Contributions in Merlin

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This article examines the dynamics of inter- and intra-firm networks in technical standard setting initiatives, and how complex social networks align in these initiatives. Specifically, we argue that in standardization, complex economic and social interactions are blended. In standardization activities, firm behavior and the behavior of individuals within firms is best explained through an integration of social, political, and economic perspectives. In this article we use two main bodies of theory. First, we draw on the economic literature on standard setting and alliance formation. Second we use social network theory to complement economic arguments. In this paper we integrate streams of literature on the creation and diffusion of technical standards from industrial organization economics, strategic management, and innovation economics with recent literature concerning the social construction of technology in order to analyze the process of standard setting. We develop our arguments with the help of three in-depth case studies of standardization initiatives in the telecommunications industry. Two case studies are in the realm of telecommunications infrastructure. The third case study analyzes the standardization of a wireless data link. The cases can be characterized as examples of the successful creation of both de facto and de jure standards.

We view debt and outside equity as serving to elicit credible information from different specialists about the value of an enterprise in its various uses. The equity valuation specialist provides a price forecast for equity that reveals information about the value of the enterprise in its primary use. The debt valuation specialist provides a price forecast for debt that reveals information about the value of the enterprise in its alternative use. The prices forecast by the valuation specialists credibly reveal their private information because they are required to buy the associated claims at the forecast prices, thereby bonding their valuations.

We describe a modular and customisable architecture for a WWW server run by Prolog programs and show how each of its components can be implemented. Our proposal employs standard Prolog-CGI technology but to improve efficiency we also use client-server modules to perform the actual services of the WWW site.

We consider a two-stage model of locational choice. Firms decide in which of three locations (or countries) to build plants; they then compete in all three markets. Knowledge spillovers reduce marginal costs in agglomerations; through intra-firm spillovers these cost reductions can be exported to other locations. We show that improvements in the exchange of information within firms make agglomeration more likely, because knowledge obtained in the center can be transmitted to other locations more easily. Decreases in transportation costs tend to destabilize agglomerations, since competition for peripheral locations increases, which decreases the value of knowledge obtained in agglomerations.

Background and Objectives: Learning curves for anesthesia procedures in adult patients have been determined, but no data are available on procedures in pediatric anesthesia. The aim of this study was to assess the number of caudal blocks needed to guarantee a high success rate in performing caudal epidural analgesia in children. Methods: At a teaching hospital, the technical skills of 7 residents in anesthesiology who performed caudal blocks were evaluated during 4 months using a standardized self-evaluation questionnaire. At the start of the study period, the residents had no prior experience in pediatric anesthesia or in performing caudal epidural blocks. All residents entered the pediatric rotation after a minimum of 1 year of training in adult general and regional anesthesia. The blocks were rated using a binary score. For comparison, the success rates of 8 experienced staff anesthesiologists were collected during the same period using the same self-evaluation questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed by generating individual and institutional learning curves using the pooled data. The learning curves were calculated with the aid of a least-square fit model and 95% confidence intervals were estimated by a Monte Carlo procedure with a bootstrap technique. Results: The success rate of residents was 80% after 32 procedures (95% confidence interval of 0.59 to 1.00). The pooled success rate of the staff anesthesiologists was 0.73 (mean) with a standard deviation of 0.45, which was not statistically different from the success rate of the residents. Conclusion: High success rates in performing caudal anesthesia in pediatric patients can be acquired after a limited number of cases. Success rates of residents learning this procedure are comparable to the results of staff anesthesiologists

In this report, the input/output relations in an isolated ganglion of the leech Hirudo medicinalis were studied by simultaneously using six or eight suction pipettes and two intracellular electrodes. Sensory input was mimicked by eliciting action potentials in mechanosensory neurons with intracellular electrodes. The integrated neural output was measured by recording extracellular voltage signals with pipettes sucking the roots and the connectives. A single evoked action potential activated electrical activity in at least a dozen different neurons, some of which were identified. This electrical activity was characterized by a high degree of temporal and spatial variability. The action potentials of coactivated neurons, i.e. activated by the same mechanosensory neuron, did not show any significant pairwise correlation. Indeed, the analysis of evoked action potentials indicates clear statistical independence among coactivated neurons, presumably originating from the independence of synaptic transmission at distinct synapses. This statistical independence may be used to increase reliability when neuronal activity is averaged or pooled. It is suggested that statistical independence among coactivated neurons may be a usual property of distributed processing of neuronal networks and a basic feature of neural computation.

We study the employment and distributional effects of regulating (reducing) working time in a general equilibrium model with search-matching frictions. Job creation entails fixed costs, but existing jobs are subject to diminishing returns. We characterize the equilibrium in the de-regulated economy where firms and individual workers freely negotiate wages and hours. Then, we consider the effects of a legislation restricting the maximum working time, while we let wages respond endogenously. Employment effects are sensitive to the representation of preferences. In our benchmark, small reductions in working time, starting from the laissez-faire equilibrium solution, always result in a small increase in the equilibrium employment, while larger reductions reduce employment. The regulation benefits workers, both unemployed and employed (even if wages decrease and even in cases where employment falls), but reduces profits and output.

The paper analyzes the economic structure of rat races, which either emerge in signaling (as a means of handling informational problems in labor markets) or in genuine tournaments. The unifying element of such contests is a rank-order reward structure. The pervasive phenomenon that contestants compete with too much effort or wasteful investments, cannot be explained in a satisfying manner if fully rational behavior is assumed. Therefore, systematic distortions of contestants' cost benefit rationales and their causes are an important issue of this paper which closes by addressing some institutional solutions to curb too much effort or wasteful investments in rat races.