Short-Term Capital Flows, The Real Economy and Income Distribution in Developing Countries

The volatility of short-term capital flows (or 'capital surges') is now recognized as a major problem for macroeconomic management in developing countries; but the consequences for the 'real' economy - that is, the behaviour of government, firms and households which subsequently translates into investment, growth, employment and welfare - is less well understood. Short-term capital flow instability arises from the desire of investors to hold liquid assets in the face of uncertainty; affecting the real economy both through variations in both prices such as the interest rate and the exchange rate, and quantities such as levels of bank credit and government bond sales. In this chapter, government expenditure is shown to respond in an asymmetric manner to sudden changes in investor perceptions of fiscal solvency associated with portfolio capital surges. The impact of short flows on output and investment by firms through the availability of bank credit is also found to be large and asymmetric. The macroeconomic effect of capital surges on employment levels and the real wage rate is shown to arise from their influence on real exchange rates and domestic demand levels, although whether employment or wages adjust depends the monetary stabilization policy adopted. The chapter concludes with some implications of the analysis for longer-term growth and policy design.

Should States or Cities Regulate Fracking: Colorado the Latest State to Confront the Issue

The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Busines

Searching for Uncollected Litter with Computer Vision

This study combines photo metadata and computer vision to quantify where uncollected litter is present. Images from the Trash Annotations in Context (TACO) dataset were used to teach an algorithm to detect 10 categories of garbage. Although it worked well with smartphone photos, it struggled when trying to process images from vehicle mounted cameras. However, increasing the variety of perspectives and backgrounds in the dataset will help it improve in unfamiliar situations. These data are plotted onto a map which, as accuracy improves, could be used for measuring waste management strategies and quantifying trends.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Inventing and Implementing LLCs at an HBCU in One Year: Lessons Learned

Living-Learning Communities (LLCs) have proven to be a successful high impact practice at institutions across the nation. Norfolk State University (NSU), a Historically Black University, recently established a formal LLC program as a part of the University’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Through a strong partnership with Academic and Student Affairs, NSU implemented and invented LLCs all within one academic year. Similar to the collaborative nature of LLCs, this paper examines the lessons learned from various perspectives (LLC director, teaching dean, faculty liaison, faculty) during the rapid inventing and implementing of LLCs

A three-protein biomarker panel assessed in diagnostic tissue predicts death from prostate cancer for men with localized disease

Only a minority of prostate cancers lead to death. Because no tissue biomarkers of aggressiveness other than Gleason score are available at diagnosis, many nonlethal cancers are treated aggressively. We evaluated whether a panel of biomarkers, associated with a range of disease outcomes in previous studies, could predict death from prostate cancer for men with localized disease. Using a case-only design, subjects were identified from three Australian epidemiological studies. Men who had died of their disease, cases (N = 83), were matched to referents (N = 232), those who had not died of prostate cancer, using incidence density sampling. Diagnostic tissue was retrieved to assess expression of AZGP1, MUC1, NKX3.1, p53, and PTEN by semiquantitative immunohistochemistry (IHC). Poisson regression was used to estimate mortality rate ratios (MRRs) adjusted for age, Gleason score, and stage and to estimate survival probabilities. Expression of MUC1 and p53 was associated with increased mortality (MRR 2.51, 95% CI 1.14-5.54, P = 0.02 and 3.08, 95% CI 1.41-6.95, P = 0.005, respectively), whereas AZGP1 expression was associated with decreased mortality (MRR 0.44, 95% CI 0.20-0.96, P = 0.04). Analyzing all markers under a combined model indicated that the three markers were independent predictors of prostate cancer death and survival. For men with localized disease at diagnosis, assessment of AZGP1, MUC1, and p53 expression in diagnostic tissue by IHC could potentially improve estimates of risk of dying from prostate cancer based only on Gleason score and clinical stage