7,240 research outputs found
Impact of global crisis on Mexican multinationals varies by industry, survey finds
The Institute for Economic Research (IIEc) of the National Autonomous University of
Mexico (UNAM) and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment
(VCC), a joint initiative of the Columbia Law School and the Earth Institute at Columbia
University in New York, are releasing the results of their second annual survey of Mexican
multinationals today.1 The survey is part of a long-term study of the rapid global expansion
of the multinational enterprises of emerging markets. The present report focuses on data
for the year 2009.
Highlights
In 2009, the 20 companies listed in table 1 below posted about USD 117 billion in foreign
assets, 63 billion in foreign sales, and had 227,484 employees in their overseas
operations. The top three companies on the list are CEMEX, America Movil, and Carso
Global Telecom, which together controlled USD 86 billion in foreign assets, which was
73% of the total on the list. The leading sectors on the list are food and beverages (4
firms), non-metallic minerals (4 firms), and telecommunications (2 firms).
In keeping with the tradition in Mexican outward foreign direct investment (FDI), most of
the investments were undertaken in Latin America and the Caribbean and in North
America −specifically the United States-. These regions were followed in importance by
Western Europe. Mexican outward FDI has now also begun to appear in China, India, and
Australia.
The shares of all companies ranked in table 1 are publicly traded, with the exception of
PEMEX, which is 100% state-owned, and Xignux, which is a privately held family-owned
firm
Striving to overcome the economic crisis: Progress and diversification of Mexican multinationals’ export of capital
The Institute for Economic Research (IIEc) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC), a joint initiative of the Columbia Law School and the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York, are releasing the results of their third survey of Mexican multinationals today. The survey is part of a long-term study of the rapid global expansion of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging markets. The present report focuses on data for the year 2010.
Highlights
In 2010, the top 20 Mexican MNEs had foreign assets of USDD 123 billion (table 1 below),
foreign sales of USDD 71 billion, and employed 255,340 people abroad (see annex table 1 in
annex I). The top two firms, America Movil and CEMEX, together controlled USDD 85 billion
in foreign assets, accounting for nearly 70% of the assets on the list. The top four firms
(including FEMSA and Grupo Mexico) jointly held USDD 104 billion, which represents almost
85% of the list’s foreign assets. Leading industries in this ranking, by numbers of MNEs, are
non-metallic minerals (four companies) and food and beverages (another four companies). All
but two of the 20 are firms whose shares are traded on a stock exchange. The exceptions are
PEMEX, Mexico’s fully state-owned oil and gas firm, and Xignux, a diversified family-owned
enterprise.
The top 20 MNEs had 223 foreign affiliates (branches, subsidiaries, et al). As with their
counterparts elsewhere in Latin America, Mexican MNEs show a very strong regional
orientation. As annex table 2 makes clear, the top 20 overwhelmingly prefer to invest in Latin
America. The next region of choice, with a substantial presence of Mexican affiliates, is
North America. Europe (mainly the European Union) is a somewhat distant third. The presence
of Mexican MNEs in Asia seems to be growing, if slow. In 2008, four of them had affiliates in
Asia; in 2010, seven did
Superconductivity in the -carbide-type oxides Zr4Rh2Ox
We report on the synthesis and the superconductivity of ZrRhO
( = 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 1.0). These compounds crystallize in the
-carbide structure, which is a filled version of the complex
intermetallic TiNi structure. We find that in the system
ZrRhO, already a small amount ( 0.4) of oxygen addition
stabilizes the -carbide structure over the more common intermetallic
CuAl structure-type, in which ZrRh crystallizes. We show that
ZrRhO and ZrRhO are bulk superconductors with critical
temperatures of 2.8 K and 4.7 K in the resistivity, respectively.
Our analysis of the superconducting properties reveal both compounds to be
strongly type-II superconductors with critical fields up to (0)
8.8 mT and (0) 6.08 T. Our results support
that the -carbides are a versatile family of compounds for the
investigation of the interplay of interstitial doping on physical properties,
especially for superconductivity
A dynamical model of the local cosmic expansion
We combine the equations of motion that govern the dynamics of galaxies in
the local volume with Bayesian techniques in order to fit orbits to published
distances and velocities of galaxies within Mpc. We find a Local Group
(LG) mass that is consistent with the
combined dynamical masses of M31 and the Milky Way, and a mass ratio
that rules out models where our Galaxy is more massive
than M31 with confidence. The Milky Way's circular velocity at the
solar radius is relatively high, km/s, which helps to reconcile the
mass derived from the local Hubble flow with the larger value suggested by the
`timing argument'. Adopting {\it Planck}'s bounds on yields a
(local) Hubble constant km/s/Mpc which is consistent with the
value found on cosmological scales. Restricted N-body experiments show that
substructures tend to fall onto the LG along the Milky Way-M31 axis, where the
quadrupole attraction is maximum. Tests against mock data indicate that
neglecting this effect slightly overestimates the LG mass without biasing the
rest of model parameters. We also show that both the time-dependence of the LG
potential and the cosmological constant have little impact on the observed
local Hubble flow.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures. Accepted to MNRAS. An error in the apex
calculation (Appendix A) was found and has been fixed. The new constraints
favour models where the Milky Way is less massive than M31. The rest of model
parameters and conclusions remain unchange
The VirS/VirR two-component system regulates the anaerobic cytotoxicity, intestinal pathogenicity, and enterotoxemic lethality of Clostridium perfringens type C isolate CN3685.
Clostridium perfringens vegetative cells cause both histotoxic infections (e.g., gas gangrene) and diseases originating in the intestines (e.g., hemorrhagic necrotizing enteritis or lethal enterotoxemia). Despite their medical and veterinary importance, the molecular pathogenicity of C. perfringens vegetative cells causing diseases of intestinal origin remains poorly understood. However, C. perfringens beta toxin (CPB) was recently shown to be important when vegetative cells of C. perfringens type C strain CN3685 induce hemorrhagic necrotizing enteritis and lethal enterotoxemia. Additionally, the VirS/VirR two-component regulatory system was found to control CPB production by CN3685 vegetative cells during aerobic infection of cultured enterocyte-like Caco-2 cells. Using an isogenic virR null mutant, the current study now reports that the VirS/VirR system also regulates CN3685 cytotoxicity during infection of Caco-2 cells under anaerobic conditions, as found in the intestines. More importantly, the virR mutant lost the ability to cause hemorrhagic necrotic enteritis in rabbit small intestinal loops. Western blot analyses demonstrated that the VirS/VirR system mediates necrotizing enteritis, at least in part, by controlling in vivo CPB production. In addition, vegetative cells of the isogenic virR null mutant were, relative to wild-type vegetative cells, strongly attenuated in their lethality in a mouse enterotoxemia model. Collectively, these results identify the first regulator of in vivo pathogenicity for C. perfringens vegetative cells causing disease originating in the complex intestinal environment. Since VirS/VirR also mediates histotoxic infections, this two-component regulatory system now assumes a global role in regulating a spectrum of infections caused by C. perfringens vegetative cells
Corporal punishment and youth externalizing behavior in Santiago, Chile
OBJECTIVES: Corporal punishment is still widely practiced around the globe, despite the large body of child development research that substantiates its short- and long-term consequences. Within this context, this paper examined the relationship between parental use of corporal punishment and youth externalizing behavior with a Chilean sample to add to the growing empirical evidence concerning the potential relationship between increased corporal punishment and undesirable youth outcomes across cultures.
METHODS: Analysis was based on 919 adolescents in Santiago, Chile. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were conducted to examine the extent to which parents' use of corporal punishment and positive family measures were associated with youth externalizing behavior. Furthermore, the associations between self-reported externalizing behavior and infrequent, as well as frequent, use of corporal punishment were investigated to understand how varying levels of parental use of corporal punishment were differently related to youth outcomes.
RESULTS: Both mothers' and fathers' use of corporal punishment were associated with greater youth externalizing behavior. Additionally, increases in positive parenting practices, such as parental warmth and family involvement, were met with decreases in youth externalizing behavior when controlling for youth demographics, family socioeconomic status, and parents' use of corporal punishment. Finally, both infrequent and frequent use of corporal punishment were positively associated with higher youth problem behaviors, though frequent corporal punishment had a stronger relationship with externalizing behavior than did infrequent corporal punishment.
CONCLUSIONS: Parental use of corporal punishment, even on an occasional basis, is associated with greater externalizing behavior for youth while a warm and involving family environment may protect youth from serious problem behaviors. Therefore, findings of this study add to the growing evidence concerning the negative consequences of corporal punishment for youth outcomes.R01 HD033487 - NICHD NIH HHS; R01 DA021181 - NIDA NIH HH
Relationship between discordance in parental monitoring and behavioral problems among Chilean adolescents
This study investigated the role of discrepancies between parent and youth reports of perceived parental monitoring in adolescent problem behaviors with a Chilean sample (N= 850). Higher levels of discordance concerning parental monitoring predicted greater levels of maladaptive youth behaviors. A positive association between parent-youth discordance and externalizing problems indicated that large adult-youth disagreement in parental monitoring may impose a great risk, despite protective efforts of parental monitoring. Although the direct relationship between parental monitoring and youth internalizing behaviors was not significant, parent-youth incongruence in monitoring was associated with greater levels of internalizing behaviors. Therefore, differing assessments of parental behaviors, as an indicator of less optimal family functioning, may provide important information about youth maladjustment and may potentially provide a beginning point for family-focused intervention.R01 DA021181 - NIDA NIH HHS; R01 DA021181-05 - NIDA NIH HHS; R01 HD033487 - NICHD NIH HH
Changes in the dynamics of Mexicans multinationals vis-á-vis the reforms on finance, energy and telecommunications in the midst of the crisis
The Institute for Economic Research (IIEc) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), a joint center of Columbia Law School and the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York, are releasing the results of their sixth survey of Mexican multinationals today. The survey, conducted during 2014, is part of a long-term study of the rapid global expansion of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging markets. The present report focuses on 2013 data
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