We have applied a recently introduced proxy, the BIT (branched and isoprenoid tetraether) index, to determine terrestrial organic matter (TOM) transport from the rivers Rhine and Meuse and their tributaries to the southern North Sea. This index is based on crenarchaeol, an isoprenoidal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) predominantly derived from aquatic Crenarchaeota and branched GDGT...

The distribution of dissolved iron(II) [Fe(II)] was studied in surface waters of the western subarctic Pacific during the Subarctic Pacific Iron Experiment for Ecosystem Dynamics Study-II (SEEDS II) iron enrichment experiment using highly sensitive flow injection-based luminol chemiluminescence. Vertical profiles of Fe(II) and total dissolved iron were measured outside of the fertilized patch t...

Questioning the underlying assumptions of the process of creative destruction, we conceptualize an alternative process of creative construction that may characterize the dynamics between entrants and incumbents. We discuss the underlying mechanism of knowledge spillover strategic entrepreneurship whereby knowledge investments by existing organizations, when coupled with entrepreneurial action b...

This paper examines transition in the level of competition in the Japanese life insurance industry over the last ten years. We estimate the first order condition for profit maximizing insurance oligopolies to obtain the degree of non-competition and collusion. Estimation results suggest: 1) mutual companies, like stock companies, seek to maximize their own profits rather than pay out dividends ...

In this communication we present a study of the electronic structure of partially disordered bulk and (100) thin film of quaternary pseudo-Heusler alloy Co2Fe0.4Cr0.6Al in the L21 phase using the Augmented Space recursion (ASR) in a scalar-relativistic tight binding linear muffin-tin orbitals (TB-LMTO) basis. We study the orbital resolved magnetic moment contributions of the constituents of the...

This paper analyses the effect of piracy on innovation in the presence of R&D competition with technological and market uncertainty. With a single innovating firm facing technological uncertainty, piracy unambiguously retards innovation. However, with R&D competition where firms face market and technological uncertainties, we show that piracy may enhance overall innovation. We also show that if...

Magnetically driven actuator materials, such as the ternary and intermetallic Heusler alloys with composition X2YM, are studied within the density-functional theory (DFT) with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the electronic exchange and correlation. The geometrical and electronic structures for the magnetic L21 structure are calculated. The structures and magnetic moments at equ...

This paper examines the use of switching costs by long-lived strategic buyers to manage dynamic competition between rival suppliers. The analysis reveals how buyers may employ switching costs to their advantage. We show when switching costs are high a buyer may induce suppliers to price more competitively by credibly threatening to replace the incumbent supplier with his rivals. The implication...

Distorted performance measures in compensation contracts elicit suboptimal behavioral responses that may even prove to be dysfunctional (gaming). This paper applies the empirical test developed by Courty and Marschke (2008) to detect whether the widely used class of Residual Income based performance measures —such as Economic Value Added (EVA)— is distorted, leading to unintended agent behavior...

Many chloroplast genes of cyanobacterial origin have been transferred to the nucleus during evolution and their products are re-addressed to chloroplasts. The RPL21 gene encoding the plastid r-protein L21 has been lost in higher plant chloroplast genomes after the divergence from bryophytes. Based on phylogenetic analysis and intron conservation, we now provide evidence that in Arabidopsis a nu...