Does Falling Smoking Lead to Rising Obesity?

The strong negative correlation over time between smoking rates and obesity have led some to suggest that reduced smoking is increasing weight gain in the U.S.. This conclusion is supported by the findings of Chou et al. (2004), who conclude that higher cigarette prices lead to increased body weight. We investigate this issue and find no evidence that reduced smoking leads to weight gain. Using the cigarette tax rather than the cigarette price and controlling for non-linear time effects, we find a negative effect of cigarette taxes on body weight, implying that reduced smoking leads to lower body weights. Yet our results, as well as Chou et al., imply implausibly large effects of smoking on body weight. Thus, we cannot confirm that falling smoking leads in a major way to rising obesity rates in the U.S

Creating New Ventures: A review and research agenda

Creating new ventures is one of the most central topics to entrepreneurship and is a critical step from which many theories of management, organizational behavior, and strategic management build. Therefore, this review and proposed research agenda is not only relevant to entrepreneurship scholars but also other management scholars who wish to challenge some of the implicit assumptions of their current streams of research and extend the boundaries of their current theories to earlier in the organization’s life. Given that the last systematic review of the topic was published 16 years ago, and that the topic has evolved rapidly over this time, an overview and research outlook are long overdue. From our review, we inductively generated ten sub-topics: (1) Lead founder, (2) Founding team, (3) Social relationships, (4) Cognitions, (5) Emergent organizing, (6) New venture strategy, (7) Organizational emergence, (8) New venture legitimacy, (9) Founder exit, and (10) Entrepreneurial environment. These sub-topics are then organized into three major stages of the entrepreneurial process—co-creating, organizing, and performing. Together, the framework provides a cohesive story of the past and a road map for future research on creating new ventures, focusing on the links connecting these sub-topics

SU(m|n) supersymmetric Calogero-Sutherland model confined in harmonic potential

In this work, we study a continuous quantum system of a mixture of bosons and fermions with the supersymmetry SU(m|n). The particles are confined in a harmonic well and interact with each other through the 1/r2 interaction. The ground state wavefunction is constructed explicitly for the most general SU(m|n) case, with the ground state energy given explicitly. The full energy spectrum of excitations in the SU(m|n) model is also equal spaced. In the limiting case where there are no bosons in the system, our results reduce to those obtained previously.Comment: 9 pages, preprint of ETH-Lausanne (August 1996

Ground States and Flux Configurations of the Two-dimensional Falicov-Kimball Model

The Falicov-Kimball model is a lattice model of itinerant spinless fermions ("electrons") interacting by an on-site potential with classical particles ("ions"). We continue the investigations of the crystalline ground states that appear for various filling of electrons and ions, for large coupling. We investigate the model for square as well as triangular lattices. New ground states are found and the effects of a magnetic flux on the structure of the phase diagram is studied. The flux phase problem where one has to find the optimal flux configurations and the nuclei configurations is also solved in some cases. Finaly we consider a model where the fermions are replaced by hard-core bosons. This model also has crystalline ground states. Therefore their existence does not require the Pauli principle, but only the on-site hard-core constraint for the itinerant particles.Comment: 42 pages, uuencoded postscript file. Missing pages adde

High prevalence of Sarcocystis calchasi in racing pigeon flocks in Germany

The apicomplexan parasite Sarcocystis calchasi (Coccidia: Eimeriorina: Sarcocystidae) is the causative agent of Pigeon Protozoal Encephalitis (PPE) and infects birds of the orders Columbiformes, Piciformes and Psittaciformes. Accipiter hawks (Aves: Accipitriformes) are the definitive hosts of this parasite. Infections of S. calchasi have been detected in Germany, the United States and Japan. However, the prevalence of the parasite in racing pigeon flocks has not yet been determined. Here, the first cross-sectional prevalence study to investigate S. calchasi in pigeon racing flocks was accomplished including 245 pigeon flocks across Germany. A total of 1,225 muscle biopsies, were taken between 2012 and 2016 and examined by semi-nested PCR for S. calchasi DNA targeting the ITS gene. Additionally, a questionnaire on construction of the aviary as well as management and health status of the flock was conducted. In 27.8% (95% C.I. = 22.3–33.8%) of the flocks, S. calchasi DNA was detected in at least one pigeon. Positive flocks were located in 15 out of 16 federal states. A significant increase of infected racing pigeons was seen in spring. Half-covered or open aviary constructions showed a trend of increase of the prevalence rate, while anti-coccidian treatment and acidified drinking water had no effects. The high prevalence and the geographical distribution of S. calchasi suggest a long-standing occurrence of the parasite in the German racing pigeon population. For pigeons presented with neurological signs or other symptoms possibly related to PPE, S. calchasi should be considered as a potential cause throughout Germany