This thesis has three self-contained articles. Economic growth and trade in human capital: A salient empirical pattern in the East Asian “miracle” is a large increase in output and factor accumulation despite  only a modest increase in TFP. I develop and calibrate a model of growth and catch-up to provide a possible explanation. A novel element of the model is a globalized education market allowing human capital transfer from frontier to developing economies – an assumption motivated by the experience of countries like Korea and Taiwan where domestic universities employed graduates of Western universities to provide advanced training. The political economy of urban bias in dictatorial regimes. In many developing countries, public resource allocation is often biased against the rural population – a policy that hurts the vast majority of the poor living in rural areas. This paper develops a dynamic political economy model of urban bias in a dictatorial regime. A novel result of the model is that urban bias can emerge in predominantly agrarian economies even if there is no bias  in political power toward urban residents. The empirical evidence from a recently compiled country-level panel dataset on agricultural taxes/subsidies is consistent with the prediction of the model. Does agricultural growth cause manufacturing growth? Empirically assessing the impact of agricultural growth on manufacturing growth is challenging because of endogeneity concerns. This paper attempts to circumvent the identification challenge by using weather variations to instrument for agricultural growth. The IV estimations show that agricultural growth has a significant positive impact on manufacturing growth, and it is larger than the OLS estimates. I discuss the empirical implications for agricultural policies, efficiency of the manufacturing sector, and for the role of agricultural growth in Africa's industrialization.

This thesis asks how the Mohajir Quami Mahaz (MQM), transformed itself from an ethnic to a catch-all party. Existing literature heavily emphasizes the MQM’s militancy, while this thesis explores the journey of the party, formed in 1984 to represent Urdu-speakers in Pakistan, through each phase of its development down to its transformation into the Muttahida Qaumi Mahaz (United National Movement) in 1997. The MQM’s process of transformation can be explained theoretically through Kirchheimer’s catch-all party theory. My findings note a shift from an ethno-militant agenda of Mohajir interests to one stressing the need for “national unity” and modernization. It is argued that the party shifted from making choices based on ideology to a strategy-based politics. The MQM, therefore, sought voters outside its traditional constituent base in an effort to gain national appeal. As an urban-based middle-class party, it provides an ideal example of how a party adopts to a changing social environment fractured by military administration, modernity, and political Islam. Therefore, this thesis is the story of the MQM’s journey from mohallah to mainstream.

This study investigates the impacts of regional characteristics on the early-stage performance of New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) in catch-up regions where a mature industrial cluster has yet to be formed. It hypothesized that the average NTBF performance in a region is a function of its scientist job market conditions, cultural diversity, venture capital, academic research, industrial structure, and local entrepreneurial climate. Using the events of Initial Public Offerings (IPO) and Merger & Acquisitions (M&A) as an indicator of early-stage success of NTBFs, this study constructs a set of Zero-Inflated-Negative-Binomial (ZINB) models to predict the spatial distribution of such events in the U.S. biopharmaceutical and Information Technology (IT) service industries during the period from 1996 to 2005. Several empirical findings emerge from this study. First, the local entrepreneurial climate plays a significant and positive role on NTBF performance in both industries. Second, the positive impact of cultural diversity is more significant in the IT service industry than in the biopharmaceutical industry. Third, the scientist job market size and absolute salary level have positive impacts on NTBF performance, but the effect of relative salary level is negative. Fourth, proximity to venture capital firms has positive but non-linear effects, but the adverse effect of excess venture capital is stronger in the IT service industry. Fifth, there is little evidence of the direct effects of academic research in determining the NTBF performance in both industries. Finally, industrial specialization is significant and positive only in the IT service industry. The results suggest that promoting local entrepreneurial climate and cultural diversity are two effective policy instruments for catch-up regions to foster their NTBF growth.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

This thesis asks how the Mohajir Quami Mahaz (MQM), transformed itself from an ethnic to a catch-all party. Existing literature heavily emphasizes the MQM’s militancy, while this thesis explores the journey of the party, formed in 1984 to represent Urdu-speakers in Pakistan, through each phase of its development down to its transformation into the Muttahida Qaumi Mahaz (United National Movement) in 1997. The MQM’s process of transformation can be explained theoretically through Kirchheimer’s catch-all party theory. My findings note a shift from an ethno-militant agenda of Mohajir interests to one stressing the need for “national unity” and modernization. It is argued that the party shifted from making choices based on ideology to a strategy-based politics. The MQM, therefore, sought voters outside its traditional constituent base in an effort to gain national appeal. As an urban-based middle-class party, it provides an ideal example of how a party adopts to a changing social environment fractured by military administration, modernity, and political Islam. Therefore, this thesis is the story of the MQM’s journey from mohallah to mainstream.

Abstract: Recreational fishing is one of popular outdoor activities and a growing business in Sweden. However, preceding researches had shown that recreational fisheries may contribute to overfishing as much as commercial fisheries. One of the ways to reduce anglers’ impact on fish populations is the practice of releasing caught fish (catch and release; C&R). C&R is often seen as an ethical and sustainable way of fishing that supports fish conservation. Anglers may obtain C&R information and guidelines from different sources, such as fishing club, fishing magazines, state agencies. As the internet is increasingly becoming an important source for anglers to obtain updated fishing information, fishing tourism operators could be a principal actor to provide C&R information and guidelines through their websites. At the same time there is lack of information on the presence and quality of C&R information at Swedish websites. As international tourists are important group of anglers that use tourism operators’ services, and due to the language limitation of the author, this study focused on websites in English language. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the presence and quality of C&R information and guidelines in English language provided by fishing tourism operators’ websites in Sweden. The study followed the quantitative content analysis approach by assigning categories and counting the frequencies in the text found on the fishing tourism operators’ websites. First, the websites were scanned to check if C&R information was present. Then, the number of clicks needed to retrieve this information was counted to measure its accessibility. Finally, a C&R information quality score was calculated by adding up scores based on different type and quality of the information found on the websites, including 12 criteria of the C&R best practice guidelines developed by Sims and Danylchuk (2017). The study found that 66 out of 151 analyzed websites provided C&R information and guidelines which generally easily  accessed (two clicks on average). However, in general the websites had a low average quality score of the C&R information and guidelines. Moreover, there was a high variability in how the information was presented on the websites, suggesting lack of standardized guidelines that fishing tourism operators could refer to. Consequently, there is a need to encourage and support more fishing tourism operators to provide a high quality C&R information and guidelines on their websites.

abstract: The development of advanced, anthropomorphic artificial hands aims to provide upper extremity amputees with improved functionality for activities of daily living. However, many state-of-the-art hands have a large number of degrees of freedom that can be challenging to control in an intuitive manner. Automated grip responses could be built into artificial hands in order to enhance grasp stability and reduce the cognitive burden on the user. To this end, three studies were conducted to understand how human hands respond, passively and actively, to unexpected perturbations of a grasped object along and about different axes relative to the hand. The first study investigated the effect of magnitude, direction, and axis of rotation on precision grip responses to unexpected rotational perturbations of a grasped object. A robust "catch-up response" (a rapid, pulse-like increase in grip force rate previously reported only for translational perturbations) was observed whose strength scaled with the axis of rotation. Using two haptic robots, we then investigated the effects of grip surface friction, axis, and direction of perturbation on precision grip responses for unexpected translational and rotational perturbations for three different hand-centric axes. A robust catch-up response was observed for all axes and directions for both translational and rotational perturbations. Grip surface friction had no effect on the stereotypical catch-up response. Finally, we characterized the passive properties of the precision grip-object system via robot-imposed impulse perturbations. The hand-centric axis associated with the greatest translational stiffness was different than that for rotational stiffness. This work expands our understanding of the passive and active features of precision grip, a hallmark of human dexterous manipulation. Biological insights such as these could be used to enhance the functionality of artificial hands and the quality of life for upper extremity amputees. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering 2013

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:56:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lorenzo Barroco.pdf: 722257 bytes, checksum: 356df29a6c95a7e03f6ab0ca96899495 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-05-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The expansion of recreational fishing in Brazil started in the 1990 s, when more and more people came to the Amazon in search of peacock bass (Cichla spp.). The behavior of this cichlid, which attacks lures, is especially exciting for anglers. The middle Negro River has become one of the most popular areas of sport fishing of the world, where the largest peacock bass can be found. The importance of catch-and-release fishing as an sustainable fishing strategy has been shown to directly help conserve peacock bass fish stocks in the region. In this study, peacock bass mortality was evaluated in relation to catch-and-release fishing, comparing two types of artificial lures: the jig and a traditional middle-water type. Fish, samples were collected in January/February and October/November of 2012 in the Unini River, a right margin tributary of the Negro River, in the municipal region of Barcelos in Amazonas State. A total of 191 peacock bass were caught, 90 by jig lure and the rest by the middle-water lure. Both fish groups were submitted to experimental confinement during a period of three days. In both groups, 30 fish were confined individually and 60 confined collectively. Additionally, 11 fish from the second group had radio transmitters attached to be used in telemetry. The mortality rate was calculated for each type of lure and type of confinement. No mortality was encountered for the group caught with a jig beat lure. In comparison, the middle-water lure showed a mortality rate of 1.66% for the collective confinement and 18.18% for the monitoring involving telemetry. For both types of lures, no mortality was observed for fish confined individually. The data was plotted using a Kruskal-Wallis variance analysis that showed values of X2 (1.179) = 0,502 and p= 0,478 for confined environments. The same test show values of X2 (1.179) = 1,005 e p= 0,316 for the different lures. The results indicated that neither confinement type or lure type had a significantly negative impact on the peacock bass mortality rate from the catch-and-release fishery, demonstrating that catchand- release fishing has a very small impact on peacock bass mortality. Therefore, this type of recreational fishing is beneficial as a strategy to help conserve peacock bass fish stocksfishery / A expansão da pesca amadora no Brasil teve inicio na década de 90 e tem alcançado os rios de água preta na região Amazônica, principalmente no médio Rio Negro onde são encontrados os grandes tucunarés (Cichla spp.). Com o acentuado crescimento desta atividade na região, a prática do pesque-solte vem sendo proposta como um procedimento sustentável na pesca esportiva dos tucunarés da região. Contudo, em face das dúvidas acerca da eficácia desta modalidade de pesca, avaliamos o efeito do pesque-solte sobre a sobrevivência do tucunaré, comparando dois tipos de iscas artificiais o jig e a meia-água. Foram realizados dois ensaios nos períodos de janeiro/fevereiro e outubro/novembro de 2012 no rio Unini, afluente da margem direita do rio Negro (Barcelos-AM). Em total foram capturados 191 tucunarés: 90 por iscas jig e os demais por iscas de meiaágua. Ambos os grupos de peixes foram submetidos a experimentos de confinamento por um período de 3 dias. Do primeiro grupo, 30 peixes foram confinados individualmente e 60 coletivamente. No segundo grupo, 30 foram confinados individualmente e 60 coletivamente. Adicionalmente, 11 peixes deste grupo foram marcados com transmissores de rádio para monitoramento por telemetria. A taxa de mortalidade foi calculada através do percentual dos indivíduos mortos para cada tipo de isca e ambiente de confinamento. Não houve mortalidade para o grupo de tucunaré capturado com jig. Por outro lado, a isca de meia-água apresentou taxa de mortalidade de 1,66% para o confinamento coletivo e de 18,18% para os monitorados por telemetria, não havendo, portanto mortes de indivíduos confinados individualmente. Estes dados foram analisados por meio de uma análise de variância Kruskal-Wallis, onde apresentaram valores de X2 (1.179) = 0,502 e p= 0,478 para os ambientes de confinamentos. O mesmo teste apresentou valores de X2 (1.179) = 1,005 e p= 0,316 para as iscas utilizadas. Dessa forma, os resultados indicam que ambos, o tipo de ambiente e o tipo de isca, não apresentaram influencia significativa sobre a taxa de mortalidade dos tucunarés na prática do pesque-solte. Estes resultados mostram que a prática desta modalidade de pesca amadora, resulta em baixa taxa de mortalidade para os tucunarés. Sendo assim o pesque-solte se mostra uma atividade que não prejudica a sustentabilidade dos estoques pesqueiros de tucunaré. Palavras-chave: Pesque-solte; tucunaré; pesca amadora; mortalidade de peixes

YouTube is a great place for attention and discussion. Individuals and companies canuse the context and the system for branding of their content. Previous research in thearea has had a larger focus on mass statistics and social patterns on YouTube asequations, rather than as a social platform with people using it. Our research focusedon the users and why they choose to involve themselves with the content of theSwedishMealTime channel on YouTube and what we could do as a producer to createa more established channel, since we run it ourselves. This gave us an opportunity toextract data from the statistics on both YouTube and the corresponding Facebookpage of SwedishMealTime. We sent out an online survey to our subscribers withquestions revolving around the channel and content, in order to gain more insight ofwhat kind of content they prefer. A netnographic study was made in combinationwith a survey to collect the data for the analysis. Our results suggest that a regularupload scheme, communication and interaction with subscribers and establishment ofthe channel increases the sense of belonging, which in turn increases the exposure ofthe channel and the number of users subscribing to it. Future research will requireinformation about more channels, to identify behaviour between them, and if thereare any patterns for a viral success.

Master of Science / Department of Agronomy / Scott A. Staggenborg / Spatial variability in plant available water can be caused by uncontrollable factors such as topography and soil texture as well as controllable factors such as residue management. Research located on the High Plains evaluated the impact of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) stubble height on snow catch, plant available water at seeding, and optimal corn seeding rates. Treatments consisted of stripper harvest height of 71 cm (28 in.), cut heights of 25 cm (10 in.), and 10 cm (4 in.) Measured snow depths were significantly different among treatments (p<0.0001) with equivalent precipitation of 5.77 (2.27), 3.25 (1.28), and 1.73 cm (0.68 in.) for the stripped, 25 cm, and 10 cm heights respectively. Available soil water at planting increased 24% as stubble height increased from 10 to 71 cm (4 to 28 in) in one year of the study. Two corn hybrids of varying maturity (97 and 108 days) were planted into the stubble treatments at seeding rates ranging from 2.47 to 5.43 plants m[superscript]-2 (10 to 22 000 plants ac[superscript]-1). In the dry year, the long season hybrid responded positively to increasing population in tall stubble and negatively in short stubble. Yield of the short season hybrid increased with increasing stubble height and was mostly unresponsive to population. Grain yields of both hybrids responded positively to increasing plant population in a wet year. Treatments also affected the yield components of yield plant[superscript]-1, kernel weight, and kernels plant[superscript]-1. Managing seeding rates for uncontrollable factors was attempted with small-plot and field scale research across 3 fields in northeast Kansas. A relationship between soil electro-conductivity (EC) and measured water holding capacity values was developed for one study field. This quadratic relationship was significant (p<0.0001) and explained variability in water holding capacity with respect to EC quite well (R[superscript]2=0.6239). Responses from small plots showed that sites differing in population response characteristics could be identified. Field scale data was used to derive a function describing optimal seeding rate with respect to soil EC. In the field under study, optimal seeding rates varied from 3.08 to 8.74 plants m[superscript]-2 (12 500 to 35 375 plants ac-1).