AbstractEconomists typically model a plant's productivity as an exogenous characteristic, but the people who run and work at manufacturing plants make choices, at a cost, that affect plant productivity. I develop a method to partially identify the productivity distribution when such choices determine productivity. The method uses a monotone comparative static result I prove in a general economic model. It does not require instruments or timing assumptions. I use the method to study the effect of implementing market‐based pricing on productivity in the electricity generation industry.
In modern society increase of digitalization associated with grown exceed level of light at night – a new type of pollution. Presence of light at night inhibited endogenous melatonin synthesis by pineal gland, that influence on circadian system work cycles, so organism oftenbroken regime of wake/sleep, meals, physical activity. Also, a lack of melatonin in some certain time of dayand low melatonin concentration both, were shown take some intervention in diseases development through incorrect regulation of clock-depended genes expression. In connect with this, some latest clinical protocol in therapy or clinical trials of many different pathologies (for example, insomnia, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, central nervous and immune system trouble, cancer, viral infection, etc.) include exogenous melatonin usage. As melatonin perform his function via endocrine and paracrine ways in variety types of cell, his application take place in wide range of doses and in different time of day (chronotherapeutic approach). Therefore, important to control state of circadian system central elements – pineal gland (main producer of endogenous melatonin) and suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of hypothalamus (central pacemaker of circadian rhythm) in conditionsof exogenous melatonin treatment. Thus, the main goal of our research were analysis of rats pineal gland and hypothalamic SCN morpho-functional state after different time (morning, evening and continuously with drinking water) melatonin daily administration. Melatonin was administered by gavage for 7 weeks in dose 30 mg/kg 1 h before lights-off (M ZT11, evening), or 1 h after lights-on (M ZT01, morning), or continuously with drinking water during day-night period (MW). After melatonin use only in MW group pineal gland demonstrates changes in morphology (pinealocytes nucleus had mild basophilic color) and morphometric (increased cross-sectional area of the pinealocytes nucleus in compare with control group) analysis data. Besides, some similar changes were observed in SCN: the cross-sectional area of the SCN neurons nucleus grown in case of usage each of regime melatonin administration, while morphology characteristic remains without any alteration. In general, it suggesting about having by melatonin non-inhibiting features in context of circadian system feedback loop and supposing wide potential for melatonin use with absent huge side effect on central elements of above mentioned system.
<i>Background:</i> Although it is well known that chemical oxidation with alkaline hydrogen peroxide damages human hair, little is known about the effects of bleaching during daily life activities which may alter hair components. <i>Objective:</i> To determine the effects of bleaching combined with daily weathering on lipids and amino acids in hair. <i>Methods:</i> Levels of lipids and amino acids were analyzed by chromatography in scalp hair fibers collected from three different females and in experimentally treated hair. <i>Results:</i> Bleaching combined with daily weathering induced the loss of 18-methyleicosanoic acid (18-MEA) and the conversion of half-cystine (H-CYS) to cysteic acid (CYS-A), which were the most remarkable changes among all lipids and amino acids tested. Although a single bleaching had no effect, repeated bleaching combined with daily weathering elicited significant decreases in other intrinsic endogenous lipids and alterations in amino acids that are characteristic for the cuticle. <i>Conclusion:</i> Hair damage, eventually leading to the worst damage such as splitting, is caused by bleaching during daily life activities and is mainly attributable to the loss of 18-MEA as well as the conversion of H-CYS to CYS-A.
The binding of low-molecular-weight compounds to nucleophilic side-chains of amino acids bound within a protein, resulting in a hapten-modified macromolecule, is discussed to represent the very first step within the development of allergic contact dermatitis. For one of the best-known occupational dermatoses in the field of plant breeding, the so-called tulip fingers, α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone (tulipalin A) was proved to be the causative agent. In this paper, the reaction of tulipalin A with N<sup>α</sup>-hippuryl-<i>L</i>-lysine as a model for peptide-bound lysine was studied. After the incubation of the α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone with the dipeptide in varying molar ratios in methanolic solution at 37°C up to 3 weeks, the reaction was monitored using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection. Tulipalin A was found to react with the Ε-amino group, resulting in the formation of one characteristic reaction product. After isolation, the structure of this addition product was unambiguously characterised by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as 2-(2-benzoylamino-acetylamino)-6-[(2-oxo-tetrahydro-furan-3-ylmethyl)amino] hexanoic acid (Hip-LysTu). After incubation of bovine serum albumin with tulipalin A, followed by acid hydrolysis and amino acid analysis, LysTu was found as addition product, thus representing the first known amino acid derivative resulting from the conjugation of the electrophilic α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone to protein.
The cutaneous response to irritants can be influenced by various factors including the characteristic of irritants, the mode of exposure, environmental and host-related factors. It has been suggested that irritants can be divided into two types: corrosive and noncorrosive. Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) has been considered as a typical corrosive irritant and nonanoic acid (NAA) an example of a noncorrosive irritant. We applied SLS and NAA solutions on the volar forearm skin for 24 h and measured transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and erythema indices to evaluate some differences in the profile of irritant reaction and skin functions between corrosive and noncorrosive irritation. In our study of TEWL measurements, SLS solutions caused higher TEWL values than NAA solutions, and the slope of the SLS curve was steeper than that of the NAA curve in relation to the concentrations of SLS and NAA. There was a tendency for the TEWL values to plateau at higher NAA concentrations. In the study of the time course of TEWL and erythema indices, TEWL values returned to baseline after 3 weeks in areas patch-tested with 50% NAA, but they did not recover baseline values until 3 weeks in the corresponding areas tested with 5% SLS. However, both SLS and NAA solutions showed a very similar pattern of erythema indices. Our data suggest that skin injuries induced by SLS might need a more prolonged recovery time for TEWL than NAA injuries. SLS, the corrosive irritant, showed a different pattern of cutaneous functional change compared with NAA, the noncorrosive irritant. NAA could also be considered as one of the model irritants in a study of irritant contact dermatitis using a noncorrosive irritant.
В настоящее время разработано довольно много классификаций, типологий, которые тем или иным образом систематизируют факторы, влияющие на состояние здоровья человека. В данной статье представлена характеристика эндогенных и экзогенных факторов, обусловливающих качественные и количественные параметры здоровья, описана их интенсивность и механизм воздействия. В группе эндогенных факторов рассмотрены генетический, психологический, культурный, социально-бытовой. В группе экзогенных – экономический, социальный, политический, технологический, демографический, географический. ; At present there are considerably many developed classifications and typologies that in some way or other systematize factors influencing the human state of health. The article contains a characteristic of endogenous and exogenous factors, conditioning qualitative and quantitative parameters of health, their intensity and influence mechanisms are described. Within the group of endogenous factors the genetic, psychological, cultural, and social-living ones are investigated. Within the group of exogenous factors – economic, social, political, technological, demographic, and geographic.
Diffusion curve analysis can estimate whether an innovation spreads endogenously (indicated by a characteristic "s-curve") or exogenously (indicated by a characteristic negative exponential curve). Current techniques for pooling information across multiple innovations require a two-stage analysis. In this paper, we develop multilevel diffusion curve analysis, which is statistically more efficient and allows for more flexible specifications than do existing methods. To substantively illustrate this technique, we use data on bribery in pop radio as an example of exogenous influence on diffusion.
The article proposes the improvement of the mechanism of material support of the units of the National Guard of Ukraine on the basis of the design of logistics chains of materials supply. The analysis of components of the real supply as a logistic product is carried out. The characteristic features of materials in the structure of supply chain logistics are investigated. The influence of exogenous and endogenous factors on the material supply of the National Guard of Ukraine as a distribution product is analyzed. A complex of strategic administrative measures for improving the mechanism of material supply of units of the National Guard of Ukraine is formed ; В статті запропоновано вдосконалення механізму речового забезпечення підрозділів Національної гвардії України на основі проектування логістичних ланцюжків поставок речей. Проведено аналіз складових речового забезпечення як логістичного продукту. Досліджені характерні особливості речей в структурі логістичних ланцюжків поставок. Проаналізовано вплив екзогенних і ендогенних чинників на речове забезпечення Національної гвардії України як продукт дистрибуції. Сформовано комплекс стратегічних управлінських заходів вдосконалення механізму речового забезпечення підрозділів Національної гвардії України
Nineteenth-century Italy experienced the long swings in migration, capital flows, and construction characteristic of the international Kuznets cycle, but in an unusual combination: its external migration swing may have resembled Britain's, but its capital flows and construction swing resembled America's. Construction in Italy was finance-sensitive rather than population-sensitive, and reacted primarily to exogenous shifts in the supply of foreign capital. The Italian experience suggests that changes in perceived risk altered the relative supply of capital in Britain and abroad and thereby induced the opposite swings in construction and the swing in migration.
In this paper, the author argues that political education is indispensable to democracy & dependent on models of democracy. In analysing normative models of democracy, his focus is on the process of creating political will because it is during this process where the role of citizens themselves becomes prominent. The analysis has demonstrated that there are various ways in which citizens can become engaged in the process of creating political will, & that these various ways in fact determine the distinctiveness of each model of democracy. The author shows that strategic political action, as instrumental political action, is characteristic of the classical liberal model, whilst value-rational, ethically laden, action is characteristic of the classical republican model of democracy. The problem with both these models is that the key motives for citizen political engagement -- interests in the liberal model, & the common good in the republican model -- are in a way exogenous to the political process itself. The development of the third model, the theory of deliberative democracy, seeks to overcome these exogenous qualities of interests & the common good in relation to the political process & thus reassert the role of politics in constituting interests & the common good. Thus, the deliberative model of democracy has the potential for constituting & transforming interests & conceptions of the common good. In this model, politics assumes its distinctive function of organising society, resolving conflicts & achieving consensus. In the deliberative model of democracy, political education is provided with new outlines & dimension. These are based on the premises of social cooperation & the notion of the person as capable of acting justly & participate in the public sphere for the purpose of resolving shared problems. References. Adapted from the source document.
Organizational Mental Map and Conative Competences Employees with their knowledge, skills, behavior and personal traits impact the organizational learning. The concept of organizational mental map and conative competences, as inborn underlying characteristic that is influenced by employees being involved as well as endogenous and exogenous factors, is presented. Three Slovene small to mid-sized companies were studied in respect to the individual factors, especially conative competences, of their employees. The study suggests that conative side of mind and thus conative competences can actually influence the organizational learning. What matters in contemporary management practice is how hidden potentials are set free and how they intrinsically motivate employees according to their personal differences in capabilities. As conative competences are inborn and can not be learned but only encouraged, contrary to cognitive competences, it is important to better understand employees' personal traits.
There is clear evidence that fairness plays a role in redistribution. Individuals want to compensate others for their misfortune, while they allow them to enjoy the fruits of their effort. This paper introduces fairness in a tax-benefit scheme that is based on several characteristics in order to study the design of optimal taxes where people have what we call 'partial control'. For some characteristics like sex, age and inborn handicaps the degree of control is zero (i.e., these characteristic are exogenous tags fully defined by the individual's type), while for other characteristics, think of education and family composition, the degree of control is positive, i.e. it can be changed by exerting effort. We derive the fair tax benefit formula as well as two testable predictions. We provide the first estimates of implicit tax rates for different characteristics in 26 European countries (using EU-SILC data) and the US (using CPS data) and find a robust tendency in all countries to compensate more for uncontrollable characteristics compared to the partially controllable ones. We then attempt to calculate which countries currently have fair tax systems. Only the Continental countries France and Luxembourg pass the fairness test, whereas the Baltic and Anglo-Saxon countries (including the US) perform worst. Our paper provides a new way to formalize the old intuition that, in a fair society, people should be allowed to benefit more from their own efforts than from exogenous characteristics like their genetic endowment.
Escalation is a key characteristic of many consumption behaviors that has not received theoretical attention. This paper aims to propose both a definition and a theoretical treatment of escalation in consumption. We define escalation as a subject's attempt to obtain "more" or engage in consumption behaviors that are "more intense" on a measurable, quantitative or qualitative, objective or subjective, scale (more difficult ski slopes, stronger drugs, harder sex, better restaurants etc.), even if the subject preferred less intense consumption behaviors in the past. Further, this evolution in behavior also occurs if the budget constraint does not change. We will find endogenous and exogenous theoretical microfoundations for escalation in models of hedonic adaptation, desire for novelty, acquisition of consumption skills, rising aspirations, positional effects, and envy. However, we will also discuss the possibility that the tendency to escalate is a specific innate behavior inherent to human nature. Finally, we will propose a preliminary theoretical formalization of such behavior and indicate the possible implications of taking escalation into adequate consideration.JEL codes: B52, D11, D90, D91, I31
The essay assesses the infuence of inpatient user charges in the Czech Republic on the amount of inpatient hospital care provided, namely the number of patient days. We apply the difference-indifferences approach on a panel of 76 general hospitals in 2008-2009. The introduction and subsequent partial reimbursement of user fees charged on an inpatient day in the Czech Republic satisfies the criteria of a natural experiment - the decision to reimburse patients for user charges applied to hospitals under the control of the Social Democratic (éCSSD) regional governments in the year 2009, and was unrelated to other hospital characteristic. Our treatment group comprises hospitals where patients could ask for reimbursement, i.e. user charges were effectively abolished. The control group covers hospitals where it was not possible to get reimbursement. The base year is 2008 when user charges were introduced. The observed effect of user-charge abolition was small and marginally significant (between 2.7 % and 4.1 %) having controlled for exogenous hospital and regional characteristics.
