Foreign direct investment and poverty reduction

Foreign direct investment is a key ingredient of successful economic growth and development in developing countries--partly because the very essence of economic development is the rapid and efficient transfer and cross-border adoption of"best practices."Foreign direct investment is especially well suited to effecting this transfer and translating it into broad-based growth, not least by upgrading human capital. Growth is the single most important factor in poverty reduction, so foreign direct investment is also central to achieving that important World Bank goal. Government-led programs that improve social safety nets and explicitly redistribute assets and income might direct more of the fruits of growth to the poor. But these are complements--not alternatives--to sensible growth-oriented policies. And growth is needed to fund these government-led programs. Moreover, the delivery of social servicesto the poor--from insurance schemes to such basic services as water and energy--can clearly benefit from reliance on foreign investors. In short, foreign direct investment remains one of the most effective tools in the fight against poverty.Labor Policies,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Environmental Economics&Policies,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Economic Theory&Research,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Environmental Economics&Policies,Foreign Direct Investment,Governance Indicators,Poverty Assessment

Effective order strong stability preserving Runge–Kutta methods

We apply the concept of effective order to strong stability preserving (SSP) explicit Runge–Kutta methods. Relative to classical Runge–Kutta methods, effective order methods are designed to satisfy a relaxed set of order conditions, but yield higher order accuracy when composed with special starting and stopping methods. The relaxed order conditions allow for greater freedom in the design of effective order methods. We show that this allows the construction of four-stage SSP methods with effective order four (such methods cannot have classical order four). However, we also prove that effective order five methods—like classical order five methods—require the use of non-positive weights and so cannot be SSP. By numerical optimization, we construct explicit SSP Runge–Kutta methods up to effective order four and establish the optimality of many of them. Numerical experiments demonstrate the validity of these methods in practice

Domain Wall Orientations in Ferroelectric Superlattices Probed with Synchrotron X-Ray Diffraction

Ferroelectric domains in PbTiO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ superlattices were studied using synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Macroscopic measurements revealed a change in the domain wall orientation from $\left\lbrace 100 \right\rbrace$ to $\left\lbrace 110 \right\rbrace$ crystallographic planes with increasing temperature. The temperature range of this reorientation depends on the ferroelectric layer thickness and domain period. Using a nanofocused beam, local changes in domain wall orientation within the buried ferroelectric layers were imaged, both in structurally uniform regions of the sample and near defect sites and argon ion etched patterns. Domain walls were found to exhibit preferential alignment with the straight edges of the etched patterns as well as with structural features associated with defect sites. The distribution of out-of-plane lattice parameters was mapped around one such feature, showing that it is accompanied by inhomogeneous strain and large strain gradients

High order discretizations for spatial dependent SIR models

In this paper, an SIR model with spatial dependence is studied and results regarding its stability and numerical approximation are presented. We consider a generalization of the original Kermack and McKendrick model in which the size of the populations differs in space. The use of local spatial dependence yields a system of integro-differential equations. The uniqueness and qualitative properties of the continuous model are analyzed. Furthermore, different choices of spatial and temporal discretizations are employed, and step-size restrictions for population conservation, positivity, and monotonicity preservation of the discrete model are investigated. We provide sufficient conditions under which high order numerical schemes preserve the discrete properties of the model. Computational experiments verify the convergence and accuracy of the numerical methods.Comment: 33 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Applying the SOFIA Coordinate System to the HIRMES Instrument

The High-resolution Mid-infrared Spectrometer (HIRMES) will be in-flight aboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) in late 2019, which will allow for observations of the structure and evolution of protoplanetary disks. SOFIA has a different coordinate system from the system being used to build HIRMES and needs to be defined and applied to HIRMES. This is necessary because the first mirror, which is aiming the incoming light onto the slit wheel by allowing for tip and tilt adjustments, cannot rotate. Thus, the SOFIA coordinate system allows for this additional degree of freedom and allows for the slit wheel to be in line with the telescope. Using a laser radar, multiple measurements around the instrument were taken of tooling balls, which quantified an uncertainty with the measurements. Also, a laser radar was used to scan the entirety of the instrument. The center of the front flange was determined using the measurements and scans of the instrument, which was used to determine the origin of the SOFIA coordinate system and its uncertainty. By knowing the center of the front flange, an off-center, rotated coordinate system was created, matching the mechanics' schematics for the system. Going forward, this coordinate system will allow for continued alignment of the instrument in preparation for flight and for accurate measurements when aboard SOFIA

The Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn Sum Rule and the Rigid Rotator

It is shown that the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule, associated with the photoabsorption cross section from quantum systems, appears to be violated in the case of the quantized rigid rotator, The origin of the apparent violation is investigated, and its resolution is presented on the basis of a related system, i.e., a particle in a spherical delta-function potential whose energy spectrum approaches that of the rigid rotator when the strength of the potential becomes large. (C) 1997 American Association of Physics Teachers

Conclusion

This chapter summarizes the arguments and discusses the results of the GAP project in the context of the ongoing reform in fisheries governance

Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors in Cell Pluripotency, Differentiation, and Reprogramming

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are small molecules that have important and pleiotropic effects on cell homeostasis. Under distinct developmental conditions, they can promote either self-renewal or differentiation of embryonic stem cells. In addition, they can promote directed differentiation of embryonic and tissue-specific stem cells along the neuronal, cardiomyocytic, and hepatic lineages. They have been used to facilitate embryo development following somatic cell nuclear transfer and induced pluripotent stem cell derivation by ectopic expression of pluripotency factors. In the latter method, these molecules not only increase effectiveness, but can also render the induction independent of the oncogenes c-Myc and Klf4. Here we review the molecular pathways that are involved in the functions of HDAC inhibitors on stem cell differentiation and reprogramming of somatic cells into pluripotency. Deciphering the mechanisms of HDAC inhibitor actions is very important to enable their exploitation for efficient and simple tissue regeneration therapies