This paper investigates the relationship between the cooperative behavior of manufacturing establishments in a region and the efficiency of their R&D activities using data for eleven European regions. Some significant differences in the attitude towards R&D cooperation, as well as with regard to the efficiency of R&D activities between the regions can be found. However, these two issues appear ...

This paper considers why "rms often ban monetary exchange between their employees, while encouraging these trades through other means, such as through the reciprocation of favours or barter. Despite classical ine$ciencies associated with non-monetary exchange, we illustrate two themes as to why non-monetary trade may be preferred to allowing money. First, the use of non-monetary trade may a!ect...

This paper aims at assessing the optimal behavior of a firm facing stochastic costs of production. In an imperfectly competitive setting, we evaluate to what extent a firm may decide to locate part of its production in other markets different from which it is actually settled. This decision is taken in a stochastic environment. Portfolio theory is used to derive the optimal solution for the int...

We study an oligopoly model of banking that allows us to evaluate the two leading explanations for banks’ ability to earn rents. In the model, banks can either invest in information acquisition, or in market power (through product differentiation). The two versions generate different predictions that are tested using panel data on Finnish local banks. We find that banks’ investments in branch n...

Exposure to solar radiation substantially decreased the strong copper-complexing capacity of samples collected from the organic-rich Cape Fear estuary, North Carolina. Samples exposed to natural sunlight for 1–2 d experienced a loss of strong Cu ligand (modeled at fixed K9CuL 5 1013.5) ranging from 15–33%, and .90% using long-term exposures under controlled conditions with a Xe arc solar simula...

A transecting microprofiler documented a pronounced small-scale variation in the benthic O2 concentration at 1450-m water depth (Sagami Bay, Japan). Data obtained during a single deployment revealed that within a sediment area of 190 cm2 the O2 penetration depth varied from 2.6 mm to 17.8 mm (average; 6.6 6 2.5 mm) and the diffusive O2 uptake, calculated from the vertical concentration gradient...

We studied the effect of seagrass (Cymodocea nodosa) colonization on community metabolism and sediment conditions. The biomass of C. nodosa increased with time after seagrass colonization. The biomass increased steadily during the 6.1 yr of colonization to 9.1 mol C m22. Gross primary production increased from 7 to 49.3 mmol C m22 d21 during the first stages of the colonization and then decreas...

Laboratory experiments were done to assess 110mAg, 60Co, 137Cs, and 54Mn uptake by two phytoplankton species, the chlorophyte Scenedesmus obliquus and the small diatom Cyclotella meneghiana. Mn and Co were characterized by similar uptake kinetic rates, 20–30 d21, whatever the algal species, whereas depuration rates were 3–60 d21. Silver uptake and depuration rates were very high (144–293 d21). ...

Temporal relationships between organic carbon production and respiration are not well understood in coral reef ecosystems. We monitored dissolved oxygen (O2) concentrations within the Biosphere 2 coral reef biome over a 3-yr period (1 January 1997–1 January 2000), to calculate daily rates of gross production (P), community respiration (R), and net community production (NCP). P averaged 170 mmol...

The primary productivity of four species of crustose coralline algae was measured as a function of depth (0–18 m) and irradiance on samples collected from and growing upon the windward coral reef at Lizard Island, northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Significantly higher productivities were measured in the field than in the laboratory. Maximum gross oxygen production in situ varied from 12.8...