INTERNATIONAL CROSS-SECTIONAL AND LONGITUDINAL ASSESSMENT ON ASTHMA CONTROL (LIAISON) study

Acknowledgements We are grateful to THERAmetrics for the study management, data collection and analysis. The authors would like to thank the following investigators for their contribution (>30 patients enrolled): F. Fohler, A.G. Haider, J. Hesse-Tonsa, J. Messner, W. Pohl (Austria); G. Joos, J.L. Halloy, R. Peche, H. Simonis, P. Van den Brande (Belgium); B. Bugnas, J.M. Chavaillon, P. Debove, S. Dury, L. Mathieu, O. Lagrange, A. Prudhomme, S. Verdier (France); A. Benedix, O. Kestermann, A. Deimling, G. Eckhardt, M. Gernhold, V. Grimm-Sachs, M. Hoefer, G. Hoheisel, C. Stolpe, C. Schilder, M. John, J. Uerscheln, K.H. Zeisler (Germany); A. Chaniotou, P. Demertzis, V. Filaditaki-Loverdou, A. Gaga, E. Georgatou-Papageorgiou, S. Michailidis, G. Pavkalou, M. Toumpis (Greece); K. Csicsari, K. Hajdu, M. Póczi, M. Kukuly, T. Kecskes, C. Hangonyi, J. Schlezak, E. Takács, M. Szabo,G. Szabó, C. Szabo (Hungary); G.W. Canonica, W. Castellani, A. Cirillo, M.P. Foschino Barbaro, M. Gjomarkaj, G. Guerra, G. Idotta, D. Legnani, M. Lo Schiavo, R. Maselli, F. Mazza, S. Nutini, P. Paggiaro, A. Pietra, O. Resta, S. Salis, N.A. Scichilone, M.C. Zappa, A. Zedda (Italy); M. Goosens, R. Heller, K. Mansour, C. Meek, J. van den Berg (The Netherlands); A. Antczak, M. Faber, D. Madra-Rogacka, G. Mincewicz, M. Michnar, D. Olejniczak, G. Pulka, Z. Sankowski, K. Kowal, I. Krupa-Borek, B. Kubicka Kozik, K. Kuczynska, P. Kuna, A. Kwasniewski, M. Wozniak (Poland); F. Casas Maldonado, C. Cisneros, J. de Miguel Díez, L.M. Entrenas Costa, B. Garcìa-Cosio, M.V. Gonzales, L. Lores, M. Luengo, C. Martinez, C. Melero, I. Mir, X. Munoz, A. Pacheco, V. Plaza, J. Serra, J. Serrano, J.G. Soto Campos (Spain); T. Bekci, R. Demir, N. Dursunoglu, D. Ediger, A. Ekici, O. Goksel, H. Gunen, I.K. Oguzulgen, Z.F. Ozseker, (Turkey); L. Barnes, T. Hall, S. Montgomerie, J. Purohit, J. Ryan (United Kingdom). The authors would also like to thank P. Galletti (THERAMetrics S.p.A., Sesto San Giovanni, Italy) and K. Stockmeyer (THERAMetrics GmbH, Essen, Germany) for providing editorial assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Distinct Effects of Rac1 on Differentiation of Primary Avian Myoblasts

Rho family GTPases have been implicated in the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton in response to extracellular cues and in the transduction of signals from the membrane to the nucleus. Their role in development and cell differentiation, however, is little understood. Here we show that the transient expression of constitutively active Rac1 and Cdc42 in unestablished avian myoblasts is sufficient to cause inhibition of myogenin expression and block of the transition to the myocyte compartment, whereas activated RhoA affects myogenic differentiation only marginally. Activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) appears not to be essential for block of differentiation because, although Rac1 and Cdc42 GTPases modestly activate JNK in quail myoblasts, a Rac1 mutant defective for JNK activation can still inhibit myogenic differentiation. Stable expression of active Rac1, attained by infection with a recombinant retrovirus, is permissive for terminal differentiation, but the resulting myotubes accumulate severely reduced levels of muscle-specific proteins. This inhibition is the consequence of posttranscriptional events and suggests the presence of a novel level of regulation of myogenesis. We also show that myotubes expressing constitutively active Rac1 fail to assemble ordered sarcomeres. Conversely, a dominant-negative Rac1 variant accelerates sarcomere maturation and inhibits v-Src–induced selective disassembly of I-Z-I complexes. Collectively, our findings provide a role for Rac1 during skeletal muscle differentiation and strongly suggest that Rac1 is required downstream of v-Src in the signaling pathways responsible for the dismantling of tissue-specific supramolecular structures.

Mapping competitiveness with European data. Bruegel Blueprint 23, 6 March 2015

Europe needs improved competitiveness to escape the current economic malaise, so it might seem surprising that there is no common European definition of competitiveness, and no consensus on how to consistently measure it. To help address this situation, this Blueprint provides an inventory and an assessment of the data related to the measurement of competitiveness in Europe. It is intended as a handbook for researchers interested in measuring competiveness, and for policymakers interested in new and better measures of competitiveness. MAPCOMPETE has been designed to provide an assessment of data opportunities and requirements for the comparative analysis of competitiveness in European countries at the macro and the micro level.

Data capturing: studio di fattibilità per l’acquisizione automatizzata delle informazioni lungo la catena produttiva

Il processo di Data Entry manuale non solo è oneroso dal punto di vista temporale ed economico, lo è ancor di più poiché rappresenta una fonte di errore: per questi motivi, l’acquisizione automatizzata delle informazioni lungo la catena produttiva è un obiettivo fortemente desiderato dal Gruppo per migliorare i propri business. Le tecnologie analizzate, ormai diffuse e standardizzate in ampia scala come barcode, etichette logistiche, terminali in radiofrequenza, possono apportare grandi benefici ai processi aziendali, ancor più integrandole su misura agli ERP aziendali, permettendo una registrazione rapida e corretta delle informazioni e la diffusione immediata delle stesse all’intera organizzazione. L’analisi dei processi e dei flussi hanno evidenziato le criticità e permesso di capire dove e quando intervenire con una progettazione che risultasse quanto più la best suite possibile. Il lancio dei fabbisogni, l’entrata, la mappatura e la movimentazione merci in Magazzino, lo stato di produzione, lo scarico componenti ed il carico di produzione in Confezionamento e Semilavorazione, l’istituzione di un magazzino di interscambio Dogana, un flusso di tracciabilità preciso e rapido, sono tutti eventi che modificheranno i processi aziendali, snellendoli e svincolando risorse che potranno essere reinvestite in operatività a valore aggiunto superiore. I risultati potenzialmente ottenibili, comprovati anche dalle esperienze esterne di fornitori e consulenza, hanno generato le condizioni necessarie ad un rapido studio e start dei lavori: il Gruppo è entusiasta ed impaziente di portare a termine quanto prima il progetto e di andare a regime con la nuova modalità operativa, snellita ed ottimizzata.

Spatial distribution of key zooplankton species using continuous plankton recorder (CPR) data from the North Atlantic (2000-2009)

The continuous plankton recorder (CPR) survey is an upper layer plankton monitoring program that has regularly collected samples, at monthly intervals, in the North Atlantic and adjacent seas since 1946. Water from approximately 6 m depth enters the CPR through a small aperture at the front of the sampler and travels down a tunnel where it passes through a silk filtering mesh of 270 µm before exiting at the back of the CPR. The plankton filtered on the silk is analyzed in sections corresponding to 10 nautical miles (approx. 3 m**3 of seawater filtered) and the plankton microscopically identified (Richardson et al., 2006 and reference therein). In the present study we used the CPR data to investigate the current basin scale distribution of C. finmarchicus (C5-C6), C. helgolandicus (C5-C6), C. hyperboreus (C5-C6), Pseudocalanus spp. (C6), Oithona spp. (C1-C6), total Euphausiida, total Thecosomata and the presence/absence of Cnidaria and the Phytoplankton Colour Index (PCI). The PCI, which is a visual assessment of the greenness of the silk, is used as an indicator of the distribution of total phytoplankton biomass across the Atlantic basin (Batten et al., 2003). Monthly data collected between 2000 and 2009 were gridded using the inverse-distance interpolation method, in which the interpolated values were the nodes of a 2 degree by 2 degree grid. The resulting twelve monthly matrices were then averaged within the year and in the case of the zooplankton the data were log-transformed (i.e. log10 (x+1).