Malaysia in the Global Economy: Crisis, Recovery, and the Road Ahead

This article offers an analysis of contemporary economic development in Malaysia, focusing especially on the causes and consequences of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Malaysia offers an excellent case study in international development due to its role as an export-dependent developing country with a high degree of integration in the global economy. In attempting to determine why Malaysia was enveloped by a financial crisis in July of 1997, a two-level political economy approach is used to separate international policy influences from domestic influences. My findings suggest that a combination of ill-advised, full capital account liberalization (Washington Consensus / international influence) combined with imprudent handling of massive short-term capital inflows (domestic) in the late 1980s and 1990s led to a currency devaluation that resulted in a financial crisis and, consequently, a crisis of Malaysia’s real economy. This study identifies three specific policy choices made by the Malaysian government as instrumental in creating crisis-prone conditions: a fixed exchange rate, an open capital account, and monetary policy autonomy. Among foreign and domestic investors, this policy regime created a false sense of confidence in the stability of Malaysia’s economy. Since the crisis, Malaysian policymakers have come to recognize that a developing country’s vulnerability in the sometimes-volatile global economy cannot be completely eliminated. Under its current leadership, Malaysia has wisely sought to lessen its vulnerability through confidence-building measures in the banking and corporate sectors, diversification of the domestic economy through a focus on commodity and service expansion, and the implementation of more prudent macroeconomic policies. This line of research is valuable as it highlights the evident virtues and dangers of a developing country’s economic integration into the global economy

Dissolved and particulate barium distributions along the US GEOTRACES North Atlantic and East Pacific zonal transects (GA03 and GP16): global implications for the marine barium cycle

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 36(6), (2022): e2022GB007330, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gb007330.Processes controlling dissolved barium (dBa) were investigated along the GEOTRACES GA03 North Atlantic and GP16 Eastern Tropical Pacific transects, which traversed similar physical and biogeochemical provinces. Dissolved Ba concentrations are lowest in surface waters (∼35–50 nmol kg−1) and increase to 70–80 and 140–150 nmol kg−1 in deep waters of the Atlantic and Pacific transects, respectively. Using water mass mixing models, we estimate conservative mixing that accounts for most of dBa variability in both transects. To examine nonconservative processes, particulate excess Ba (pBaxs) formation and dissolution rates were tracked by normalizing particulate excess 230Th activities. Th-normalized pBaxs fluxes, with barite as the likely phase, have subsurface maxima in the top 1,000 m (∼100–200 μmol m−2 year−1 average) in both basins. Barite precipitation depletes dBa within oxygen minimum zones from concentrations predicted by water mass mixing, whereas inputs from continental margins, particle dissolution in the water column, and benthic diffusive flux raise dBa above predications. Average pBaxs burial efficiencies along GA03 and GP16 are ∼37% and 17%–100%, respectively, and do not seem to be predicated on barite saturation indices in the overlying water column. Using published values, we reevaluate the global freshwater dBa river input as 6.6 ± 3.9 Gmol year−1. Estuarine mixing processes may add another 3–13 Gmol year−1. Dissolved Ba inputs from broad shallow continental margins, previously unaccounted for in global marine summaries, are substantial (∼17 Gmol year−1), exceeding terrestrial freshwater inputs. Revising river and shelf dBa inputs may help bring the marine Ba isotope budget more into balance.The International GEOTRACES Programme is possible in part thanks to the support from the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant OCE-1840868) to the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF OCE-0927951, NSF OCE-1137851, NSF OCE-1261214, and NSF OCE-1925503 to A. M. Shiller; NSF OCE-1829563 to R. F. Anderson; NSF OCE-0927064 and NSF OCE-1233688 to R. F. Anderson and M. Q. Fleisher; NSF OCE-0927754 to R. Lawrence Edwards; NSF OCE-1233903 to R. Lawrence Edwards and H. Cheng; NSF OCE-0926860 to L. F. Robinson; NSF OCE-0963026 and NSF OCE-1518110 to P. J. Lam; and NSF OCE-1232814 to B. S. Twining

Flux of particulate elements in the North Atlantic Ocean constrained by multiple radionuclides

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 32(12), (2019): 1738-1758, doi:10.1029/2018GB005994.Sinking particles strongly regulate the distribution of reactive chemical substances in the ocean, including particulate organic carbon and other elements (e.g., P, Cd, Mn, Cu, Co, Fe, Al, and 232Th). Yet, the sinking fluxes of trace elements have not been well described in the global ocean. The U.S. GEOTRACES campaign in the North Atlantic (GA03) offers the first data set in which the sinking flux of carbon and trace elements can be derived using four different radionuclide pairs (238U:234Th ;210Pb:210Po; 228Ra:228Th; and 234U:230Th) at stations co‐located with sediment trap fluxes for comparison. Particulate organic carbon, particulate P, and particulate Cd fluxes all decrease sharply with depth below the euphotic zone. Particulate Mn, Cu, and Co flux profiles display mixed behavior, some cases reflecting biotic remineralization, and other cases showing increased flux with depth. The latter may be related to either lateral input of lithogenic material or increased scavenging onto particles. Lastly, particulate Fe fluxes resemble fluxes of Al and 232Th, which all have increasing flux with depth, indicating a dominance of lithogenic flux at depth by resuspended sediment transported laterally to the study site. In comparing flux estimates derived using different isotope pairs, differences result from different timescales of integration and particle size fractionation effects. The range in flux estimates produced by different methods provides a robust constraint on the true removal fluxes, taking into consideration the independent uncertainties associated with each method. These estimates will be valuable targets for biogeochemical modeling and may also offer insight into particle sinking processes.This study grew out of a synthesis workshop at the Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in August 2016. This workshop was sponsored by the U.S. GEOTRACES Project Office (NSF 1536294) and the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCP) Project Office (NSF 1558412 and NASA NNX17AB17G). The U.S. National Science Foundation supported all of the analytical work on GA03. Kuanbo Zhou measured 228Th in the large size class particles (NSF 0925158 to WHOI). NSF 1061128 to Stony Brook University supported the BaRFlux project, for which Chistina Heilbrun is acknowledged for laboratory and field work. The lead author acknowledges support from a start‐up grant from the University of Southern Mississippi. Two anonymous reviewers are thanked for their constructive comments. All GEOTRACES GA03 data used in this study are accessible through the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (http://data.bco‐dmo.org/jg/dir/BCO/GEOTRACES/NorthAtlanticTransect/), and derived parameters are reported in the supporting information.2019-05-2

Ultrafast InGaAsP for a portable terahertz time domain spectroscopy system

International audienc

L’Unité Virtuelle de Soins pour le développement de compétences relatives à la surveillance clinique en contexte de soins critiques : une étude qualitative descriptive

Résumé Introduction : La réalité virtuelle (RV) est une méthode pédagogique de plus en plus utilisée pour favoriser l’acquisition de certaines compétences chez les personnes étudiantes en sciences infirmières. Le jugement clinique lors de la surveillance d’une personne soignée en soins critiques est une compétence pouvant être développée grâce à la RV. Toutefois, avant d’intégrer cette méthode pédagogique à la formation infirmière, il est important de s’assurer de l’acceptabilité et de la faisabilité dans un contexte de formation en sciences infirmières. But : Cette étude décrit l’expérience vécue par des personnes étudiantes en sciences infirmières lorsqu’elles ont utilisé l’UVS pour développer leurs compétences en surveillance clinique en contexte de soins critiques. Méthode : Un devis descriptif qualitatif a été utilisé. Des entrevues semi-dirigées ont été menées auprès de 13 personnes participantes provenant de trois universités québécoises ayant vécu une expérience de RV où elles avaient à prendre en charge une personne hémodynamiquement instable. Résultats : Les personnes participantes ont identifié 10 facteurs facilitants et 9 facteurs contraignants quant à l’utilisation de l’UVS comme méthode pédagogique pour développer les connaissances relatives à la surveillance clinique en contexte de soins critiques. Conclusion : L’utilisation de la RV dans la formation infirmière doit tenir compte autant des facteurs facilitants que contraignants afin de rendre l’expérience positive et favoriser son acceptabilité. Abstract Introduction: Virtual reality (VR) is a teaching method increasingly used to promote the acquisition of certain competencies by nursing students. One competency that can be developed with these tools is clinical judgment in the monitoring of critical care patients. Before incorporating this type of pedagogy into training initiatives for nurses, its acceptability and feasibility in nursing education programs must be validated. Purpose: This study describes the experience of nursing students who relied on UVS to develop clinical monitoring competencies in a critical care setting. Method: A qualitative descriptive design was used, and semi-structured interviews were held with 13 participants from 3 Quebec universities who underwent a VR experience requiring them to care for a hemodynamically unstable patient. Results: Participants identified 10 facilitating factors and 9 hindering factors with regard to the use of UVS as a method for teaching students how to develop knowledge of clinical monitoring in a critical care setting. Conclusion: Use of VR in nursing education must consider both facilitating and hindering factors in order to foster positive student experiences and promote the method’s acceptance