How do foreign institutional investors enhance firm innovation?

We examine the effect of foreign institutional investors on firm innovation. Using firm-level data across 26 non-U.S. economies between 2000 and 2010, we show that foreign institutional ownership has a positive, causal effect on firm innovation. We further explore three possible underlying mechanisms through which foreign institutions affect firm innovation: Foreign institutions act as active monitors, provide insurance for firm managers against innovation failures, and promote knowledge spillovers from high-innovation economies. Our article sheds new light on the real effects of foreign institutions on firm innovation

Physicians, Primary Caregivers and Topical Repellent: All Under-Utilised Resources in Stopping Dengue Virus Transmission in Affected Households

BACKGROUND: Primary health care facilities frequently manage dengue cases on an ambulatory basis for the duration of the patient’s illness. There is a great opportunity for specific messaging, aimed to reduce dengue virus (DENV) transmission in and around the home, to be directly targeted toward this high-risk ambulatory patient group, as part of an integrated approach to dengue management. The extent however, to which physicians understand, and can themselves effectively communicate strategies to stop focal DENV transmission around an ambulatory dengue case is unknown; the matter of patient comprehension and recollection then ensues. In addition, the effectiveness of N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET)-based insect repellent in protecting dengue patients from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes’ bites has not been investigated. METHODOLOGY: A knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey, focusing on the mechanisms of DENV transmission and prevention, was performed using semi-structured questionnaires. This survey was targeted towards the patients and family members providing supportive care, and physicians routinely involved in dengue patient management in Southern Vietnam. An additional clinical observational study was conducted to measure the efficacy of a widely-used 13% DEET-based insect repellent to repel Ae. aegypti mosquitoes from the forearms of dengue cases and matched healthy controls. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Among both the physician (n = 50) and patient (n = 49) groups there were several respondents lacking a coherent understanding of DENV transmission, leading to some inappropriate attitudes and inadequate acute preventive practices in the household. The application of insect repellent to protect patients and their relatives from mosquito bites was frequently recommended by majority of physicians (78%) participating in the survey. Nevertheless, our tested topical application of 13% DEET conferred only ~1hr median protection time from Ae. aegypti landing. This is notably shorter than that advertised on the manufacturer’s label. No differences in landing time between febrile dengue cases or matched healthy controls (n = 19 experiments) were observed. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study identifies missed opportunities for primary care physicians to improve public health through communication of strategies that could prevent focal dengue transmission in and around a case household. We advocate better access to more efficient communication methods for physicians and auxilliary health workers, supporting to educate those at high risk of DENV transmission. Our empirical testing of a widely-available 13% DEET-based repellent was limited in its protective efficacy against Ae. aegypti mosquito bites, and therefore DENV transmission, suggesting more frequent application is necessary to be beneficial

Herschel observations of embedded protostellar clusters in the Rosette Molecular Cloud

The Herschel OB young stellar objects survey (HOBYS) has observed the Rosette molecular cloud, providing an unprecedented view of its star formation activity. These new far-infrared data reveal a population of compact young stellar objects whose physical properties we aim to characterise. We compiled a sample of protostars and their spectral energy distributions that covers the near-infrared to submillimetre wavelength range. These were used to constrain key properties in the protostellar evolution, bolometric luminosity, and envelope mass and to build an evolutionary diagram. Several clusters are distinguished including the cloud centre, the embedded clusters in the vicinity of luminous infrared sources, and the interaction region. The analysed protostellar population in Rosette ranges from 0.1 to about 15 Msun with luminosities between 1 and 150 Lsun, which extends the evolutionary diagram from low-mass protostars into the high-mass regime. Some sources lack counterparts at near- to mid-infrared wavelengths, indicating extreme youth. The central cluster and the Phelps & Lada 7 cluster appear less evolved than the remainder of the analysed protostellar population. For the central cluster, we find indications that about 25% of the protostars classified as Class I from near- to mid-infrared data are actually candidate Class 0 objects. As a showcase for protostellar evolution, we analysed four protostars of low- to intermediate-mass in a single dense core, and they represent different evolutionary stages from Class 0 to Class I. Their mid- to far-infrared spectral slopes flatten towards the Class I stage, and the 160 to 70um flux ratio is greatest for the presumed Class 0 source. This shows that the Herschel observations characterise the earliest stages of protostellar evolution in detail.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics letter, 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in the Special Issue for Herschel first result

Comparative Susceptibility of Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti to Dengue Virus Infection After Feeding on Blood of Viremic Humans: Implications for Public Health.

Aedes albopictus is secondary to Aedes aegypti as a vector of dengue viruses (DENVs) in settings of endemicity, but it plays an important role in areas of dengue emergence. This study compared the susceptibility of these 2 species to DENV infection by performing 232 direct blood-feeding experiments on 118 viremic patients with dengue in Vietnam. Field-derived A. albopictus acquired DENV infections as readily as A. aegypti after blood feeding. Once infected, A. albopictus permitted higher concentrations of DENV RNA to accumulate in abdominal tissues, compared with A. aegypti. However, the odds of A. albopictus having infectious saliva were lower than the odds observed for A. aegypti (odds ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval, .52-.93). These results quantitate the susceptibility of A. albopictus to DENV infection and will assist parameterization of models for predicting disease risk in settings where A. albopictus is present

First Results from High Angular Resolution ALMA Observations Toward the HL Tau Region

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations from the 2014 Long Baseline Campaign in dust continuum and spectral line emission from the HL Tau region. The continuum images at wavelengths of 2.9, 1.3, and 0.87 mm have unprecedented angular resolutions of 0.075 arcseconds (10 AU) to 0.025 arcseconds (3.5 AU), revealing an astonishing level of detail in the circumstellar disk surrounding the young solar analogue HL Tau, with a pattern of bright and dark rings observed at all wavelengths. By fitting ellipses to the most distinct rings, we measure precise values for the disk inclination (46.72pm0.05 degrees) and position angle (+138.02pm0.07 degrees). We obtain a high-fidelity image of the 1.0 mm spectral index ($\alpha$), which ranges from $\alpha\sim2.0$ in the optically-thick central peak and two brightest rings, increasing to 2.3-3.0 in the dark rings. The dark rings are not devoid of emission, we estimate a grain emissivity index of 0.8 for the innermost dark ring and lower for subsequent dark rings, consistent with some degree of grain growth and evolution. Additional clues that the rings arise from planet formation include an increase in their central offsets with radius and the presence of numerous orbital resonances. At a resolution of 35 AU, we resolve the molecular component of the disk in HCO+ (1-0) which exhibits a pattern over LSR velocities from 2-12 km/s consistent with Keplerian motion around a ~1.3 solar mass star, although complicated by absorption at low blue-shifted velocities. We also serendipitously detect and resolve the nearby protostars XZ Tau (A/B) and LkHa358 at 2.9 mm.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

ALMA-IMF IX: Catalog and Physical Properties of 315 SiO Outflow Candidates in 15 Massive Protoclusters

We present a catalog of 315 protostellar outflow candidates detected in SiO J=5-4 in the ALMA-IMF Large Program, observed with ~2000 au spatial resolution, 0.339 km/s velocity resolution, and 2-12 mJy/beam (0.18-0.8 K) sensitivity. We find median outflow masses, momenta, and kinetic energies of ~0.3 M$_{\odot}$, 4 M$_{\odot}$ km/s, and 10$^{45}$ erg, respectively. Median outflow lifetimes are 6,000 years, yielding median mass, momentum, and energy rates of $\dot{M}$ = 10$^{-4.4}$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, $\dot{P}$ = 10$^{-3.2}$ M$_{\odot}$ km/s yr$^{-1}$, and $\dot{E}$ = 1 L$_{\odot}$. We analyze these outflow properties in the aggregate in each field. We find correlations between field-aggregated SiO outflow properties and total mass in cores (~3$-$5$\sigma$), and no correlations above 3$\sigma$ with clump mass, clump luminosity, or clump luminosity-to-mass ratio. We perform a linear regression analysis and find that the correlation between field-aggregated outflow mass and total clump mass - which has been previously described in the literature - may actually be mediated by the relationship between outflow mass and total mass in cores. We also find that the most massive SiO outflow in each field is typically responsible for only 15-30% of the total outflow mass (60% upper limit). Our data agree well with the established mechanical force-bolometric luminosity relationship in the literature, and our data extend this relationship up to L $\geq$ 10$^6$ L$_{\odot}$ and $\dot{P}$ $\geq$ 1 M$_{\odot}$ km/s yr$^{-1}$. Our lack of correlation with clump L/M is inconsistent with models of protocluster formation in which all protostars start forming at the same time.Comment: 46 pages, 14 figures, 10 tables. This publication has an associated Zenodo entry, which can be found here: https://zenodo.org/records/835059

The H2O southern Galactic Plane Survey(HOPS): NH3 (1,1) and (2,2) catalogues

The H2O Southern Galactic Plane Survey (HOPS) has mapped a 100 degree strip of the Galactic plane (-70deg > l > 30deg, |b| < 0.5deg) using the 22-m Mopra antenna at 12-mm wavelengths. Observations were conducted in on-the-fly mode using the Mopra spectrometer (MOPS), targeting water masers, thermal molecular emission and radio-recombination lines. Foremost among the thermal lines are the 23 GHz transitions of NH3 J,K = (1,1) and (2,2), which trace the densest parts of molecular clouds (n > 10^4 cm^{-3}). In this paper we present the NH3 (1,1) and (2,2) data, which have a resolution of 2 arcmin and cover a velocity range of +/-200 km/s. The median sensitivity of the NH3 data-cubes is sigma_Tmb = 0.20 +/1 0.06 K. For the (1,1) transition this sensitivity equates to a 3.2 kpc distance limit for detecting a 20 K, 400 Msun cloud at the 5-sigma level. Similar clouds of mass 5,000 Msun would be detected as far as the Galactic centre, while 30,000 Msun clouds would be seen across the Galaxy. We have developed an automatic emission finding procedure based on the ATNF DUCHAMP software and have used it to create a new catalogue of 669 dense molecular clouds. The catalogue is 100 percent complete at the 5-sigma detection limit (Tmb = 1.0 K). A preliminary analysis of the ensemble cloud properties suggest that the near kinematic distances are favoured. The cloud positions are consistent with current models of the Galaxy containing a long bar. Combined with other Galactic plane surveys this new molecular-line dataset constitutes a key tool for examining Galactic structure and evolution. Data-cubes, spectra and catalogues are available to the community via the HOPS website.Comment: 22 pages, 19 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS (25-July-2012

NIKA2 observations of dust grain evolution from star-forming filament to T-Tauri disk: Preliminary results from NIKA2 observations of the Taurus B211/B213 filament

To understand the evolution of dust properties in molecular clouds in the course of the star formation process, we constrain the changes in the dust emissivity index from star-forming filaments to prestellar and protostellar cores to T Tauri stars. Using the NIKA2 continuum camera on the IRAM 30~m telescope, we observed the Taurus B211/B213 filament at 1.2\,mm and 2\,mm with unprecedented sensitivity and used the resulting maps to derive the dust emissivity index $\beta$. Our sample of 105 objects detected in the $\beta$ map of the B211/B213 filament indicates that, overall, $\beta$ decreases from filament and prestellar cores ($\beta \sim 2\pm0.5$) to protostellar cores ($\beta \sim 1.2 \pm 0.2$) to T-Tauri protoplanetary disk ($\beta < 1$). The averaged dust emissivity index $\beta$ across the B211/B213 filament exhibits a flat ($\beta \sim 2\pm0.3$) profile. This may imply that dust grain sizes are rather homogeneous in the filament, start to grow significantly in size only after the onset of the gravitational contraction/collapse of prestellar cores to protostars, reaching big sizes in T Tauri protoplanetary disks. This evolution from the parent filament to T-Tauri disks happens on a timescale of about 1-2~Myr.Comment: to appear in Proc. of the mm Universe 2023 conference, Grenoble (France), June 2023, published by F. Mayet et al. (Eds), EPJ Web of conferences, EDP Science