Labor Rights and Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America: The Empirical Analysis of Proximity Hypothesis

What impact do labor rights practices have on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America? While existing research shows how participation in the global production network influences host country’s labor standards, few studies delve into reversed causal mechanisms whereby changes in labor standards affects FDI inflows. While conventional wisdom says protection of labor rights has negative influence on FDI, I argue that for Latin American countries, practical protection of labor rights attracts FDI. Practical protection of labor right acts as a proxy and signals that host government could protect foreign assets that are under the risk of expropriation. I expect practical increase in labor rights positively affects FDI over time. Utilizing data of 30 Latin American countries and 128 non-Latin American developing countries from 1994 to 2012, and an error correction model shows that de facto labor rights protection has a long-term effect on foreign direct investment in Latin America

Anomalous temperature dependence of the band-gap in Black Phosphorus

Black Phosphorus (BP) has gained renewed attention due to its singular anisotropic electronic and optical properties that might be exploited for a wide range of technological applications. In this respect, the thermal properties are particularly important both to predict its room temperature operation and to determine its thermoelectric potential. From this point of view, one of the most spectacular and poorly understood phenomena is, indeed, the BP temperature-induced band-gap opening: when temperature is increased the fundamental band-gap increases instead of decreasing. This anomalous thermal dependence has also been observed, recently, in its monolayer counterpart. In this work, based on \textit{ab-initio} calculations, we present an explanation for this long known, and yet not fully explained, effect. We show that it arises from a combination of harmonic and lattice thermal expansion contributions, which are, in fact, highly interwined. We clearly narrow down the mechanisms that cause this gap opening by identifying the peculiar atomic vibrations that drive the anomaly. The final picture we give explains both the BP anomalous band-gap opening and the frequency increase with increasing volume (tension effect).Comment: Published in Nano Letter

Survival rate of Penaeus monodon Fabricius larvae fed Chaetoceros sp. and bread yeast

An evaluation was made of the effects of Chaetoceros species, bread yeast and their combination on the survival of Penaeus monodon larvae. In general it was found that feeding with a combination of the 2 resulted in higher larval survival rates

Modelo de gestión de riesgos de TI que contribuye en la protección de los activos de información en hospitales de nivel II - I de la región Amazonas

Los hospitales de nivel II - I de la región Amazonas experimentan continuamente percances que involucran la protección de los activos de información. En base a un estudio realizado a una muestra de los hospitales, entre los acontecimientos más frecuentes se encuentra el uso inadecuado de los activos de información; el desconocimiento por parte de los usuarios y la alta gerencia de los riesgos que pueden comprometer a los activos críticos de los nosocomios. El presente trabajo de investigación ofrece una propuesta de solución para los riesgos que acechan constantemente a los activos críticos. Por tal motivo se elaboró una comparativa de nociones y marcos de trabajo orientados a la gestión de riesgos de TI; las cuales al ser acondicionadas a las organizaciones del sector salud, brindan una serie de pasos y métodos indispensables para minimizar los niveles del riesgo. Como objetivo general se propuso: desarrollar un Modelo de Gestión de Riesgos de TI que contribuye en la protección de los activos de información en hospitales de nivel II - I de la región Amazonas. El modelo propuesto fue validado mediante el juicio de 5 expertos; con el alfa de Cronbach se determinó la confiabilidad y en base a Kendall se midió la concordancia. El modelo validado fue aplicado a un hospital de nivel II - I de la muestra; donde se identificaron 258 riesgos, seleccionando 137 riesgos críticos para el respectivo tratamiento. Además se formularon 11 proyectos con la finalidad de monitorear y revisar la gestión de riesgos

First-principles calculation of hot carriers in black phosphorus

ABSTRACT Black Phosphorus (BP), a layered semiconductor, has atracted enormous attention due to its singular anisotropic electronic, optical and thickness-dependent direct bandgap properties. As a consequence, BP has been envisioned as a promising material for several technological applications including photonics electronics and optolectronics. Nonetheless, most of the materials that integrate these devices undergo scattering and decay processes that are governed by quantum mechanical effects. From this point of view, the correct understanding and prediction of hot carriers dynamics in prospective materials as BP is crucial for its succesfull integration in future technology. In this work, based on ab initio calculations, we study the carrier relaxation rates in BP. Thus, the electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering contributions are investigated. Our results suggest that for the near-infrared and visible light spectrum [1.5 to 3.5 eV], the carriers in BP follow an ultrafast dynamics with relaxation times of the order of few to tens of femtoseconds while for the far-infrared range the relaxation times is of the order of hundreds of femtoseconds. Our reults are consistent with previous studies of pump-probe measurements on carrier dynamics