Global Networks of Trade and Bits

Considerable efforts have been made in recent years to produce detailed topologies of the Internet. Although Internet topology data have been brought to the attention of a wide and somewhat diverse audience of scholars, so far they have been overlooked by economists. In this paper, we suggest that such data could be effectively treated as a proxy to characterize the size of the "digital economy" at country level and outsourcing: thus, we analyse the topological structure of the network of trade in digital services (trade in bits) and compare it with that of the more traditional flow of manufactured goods across countries. To perform meaningful comparisons across networks with different characteristics, we define a stochastic benchmark for the number of connections among each country-pair, based on hypergeometric distribution. Original data are thus filtered by means of different thresholds, so that we only focus on the strongest links, i.e., statistically significant links. We find that trade in bits displays a sparser and less hierarchical network structure, which is more similar to trade in high-skill manufactured goods than total trade. Lastly, distance plays a more prominent role in shaping the network of international trade in physical goods than trade in digital services.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

Ownership of co-creation assets: driving B2B value propositions in the service economy

The benefits of specialization have been driving the rise of the service economy and pushing capability frontiers and economic growth. In service economies, almost any activity, asset, and skill can be bought on competitive markets, making it harder to build competitive advantage on any of those inputs. Against that background, the question emerges what constitutes sustainable value propositions of service providers. Drawing on an emerging stream of research on the non-ownership value of services, we argue that service providers create value by taking on ownership of service assets and thereby transform uncertainty of value creation into economic opportunities. In our view, service providers offer the essential value proposition of transforming their clients’ uncertainty downsides into opportunities related to assets such as vehicles, real estate, equipment and computing platforms. Clients benefit by delegating ownership of assets to the domain of a service provider. In turn, clients can focus their investment on their most promising assets. Service providers create sustainable competitive advantage by assuming ownership and excelling at the management of (a) unique physical assets, (b) unique intangible assets and (c) maintaining an appropriate architecture of social capital through customer relationships and business ecosystems

Is Productivity Diverging in the EU? Evidence from 11 Member States

An argument that received a lot of attention in the political and economic discussion surrounding the recent crisis in the EU is that diverging trends in productivity across member countries will undermine the viability of the common currency. This article examines the issue of convergence in multifactor productivity using sector-level data from 11 EU Member States. A state-space model is developed and formal Bayesian model comparisons are performed to infer whether productivity is diverging, both at the aggregate level and at a sector-by-sector basis. The data point towards diverging productivity at the aggregate level, but suggest the opposite for many individual sectors

Societal output and use of research performed by health research groups

The last decade has seen the evaluation of health research pay more and more attention to societal use and benefits of research in addition to scientific quality, both in qualitative and quantitative ways. This paper elaborates primarily on a quantitative approach to assess societal output and use of research performed by health research groups (societal quality of research). For this reason, one of the Dutch university medical centres (i.e. the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC)) was chosen as the subject of a pilot study, because of its mission to integrate top patient care with medical, biomedical and healthcare research and education. All research departments were used as units of evaluation within this university medical centre

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with an imbalance in circulating endothelial and smooth muscle progenitor cell numbers

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus have increased rates of macrovascular disease (MVD). Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), circulating angiogenic cells (CACs) and smooth muscle progenitor cells (SMPCs) are suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of MVD. The relationship between vasoregenerative EPCs or CACs and damaging SMPCs and the development of accelerated MVD in diabetes is still unknown. We tried to elucidate whether EPC, CAC and SMPC numbers and differentiation capacities in vitro differ in patients with and without diabetes or MVD. METHODS: Peripheral blood was obtained from insdividuals with and without diabetes and MVD (coronary or peripheral artery disease). EPC and SMPC numbers were determined with flow cytometry. Furthermore, CAC and SMPC numbers were quantified after in vitro culture. Their in vitro differentiation capacity was investigated with real-time RT-PCR and quantitative immunofluorescence. RESULTS: In diabetic patients both EPC and CAC levels were reduced (1.3-fold [p < 0.05] and 1.5-fold [p < 0.05], respectively). CAC outgrowth from diabetic patients with MVD was reduced 1.5-fold compared with diabetic patients without MVD (p < 0.05). SMPC levels were similar between diabetic patients and healthy controls. The CAC/SMPC ratio of in vitro cultured progenitor cells was reduced 2.3-fold in samples from diabetic patients (p < 0.001). The differentiation capacity of CACs and SMPCs in vitro remained similar independently of diabetes or MVD. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: The ratio between EPCs or CACs and SMPCs is disturbed in type 2 diabetes in favour of SMPCs. This may translate into reduced vascular repair capacity, thereby promoting MVD in type 2 diabetes. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00125-012-2590-5) contains peer-reviewed but unedited supplementary material, which is available to authorised users

Molecular and cellular signatures underlying superior immunity against Bordetella pertussis upon pulmonary vaccination

Mucosal immunity is often required for protection against respiratory pathogens but the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of induction remain poorly understood. Here, systems vaccinology was used to identify immune signatures after pulmonary or subcutaneous immunization of mice with pertussis outer membrane vesicles. Pulmonary immunization led to improved protection, exclusively induced mucosal immunoglobulin A (IgA) and T helper type 17 (Th17) responses, and in addition evoked elevated systemic immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels, IgG-producing plasma cells, memory B cells, and Th17 cells. These adaptive responses were preceded by unique local expression of genes of the innate immune response related to Th17 (e.g., Rorc) and IgA responses (e.g., Pigr) in addition to local and systemic secretion of Th1/Th17-promoting cytokines. This comprehensive systems approach identifies the effect of the administration route on the development of mucosal immunity, its importance in protection against Bordetella pertussis, and reveals potential molecular correlates of vaccine immunity to this reemerging pathogen.Drug Delivery Technolog

Electrical vagus nerve stimulation is a promising approach to reducing pulmonary complications after an esophagectomy: an experimental rodent model

After esophagectomy, an imbalanced inflammatory response increases the risk of postoperative morbidity. The vagus nerve modulates local and systemic inflammatory responses, but its pulmonary branches are transected during esophagectomy as part of the oncological resection, which may account for the high incidence of postoperative (pulmonary) complications. This study investigated the effect of electrical vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced lung injury in rats. Rats (n = 60) were randomly assigned to a non-vagotomy or cervical vagotomy group, with VNS or without (NOSTIM). There were four non-vagotomy groups: NOSTIM and bilateral VNS with 100, 50, or 10 µA. The four vagotomy groups were NOSTIM and VNS with fixed amplitude (50 µA) bilaterally before (VNS-50-before) or after bilateral vagotomy (VNS-50-after), or unilaterally (left) before ipsilateral vagotomy (VNS-50-unilaterally). LPS was administered intratracheally after surgery. Pulmonary function, pro-inflammatory cytokines in serum, broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and histopathological lung injury (LIS) were assessed 180 min post-procedure. In non-vagotomized rats, neutrophil influx in BALF following intra-tracheal LPS (mean 30 [± 23]; P = 0.075) and LIS (mean 0.342 [± 0.067]; P = 0.142) were similar after VNS-100, compared with NOSTIM. VNS-50 reduced neutrophil influx (23 [± 19]; P = 0.024) and LIS (0.316 [± 0.093]; P = 0.043). VNS-10 reduced neutrophil influx (15 [± 6]; P = 0.009), while LIS (0.331 [± 0.053]; P = 0.088) was similar. In vagotomized rats, neutrophil influx (52 [± 37]; P = 0.818) and LIS (0.407 [SD ± 0.037]; P = 0.895) in VNS-50-before were similar compared with NOSTIM, as well as in VNS-50-after (neutrophils 30 [± 26]; P = 0.090 and LIS 0.344 [± 0.053]; P = 0.073). In contrast, VNS-50-unilaterally reduced neutrophil influx (26 [± 10]; P = 0.050) and LIS (0.296 [± 0.065]; P = 0.005). Systemic levels of cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 were undetectable in all groups. Pulmonary function was not statistically significantly affected. In conclusion, VNS limited influx of neutrophils in lungs in non-vagotomized rats and may attenuate LIS. Unilateral VNS attenuated lung injury even after ipsilateral vagotomy. This effect was absent for bilateral VNS before and after bilateral vagotomy. It is suggested that the effect of VNS is dependent on (partially) intact vagus nerves and that the level of the vagotomy during esophagectomy may influence postoperative pulmonary outcomes

Performance of Indian Manufacturing in the Post Reform Period

Many emerging countries in recent decades have relied on a development strategy that focused primarily on promoting the manufacturing sector and the exports of manufactured goods. However, an acceleration of growth of output and employment in manufacturing has eluded India. This is despite the fact that the central focus of the reforms in the 1980s and 1990s was to unshackle the manufacturing sector. Instead it is the services sector which has grown rapidly, contributing about two-third of GDP growth in recent years. This paper discusses the reasons behind the modest performance of the manufacturing sector in India post reforms. It argues that there are many factors that have inhibited the growth of industrial sector in India. One major factor is the rigid and strict labor laws which have affected the industrial performance in a number of ways, by keeping the size of the establishments small, by not encouraging the production of labor intensive goods, by pushing activities to the unorganized sector, and by keeping the Indian industry uncompetitive. Besides the labor laws other factors that are responsible for the modest performance of the manufacturing sector include difficulty in the acquisition of land for industrial use, inadequate financing and infrastructure, and cumbersome business climate. The paper presents arguments and evidence which shows the importance of these factors