The Attraction of FDI to Conflicted States: The Counter-Intuitive Case of US Oil and Gas

States burdened with conflict have been considered to be undesirable destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI) due to, inter alia, political instability, regulatory unpredictability, and expropriation risk. However, we develop an alternative view based on corporate governance and real option theories. We analyze a dataset of FDI location decisions made in the Oil and Gas sector by 250 US firms across 44 countries between 2007 and 2013. After controlling for energy reserves, the results show counter-intuitively, that civil war and terrorism risks, and terrorist events are positively associated with US investment in Oil and Gas. US subsidiaries also show high levels of ownership commitment. It is tempting to conclude that US Oil and Gas is a wholly unique, resource-bound case, but we argue that this disconnect may have occurred for two reasons. First, a threat of conflict and violence can make MNEs exercise their growth options and expand resource extraction sooner rather than later. Second, political instability does not necessarily lead to higher levels of FDI expropriation risk. On the contrary, instability can reduce the incentives for the state to seize assets from technologically superior MNEs, i.e. it may reduce expropriation risk. Just as the rule of law and ‘good’ governance can constrain a state from expropriation, there are theoretical reasons why ‘bad’ governance resulting from instability and incapacity may do so, too

The evolution of RNAi as a defence against viruses and transposable elements

RNA interference (RNAi) is an important defence against viruses and transposable elements (TEs). RNAi not only protects against viruses by degrading viral RNA, but hosts and viruses can also use RNAi to manipulate each other's gene expression, and hosts can encode microRNAs that target viral sequences. In response, viruses have evolved a myriad of adaptations to suppress and evade RNAi. RNAi can also protect cells against TEs, both by degrading TE transcripts and by preventing TE expression through heterochromatin formation. The aim of our review is to summarize and evaluate the current data on the evolution of these RNAi defence mechanisms. To this end, we also extend a previous analysis of the evolution of genes of the RNAi pathways. Strikingly, we find that antiviral RNAi genes, anti-TE RNAi genes and viral suppressors of RNAi all evolve rapidly, suggestive of an evolutionary arms race between hosts and parasites. Over longer time scales, key RNAi genes are repeatedly duplicated or lost across the metazoan phylogeny, with important implications for RNAi as an immune defence

Abnormal cortical sensorimotor activity during “Target” sound detection in subjects with acute acoustic trauma sequelae: an fMRI study

The most common consequences of acute acoustic trauma (AAT) are hearing loss at frequencies above 3 kHz and tinnitus. In this study, we have used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to visualize neuronal activation patterns in military adults with AAT and various tinnitus sequelae during an auditory “oddball” attention task. AAT subjects displayed overactivities principally during reflex of target sound detection, in sensorimotor areas and in emotion-related areas such as the insula, anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex, in premotor area, in cross-modal sensory associative areas, and, interestingly, in a region of the Rolandic operculum that has recently been shown to be involved in tympanic movements due to air pressure. We propose further investigations of this brain area and fine middle ear investigations, because our results might suggest a model in which AAT tinnitus may arise as a proprioceptive illusion caused by abnormal excitability of middle-ear muscle spindles possibly link with the acoustic reflex and associated with emotional and sensorimotor disturbances

Loss of long-term potentiation at hippocampal output synapses in experimental temporal lobe epilepsy

Patients suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) show severe problems in hippocampus dependent memory consolidation. Memory consolidation strongly depends on an intact dialog between the hippocampus and neocortical structures. Deficits in hippocampal signal transmission are known to provoke disturbances in memory formation. In the present study, we investigate changes of synaptic plasticity at hippocampal output structures in an experimental animal model of TLE. In pilocarpine-treated rats, we found suppressed long-term potentiation (LTP) in hippocampal and parahippocampal regions such as the subiculum and the entorhinal cortex (EC). Subsequently we focused on the subiculum, serving as the major relay station between the hippocampus proper and downstream structures. In control animals, subicular pyramidal cells express different forms of LTP depending on their intrinsic firing pattern. In line with our extracellular recordings, we could show that LTP could only be induced in a minority of subicular pyramidal neurons. We demonstrate that a well-characterized cAMP-dependent signaling pathway involved in presynaptic forms of LTP is perturbed in pilocarpine-treated animals. Our findings suggest that in TLE, disturbances of synaptic plasticity may influence the information flow between the hippocampus and the neocortex

The evolution of RNAi as a defence against viruses and transposable elements

RNA interference (RNAi) is an important defence against viruses and transposable elements (TEs). RNAi not only protects against viruses by degrading viral RNA, but hosts and viruses can also use RNAi to manipulate each other's gene expression, and hosts can encode microRNAs that target viral sequences. In response, viruses have evolved a myriad of adaptations to suppress and evade RNAi. RNAi can also protect cells against TEs, both by degrading TE transcripts and by preventing TE expression through heterochromatin formation. The aim of our review is to summarize and evaluate the current data on the evolution of these RNAi defence mechanisms. To this end, we also extend a previous analysis of the evolution of genes of the RNAi pathways. Strikingly, we find that antiviral RNAi genes, anti-TE RNAi genes and viral suppressors of RNAi all evolve rapidly, suggestive of an evolutionary arms race between hosts and parasites. Over longer time scales, key RNAi genes are repeatedly duplicated or lost across the metazoan phylogeny, with important implications for RNAi as an immune defence

Octet Baryon Magnetic Moments in the Chiral Quark Model with Configuration Mixing

The Coleman-Glashow sum-rule for magnetic moments is always fulfilled in the chiral quark model, independently of SU(3) symmetry breaking. This is due to the structure of the wave functions, coming from the non-relativistic quark model. Experimentally, the Coleman-Glashow sum-rule is violated by about ten standard deviations. To overcome this problem, two models of wave functions with configuration mixing are studied. One of these models violates the Coleman-Glashow sum-rule to the right degree and also reproduces the octet baryon magnetic moments rather accurately.Comment: 22 pages, RevTe

A superconducting-nanowire 3-terminal electronic device

In existing superconducting electronic systems, Josephson junctions play a central role in processing and transmitting small-amplitude electrical signals. However, Josephson-junction-based devices have a number of limitations including: (1) sensitivity to magnetic fields, (2) limited gain, (3) inability to drive large impedances, and (4) difficulty in controlling the junction critical current (which depends sensitively on sub-Angstrom-scale thickness variation of the tunneling barrier). Here we present a nanowire-based superconducting electronic device, which we call the nanocryotron (nTron), that does not rely on Josephson junctions and can be patterned from a single thin film of superconducting material with conventional electron-beam lithography. The nTron is a 3-terminal, T-shaped planar device with a gain of ~20 that is capable of driving impedances of more than 100 k{\Omega}, and operates in typical ambient magnetic fields at temperatures of 4.2K. The device uses a localized, Joule-heated hotspot formed in the gate to modulate current flow in a perpendicular superconducting channel. We have characterized the nTron, matched it to a theoretical framework, and applied it both as a digital logic element in a half-adder circuit, and as a digital amplifier for superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors pulses. The nTron has immediate applications in classical and quantum communications, photon sensing and astronomy, and its performance characteristics make it compatible with existing superconducting technologies. Furthermore, because the hotspot effect occurs in all known superconductors, we expect the design to be extensible to other materials, providing a path to digital logic, switching, and amplification in high-temperature superconductors

Protein and small non-coding RNA-enriched extracellular vesicles are released by the pathogenic blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni

Background: Penetration of skin, migration through tissues and establishment of long-lived intravascular partners require Schistosoma parasites to successfully manipulate definitive host defences. While previous studies of larval schistosomula have postulated a function for excreted/secreted (E/S) products in initiating these host-modulatory events, the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) has yet to be considered. Here, using preparatory ultracentrifugation as well as methodologies to globally analyse both proteins and small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs), we conducted the first characterization of Schistosoma mansoni schistosomula EVs and their potential host-regulatory cargos. Results: Transmission electron microscopy analysis of EVs isolated from schistosomula in vitro cultures revealed the presence of numerous, 30–100 nm sized exosome-like vesicles. Proteomic analysis of these vesicles revealed a core set of 109 proteins, including homologs to those previously found enriched in other eukaryotic EVs, as well as hypothetical proteins of high abundance and currently unknown function. Characterization of E/S sncRNAs found within and outside of schistosomula EVs additionally identified the presence of potential gene-regulatory miRNAs (35 known and 170 potentially novel miRNAs) and tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs; nineteen 5′ tsRNAs and fourteen 3′ tsRNAs). Conclusions: The identification of S. mansoni EVs and the combinatorial protein/sncRNA characterization of their cargo signifies that an important new participant in the complex biology underpinning schistosome/host interactions has now been discovered. Further work defining the role of these schistosomula EVs and the function/stability of intra- and extra-vesicular sncRNA components presents tremendous opportunities for developing novel schistosomiasis diagnostics or interventions

Combining Multiple-Module Output Boundary Conditions to Produce a Single-Input-Module Boundary Condition in FRAMES

The Plus Operator thus provides a mechanism to group modules of similar output so that the output can be combined and supplied to downstream modules. This document provides requirements, the design, data-file specifications, the test plan, and the quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) protocol for the Plus Operator

Nucleon Form Factors in a Covariant Diquark-Quark Model

In a model where constituent quarks and diquarks interact through quark exchange the Bethe-Salpeter equation in ladder approximation for the nucleon is solved. Quark and diquark confinement is effectively parametrized by choosing appropriately modified propagators. The coupling to external currents is implemented via nontrivial vertex functions for quarks and diquarks to ensure gauge invariance at the constituent level. Nucleon matrix elements are evaluated in a generalised impulse approximation, and electromagnetic, pionic and axial form factors are calculated.Comment: 33 Pages, 10 figures, modfied elsart.sty include