Competing theories in industrial organization predict that more concentrated industries will lead to a smaller and more efficient variety of products, or alternately, a larger and less efficient array of products. This paper presents an empirical study of these competing implications that estimates the impact of market concentration on new product introductions in a panel of nine food processin...

This paper proposes a novel method on speech simulation for Japanese with anatomical basis, which can cope with any individual faces. First, the authors concentrated on modeling muscle models around the mouth, especially the orbicularis oris model and the ones supporting it, which play an important role to decide the movement of skin around the mouth when we speak. Those facial muscle models ar...

We examine the “home bias” of knowledge spillovers (the idea that knowledge spreads more slowly over international boundaries than within them) as measured by the speed of patent citations. We present econometric evidence that the geographical localization of knowledge spillovers has fallen over time, as we would expect from the dramatic fall in communication and travel costs. Our proposed esti...

Fiber type distributions, cross-sectional areas (CSAs) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activities in the soleus (SOL) muscle in normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats were determined after exposure to cigarette smoke at three different dosage levels using a smoking machine. The rats were exposed to cigarette smoke at a rate of 15 puffs/min, for 20 min/day wi...

One of the famous dyes is methylene blue (MB) which is a symbol of hazardous dyes. In this research, methylene blue was adsorbed using the blends of saffron petals with activated carbon. Five independent variables involving pH (2-13), contact time (5-270 min), saffron petals powder dosage (0.1-10 g/l), initial concentration of methylene blue solution (20-300 ppm) and activated carbon dosage (0....

In many diploid species, sex determination is linked to a pair of sex chromosomes that evolved from a pair of autosomes. In these organisms, the degeneration of the sex-limited Y or W chromosome causes a reduction in gene dose in the heterogametic sex for X- or Z-linked genes. Variations in gene dose are detrimental for large chromosomal regions when they span dosage-sensitive genes, and many o...

PURPOSE This study examined the effect of varying dosage of vocal function exercise (VFE) home practice on attainment of pre-established maximum phonation time (MPT) goals in individuals with normal voice. High dosage VFE practice was expected to result in greatest MPT. The overarching goal of this study was to contribute to a VFE dosage-response curve, potentially including a point of observab...

In many diploid species, sex determination is linked to a pair of sex chromosomes that evolved from a pair of autosomes. In theseorganisms, thedegenerationof thesex-limitedYorWchromosomecausesa reduction ingenedose in theheterogametic sex forX-orZ-linked genes. Variations in gene dose are detrimental for large chromosomal regions when they span dosage-sensitive genes, andmany organi...

To investigate the effect of microbial inoculum on soil heavy metal immobilisation, pot experiments were conducted with paddy soils contaminated by cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenic (As), and mercury (Hg), respectively. The results showed that inoculation Rhodopseudomonas palustris was more effective in immobilisation Pb Cd than composite R. Bacillus subtilis. Interestingly, a lower dosage immob...