Profit Sharing Between Governments and Multinationals in Natural Resource Extraction: Evidence From a Firm-Level Panel

The "fairness" of negotiations between countries and resource extracting firms is subject to many accusations and counter-accusations and may be argued, in many instances, to impact the subsequent economic benefit to a host country from extraction. This paper examines the role of host country governance on the share of government take from extraction revenue. We attempt to disentangle a number of competing hypotheses regarding the relationship between governance and government take using panel data for US resource extracting multinational corporations (MNCs) operating abroad from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the US Department of Commerce over 1982-1999. Using fixed effects regression, we find a statistically significant positive impact of institutional quality on government take. The nature of this relationship -- whether this represents the result of a "corruption premium" paid by US MNCs or the exploitation of poor governance in negotiating government take -- is not completely clear. The evidence presented does, however, indicate that potential forms of bargaining power other than institutional quality (e.g., outside options to the deal) do increase government take, indicating that bargaining power may nonetheless be an important factor.

Commercial hospitality : a vehicle for the sustainable empowerment of Nepali women

To illustrate how commercial hospitality has catalysed sustainable social change in Nepal through empowering women. Utilising a new framework, developed by combining existing theories, empowerment of women Tea House owners/ managers is assessed. Within a critical feminist paradigm, primary research consisting of interviews and participant observation was undertaken in Nepal over a three month period in the central region of Nepal. Involvement in the hospitality industry improved the livelihoods of the women Tea House owners/ managers, it also has the potential to facilitate sustainable empowerment for future generations, providing them with education, choice, control and opportunities. Although steps were taken to limit rhetorical issues, language barriers could have influenced the findings of the interviews. To fully investigate the potential for hospitality to act as a vehicle for the sustainable empowerment of women, it is suggested that this study be replicated again in another region or that a detailed ethnographic study be carried out. Demonstrates how the commercial hospitality industry can be a force for good; women working in the industry are agents of change, actively improving their levels of empowerment in their immediate environment. The commercial hospitality industry has pioneered the empowerment of women and this could lay the foundation for the further emancipation of women. To date, there has been limited research into the relationship between involvement in the commercial hospitality sector and the empowerment of women; this paper begins to fill this gap by investigating a tourist region of Nepal

Multifamily Units in Dispersed City: Measuring Infill and Development by Neighborhood Type in the Kansas City Region

Multifamily development patterns remain an overlooked aspect of the research examining urban growth and morphology. This study examines multifamily development patterns in the Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area from 1990 to 2010. Additionally, this study examines patterns of multifamily infill in order to determine (1) the growth rate of multifamily development within four infill scenarios, (2) whether high density neighborhoods receive disproportionate amounts of multifamily development, and (3) the rates of development in inner city, inner-ring, and outer-ring neighborhoods. This study found that rates of multifamily development were grew at up to twice the rate of single-family development in certain infill areas. Additionally, it found that multifamily development was dispersed throughout the metropolitan region, with prominent development taking place in inner city, inner-ring, outer-ring, and sprawling area

Nitrogen-rich transition metal nitrides

The solid state chemistry leading to the synthesis and characterization of metal nitrides with N:M ratios >1 is summarized. Studies of these compounds represent an emerging area of research. Most transition metal nitrides have much lower nitrogen contents, and they often form with non- or sub-stoichiometric compositions. These materials are typically metallic with often superconducting properties, and they provide highly refractory, high hardness materials with many technological applications. The higher metal nitrides should achieve formal oxidation states (OS) attaining those found among corresponding oxides, and they are expected to have useful semiconducting properties. Only a very few examples of such high OS nitrogen-rich compounds are known at present. The main group elements typically form covalently bonded nitride ceramics such as Si3N4, Ge3N4 and Sn3N4, and the early transition metals Zr and Hf produce Zr3N4 and Hf3N4. However, the only main example of a highly nitrided transition metal compound known to date is Ta3N5 that has a formal oxidation state +5 and is a semiconductor with visible light absorption leading to applications as a pigment and in photocatalysis. New synthesis routes are being explored to study the possible formation of other N-rich materials that are predicted to exist by ab initio calculations. There is a useful interplay between theoretical predictions and experimental synthesis studies at ambient and high pressure conditions, as we explore and establish the existence and structure–property relations of these new nitride compounds and polymorphs. Here we review the state of current investigations and indicate possible new directions for further work

Purpose and Well-Being Through Administering Network Performances

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, music communities who found themselves in social and physical isolation have been trying to find alternative solutions to keep some form of connection. Network performance is one of these solutions, one that is specifically aimed at enhancing communities’ connectivity beyond one’s intimate surroundings. In order for network performances to properly work, there are numerous roles that need to be filled; these include performers, administrators, technicians, and event organizers. This paper presents new discussions aimed at understanding these evolving roles and the way in which they are intertwined. These discussions are based on the autobiographical reflections of one of the authors, Andrew McMillan, and his experience as organizer and technician of network performances during this crisis. This article has two objectives: one is scholarly and one is pragmatic. First, we discuss the sociotechnical challenges and opportunities of managing organizational and technical aspects of network performances. We discuss how this form of social connectivity can be considered an autotelic experience, which also creates a strong sense of purpose and well-being in isolation. Second, we offer practical suggestions and technical solutions for running online performance series

Being Together—or, Being Less Un-together—with Networked Music

When musicians cannot travel to another location where other musicians are, they generally assume that this means they cannot perform music together—even while the technology exists to allow them to do so. The perception that Internet technology is not suited for music performance is due to a lack of exposure on navigating the limitations specific to networked music, along with the cultural belief that latency is incompatible with music performance. Many groups, however, have successfully created networked music performance systems. Such systems are particularly interesting in affording new musical and social opportunities in cases when musicians cannot travel due to restrictions of one kind or another. And while technical and cultural limitations remain to be addressed, networked music can have a highly constructive role in the development of remote communities and isolated musicians by fostering the experience of “being together.” We review several case studies where networked music has had a meaningful effect on the socialization of distance-separated musicians. We address a number of features and concerns that limit the adoption of networked music among communities who seek to shrink the perceived distance between musicians, and suggest some approaches that may facilitate their accessibility to the platform

Lawful, Proportionate and Necessary? A Critical Examination of the Domestic Abuse Disclosure Scheme for Scotland

This article critically examines Police Scotland’s Disclosure Scheme for Domestic Abuse Scotland (DSDAS). The scheme establishes a “right to ask” and a “power to tell” individuals about their partner or ex-partner’s known history of abusive behaviour. In this article, we focus on four key aspects of DSDAS: its accessibility, its legal basis, its understanding of “domestic abuse”, and its approach to defining the kinds of relationships where disclosures can be made under the policy. We identify ambiguities in all four aspects of the scheme, which we show departs in significant ways from the understandings of domestic abuse and qualifying relationships written into Scots law and policy. In contrast with the approach taken in England and Wales, we show the Scottish scheme does not currently permit police disclosures to be made after the “end” of a relationship – a concept which is itself significantly underdefined in the scheme guidance. We conclude with three practical recommendations for how these elements of the DSDAS scheme can be improved to enhance the accessibility, clarity, and coherence of the disclosure policy

Paving the way to acceptance of Galleria mellonella as a new model insect

First paragraph: The larva of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella is an alternative host used commonly in studies of microbial infection and innate immunity. Indeed, this insect host is often used when quantifying or comparing the virulence of bacterial and fungal pathogens of vertebrates and it has been used successfully to establish the importance of microbial virulence factors and to determine the relative virulence of different isolates of the same species. The recent popularity of G. mellonella as an alternative host system stems from numerous benefits, including the ability to perform experiments at a range of temperatures including human body core temperature; the technical simplicity of establishing infections by various routes such as through feeding, topical application or injection; the convenient size of the insect, which means it is large enough to permit simple injection of inoculums or chemicals but small enough to require little space in the laboratory; the ability to assess the efficacy and toxicity of antimicrobial therapies; and the ease and reliability with which these insects can be sourced in their final instar stage from commercial suppliers. It has also found approval amongst many researchers due to the favourable reproducibility between experiments in the same laboratory. Nevertheless, relatively small variations in susceptibility to infection can occur between batches of larvae from the same supplier and such variation probably arises from factors such as age, size and nutritional status on receipt; conditions encountered during transit to the laboratory; and the presence of any underlying natural infections. These issues are largely uncontrollable when purchasing larvae from a commercial supplier but on reaching the laboratory standardised pre-experimentation storage conditions can improve reproducibility between studies. In recent years the Kavanagh group have raised awareness for the role of a number of variables during storage that require consideration to ensure optimal reproducibility when experimenting with this insect, and factors influencing G. mellonella susceptibility to infections include physical stress, incubation temperature and access to food. In this edition of Virulence, the Kavanagh group report that larvae become increasingly susceptible to infection by pathogens as laboratory storage time increases, highlighting the need to consider this parameter when using the G. mellonella model. Browne et al. elaborate further in the study and relate this observation to a reduction in the total abundance of haemocytes that function in immune defence against pathogens and changes in the relative flux of metabolic pathways. Interestingly, the number of haemocytes after 3 weeks of incubation was approximately half that compared to the population at one week, while qualitative changes in the relative abundance of the various types of haemocytes were also reported. Both these factors probably contribute to reduced immune capacity and thus increased susceptibility to infection.Output Type: Editoria