Income Distribution, Spillover Effects And Choice Of Product Quality

We consider an MNC that is originated from a developed country where income is more or less evenly distributed and serves there a high quality product with the help of sophisticated technology of production. Under liberalized policy this MNC enters into a developing economy where income distribution is highly unequal. Due to prior experience of production it possesses a cost advantage in producing appropriate product quality in the developing country described by the spillover effect. It is shown that this discriminating monopolist serves a lower quality product in the developing country without any cost advantage. This happens due to its uneven income distribution. As spillover effect starts to rise, the product qualities between the countries differentiate more. At the same time profit of MNC rises. This may provide an explanation why MNCs are so eager to enter into a developing country. The developing country also gains in terms of welfare.Income Distribution, Product Quality, Trade Liberalization

INNOVATION UNDER THE THREAT OF DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENT

We examine the implication of direct and indirect foreign competition on domestic innovation decision. In most of the existing theoretical analyses the foreign firms are assumed to enter the domestic-country market as an exporter and thus are subject to a tariff duty imposed by the local government. We consider a broader setting where the foreign firm also has the option of setting up a production unit in the domestic country to supply output to the domestic country. This enables it to avoid the tariff that it faces due to export. Once we allow for such a strategy option for the foreign firm, competition becomes more direct and intense since tariffs no longer discount for the technological inferiority of home firms. We show that innovation by the home firm will be discouraged at high tariffs under the threat of DFI. Again at low tariff rates exports by the foreign firm make market competition more intense and reduce the incentive for innovation. Hence the home firm always (never) innovates at low (high) R&D cost whatever be the tariff rate. For intermediate R&D cost the home firm innovates if the foreign firm opts for exports.Innovation, Tariff, Foreign Direct Investment, Foreign Competition

Localization of electronic states resulting from electronic topological transitions in the Mo1−x_{1-x}Rex_x alloys: A photoemission study

We present the results of resonant photoemission spectroscopy experiments on the Mo$_{1-x}$Re$_{x}$ alloy compositions spanning over two electronic topological transitions (ETT) at the critical concentrations $x_{C1}$ = 0.05 and $x_{C2}$ = 0.11. The photoelectrons show an additional resonance ($R3$) in the constant initial state (CIS) spectra of the alloys along with two resonances ($R1$ and $R2$) which are similar to those observed in molybdenum. All the resonances show Fano-like line shapes. The asymmetry parameter $q$ of the resonances $R1$ and $R3$ of the alloys is observed to be large and negative. Our analysis suggests that the origin of large negative q is associated with phonon assisted inter band scattering between the Mo-like states and the narrow band that appeared due to the ETT.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Assessing the association between pre-course metrics of student preparation and student performance in introductory statistics: Results from early data on simulation-based inference vs. nonsimulation based inference

The recent simulation-based inference (SBI) movement in algebra-based introductory statistics courses (Stat 101) has provided preliminary evidence of improved student conceptual understanding and retention. However, little is known about whether these positive effects are preferentially distributed across types of students entering the course. We consider how two metrics of Stat 101 student preparation (pre-course performance on concept inventory and math ACT score) may or may not be associated with end of course student performance on conceptual inventories. Students across all preparation levels tended to show improvement in Stat 101, but more improvement was observed across all student preparation levels in early versions of a SBI course. Furthermore, students' gains tended to be similar regardless of whether students entered the course with more preparation or less. Recent data on a sample of students using a current version of an SBI course showed similar results, though direct comparison with non-SBI students was not possible. Overall, our analysis provides additional evidence that SBI curricula are effective at improving students' conceptual understanding of statistical ideas post-course regardless student preparation. Further work is needed to better understand nuances of student improvement based on other student demographics, prior coursework, as well as instructor and institutional variables.Comment: 16 page

Raspodjela kapi tropskih kiša po veličini nad južnom Indijom

Drop size distributions (DSD) associated with tropical rainfall at Cuddalore in the south-eastern part of India have been measured by a Joss-Waldvogel disdrometer (RD–80 model) during September to November 2002. The rainfall data corrected for instrumental error, matches very well with rainfall rates measured by a self recording raingauge, at the same site. For further analysis of the DSD, the rainfall events were separated into convective and stratiform rainfall by an algorithm based on variation of DSD parameters. One rain event in the form of a squall line of 15 September 2002, was analysed in greater detail to investigate the validity of the classification scheme as well as to study the variation of the DSD parameters during the course of a rain event. It was observed that, the algorithm was robust and had quite good correspondence with other independent rainfall separation algorithms. During the rain event, at low rainrates, the convective phase of the rainfall event was marked by DSD spectra that have greater population of small droplets as compared to stratiform DSDs at the same rainrates. At higher rainrates, the convective regime is characterised by narrow spectra centred at higher diameters. At the transition region between convective and stratiform spectra, mixed large and small drop spectra are observed. Similar variation was also observed in the averaged drop spectra. In addition, the averaged spectra also reveal an equilibrium distribution of the drop population in DSDs at higher rainrates (>39 /hr) for diameter range (>1.91 mm) corresponding to nearly constant values of the slope of the distribution, the intercept and the mean mass diameter. The value of the shape parameter, which for small rainrates varies the same as the slope parameter, starts to increase with increasing rainrate as the other two parameters of the gamma distribution approach a constant value corresponding to equilibrium shape. The value of the intercept parameter is highest for low to moderate convective rainfall and decreases as the rainrate increases.Raspodjela kapi po veličini (RKV) koja je povezana s tropskim kišama u Cuddalore u jugoistočnom dijelu Indije, mjerena je Joss-Waldvogel disdrometrom (model RD-80) od rujna do studenog 2002. Mjerenja kiše su korigirana uvažavajući pogreške instrumenta te se vrlo dobro podudaraju s mjerenjima koja su dobivena automatskom kišomjernom postajom na istoj lokaciji. Radi daljnje analize RKV, količine oborine su podijeljene na konvektivnu i stratiformnu količinu oborine na temelju logaritma koji se zasniva na varijacijama RKV parametara. Jedan slučaj obilne kiše za vrijeme olujne pruge 15. rujna 2002. odabran je za detaljnu analizu radi ispitivanja valjanosti klasifikacijske sheme kao i za proučavanje promjena RKV parametara za vrijeme pomicanja olujne pruge. Pokazalo se da je algoritam robustan i da je imao dobro slaganje s drugim algoritmima za separaciju oborine. Tijekom ispitivanog slučaja, kod malih količina kiše, konvektivnu fazu oborine karakterizira izrazit RKV spektar koji ima veliki broj malih kapljica u odnosu na statiformnu RKV za istu količinu kiše. Za veće količine kiše, konvektivni režim karakterizira uzak spektar velikih kapljica. U području prijelaza između konvektivnog i stratiformnog spektra, uočeno je miješanje velikih i malih kapljica kiše. Slične promjene prisutne su i u spektru srednjih kapljica kiše. Srednji spektar također pokazuje ravnomjernu raspodjelu kapi RKV za veće količine kiše (>39/sat) promjera kapi (>1.91 mm) što odgovara skoro konstantnim vrijednostima nagiba distribucije, presjeka s ordinatnom osi i srednjeg promjera. Vrijednost parametra oblika, koji za male količine kiše varira isto kao i parametar nagiba, počinje se povećavati s povećanjem količine oborine kao i ostala dva parametra gama razdiobe dosežući konstantnu vrijednost koja odgovara ravnotežnom obliku. Vrijednost presjeka s ordinatnom osi je najviša za male ili umjerene konvektivne količine oborine i smanjuje se s povećanjem količine kiše

BRI3L: A Brightness Illusion Image Dataset for Identification and Localization of Regions of Illusory Perception

Visual illusions play a significant role in understanding visual perception. Current methods in understanding and evaluating visual illusions are mostly deterministic filtering based approach and they evaluate on a handful of visual illusions, and the conclusions therefore, are not generic. To this end, we generate a large-scale dataset of 22,366 images (BRI3L: BRightness Illusion Image dataset for Identification and Localization of illusory perception) of the five types of brightness illusions and benchmark the dataset using data-driven neural network based approaches. The dataset contains label information - (1) whether a particular image is illusory/nonillusory, (2) the segmentation mask of the illusory region of the image. Hence, both the classification and segmentation task can be evaluated using this dataset. We follow the standard psychophysical experiments involving human subjects to validate the dataset. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to develop a dataset of visual illusions and benchmark using data-driven approach for illusion classification and localization. We consider five well-studied types of brightness illusions: 1) Hermann grid, 2) Simultaneous Brightness Contrast, 3) White illusion, 4) Grid illusion, and 5) Induced Grating illusion. Benchmarking on the dataset achieves 99.56% accuracy in illusion identification and 84.37% pixel accuracy in illusion localization. The application of deep learning model, it is shown, also generalizes over unseen brightness illusions like brightness assimilation to contrast transitions. We also test the ability of state-of-theart diffusion models to generate brightness illusions. We have provided all the code, dataset, instructions etc in the github repo: https://github.com/aniket004/BRI3

BACTERIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF POST MONSOON WATER SAMPLES FROM SELECTED AREAS OF RANCHI (JHARKHAND)

The present study presents a regional picture of water contamination. It lays emphasis on access of poor quality water by the people from open wells due to absence of proper infrastructure of ground water management. Presence of coliforms was detected in 39 water samples revealing the presence of coliform in 40.62% of the samples. Out of 5 well water samples tested for specific pathogens the species isolated were Aeromonas hydrophila, Psedomonas putrefaciens, Salmonella paratyphi B, E.coli, Vibrio NAG, Streptococcus faecalis, Shigella. &nbsp

EFFECT OF ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION ON THE LYMPHOID SERIES OF THE HEMOPOETIC SYSTEM OF GUINEA PIG (CAVUS PORCELLUS)

Guinea pigs (C. porcellus) were exposed to UV radiation for different durations and hematological parameters have been observed after exposure. The observation gives a clear indication that intermittent exposure (15min, 30min, 1h) of mild doses of UV radiation shows immune response in terms of increased leucocytic count specially lymphocytes and neutrophil

STUDIES ON ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECTS OF BARK, SEED AND CALLUS EXTRACTS OF HOLARRHENA ANTIDYSENTERICA WALL.

A procedure has been outlined for callus formation and antibacterial effects of bark, seed and callus extracts of an important medicinal shrub Holarrhena antidysenterica WALL. Explants used for callus formation were mainly seeds and both in vivo and in vitro grown plant parts like stem, nodal parts, roots and apical shoots. A friable type of callus was obtained when these explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) culture medium containing different concentrations of 2,4-D separately and in combinations of KN. During present studies methanolic extracts of bark, seed and callus were made and tested for their antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium and Eschercia coli. Results showed that all three different types of extracts of Holarrhena antidysenterica possess nearly similar potential for antibacterial activity against these pathogenic bacteria