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The aim of this paper is to study the impact of Walmart's entry on the survival of new and small retail businesses within non‐metropolitan areas in the province of Quebec. To do so, the study covers the years 1999–2007 and focuses on four non‐metropolitan cities. These include two Walmart entry cities, Rimouski and Salaberry‐de‐Valleyfield, and two other cities, where no Walmart was present during the study period, La Pocatière and Sorel‐Tracy. The results of a difference‐in‐differences analysis, conducted through a semi‐parametric Cox proportional hazards model, reveal that the entry of Walmart decreases the risk of closure of the new and small retail businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prevention policies against type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) focus solely on individual healthy lifestyle behaviours, while an increasing body of research recognises the involvement of environmental determinants (ED) (cultural norms of land management and planning, local foodscape, built environment, pollution, and neighbourhood deprivation). Precise knowledge of this relationship is essential to proposing a prevention strategy integrating public health and spatial planning. Unfortunately, issues related to the consistency and synthesis of methods, and results in this field of research limit the development of preventive strategies. This systematic review aims to improve knowledge about the relationship between the risk of developing T2DM in adulthood and long-term exposure to its ED during childhood or teenage years. Methods: This protocol is presented according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) tools. PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, EBSCO, and grey literature from the Laval University Libraries databases will be used for data collection on main concepts such as 'type 2 diabetes mellitus', 'zoning' or 'regional, urban, or rural areas land uses', 'local food landscape', 'built environment', 'pollution', and 'deprivation'. The Covidence application will store the collected data for selection and extraction based on the Population Exposure Comparator Outcome and Study design approach (PECOS). Studies published until December 31, 2023, in English or French, used quantitative data about individuals aged 18 and over that report on T2DM, ED (cultural norms of land management and planning, local foodscape, built environment, and neighbourhood deprivation), and their association (involving only risk estimators) will be included. Then, study quality and risk of bias will be conducted according to the combined criteria and ratings from the ROBINS-E (Risk of Bias in Non-randomised Studies—of Exposures) tools and the 'Effective Public Health Practice Project' (EPHPP). Finally, the analytical synthesis will be produced using the 'Synthesis Without Meta-analysis' (SWiM) guidelines. Discussion: This systematic review will summarise available evidence on ED associated with T2DM. The results will contribute to improving current knowledge and developing more efficient cross-sectoral interventions in land management and public health in this field of research. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42023392073. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential reconversion can foster density and change the structure of neighborhoods. It also upsets current residents when it affects or obstructs their original panorama. Many nearby homeowners argue that new construction of visually imposing residential buildings negatively affects the value of their house. The aim of this paper is to test such a presumption by investigating whether single-family houses' prices are affected (or not) by being close to reconversions. The analysis is based on an exhaustive data set of residential reconversions that were recorded between 2006 and 2016 and is combined with a database of single-family transactions sold in Quebec City between 2004 and 2017. The results suggest that residential reconversions lead to a mean net price premium of about 2.48%. This effect, however, varies according to the type of residential reconversion as well as to the density of the reconversions. Results show no negative significant effects, which suggests that the reduction in house prices expected by residents, i.e., sellers, is largely compensated for by buyers' attraction, as expressed by market equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors analyze the initial conditions bias in the estimation of brand choice models with structural state dependence. Using a combination of Monte Carlo simulations and empirical case studies of shopping panels, they show that popular, simple solutions that misspecify the initial conditions are likely to lead to bias even in relatively long panel data sets. The magnitude of the bias in the state dependence parameter can be as large as a factor of 2–2.5. The authors propose a solution to the initial conditions problem that samples the initial states as auxiliary variables in a Markov chain Monte Carlo procedure. The approach assumes that the joint distribution of prices and consumer choices is in equilibrium, which is plausible for the mature consumer packaged goods products commonly used in empirical applications. In Monte Carlo simulations, the approach recovers the true parameter values even in relatively short panels. Finally, the authors propose a diagnostic tool that uses common, biased approaches to bound the values of the state dependence and construct a computationally light test for state dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the spatial evolution of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Canada to investigate the path dependence process of corporate control geography. The analysis is based on network analysis and quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) regression models for transactions of more than C$5 million between 1994 and 2016. The results indicate that the geography of economic decision-making is highly path-dependent, and that Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary are the main destinations of M&As. However, Winnipeg and Guelph have emerged as new power centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new social housing faces important resistance by local population, a phenomenon knows as the "not in my backyard" movement. One argument from residents to oppose such project is the idea that new construction will negatively impact property values. This is what this paper aims to investigate. The analysis is based on a complete recension of the new social housing projects built between 2000 and 2020 and on single-family house transactions that occurred between 2004 and 2020 in Quebec City (Canada). A repeated sales model integrating a difference-in-differences estimator is developed to isolate the net price premium related to the emergence of a new social housing building while accounting for the possible heterogeneity impact related to characteristics of the building, including the number of apartments and the type of clientele hosted as well as the local characteristics, such as the spatial concentration of social housing buildings and distance to the city center. The results show a complex net price premium rent function that leads to mixed conclusions and has important implications for the development of new social housing projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycobacteria are responsible for several human and animal diseases. NOD2 is a pattern recognition receptor that has an important role in mycobacterial recognition. However, the mechanisms by which mutations in NOD2 alter the course of mycobacterial infection remain unclear. Herein, we aimed to review the totality of studies directly addressing the relationship between NOD2 and mycobacteria as a foundation for moving the field forward. NOD2 was linked to mycobacterial infection at 3 levels: (1) genetic, through association with mycobacterial diseases of humans; (2) chemical, through the distinct NOD2 ligand in the mycobacterial cell wall; and (3) immunologic, through heightened NOD2 signaling caused by the unique modification of the NOD2 ligand. The immune response to mycobacteria is shaped by NOD2 signaling, responsible for NF-κB and MAPK activation, and the production of various immune effectors like cytokines and nitric oxide, with some evidence linking this to bacteriologic control. Absence of NOD2 during mycobacterial infection of mice can be detrimental, but the mechanism remains unknown. Conversely, the success of immunization with mycobacteria has been linked to NOD2 signaling and NOD2 has been targeted as an avenue of immunotherapy for diseases even beyond mycobacteria. The mycobacteria–NOD2 interaction remains an important area of study, which may shed light on immune mechanisms in disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the welfare implications of personalized pricing implemented with machine learning. We use data from a randomized controlled pricing field experiment to construct personalized prices and validate these in the field. We find that unexercised market power increases profit by 55%. Personalization improves expected profits by an additional 19% and by 86% relative to the nonoptimized price. While total consumer surplus declines under personalized pricing, over 60% of consumers benefit from personalization. Under some inequity-averse welfare functions, consumer welfare may even increase. Simulations reveal a nonmonotonic relationship between the granularity of data and consumer surplus under personalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the findings and empirical strategy in "Spilling the Beans on Political Consumerism: Do Social Media Boycotts and Buycotts Translate to Real Sales Impact?" We discuss a fascinating new case study of the boycott and buycott of Goya products in 2020. The authors use detailed consumer-level shopping panel data to document two surprising and striking findings. First, social media calls to boycott had almost no effects, especially among the core Goya consumer group: democratic-leaning Latinos. Second, the authors document an unintended consequence: Goya's supporters reacted by initiating a call for a "buycott." The boycott and buycott combination ultimately increased Goya sales, especially among nontraditional Republican-leaning buyers, albeit only for a few weeks. We hope this paper will stimulate more work to determine which aspects of these findings generalizes to other instances of political consumerism. In our discussion, we offer thoughts on some of the potentially exceptional circumstances of the Goya case study and some directions for deeper testing of the underlying mechanisms driving the consumer responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

US companies invested over $500 billion in 2021 in intangible brand capital, over 2% of GDP. During the past decade, US companies have also been growing their internal marketing capabilities, an often overlooked source of human capital. We discuss the private and social benefits of these intangible brand capital stocks. While the private returns to companies are fairly clear, the academic literature has been divided over the social benefits and costs of advertising and promotion, the two key investment vehicles. We also discuss the implications of brand capital for measured productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differences in consumption capital across generations account for most of the craft beer share gap between millennials and baby boomers, not differences in intrinsic preferences. We conduct an empirical case study of the U.S. beer industry to analyze the disruptive effects of locally manufactured craft brands on market structure, an increasingly common phenomenon in consumer packaged goods industries typically attributed to the emerging generation of adult millennial consumers. We document a generational share gap: millennials buy more craft beer than earlier generations. We test between two competing mechanisms: (i) persistent generational differences in tastes and (ii) differences in past experiences or consumption capital. Our test exploits a novel database tracking the geographic differences in the diffusion of craft breweries across the United States. Using a structural model of demand with endogenous consumption capital stock formation, we find that heterogeneous consumption capital accounts for 86% of the generational share gap between millennials and baby boomers with the remainder explained by intrinsic generational differences in preferences. We predict the beer market structure will continue to fragment over the next decade, overturning a nearly century-old structure dominated by a small number of national brands. The attribution of the share gap to consumption capital shaped through availability on the supply side of the market highlights how barriers to entry, such as regulation and high traditional marketing costs, sustained a concentrated market structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Geotechnical Journal is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Pattern recognition receptors Mincle and NOD2 have been implicated in mycobacterial immunity. However, knockout (KO) animal infection studies with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) have had mild/delayed phenotypes. Given that genetic susceptibility to infectious diseases can be polygenic, we hypothesized that murine double knockout (DKO) of Mincle and Nod2 would result in exacerbation of altered immunity to mycobacterial infection leading to a more extreme phenotype than either KO alone. To test this hypothesis, we monitored bacterial burden, immune responses and survival following in vivo infections with Mtb in DKO mice for comparison to wildtype (WT) and single KOs. Bacterial burden and immune responses were not significantly affected at 3 and 6 weeks after infection in all mutant mice. At later timepoints, Nod2 -KO mice had reduced survival compared to wildtype mice, and Mincle -KO survival was intermediate. Unexpectedly, dual disruption had no further effect; rather, DKO mice phenocopied Nod2 -KO mice. We observed that Mtb -related death, exclusively in mice with disrupted Nod2 , was accompanied by greater pulmonary cell death and distinct large necrotic foci. Therefore, determining how these receptors contribute to mycobacterial resistance will require analysis of immunophenotypes and their consequences on host pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cable news channels—and Fox News in particular—affected the extent to which viewers' complied with experts' social distancing guidelines early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. To what extent do mass media outlets influence viewers' trust in scientific evidence and compliance with behavior recommended by scientific experts? Exploiting the U.S. lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, we analyze a large longitudinal database that combines daily stay-at-home behavior from approximately 8 million mobile phones and local viewership of cable news networks. Early in the pandemic, several of Fox News' hosts downplayed the severity of the pandemic and the risks associated with the transmission of the virus. A combination of regression analysis and a natural experiment finds that a 10% increase in viewership of Fox News in a zip code causes a 0.76-percentage-point reduction in compliance with stay-at-home behavior. The results imply a media persuasion rate that is larger than typical advertising persuasion rates on consumer behavior. Similar analyses using viewership of MSNBC and CNN, which supported lockdown measures, were inconclusive but suggested a smaller, positive effect on compliance with social distancing regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia / Journal Canadien d'Anesthésie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper provides a new estimator to address the zero-valued market shares in the BLP random-coefficient logit demand estimation. Although typically overlooked, many purchase datasets exhibit a high incidence of products with zero sales. We propose a new estimator for the Random-Coefficients Logit demand system for purchase datasets with zero-valued market shares. The identification of the demand parameters is based on a pairwise-differencing approach that constructs moment conditions based on differences in demand between pairs of products. The corresponding estimator corrects nonparametrically for the potential selection of the incidence of zeros on unobserved aspects of demand. The estimator also corrects for the potential endogeneity of marketing variables both in demand and in the selection propensities. Monte Carlo simulations show that our proposed estimator provides reliable small-sample inference both with and without selection-on-unobservables. In an empirical case study, the proposed estimator not only generates different demand estimates than approaches that ignore selection in the incidence of zero shares, it also generates better out-of-sample fit of observed retail contribution margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human genetic control is thought to affect a considerable part of the outcome of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Most of us deal with the pathogen by containment (associated with clinical "latency") or sterilization, but tragically millions each year do not. After decades of studies on host genetic susceptibility to Mtb infection, genetic variation has been discovered to play a role in tuberculous immunoreactivity and tuberculosis (TB) disease. Genes encoding pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) enable a consistent, molecularly direct interaction between humans and Mtb which suggests the potential for co-evolution. In this review, we explore the roles ascribed to PRRs during Mtb infection and ask whether such a longstanding and intimate interface between our immune system and this pathogen plays a critical role in determining the outcome of Mtb infection. The scientific evidence to date suggests that PRR variation is clearly implicated in altered immunity to Mtb but has a more subtle role in limiting the pathogen and pathogenesis. In contrast to 'effectors' like IFN-γ, IL-12, Nitric Oxide and TNF that are critical for Mtb control, 'sensors' like PRRs are less critical for the outcome of Mtb infection. This is potentially due to redundancy of the numerous PRRs in the innate arsenal, such that Mtb rarely goes unnoticed. Genetic association studies investigating PRRs during Mtb infection should therefore be designed to investigate endophenotypes of infection – such as immunological or clinical variation – rather than just TB disease, if we hope to understand the molecular interface between innate immunity and Mtb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of AIDS & Behavior is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents a coupled finite and discrete-element model (FEM and DEM) to simulate internal erosion. The model is based on ICY, an interface between COMSOL, an FEM engine, and YADE, a DEM code. With this model, smaller DEM subdomains are generated to simulate particle displacements at the grain scale. Particles in these small subdomains are subjected to buoyancy, gravity, drag and contact forces for short time steps (0.1 s). The DEM subdomains provide the macroscale (continuum) model with a particle flux distribution. Through a mass conservation equation, the flux distribution allows changes in porosity, hydraulic conductivity and hydraulic gradient to be evaluated for the same time steps at a larger, continuum scale. The updated hydraulic gradients from the continuum model provide the DEM subdomains with updated hydrodynamic forces based on a coarse-grid method. The number of particles in the DEM subdomains is also updated based on the new porosity distribution. The hierarchical multiscale model (HMM) was validated with the simulation of suffusion. Results for the proposed HMM algorithm are consistent with results based on a DEM model incorporating the full sample and simulation duration. The proposed HMM algorithm could enable the modelling of internal erosion for soil volumes that are too large to be modelled with a single DEM subdomain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Haiti has scaled up use of antiretroviral therapy (ART), current studies suggest sub-optimal adherence threatens long-term viral suppression in this understudied setting. Patient-provider communication (PPC) and information, motivation, and behavioral skills (IMB) have been implicated in ART adherence globally. However, no studies have examined their relevance in Haiti. The present mixed-methods study utilized cross-sectional survey data from 128 ART-initiating patients at 2 large HIV treatment sites in Haiti, as well as observational data from 12 clinic visits, to document associations between adherence-related PPC and IMB. Multivariate regression analyses suggested that PPC is associated with IMB constructs. At the bivariate level, more effective PPC was associated with higher levels of adherence-related information and motivation, but not behavioral skills. Observational findings indicate infrequent and non-collaborative adherence support. Taken together, findings lay the groundwork for additional research in the area of PPC, IMB, and ART adherence in Haiti. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) has historically been one of the most useful tools of immunologists. Essentially comprised of dead mycobacteria and mineral oil, we asked ourselves what is special about the mycobacterial part of this adjuvant, and could it be recapitulated synthetically? Here, we demonstrate the essentiality of N-glycolylated peptidoglycan plus trehalose dimycolate (both unique in mycobacteria) for the complete adjuvant effect using knockouts and chemical complementation. A combination of synthetic N-glycolyl muramyl dipeptide and minimal trehalose dimycolate motif GlcC14C18 was able to upregulate dendritic cell effectors, plus induce experimental autoimmunity qualitatively similar but quantitatively milder compared to CFA. This research outlines how to substitute CFA with a consistent, molecularly-defined adjuvant which may inform the design of immunotherapeutic agents and vaccines benefitting from cell-mediated immunity. We also anticipate using synthetic microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) to study mycobacterial immunity and immunopathogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For mass appraisal in real estate, the hedonic pricing method (HPM) tends to be most commonly used by academic researchers, while the comparable sales approach (CSA) is mostly preferred by professionals. This paper shows how CSA is a constrained version of a spatial autoregressive model, which can be implemented by simple matrix calculations. The CSA takes into account information on individual characteristics identifying similar complex goods, spatial proximity reflecting similar spatial amenities and temporal constraints by only selecting past sales. Using US transaction data from Lucas County, Ohio, we compare CSA to a-spatial HPM results and conduct an out-of-sample exercise to gauge the prediction performance of the two approaches. The findings suggest that CSA is a very useful tool for mass appraisal, especially when the number of independent variables available is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the prevailing causes of cancer mortality in the world. A common screening test for CRC is based on the human hemoglobin immunochemical based fecal occult blood test (iFOBT), which consists in the detection of blood in the patient's stool. In addition to iFOBT, recent studies support the use of the gut microbiome as a biomarker for CRC prediction. However, these studies did not take into account the effect of blood itself on the microbiome composition, independently of CRC. Therefore, we investigated the microbiome of patients undergoing the iFOBT screening in order to determine the effect of blood alone. Our cohort consisted of patients who had no blood in their stools (n = 265) or did have blood but no underlying precancerous or cancerous lesions (n = 235). We also identified bacterial taxa specifically associated with the presence of blood in stools. Results: We observed significant differences in the intestinal bacterial composition that could be solely caused by the presence of blood in stools. More precisely, we identified 12 bacterial species showing significant differences in abundance between both our study groups. These species, Bacteroides uniformis, Collinsella aerofaciens, Eggerthella lenta and Clostridium symbiosum demonstrated increased abundance in the presence of blood. In contrast, the species Prevotella copri, Coprococcus eutactus and catus, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Roseburia faecis, Blautia obeum, Gemmiger formicilis and Clostridium celatum showed decreased abundance in patients with blood in their stools. Notably, we found multiple taxa that were reported in previous studies linking microbiome composition and diseases. Conclusions: We show that, in the absence of disease, blood in the stools has a major influence on the composition of the microbiome. Our data suggest that blood itself should be taken into consideration when investigating the microbiome signatures of intestinal diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study consumer brand misinformation, we run in-store blind taste tests with a retailer's private label food brands and the leading national brand counterparts in three large consumer packaged goods categories. Subjects self-report very high expectations about the quality of the private labels relative to national brands. However, they predict a relatively low probability of choosing them in a blind taste test. An overwhelming majority systematically choose the private label in the blinded test. Using program evaluation methods, we find that the causal effect of this intervention on treated consumers increases their market share for the tested private label product by 15 share points during the week after the intervention, on top of a base share of 8 share points. However, the effect diminishes to 8 share points during the second to fourth weeks after the test and to 2 share points during the second to fifth months after the test. Using a structural model of demand that controls for the self-selected participation and allows for heterogeneous treatment effects, we show that these effects survive controls for point-of-purchase prices, purchase incidence, and the feedback effects of brand loyalty. We also find that the intervention increases the preference for the private label brands, and that it decreases the preference for the national brands, relative to the outside good. Interpreting the intervention as an information treatment about the product, we find evidence consistent with an economically large informational barrier on demand for the private label product relative to an established national brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent surge in populist movements sweeping many countries has brought into focus the issue of regional inequality. In this article, we develop a panel data set for Canada that includes information on 284 regions observed at 5-year intervals (from 1981 to 2011) and estimate a series of spatial econometric models to study the causes and consequences of regional inequality. Our results draw attention to the fact that the rise in inequality at the national level has been accompanied by greater cross-regional inequality. Differences in the level of economic development, precariousness of labor market conditions, and socioeconomic factors are among the key drivers of these regional patterns of inequality. We also find that the industrial mix of a region plays an important role in shaping its distribution of income: regions with high concentrations of manufacturing activities typically have lower levels of inequality, whereas regions with high concentrations of tertiary services, arts, and entertainment, as well as knowledge-intensive business services tend to have higher levels of inequality. In terms of the consequences of inequality, the growth/ equity trade-off across Canadian regions varies significantly over the short- vs. medium-term horizons. In the short run, our results suggest that inequality is positively related to regional economic growth. This response changes as we move to a medium-term horizon, which suggests that as inequality persists over longer periods of time, it has a negative and significant impact on regional growth trajectories. Panel vector autoregressive models are also used to further explore the direction of causality of the growth-inequality relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field study conducted in Shanghai identified a robust inconsistency between real estate developers' desired sales pattern (selling all apartments in a building at similar rates) and the actual sales pattern (selling good apartments faster). The authors explain this inconsistency using Tversky, Sattath, and Slovic's (1988) prominence principle, according to which buyers, who were in a choice mode, weighed the desirability of floors more heavily than developers, who were in a matching mode when setting prices. This explanation is corroborated by controlled experiments involving potential home buyers and professional real estate price setters. The research relates an intriguing anomaly originally found in paper-and-pencil surveys to a real-world issue in one of the world's most active markets. These findings also have implications for issues beyond real estate markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on whether banner advertising affects purchasing patterns on the Internet. Using a behavioral database that consists of customer purchases at a Web site along with individual advertising exposure, the authors measure the impact of banner advertising on current customers' probabilities of repurchase, while accounting for duration dependence. The authors model the probability of a current customer making a purchase in any given week (since the last purchase) with a survival model that uses a flexible, piecewise exponential hazard function. The advertising covariates are purely advertising variables and advertising/individual browsing variables. The model is cast in a hierarchical Bayesian framework, which enables the authors to obtain individual advertising response parameters. The results show that the number of exposures, number of Web sites, and number of pages all have a positive effect on repeat purchase probabilities, whereas the number of unique creatives has a negative effect. Returns from targeting are the highest for the number of advertising exposures. The findings also add to the general advertising literature by showing that advertising affects the purchase behavior of current (versus new) customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The marketing literature has addressed the issues of heterogeneity and endogeneity when estimating a choice model with household-level panel data. When using these data at the stockkeeping unit or the Universal Product Code level, choices for each item in each of the time periods under consideration cannot be observed. Without such information, it is difficult to control for item- and time period–specific unmeasured characteristics because there is no information on alternatives during those periods in which they are not purchased by any of the panelists. In general, when a product category has many alternatives, each with fairly small shares, the household sample may not contain sufficient choices for each alternative, thus negatively affecting the ability to control for endogeneity with household data. In contrast, because aggregate store-level data (for those stores in which the panel makes purchases) are the aggregation of purchases by all households visiting the stores, the data contain the time period–specific item-level information required to account for endogeneity as long as each item has some sales in each time period. Given the relative merits of household data to estimate the distribution of heterogeneity and store-level data to address the endogeneity problem, the authors propose an integrated estimation procedure that uses the information in both sources. They provide empirical results from their model using data on the fabric softener market. They extend their approach to situations in which there is variation in purchase quantities that households choose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does new residential development cause new commercial development, or does the inverse hold true? Are residential and commercial developments dependent on each other? This paper investigates the causal links between residential and commercial development for a given city. Using information on assessment roles, a backward construction of the city of Montmagny, a small-medium city located in the province of Québec (Canada), is conducted to build time-series data of construction of new buildings and the Granger causality test is performed for the city. The results for the period ranging from 1900-2014 underline the important role played by residential constructions in the expansion of the city under study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to identify the impact of local characteristics, such as the relative concentration of economic activities, on new business location decisions based on their sectors of economic activity. Spatial establishment-level, micro-data, pooled over time (2008–2014) was used for a typical Canadian nonmetropolitan area—the Lower St. Lawrence region—in the province of Quebec. The study was conducted on a radius of 1250 m to describe the local economic environment. Results of our employed multinomial logit model reveal that local characteristics influence the location decision of new individual establishments for most of the economic sectors. An econometric model is developed to simulate the probability that a new establishment (in a given economic sector) will be located at a given geographic location based on this location's characteristics. Results confirm that the location decisions for new primary sector businesses are related to the presence of benefits arising from the existence of natural resources as well as those benefits associated with having large spaces (such as in the case of rural cities). New manufacturing sector businesses are mainly looking for a co-location (specialisation) pattern, with a slight preference to locate in small-sized cities. Finally, the location decisions of service sectors firms are strongly dependent on intermediate demand and on the distance to major markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Optica Applicata is the property of Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Wroclawskiej and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been associated with low cholesterol levels in a limited number of studies. However, the prevalence of hypocholesterolemia as well as the degree of association with ASD remains to be elucidated. We therefore sought to investigate the lipid profiles of a group of French‐Canadian ASD individuals. The medical records of 79 ASD individuals and 79 age and gender‐matched healthy controls were retrospectively reviewed. The fasting lipid profiles including total cholesterol (TC), high‐density lipoprotein, triglycerides, and low‐density lipoprotein were extracted for individuals of both groups along with the following clinical data: anthropometric measurements, medication use and associated disorders. Lipid parameters were compared to age and gender‐based normative population and categorized in centile groups. The prevalence of hypocholesterolemia was revealed to be more than threefold higher in ASD individuals as compared to the general population (23%; P = 0.005). The 25th centile was determined as a potential TC threshold that could best predict the ASD (odds ratio [OR] = 3.04; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.58–6.65; P < 0.001). This study identified specific ASD comorbidities associated with hypocholesterolemia: TC levels below the 10th centile were associated with a higher rate of ASD‐associated intellectual disability (OR = 3.33; 95% CI: 1.26–8.00) and anxiety/depression (OR = 4.74; 95% CI: 1.40–15.73). Overall, these results support a potential association between hypocholesterolemia and ASD occurrence. Application of this study to larger populations is urging to provide more extensive data that may further elucidate the association between hypocholesterolemia and ASD. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1860–1869. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay Summary: Association of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with abnormally low levels of cholesterol (hypocholesterolemia) has been documented before. These studies were incomplete, and the conclusion remains speculative. Here, we reviewed the medical records of 79 French‐Canadian ASD individuals and compared their total cholesterol (TC) levels to healthy individuals matched for age and gender. We observed four times more hypocholesterolemia in ASD than in the general population. Furthermore, low TC in ASD was associated with higher rates of ASD‐associated intellectual disability and anxiety/depression. Our results support an association between hypocholesterolemia and ASD and open novel opportunities for the diagnosis and treatment of specific forms of ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the causes of "nutritional inequality": why the wealthy eat more healthfully than the poor in the United States. Exploiting supermarket entry and household moves to healthier neighborhoods, we reject that neighborhood environments contribute meaningfully to nutritional inequality. We then estimate a structural model of grocery demand, using a new instrument exploiting the combination of grocery retail chains' differing presence across geographic markets with their differing comparative advantages across product groups. Counterfactual simulations show that exposing low-income households to the same products and prices available to high-income households reduces nutritional inequality by only about 10%, while the remaining 90% is driven by differences in demand. These findings counter the argument that policies to increase the supply of healthy groceries could play an important role in reducing nutritional inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several methods are employed for drag force calculations with the discrete element method depending on the desired accuracy and the number of particles involved. For many applications, the fluid motion cannot be solved at the pore scale due to the heavy computational cost. Instead, the coarse-grid method (CGM) is often used. It involves solving an averaged form of the Navier–Stokes equations at the continuum scale and distributing the total drag force among the particles. For monodisperse assemblages, the total drag force can be uniformly distributed among the particles. For polydisperse assemblages, however, the total CGM drag force must be weighted. It can be applied proportionally to the volume (CGM-V) or surface (CGM-S) of each particle. This article compares the CGM-V and CGM-S weighting methods with the weighting obtained by solving the Navier–Stokes equations at the pore scale with the finite element method (FEM). Three unit cells (simple cubic, body-centered cubic and face-centered cubic) corresponding to different porosity values, (respectively, 0.477, 0.319 and 0.259) were simulated. Each unit cell involved a skeleton of large particles and a smaller particle with variable size and position. It was found that both the CGM-V and CGM-S weighting methods do not generally give accurate drag force values for the smaller particles in a polydisperse assemblage, especially for large-size ratios. An artificial neural network (ANN) was trained using the FEM drag force as the target data to predict the drag force on smaller particles in a granular skeleton. The trained ANN showed a very good agreement with the FEM results, thus presenting ANN as a possible avenue to improve drag force weighting for the coarse-grid method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the potentially life-threatening conditions and risk of severe complications, post-anesthesia care units (PACU) require prompt team interventions. Miscommunication among professionals during crisis event management may directly affect patient safety. Therefore, developing strategies to enhance interprofessional collaboration (IPC) among critical care teams should be prioritized. In situ simulation (ISS) can be valuable in improving patient safety because it allows the practice of care team dynamics within a real clinical environment. However, its impact on IPC has yet to be demonstrated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of in situ simulation-based training on interprofessional collaboration and satisfaction toward co-workers during crisis event management in post-anesthesia care. A quasi-experimental study, pretest and post-test design with a paired control group was performed. A convenience sample (N = 69) was recruited from the healthcare professionals of the regular PACU team. The intervention group (N = 33) underwent a 6-hour ISS-based interprofessional training session. Three scenarios of deteriorating cases encountered in critical care settings were used, each followed by a debriefing period. The measured outcomes were evaluated by the Collaborative Work Questionnaire and the Satisfaction Towards Coworkers Questionnaire. Questionnaires were answered by the two groups before the intervention (T1), immediately after (T2) and six to eight weeks later (T3). We found that the change from baseline (T1) was different between the groups for global IPC (F = 3.88; p = 0.025) and for communication (F = 4.09; p = 0.021). Regarding global IPC, we observed a significant group effect from T1 to T2 (F = 5.65; p = 0.021) and from T1 to T3 (F = 5.34; p = 0.024). Furthermore, we observed a significant time effect for the experimental group (F = 4.06; p = 0.027). Regarding communication, we observed a significant group effect from T1 to T2 (F = 7.5; p = 0.001). In conclusion, ISS-based training had a slight impact on self-assessed IPC and communication during crisis event management in the PACU. The use of ISS should be promoted among critical care teams to enhance IPC and contribute to patient safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]