Productivity and Labour Demand Effects of Inward and Outward FDI on UK Industry

We relate the technological and factor price determinants of inward and outward FDI to its potential productivity and labour market effects on both host and home economies. This allows us to distinguish clearly between technology sourcing and technology exploiting FDI, and to identify FDI which is linked to labour cost differentials. We then empirically examine the effects of different types of FDI into and out of the United Kingdom on domestic (i.e. UK) productivity and on the demand for skilled and unskilled labour at the industry level. Inward investment into the UK comes overwhelmingly from sectors and countries which have a technological advantage over the corresponding UK sector. Outward FDI shows a quite different pattern, dominated by investment into foreign sectors which have lower unit labour costs than the UK. We find that different types of FDI have markedly different productivity and labour demand effects, which may in part explain the lack of consensus in the empirical literature on the effects of FDI. Our results also highlight the difficulty for policy makers of simultaneously improving employment and domestic productivity through FDI

Quantum dot emission from site-controlled ngan/gan micropyramid arrays

InxGa1−xN quantum dots have been fabricated by the selective growth of GaN micropyramid arrays topped with InGaN/GaN quantum wells. The spatially, spectrally, and time-resolved emission properties of these structures were measured using cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging and low-temperature microphotoluminescence spectroscopy. The presence of InGaN quantum dots was confirmed directly by the observation of sharp peaks in the emission spectrum at the pyramid apices. These luminescence peaks exhibit decay lifetimes of approximately 0.5 ns, with linewidths down to 650 me

Study of the Local Interstellar Medium using Pulsar Scintillation

We present here the results from an extensive scintillation study of twenty pulsars in the dispersion measure (DM) range 3 - 35 pc cm^-3 carried out using the Ooty Radio Telescope, to investigate the distribution of ionized material in the local interstellar medium (LISM). Our analysis reveals several anomalies in the scattering strength, which suggest that the distribution of scattering material in the Solar neighborhood is not uniform. Our model suggests the presence of a low density bubble surrounded by a shell of much higher density fluctuations. We are able to put some constraints on geometrical and scattering properties of such a structure, and find it to be morphologically similar to the Local Bubble known from other studies.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Kernel density classification and boosting: an L2 sub analysis

Kernel density estimation is a commonly used approach to classification. However, most of the theoretical results for kernel methods apply to estimation per se and not necessarily to classification. In this paper we show that when estimating the difference between two densities, the optimal smoothing parameters are increasing functions of the sample size of the complementary group, and we provide a small simluation study which examines the relative performance of kernel density methods when the final goal is classification. A relative newcomer to the classification portfolio is “boosting”, and this paper proposes an algorithm for boosting kernel density classifiers. We note that boosting is closely linked to a previously proposed method of bias reduction in kernel density estimation and indicate how it will enjoy similar properties for classification. We show that boosting kernel classifiers reduces the bias whilst only slightly increasing the variance, with an overall reduction in error. Numerical examples and simulations are used to illustrate the findings, and we also suggest further areas of research

Can a Lattice String Have a Vanishing Cosmological Constant?

We prove that a class of one-loop partition functions found by Dienes, giving rise to a vanishing cosmological constant to one-loop, cannot be realized by a consistent lattice string. The construction of non-supersymmetric string with a vanishing cosmological constant therefore remains as elusive as ever. We also discuss a new test that any one-loop partition function for a lattice string must satisfy.Comment: 14 page

Hypothyroxinaemia and brain development

The aim of this review is to indicate the current position on the role of thyroxine (T4) and fetal brain development with particular relevance to the human situation. Adequate maternal iodine nutrition and maternal circulating thyroxine (T4) concentrations are essential to ensure optimum T4 placental passage which in turn will ensure transport of T4 into fetal brain cells. These processes are discussed and the role of thyroid hormone transporters is considered. The emphasis on isolated maternal hypothyroxinaemia (IH) as an important factor affecting brain development is discussed from the animal experimental point of view as well as in the clinical setting. There is evidence of neurocognitive impairment as assessed by different modalities in children up to the age of 8 years and some suggestion of increased psychiatric disorder in older persons whose mothers had IH during gestation. Although international guidelines have not in general recommended thyroxine therapy for IH the recent demonstration of adverse obstetric outcomes in women with isolated maternal hypothyroxinaemia may warrant a revision of this strategy

Observational constraints on the neutron star mass distribution

Radio observations of neutron star binary pulsar systems have constrained strongly the masses of eight neutron stars. Assuming neutron star masses are uniformly distributed between lower and upper bounds $m_l$ and $m_u$, the observations determine with 95\% confidence that $1.01 < m_l/\text{M}_\odot < 1.34$ and $1.43 < m_u/\text{M}_\odot < 1.64$. These limits give observational support to neutron star formation scenarios that suggest that masses should fall predominantly in the range $1.3<m/\text{M}_\odot<1.6$, and will also be important in the interpretation of binary inspiral observations by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory.Comment: Postscript, 4 pages, NU-GR-

Deformation of the Planetary Orbits Caused by the Time Dependent Gravitational Potential in the Universe

In the paper are studied the deformations of the planetary orbits caused by the time dependent gravitational potential in the universe. It is shown that the orbits are not axially symmetric and the time dependent potential does not cause perihelion precession. It is found a simple formula for the change of the orbit period caused by the time dependent gravitational potential and it is tested for two binary pulsars.Comment: 7 page