Search

This research study is an attempt to explore the nonlinear relationship between domestic and foreign income and deficit in the trade balance for a sample of 13 high deficit Asian countries from 1990 to 2019. Furthermore, the study also moderates the role of financial development and carbon emissions with trade balance. The study results validated the existence of a nonlinear relationship between trade balance and domestic and foreign income. For this purpose, three different types of model are formulated. The first model was of the benchmark type, which contains only the domestic and foreign income effect, while in the other two models, the role of financial development and carbon emissions is also included. The estimated results evinced the existence of U shape relationship for domestic income and inverted U shape curve for World income. The results revealed that it would be very suitable for selected countries to boost up domestic income. Because of it, the deficit in trade balance will start to decline. The financial development and carbon emissions are found to be a significant contributor to reduce the deficit in the trade balance.

Particle erosion of C/C-SiC composites prepared by reactive melt infiltration with different Al addition was studied by gas-entrained solid particle impingement test. SEM, EDS and XRD were performed to analyze the composites before and after erosion. The results indicate that a U shape relationship curve presents between the erosion rates and Al content, and the lowest erosion rate occurs at 40 wt% Al. Except for the important influence of compactness, the increasing soft Al mixed with reactive SiC, namely the mixture located between carbon and residual Si also, plays a key role in the erosion of the C/C-SiC composites through crack deflection, plastic deformation and bonding cracked Si.

How much does politics affect relationship building? Previous experimental studies have come to vastly different conclusions – ranging from null to truly transformative effects. To explore these differences, this study replicates and extends previous research by conducting five survey experiments meant to expand our understanding of how politics does/does not shape the formation of romantic relationships. We find that people, indeed, are influenced by the politics of prospective partners; respondents evaluate those in the political out-group as being less attractive, less dateable, and less worthy of matchmaking efforts. However, these effects are modest in size – falling almost exactly in between previous study estimates. Our results shine light on a literature that has, up until this point, produced a chasm in study results – a vital task given concerns over growing levels of partisan animus in the USA and the rapidly expanding body of research on affective polarization.

The present study examines the long-run and short-run relationship between tax structure and state-level growth performance in India for the period 1991–2016. The analysis in this paper is based on the model of Acosta-Ormaechea and Yoo (2012), and for the verification of the relationship between taxation and economic growth the panel regression method is used. With the use of 14 Indian states data, Panel Pool mean group estimation indicates that income tax and commodity–service tax have negative effects whilst property and capital transaction tax have a significant positive effect on state economic growth. This study finds ‘U’ shape relationship between tax structure and growth performance. Based on the analysis, we conclude that for faster growth of Indian states, policymakers should give more focus on property taxes along with the reduction in income taxes.

Background Dengue is the most prevalent and rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease. We present the global, regional and national burden of dengue from 1990 to 2019 based on the findings from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 (GBD 2019). Methods Based upon GBD 2019 dengue data on age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR), age-standardized death rate (ASDR) and age-standardized disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rate, this study estimates and presents annual percentage change (EAPC) to quantify trends over time to assess potential correlates of increased dengue activity, such as global travel and warming. Results Globally from 1990 to 2019, dengue incident cases, deaths and DALYs gradually increased. Those under 5 years of age, once accounting for the largest portion of deaths and DALYs in 1990, were eclipsed by those who were 15–49 years old in 2019. Age standardized incidence [ASIR: EAPC: 3.16, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.90–3.43], death (ASDR: EAPC: 5.42, 95% CI: 2.64–8.28) and DALY rates (EAPC: 2.31, 95% CI: 2.00–2.62) accelerated most among high-middle and high sociodemographic index (SDI) regions. South-East Asia and South Asia had most of the dengue incident cases, deaths and DALYs, but East Asia had the fastest rise in ASIR (EAPC: 4.57, 95% CI: 4.31, 4.82), while Tropical Latin America led in ASDR (EAPC: 11.32, 95% CI: 9.11, 13.58) and age-standardized DALYs rate (EAPC: 4.13, 95% CI: 2.98, 5.29). SDI showed consistent bell-shaped relationship with ASIR, ASDR and age-standardized DALYs rate. Global land–ocean temperature index and air passenger travel metrics were found to be remarkably positively correlated with dengue burden. Conclusions The burden of dengue has become heavier from 1990 to 2019, amidst the three decades of urbanization, warming climates and increased human mobility in much of the world. South-East Asia and South Asia remain as regions of concern, especially in conjunction with the Americas’ swift rise in dengue burden.

In a previous study on the firm size and corporate social responsibility (CSR) participation conducted by Golrida, et al (2017), different result is reported with Udayasankar’s hypothesis (2008) which states a U-shape relationship of firm size and CSR participation. However, it is arqued that Udayasankar hyppothesis is better applicable in developed countries, while in developing countries an inverted - U shape relationship is found. But, Golrida et al (2017) can only prove the form of relationship using two perspectives stated by Udayasankar, which are operating scale and resourcess access. The proxy of visibility could not capture the inverted U shape relationship due to measurement problem in the previous study. This study aims at re-examining the relationship between firm size and CSR participation from the visibility perpective by employing two proxies of visibility, which are analyst coverage and news coverage respectively. Indonesian companies are chosen to capture the context of developing country. Content analysis is done in obtaining CSR data of 433 companies listed on Indonesian Stock Exchange on 2012, while the data of visibility proxies are extracted from Thomson Reuters and selected news portal namely, Detik.com. The result of study shows that both visibility proxies, which are Analysts Coverage and Media Coverage form inverted U- shape relationship with CSR participation. The findings in this study contribute to the literature that, the form of firm size and CSR participation relationship in the context of developing countries is different than those in developed countries.

Background: Although glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was considered as a prognostic factor in some subgroup of coronary artery disease (CAD), the specific relationship between HbA1c and the long-term all-cause death remains controversial in patients with CAD.Methods: The study enrolled 37,596 CAD patients and measured HbAlc at admission in Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital. The patients were divided into 4 groups according to HbAlc level (Quartile 1: HbA1c ≤ 5.7%; Quartile 2: 5.7% < HbA1c ≤ 6.1%; Quartile 3: 6.1% < HbA1c ≤ 6.7%; Quartile 4: HbA1c > 6.7%). The study endpoint was all-cause death. The restricted cubic splines and cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate the association between baseline HbAlc levels and long-term all-cause mortality.Results: The median follow-up was 4 years. The cox proportional hazards models revealed that HbAlc is an independent risk factor in the long-term all-cause mortality. We also found an approximate U-shape association between HbA1c and the risk of mortality, including increased risk of mortality when HbA1c ≤ 5.7% and HbA1c > 6.7% [Compared with Quartile 2, Quartile 1 (HbA1c ≤ 5.7), aHR = 1.13, 95% CI:1.01–1.26, P < 0.05; Quartile 3 (6.1% < HbA1c ≤ 6.7%), aHR = 1.04, 95% CI:0.93–1.17, P =0.49; Quartile 4 (HbA1c > 6.7%), aHR = 1.32, 95% CI:1.19–1.47, P < 0.05].Conclusions: Our study indicated a U-shape relationship between HbA1c and long-term all-cause mortality in CAD patients.

Organizational practices are important dimensions of the social contexts that shape relationship formation. In workplaces, the formation of relationships among coworkers are resources for personal outcomes, and they can be channels through which workers might identify common grievances, form workplace solidarity, and engage in collective action. Using a unique dataset of retail workers across the United States, The Shift Project, this paper examines two potential pathways by which organizational practices common in precarious jobs in the retail industry in the U.S. might shape the formation of workplace relationships. I find evidence of the role of both pathways: practices that limit the opportunities for regular contact and practices that negatively impact the conditions of contact among employees are both associated with fewer workplace ties. I discuss the implications of these findings for the study of collective action, and network ecology.

The study empirically investigated the determinants of Environmental Quality using energy utilization intensity, and globalization. The investigation determines linear, inverted U shaped or N shaped relationship between CO2 emission and GDP using panel ARDL approach. 64 countries are selected for making two panel data models of developed economies and developing economies for the time period 1970-2015. The outcomes showed that in long run increase in the energy use intensity and the global integration lead to an increase in the CO2 emissions. In the case ofGDP, the study has confirmed an inverted U shape relationship proposing prospects of green growth. Hence, results of the study found that there is significant evidence of global environmental Kuznets curve for both economies. In comparison, developing economies pollute more with an increase in GDP, but they are also expected to revert faster towards green growth as compared to developed economies.

Load-carrying capacity of weld joints could be identified by its shape and size where weld bead geometry and shape relationship parameters are of utmost importance. Heat input and preheating temper...

Objectives This study hypothesized that left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) and global longitudinal strain (GLS) derived from 3-dimensional echocardiographic (3DE) images would better predict mortality than those obtained by 2-dimensional echocardiographic (2DE) measurements, and that 3DE-based LV shape analysis may have added prognostic value. Background Previous studies have shown that both LVEF and GLS derived from 2DE images predict mortality. Recently, 3DE measurements of these parameters were found to be more accurate and reproducible because of independence of imaging plane and geometric assumptions. Also, 3DE analysis offers an opportunity to accurately quantify LV shape. Methods We retrospectively studied 416 inpatients (60 ± 18 years of age) referred for transthoracic echocardiography between 2006 and 2010, in whom good-quality 2DE and 3DE images were available. Mortality data through 2016 were collected. Both 2DE and 3DE images were analyzed to measure LVEF and GLS. Additionally, 3DE-derived LV endocardial surface information was analyzed to obtain global shape indices (sphericity and conicity) and regional curvature (anterior, septal, inferior, lateral walls). Cardiovascular (CV) mortality risks related to these indices were determined using Cox regression. Results Of the 416 patients, 208 (50%) died, including 114 (27%) CV-related deaths over a mean follow-up period of 5 ± 3 years. Cox regression revealed that age and body surface area, all 4 LV function indices (2D EF, 3D EF, 2D GLS, 3D GLS), and regional shape indices (septal and inferior wall curvatures) were independently associated with increased risk of CV mortality. GLS was the strongest prognosticator of CV mortality, superior to EF for both 2DE and 3DE analyses, and 2D EF was the weakest among the 4 functional indices. A 1% decrease in GLS magnitude was associated with an 11.3% increase in CV mortality risk. Conclusions GLS predicts mortality better than EF by both 3DE and 2DE analysis, whereas 3D EF is a better predictor than 2D EF. Also, LV shape indices provide additional risk assessment.

The effects of depressurization and the combination method with wellbore heating on vertical center well and vertical side well on hydrate exploitation were investigated and compared in this study. Six combinations of experimental groups were conducted using different exploitation methods (i.e., depressurization and the combination method) and different types of wells (i.e., vertical center well and vertical double-side wells). The results show that the lower the production pressure is, the better it can generate hydrate productions. Meanwhile, it is further confirmed that the heating process can greatly increase the gas production rate of hydrates. In addition, when using depressurization within a certain exploitation range, the location of the production well has little impact on the effects of hydrate exploitation. However, with double-side wells using the combination method, the effect of driving force in hydrate decomposition is weakened due to the larger heat loss. Therefore, when the heating well is located close to the boundary of the hydrate deposit, the use of double-side wells is less productive than that of a center well. As a result, when using the depressurization method, the location of the production well within the exploitation zone should be as close to the coastal line as possible with a stable hydrate deposit layer. On the other hand, when wellbore heating is applied, it is suggested that the heating well should be arranged near the center of the hydrate deposit. Furthermore, it is found that there is a right-skewed bell curve shape relationship between the exploitation time and the energy generation level using the combination method.

Firms invest much of their capital into basic research in order to generate new ideas and technologies. However, converting new technology concepts into marketable products is difficult, and firms struggle with transitioning projects from a knowledge discovery to product development, a gap referred to as the Valley of Death (VoD). While the concept of VoD has been well documented, the literature provides little guidance on how this gap can be overcome within firms and what role broader organizational factors play in this process. Building on the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) framework, the authors propose and test a series of hypotheses using a survey of 308 managers. The results indicate that while organizational complexity does not directly impact a firm's application ability (the ability to overcome the VoD), product complexity has a positive effect. In addition, both organizational and product complexity interact with market turbulence in influencing a firm's application ability, and there is an inverted-U shape relationship between application ability and radical innovation performance.

// Xu Tian 1,* , Xiaohui Xu 2,* , Kai Zhang 3 and Hui Wang 2 1 College of Economics and Management, China Center for Food Security Studies, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 3 Pancreatic Center and Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing,Nanjing, Jiangsu, China * These authors have contribute equally to this study Correspondence to: Hui Wang, email: // Keywords : age, sex, dietary diversity score, metabolic syndrome, Pathology Section Received : July 29, 2017 Accepted : August 24, 2017 Published : September 02, 2017 Abstract Background: Previous research indicated that dietary diversity had favorable association with metabolic syndrome (MetS), and it has not been investigated in China. Methods: Adults (aged 18+) with complete dietary and biochemical data were collected from 2009 China Health and Nutrition Survey ( n =4308). Dietary diversity was measured by modified Dietary Diversity Score (DDS). MetS was defined by the harmonized criteria. The association between DDS and MetS was investigated by multivariable adjusted logistic regression. Results: An inverse-U shape relationship between MetS risk and age was detected for both genders, and female were more vulnerable than male at old times. More diversified diet decreased the risk of MetS for young female (≥18 & ≤45), similar trends were detected in serum TGs, abdominal adiposity, blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose (all P 60) and male adults (>45&≤60). Greater DDS was associated with higher serum TGs, and lower HDL-C level for male adults, higher blood pressure for old men, but lower blood pressure and fasting blood glucose in young men (all P

Compared to affluent marriages, lower income marriages develop within a context filled with negative stressors that may prove quite toxic for marital stability. The current paper argues that stressful contexts may undermine marital well-being through two routes. First, external stressors create additional problems within the marriage by diverting time and attention away from activities that promote intimacy between partners. Second, external stress may render spouses ill-equipped to cope with this increase in problems by draining spouses of the energy and resources necessary for responding to marital challenges in a constructive manner. In acknowledging the role of the marital context for relationship dynamics, this model suggests new directions for interventions designed to strengthen the marriages of lower income couples.

Background: Low concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) represent a well-established cardiovascular risk factor. Paradoxically, extremely high HDL-C levels are equally associated with elevated cardiovascular risk, resulting in the U-shape relationship of HDL-C with cardiovascular disease. Mechanisms underlying this association are presently unknown. We hypothesised that the capacity of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) to acquire free cholesterol upon triglyceride-rich lipoprotein (TGRL) lipolysis by lipoprotein lipase underlies the non-linear relationship between HDL-C and cardiovascular risk. Methods: To assess our hypothesis, we developed a novel assay to evaluate the capacity of HDL to acquire free cholesterol (as fluorescent TopFluor® cholesterol) from TGRL upon in vitro lipolysis by lipoprotein lipase. Results: When the assay was applied to several populations markedly differing in plasma HDL-C levels, transfer of free cholesterol was significantly decreased in low HDL-C patients with acute myocardial infarction (−45%) and type 2 diabetes (–25%), and in subjects with extremely high HDL-C of >2.59 mmol/L (>100 mg/dL) (−20%) versus healthy normolipidaemic controls. When these data were combined and plotted against HDL-C concentrations, an inverse U-shape relationship was observed. Consistent with these findings, animal studies revealed that the capacity of HDL to acquire cholesterol upon lipolysis was reduced in low HDL-C apolipoprotein A-I knock-out mice and was negatively correlated with aortic accumulation of [3H]-cholesterol after oral gavage, attesting this functional characteristic as a negative metric of postprandial atherosclerosis. Conclusions: Free cholesterol transfer to HDL upon TGRL lipolysis may underlie the U-shape relationship between HDL-C and cardiovascular disease, linking HDL-C to triglyceride metabolism and atherosclerosis. Fil: Feng, Ma. Inserm; Francia. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Darabi, Maryam. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Inserm; Francia Fil: Tubeuf, Emilie. Inserm; Francia. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Canicio, Aurélie. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Inserm; Francia Fil: Lhomme, Marie. Institute Of Cardiometabolism And Nutrition; Francia Fil: Frisdal, Eric. Inserm; Francia. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Lanfranchi Lebreton, Sandrine. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Matheron, Lucrèce. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Rached, Fabiana. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Inserm; Francia Fil: Ponnaiah, Maharajah. Institute Of Cardiometabolism And Nutrition; Francia Fil: Serrano, Carlos V.. Instituto Do Coracao Do Hospital Das Clinicas; Brasil Fil: Santos, Raul D.. Instituto Do Coracao Do Hospital Das Clinicas; Brasil Fil: Brites, Fernando Daniel. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Instituto Do Coracao Do Hospital Das Clinicas; Brasil Fil: Bolbach, Gerard. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Gautier, Emmanuel. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Inserm; Francia Fil: Huby, Thierry. Inserm; Francia. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Carrie, Alain. Inserm; Francia. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Bruckert, Eric. Inserm; Francia. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Guerin, Maryse. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Inserm; Francia Fil: Couvert, Philippe. Inserm; Francia. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Giral, Philippe. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Inserm; Francia Fil: Lesnik, Philippe. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Inserm; Francia Fil: Le Goff, Wilfried. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Inserm; Francia Fil: Guillas, Isabelle. Inserm; Francia. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia Fil: Kontush, Anatol. Inserm; Francia. Université Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia

The empirical evidence on the impact of education on environmental degradation is not clear, with some studies find that education reduces environmental degradation, while others find the opposite direction. Unlike previous studies, this paper suggests that environmental degradation can be expressed as a quadratic function of educational level to investigate the existence of an inverted U-shape. The inverted U-shape means that at the beginning, increasing educational level deteriorates the environmental quality, and at a certain level, the rise of the educational level improves environmental quality. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of the existence of an inverted U-shape relationship between education and environmental degradation. This study employs panel data regression from seven ASEAN countries from 2011 to 2017. this study sets an equation model with two main variables, i.e., education level and square term of education level. The main results show that the education variable is statistically significant reducing the environmental quality. In contrast, the fair term of education level variable is statistically significant in improving environmental quality. In conclusion, this study confirms the existence of an inverted U-shape relationship between education and environmental degradation. The policy implications are also discussed based on the findings.

Over activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in stress situations is known to influence learning and memory. In adults, an inverted-U shape relationship between acute stress, and learning and memory has been demonstrated. Whether this model fits learning performances in infants is unknown. In this study, we used EEG repetition suppression as physiological measure of learning and salivary cortisol in response to a stressor to investigate the relationship between acute stress and learning in infants. We hypothesized that EEG repetition suppression would be modulated by acute stress following an inverted-U shape relationship. Saliva samples were collected during an EEG experiment before, during and after EEG net installation in 37 healthy infants (18 males) aged between 6 and 26 months. The effect of variation in stress hormones on repetition suppression were modeled using a linear mixed model, with cortisol, age and sex as predictors. Results indicated that in healthy infants, elevations in stress hormones within the normal range are associated with a higher repetition suppression response and an increased response to the first presentation of the stimulus. The later increase could be related to vigilance. Considering that early childhood is a critical period of development, future studies should keep investigating the influence of stress on learning processes in infants.

Consumers tend to evaluate services based on the time required to perform such services, when the value of the latter positively correlates with efficiency. This study investigated how consumers use the efficiency heuristic, referring to the tendency of consumers to infer the value of a service from the perceived efficiency with which it is performed. We studied 81 participants who had experienced car problems. The relationship between time devoted to a given service and judgments about its value showed a quadratic trend, with an inverted U-shape, in regard to a service in which value was related to efficiency. Specifically, participants judged services to be more valuable when they involved relatively moderate amounts of time to complete, compared to when they involved comparatively shorter or longer periods of time. The current research suggests that when a service was judged in terms of efficiency, consumers seemed to apply the efficiency heuristic not only to the time required for service performance, but also to labor costs.

Banks in the developing countries are competing in an environment where the financial infrastructure or the prerequisites for such competition is lacking. Therefore there is a current debate in banking literature regarding the effect of bank competition on the stability of the banking sector. The present paper provides new and rather scarce evidence of effects of banking sector competition on financial stability of the Sri Lankan banking sector during the period 1996 to 2010. By analyzing a comprehensive set of panel data the study reveals that the Sri Lankan banking sector is moderately competitive as per Panzar and Rosse H-Statistic and, highly unstable as per Z- score. The results of the core analysis provide evidence for a U shape relationship between competition and stability in the Sri Lankan banking sector during the sample period. Hence, a different approach emerges, with underdeveloped countries giving a stronger role to competition authorities to understanding the complex relationship between competition and stability in the financial sector.The Kelaniya Journal of Management, Vol. 4(1); 2015: 1-30

This paper extends the approach of the inverted-U relationship between competition and innovation at the industry level introduced by Aghion and coauthors. We use data of Spanish manufacturing firms from the Survey of Business Strategies (ESEE) spanning 1990–2006, as well as external information on patents from the European Patent Office and US Patent Office. Instead of an inverted-U shape, we obtain an unambiguous positive relationship between competition and patents. To explain this positive relationship, we modify their theoretical model to introduce the possibility of inefficient firms facing the threat of exit when competition intensifies. The modified model may explain both a positive and an inverted-U relationship between competition and innovation. The estimated results also support the theoretical conjecture that competition induces firms’ exit that, in turn, explains our empirical finding of a negative relationship between competition and within-industry technological gap.

Many domestic enterprises in emerging economies are concerned with the question of how to better utilize the portfolio of technology sourcing channels to achieve rapid economic growth by technological innovation. This paper looks at this issue by exploring the impacts of knowledge acquisition diversity (KAD) on innovation performance of domestic enterprises in China and the technological contexts (in terms of technology gap and technology development speed) under which KAD is most likely to contribute. Using panel data of the manufacturing industry in China over the 2001–2009 period, the results show that KAD has an inverse U-shaped relationship with innovation performance in terms of both product-related innovation performance (NPS) and knowledge-related innovation performance (PAT). Specifically, it reveals that the capability to generate technological innovation over time is dependent on how domestic enterprises manage their portfolio of knowledge sourcing channels to learn from foreign enterprises. Moreover, it is shown that the technology gap significantly moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship between KAD and both NPS and PAT. Technology development speed has a moderating effect on the inverted U-shaped relationship between KAD and innovation only in terms of NPS. The results of this study can help us to understand the relationships among technological contexts, KAD and innovation performance of domestic enterprises in emerging countries., This research was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, China (grant number LY17G020011), the Humanities and Social Sciences Project of Ministry of Education, China (grant number 16YJC630054), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 71603235, 71672185), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant number 2017201).

This paper investigates the effect of both FS and HR slack together on firm performance and how different levels of these slack resources affect performance of private-owned enterprises (POEs) and state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Hypotheses are tested using a longitudinal data set of 11,985 listed Chinese companies from 2000 to 2009. Findings reveal that the unabsorbed-financial slack and HR slack show an inverse U shape relationship on firm performance for both POEs and SOEs. However, a less-negative interaction occurs for unabsorbed-financial and HR slacks for POEs. The absorbedfinancial and HR slacks also shows an inverse U shape relationship on performance and this relationship does not have a significant negative effect on SOE’s performance. The article concludes with theoretical contributions and practical implications of the findings.

The presence of others often affects retail shopping behavior. Other customers tend to increase one's self-awareness and cause negative self-conscious emotions. This research's findings suggest fellow customers also mitigate focal customers' evaluative concerns. Deindividuation theory, which posits that other customers create anonymity and reduce self-awareness, helps explain this phenomenon. A laboratory experiment and a quasi-experimental field study in a retail setting support the notion that the presence of other customers creates a deindividuation effect on a focal customer during unwanted social evaluation from salespeople. Results show a small group of other customers resulted in lower levels of emotional discomfort and behavioral inhibition than either an empty store or a larger group size, suggesting a U shape relationship.

We show that visibility data contain crucial information for learning the air pollution�income linkage. First, visibility reflects air pollutants (e.g. fine particulates) that are typically omitted by publicly reported indicators of air pollution, typically SO2 and TSP. Second, data on visibility cover almost the entire world, whereas the typical pollution indicators cover a smaller and non-representative sample. We show that both features matter, in a significant way, by employing visibility as a proxy of air quality to re-estimate its relationship with income. Using the findings of Grossman and Krueger (1995) and Harbaugh et al. (2002) as benchmarks, we find that the test of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis is highly sensitive to the coverage of countries. More importantly, we find that this visibility�income linkage is only partially driven by publicly monitored pollutants, but is dominated by the �unobserved� ones. Addressing both issues, we find the inverse-U shape relationship supported for most of the economies.

This paper investigates the relationship between life expectancy and economic growth in an overlapping generations model with family altruism where private and public investments in human capital of children are the engine of endogenous growth. Consistent with recent empirical evidence, our model provides a theoretical case of a non-linear pattern between life expectancy and economic growth. However, it is also shown that the emergence of such a pattern critically depends on the existence of intergenerational transfers in form of bequests. Specifically, we find that rising life expectancy unambiguously decreases growth if bequests are operative, whereas there exists an inverted-U shape relationship in economies where bequests are inoperative.

Effects of orientation, number of sets, and frequency of discontinuities on the rock strength under triaxial stresses have been investigated by the empirical method in this research. Twenty groups of rock specimens including intact rock, rock specimens having one, two, or three sets of discontinuities with various frequencies and orientations of 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° have been prepared and tested under triaxial compressive stresses. The axial strength of each group has been tested under confining pressure of 0, 5, 7, 10, 14, and 20 MPa. Axial specimen strength, having one set of discontinuity, decreases a little with increase of the orientation angle from 0° to 30° under the most confining pressures; the relationship between axial strength and orientation angle between 30° and 90° has a shoulder shape under low values of confining pressures. The shoulder shape relationship also changes with increase of the confining pressure as it disappears at high values of confining pressures. The shoulder shape range of reduction axial strength under confining pressures due to the orientation of discontinuities changes similar to a twin symmetrical shoulder shape for specimens having two or more perpendicular sets of discontinuities as another minimum axial strength occurs at orientation angle of 30° on the opposite direction as well as orientation of 60°. The uniaxial compressive strength approaches approximate zero value at orientation angle of 60° for specimens having different sets and frequencies of discontinuities and it also approaches to zero at orientation angle of 30° for specimens having two or more sets of discontinuities; axial strength has considerable value under triaxial stresses. Effects of three parameters of orientation, frequency, and number of sets of discontinuities on the axial strength decreases with increase of confining pressure as minimum and maximum values of the axial strengths of specimens are between 74 and 100 % of the axial strength of intact rock under confining pressure greater than or equal to 10 MPa in this research.

The industrial double rig trawl fisheries are an important extractive activity in the southeastern and southern Brazil where near 300 vessels participate, targeting their catch to the sea-bob shrimp, pink shrimp and demersal fishes, such as flatfishes and monkfish. In order to advance in the fishery management, a general characterization of the trawl fleet operating in the area was done, identifying the patterns of nets used and the hydrodynamic performance of the nets observed by means of dynamic simulation. 194 vessels of Santa Catarina State and 130 vessels from other areas, mainly built in steel and wood, were identified. The largest size, tonnage, and capacity, correspond to those vessels working upon demersal and oceanic fishes. On the other hand, the most abundant vessels were those working upon pink shrimp (230 vessels). Regarding the nets, different patterns were identified according to the catch of target species; the smaller nets were used to catch shrimps (sea-bob and pink shrimp) and the largest were used to catch fishes. Mixed nets were also identified, characterized by similar dimensions of nets to catch fish but with mesh sizes of shrimp nets. From the simulations, different performance functions were adjusted according to each founded pattern; these functions will serve to calculate net’s spread, their shape relationship, and the hydrodynamic drag forces.

Recent advancements in communication technology have enabled billions of people to connect over great distances using mobile phones, yet little is known about how the frequent presence of these devices in social settings influences face-to-face interactions. In two experiments, we evaluated the extent to which the mere presence of mobile communication devices shape relationship quality in dyadic settings. In both, we found evidence they can have negative effects on closeness, connection, and conversation quality. These results demonstrate that the presence of mobile phones can interfere with human relationships, an effect that is most clear when individuals are discussing personally meaningful topics.

Increased outsourcing yields less vertically-integrated firms, suppliers have to rely on different buyers and interdisciplinary teams for acquired and utilized knowledge to improve performance. However, knowledge transfer from buyers to suppliers is not always successful. Studies pertaining to the knowledge stickiness between firms in the knowledge transfer process, such as between buyers and suppliers, have been minimal. Furthermore, while knowledge transfer processes are essentially context-specific in terms of who participates and how they participate in the process, it is very important to put knowledge transfer into context. The results provide support for a curvilinear inverted-U shape relationship between knowledge stickiness and manufacturing capability. In addition, the influence of knowledge stickiness on manufacturing capability would be enhanced by the moderating variables of social embeddedness and learning capability. The finding further suggests that supplier manufacturing capabilities impact supplier commitment and supplier performance.

Competition can be good or bad for innovation by firms. On the one hand it stimulates firms to innovate in order to escape competition, on the other hand it hampers firms to reap additional profits from innovation. The recent literature has embraced a model that describes an inverted-U shape relationship between competition and innovation at the industry-level. With the Price Cost Margin and Profit Elasticity as measures of competition, we find evidence supporting this prediction using industry data from the Dutch National Accounts. Moreover, we test the non-linear relation at the micro-level, with special attention for the role of the distribution of technology within industries. We find evidence that there is a threshold for this ‘technology spread’ at which the (marginal) effect of competition on innovation activity by firms turns from positive to negative.

Most firms tend to utilise various types of R&D collaboration partners simultaneously and partnerships between different types of partners show different properties. Thus, the effect of R&D collaboration may vary depending on partner types. This study considers four partner types: competitors, customers, suppliers and universities. It empirically examines the effect of R&D collaboration with each type of partner on product innovation, employing the Korean Innovation Survey data. Results show that R&D collaborations with customers and universities have a positive effect on product innovation, whereas R&D collaborations with suppliers and competitors have an inverted-U shape relationship with product innovation. This result can provide an explanation to the chaotic results of previous research and assist managers in selecting appropriate R&D partner.

A new method for the fast, quantitative, automated morphological analysis of large numbers of discrete particles is reported. The method is built around a Java plugin coded for the open source program ImageJ, and utilizes automated image analysis to record morphological parameters. Conventional measurements (e.g., area, perimeter) as well as Fourier shape analysis parameters are produced. Preliminary results from the study of morphological changes of placer gold during alluvial transport using samples from the Klondike placer gold district in the western Yukon Territory, Canada show that the data produced by this model should allow for a quantitative transport distance:shape relationship to be defined. The large data set generated is also used to make a first examination of the utility of a number of previously unevaluated morphological parameters. Quantitative morphological characterization has numerous applications including the study of placer and tracer minerals, sedimentology, descriptive biology and archeological artifact examination.

PurposeSeveral studies have provided empirical evidence that female labor force participation rate exhibits a U‐shape during the process of economic development. The purpose of this paper is to explore the existence of U‐shape relationship in the case of Pakistan and if it does exist, what factors determine this U‐shape relationship?Design/methodology/approachFor the estimation purpose data according to provinces and regions are pooled for three years. The model is estimated using a simple fixed effect test.FindingsThe results affirm the existence of U‐shaped relationship. Estimation of the pooled data attributed this U‐shape relationship with female education attainment, sectoral employment share, unemployment rate, wages and marital status. Results confirm that high rate of economic development is encouraging the female participation in the labor force by increasing the work opportunities for females. The females are taking full advantage of these increased opportunities by increasing their level of education attainment. Research limitations/implications – In testing the U‐shape hypothesis, household expenditure on fuel consumption representing level of economic development in the country is used as the data on GDP are not available at the provincial level.Practical implicationsThis paper recommends that skill‐based education programmes should be promoted so that females could be absorbed in the formal labor market. It also recommends measures to decrease unemployment rates and improve labor market conditions.Originality/valueThe paper is first of its kind as it applied pooled data technique for the estimation of U‐shape relationship.

The critical role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in firm performance has been widely studied in the U.S. context. However, the examination of this key construct in emerging regions such as China has been very limited. In this article, we hypothesize that the relationship between EO and firm performance is best represented as curvilinear, as opposed to linear, in China. We use a two–study approach to test the link between EO and performance, as expressed in both perceptual and objective performance. Findings of both studies demonstrate an inverted U–shape relationship. Implications for future research on EO are discussed.

Background and Purpose— Lacunes are a major manifestation of cerebral small vessel disease. Although still debated, the morphological features of lacunes may offer mechanistic insights. We systematically analyzed the shape of incident lacunes in cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy, a genetically defined small vessel disease. Methods— A total of 88 incident lacunes from 57 patients were segmented from 3-dimensional T1 magnetic resonance images and 3 dimensionally reconstructed. Anatomic location, diameter, volume, surface area, and compactness of lacunes were assessed. The shape was analyzed using a size, orientation, and position invariant spectral shape descriptor. We further investigated the relationship with perforating arteries and fiber tracts. Results— Lacunes were most abundant in the centrum semiovale and the basal ganglia. Diameter, volume, and surface area of lacunes in the basal ganglia and centrum semiovale were larger than in other brain regions. The spectral shape descriptor revealed a continuum of shapes with no evidence for distinct classes of lacunes. Shapes varied mostly in elongation and planarity. The main axis and plane of lacunes were found to align with the orientation of perforating arteries but not with fiber tracts. Conclusions— Elongation and planarity are the primary shape principles of lacunes. Their main axis and plane align with perforating arteries. Our findings add to current concepts on the mechanisms of lacunes.

This paper investigates the relationship between economic growth and energy consumption using the hypothesis postulated for the Energy-Environmental Kuznets Curve, which assumes an inverted-U shape relationship between income and energy consumption. Panel data for 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries for the period 1990–2011 were used. Absolute energy consumption was chosen as an environmental pressure indicator, because energy consumption is the major contributor of emissions pollutants. The results obtained in the estimations show that the hypothesis postulated for the Energy-Environmental Kuznets Curve is not supported for the region. On the contrary, the results show an exponential growth as Gross Value Added grows. Also, notable differences are shown between the analyzed economies.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of the present investigation was to identify the top 100 most highly cited "classic" articles in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, from 1976 to 2006. METHODS The Cited Reference search option of the Web of Science(R) was used, which allows for identification of variations in citations. RESULTS One-hundred and four classic articles ranging in citations from 46 to 192 (M = 71.66, SD = 31.15) were identified. These articles were found to be mostly applied research that focused predominantly on children across several age groups with chronic illness. Citation trends among the classics revealed an inverted-u shape relationship between year since publication and citations per year, which peaked around seven years after publication. CONCLUSIONS The current findings highlight some of the influential works in the field, which have contributed to important advances not only the field of pediatric psychology but other fields as well.

We present a spline-based nonrigid motion and point correspondence recovery method for 3D surfaces. This method is based on differential geometry. Shape information is used to recover the point correspondences. In contrast to the majority of shape-based methods, which assume that shape (unit normal, curvature) changes are minimum after motion, our method focuses on the nonrigid relationship between before-motion and after-motion shapes. This nonrigid shape relationship is described by modeling the underlying nonrigid motion; we model it as a spline transformation, which has global control over the entire motion field along with the local deformation integrated within. This provides our method certain advantages over some pure differential geometric methods, which also utilize the nonrigid shape relationship but only work on local areas without a global control. For example, motion regularity is hard to implement in these pure differential geometric methods but is not a problem when the motion field is controlled by a spline transformation. The orthogonal parameterization requirement of the nonrigid shape relationship has to be approximated in these previous methods but is easy to meet in our method. Furthermore, the small deformation constraint introduced by the previous works is relaxed in our method. Experiments on both synthetic and real motions have been conducted. The quantitative and qualitative evaluations of our method are presented. The application of our method to the human tongue motion analysis is also presented in this paper.

Sequential modulation of congruency effects in conflict tasks indicates that cognitive control quickly adapts to changing task demands. We investigated in four experiments how this behavioral congruency-sequence effect relates to different levels of perceived task difficulty in a flanker and a Stroop task. In addition, online measures of pupil diameter were used as a physiological index of effort mobilization. Consistent with motivational accounts predicting that increased levels of perceived task difficulty will increase effort mobilization only up to a certain limit, reliable dynamic conflict-driven adjustment in cognitive control was only observed when task difficulty was relatively low. Instead, tasks tentatively associated with high levels of difficulty showed no or reversed conflict adaptation. Although the effects could not be linked consistently to effects in self-reported task difficulty in all experiments, regression analyses showed associations between perceived task difficulty and conflict adaptation in some of the experiments, which provides some initial evidence for an inverted U-shape relationship between perceived difficulty and adaptations in cognitive control. Furthermore, high levels of task difficulty were associated with a conflict-driven reduction in pupil dilation, suggesting that pupil dilation can be used as a physiological marker of mental overload. Our findings underscore the importance of developing models that are grounded in motivational accounts of cognitive control.

While many studies have considered the usability of website homepages, subjective issues such as preference have been under explored. This paper describes a pilot study that investigates subjects' preferences for different homepages. The study applies Berlyne's theory of experimental aesthetics to website homepages. This theory suggests that there is an inverted-U shape relationship between preference for a stimulus and its complexity. Twelve subjects evaluated 12 homepages. The study used a ranking method to measure subjects' preferences and the relationships between complexity, pleasure and interestingness. In addition, verbal reports were collected. No support was found for an inverted-U shape relationship and the findings indicate that complexity is not a predictor of pleasure. However, the results uncovered a number of subjective factors that underlie preference. These factors include individual differences in taste and lifestyle all of which are highly personal factors that change and develop over time. In addition, the findings suggest a link between interestingness and curiosity. Lastly, the findings show an agreement on the judgements of complexity, and disagreement on aesthetic preferences. In conclusion, the paper points out the challenges faced in researching preference because of its highly subjective character.

The cross-country regression and non-parametric kernel estimation using the panel data from OECD countries over the 1960–2000 periods show the inverted-U shape relationship between demographic changes and economic growth; growth rates initially increase and then decrease with population aging.

A possible relationship between change in dietary cholesterol absorptionand plasma lipoprotein responsiveness was examined in 18 normal subjects fed lowfat low cholesterol, high fat low cholesterol, and high fat high cholesteroldiets. For the group, neither dietary cholesterol nor dietary fat affected thepercentage dietary cholesterol absorption, whreas dietary cholesterol intakeraised total and LDL-C and dietary fat raised total, LDL, and HDL-C. On a fixeddiet there was approximately a 2-fold variation among subjects in percentagedietary cholesterol absorption. Subjects also varied in response to dietarycholesterol and fat with regard to dietary cholesterol absorption and plasmalipoprotein responsiveness. There was a U-shaped parabolic relationship betweendietary cholesterol-induced percent change in LDL-C and the change in percentagedietary cholesterol absorption (R2 = 0.62,P = 0.005). A similar but weaker relationship characterizedthe responsiveness of HDL-C (R2 = 0.38,P = 0.05). For the group, increased cholesterol intakeraised dietary cholesterol mass absorption from 1.6 to 4.6 mg/kg per day, butthe range of increase was from 1 to 4.7 mg/kg per day. Increased fat intake alsoaffected dietary cholesterol mass absorption with most subjects displaying astrong inverse relationship between fat intake and mass absorption(r = −0.77, P < 0.003). Insummary: i) the percentage change in dietary cholesterolabsorption in response to dietary cholesterol does appear to regulate dietresponsiveness of LDL and HDL-C, and ii) the large variabilityin percent absorption and changes in percentage and mass absorption in responseto dietary cholesterol suggest the presence of genetically determineddifferences among individuals in the regulation of dietary cholesterolabsorption.—Sehayek, E., C. Nath, T. Heinemann, M. McGee, C. E. Seidman, P.Samuel, and J. L. Breslow. U-shape relationship between change in dietarycholesterol absorption and plasma lipoprotein responsiveness and evidence forextreme interindividual variation in dietary cholesterol absorption in humans.J. Lipid Res. 1998. 39: 2415–2422.

Managing congestion in a self-service environment such as fitting rooms in apparel retailers is vital as retailers increasingly rely on their customers to perform many tasks independently. In this paper, we examine the impact of congestion in fitting rooms on the store performance for a retailer. Using point-of-sale (POS), traffic, and labor data from a retailer, we demonstrate an inverted-U relationship between fitting room traffic and sales; this shows that managing congestion in fitting rooms is critical for store performance. In addition, we find that a co-production environment, where associates help customers to complete their activities, is more effective in driving sales compared to self-service setting. We delve into plausible mechanisms to explain the observed inverted-U shape relationship using different queueing models. Finding that traditional models with passive or limited strategic consumer behavior (i.e., balking and reneging) do not explain the inverted-U shape relationship, we propose two alternate queueing models that are consistent with our data. Finally, we use a field experiment to show that increasing fitting room labor by one person to relieve congestion increases sales per hour by 15.98%. Our solution was adopted in a retail chain with around 100 stores.

Purpose: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) may be used to increase surgery candidacy in borderline resectable (BRPC) and locally advanced (LAPC) pancreatic cancer. However, the planning target volume (PTV) may need to be limited to avoid toxicity when the gross tumor volume (GTV) is anatomically involved with surrounding critical structures. Our study aims to characterize the coverage of GTV and investigate the association between modified PTV and pathologic (pCR) or near pathologic (npCR) complete response rates determined from the surgical specimen. Methods: Patients treated with neoadjuvant pancreas SBRT followed by surgery from 2010–2015 were selected from Oncospace. Overlap volume histogram (OVH) analysis was performed to determine the extent of compromise of the PTV from both the GTV and a standard target (GTV+3mm). Subsequently, normalized overlap volume (%) was calculated for: (1) GTV-PTV, and (2) GTV+3mm expansion-PTV. A logistic regression model was used to identify the association between the overlap ratios and ≥ npCR(pCR/npCR) stratified by active breathing control (ABC) versus free-breathing status. Results: Eighty-one (BRPC: n=42, LAPC: n=39) patients were available for analysis. Nearly 40% (31/81) had ≥npCR and 75% (61/81) were able to complete ABC. Mean coverage of the GTV-PTV was 92.6% (range, 59.9%–100%, SD = 8.68) and coverage of the GTV+3mm expansion-PTV was 85. 2% (range, 59.9% −100.0%, SD= 8.67). Among the patients with ABC, every 10% increase in GTV coverage doubled the odds to have ≥npCR (OR = 1.82, p=0.06). Coverage of GTV+3mm expansion was not associated with ≥npCR regardless of ABC status. Conclusion: Preferential sparing of critical anatomy over GTV-PTV coverage with ABC management suggests worse ≥npCR rates for neoadjuvant SBRT in BRPC and LAPC. Limiting the GTV and GTV+3mm expansion in free-breathing patients was not associated with pathologic response perhaps due to larger GTV definitions as a result of motion artifacts in free-breathing CT scans. Collaboration with Toshiba, Elekta, and Phillips

This paper explores 2 different probabilistic models explaining willingness to pay premium prices for high-quality cured products from the swine industry. Seven cured pork products (sausage, fuet, ham, loin, shoulder, salami and pepperoni) were studied in 9 food-stores in Valladolid, Spain. Consumers of the products were interviewed (686 completed surveys). It was found by using mixed effect statistical models that the relationship between willingness to pay a premium price and customer satisfaction had nonlinear behavior, following an S-shape with inverted slope which was the first empirical evidence of this type of behavior in meat products in real market conditions. It was also established that the interaction between satisfaction and current expenditure on the product was significant and indispensable for explaining consumers' willingness to pay premium price for cured pork products.