Macroeconomic Volatility, Institutional Instability and the Incentive to Innovate

This study investigates the channels through which macroeconomic and institutional instability hinders innovative investment undertakings financed by the domestic private sector. The analysis is based on a sample of 44 countries and considers various instability dimensions. The results suggest a negative impact of real, monetary and political instability on the aggregate level of R&D financed by the business sector. Thus, highlighting the importance of stable macro‐institutional environments in preventing avoidance or abandonment of private innovation undertakings

A new type of neutral-ionic interface in mixed-stack organic charge-tranfer crystals: Temperature induced ionicity change in ClMePD-DMeDCNQI

Raman and polarized infrared spectra of the mixed stack charge transfer crystal 2-chloro-5methyl-p-phenylendiamine- -2,5-dimethyl-dicyanoquinonediimine (ClMePD-DMeDCNQI) are reported as a function of temperature. A detailed spectral interpretation allows us to gain new insight into the temperature induced neutral-ionic transition in this compound. In particular, the crossing of the neutral-ionic borderline appears to be quite different from that of the few known temperature induced neutral-ionic phase transitions. First of all, the ionicity change is continuous. Furthermore, the onset of stack dimerization precedes, rather than accompanies, the neutral-ionic crossing. The (second order) phase transition is then driven by the dimerization, but the extent of dimerization is in turn affected by the ionicity change.Comment: LaTex (revTeX), 6 figures. Yields 10 pages postscript (including figures

The psychological and psychosocial interventions offered to forensic mental health in-patients: a systematic review

Objective: To examine the evidence for the use of psychological and psychosocial interventions offered to forensic mental health in-patients. Design: CINAHL, MedLine, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science databases were searched for research published in English between 1 January 1990 and 31 May 2018. Outcome measures: Disturbance, mental well-being, quality of life, recovery, violence/risk, satisfaction, seclusion, symptoms, therapeutic relationship and ward environment. There were no limits on the length of follow up. Eligibility criteria: We included randomised controlled trial (RCT) studies of any psychological or psychosocial intervention in an in-patient forensic setting. Pilot or feasibility studies were included if a RCT design was used. We restricted our search criteria to in-patients in low, medium, and high secure units aged over 18. We focused on interventions considered applicable to most patients residing in forensic mental health settings. Data extraction and synthesis: Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed risk of bias. Results: 17,232 citations were identified with 195 full manuscripts examined in detail. Nine papers were included in the review. The heterogeneity of the identified studies meant that meta-analysis was inappropriate. The results were presented in table form together with a narrative synthesis. Only 7 out of 91 comparisons revealed statistically significant results with no consistent significant findings. The most frequently reported outcomes were violence/risk and symptoms. 61% of the violence/risk comparisons and 79% of the symptom comparisons reported improvements in the intervention groups compared to the control groups. Conclusions: Current practice is based on limited evidence with no consistent significant findings. This review suggests psychoeducational and psychosocial interventions did not reduce violence/risk but there is tentative support they may improve symptoms. More RCTs are required with: larger sample sizes, representative populations, standardised outcomes and control group interventions similar in treatment intensity to the intervention

Pressure driven neutral-ionic transition in ClMePD-DMeDCNQI

Application of about 0.8 GPa pressure is sufficient to induce the neutral-ionic transition in the mixed stack charge-transfer crystal 2-chloro-5-methyl-$p$-phenylenediamine--2,5-dimethyl-dicyanoquinonediimine ({\CD}). The ionicity increases continuously from $\sim$ 0.35 at ambient conditions to $\sim$ 0.65 when the pressure is raised up to 2 GPa. Moreover, stack dimerization begins well before the crossing of the neutral-ionic interface. The evolution of the transition is similar to what observed in the temperature induced phase change in the same compound. (cond-mat/0101179) A distinguishing feature is represented by the simultaneous presence of domains of molecules with slightly different ionicities across the transition pressure. A comparison of the present example of pressure driven neutral-ionic transition with the well studied cases of tetrathiafulvalene--chloranil and of tetrathiafulvalene--2,5-dichloro-p-benzoquinone puts in evidence the remarkably different evolution of the three transitions.Comment: 6 pages in *.PS format, 5 figure

A new type of neutral-ionic interface in mixed-stack organic charge-tranfer crystals: Temperature induced ionicity change in ClMePD-DMeDCNQI

Raman and polarized infrared spectra of the mixed stack charge transfer crystal 2-chloro-5methyl-p-phenylendiamine- -2,5-dimethyl-dicyanoquinonediimine (ClMePD-DMeDCNQI) are reported as a function of temperature. A detailed spectral interpretation allows us to gain new insight into the temperature induced neutral-ionic transition in this compound. In particular, the crossing of the neutral-ionic borderline appears to be quite different from that of the few known temperature induced neutral-ionic phase transitions. First of all, the ionicity change is continuous. Furthermore, the onset of stack dimerization precedes, rather than accompanies, the neutral-ionic crossing. The (second order) phase transition is then driven by the dimerization, but the extent of dimerization is in turn affected by the ionicity change.Comment: LaTex (revTeX), 6 figures. Yields 10 pages postscript (including figures

Spectroscopic studies of the conformational stability and ligand binding properties of calmodulin

In this work the conformational stability of calmodulin (CaM) and its tryptic fragments has been investigated using optical spectroscopic techniques such as far-UV circular dichroism, fluorescence, and absorption spectroscopy. CaM is a ubiquitous eukaryotic calcium binding protein that consists of two structurally similar globular domains connected by a flexible linker, and each containing a pair of helix-loop-helix calcium binding motifs. The results of chemical and thermal denaturation experiments show that the stability of CaM and its isolated domains in the absence of calcium is relatively low and is strongly dependent on ionic strength and temperature. This raises the question of how apo-CaM is stabilised in vivo at resting calcium concentrations. In the presence of ligands such as calcium, magnesium, and target peptides, the stability of CaM is greatly enhanced, as predicted by the ligand binding theory. The extent of the stabilising effect depends on the free ligand concentration and on the affinity of the native and denatured states of CaM for the ligand. The interactions of CaM with magnesium have been investigated and the results show that magnesium competes with calcium for the EF- hand sites and reduces the affinity of Ca2+ -CaM for targets. As a consequence, magnesium amplifies the intrinsic differences in affinity of the N- and C-domains for calcium and for target sequences. Thus, CaM is extremely sensitive to general environmental conditions as well as to specific ligand interactions. Chemical denaturation studies also show that the behaviour of GuHCl is very complex, owing to its ionic strength contribution and to competition with Ca2+ -binding. Therefore urea may be more appropriate in the study of the stability of calmodulin and of proteins that bind metal ions or that are sensitive to changes in the ionic strength of the solution. Finally, there is experimental evidence that the stability of the isolated domains of CaM is significantly different from that of the domains in the intact protein. This suggests the presence of inter-domain interactions during the process of unfolding. This observation is confirmed by the analysis of the stability of the [beta]-sheet mutants of CaM, which shows that the structural and Ca2+-binding properties of the non-mutated domain can be affected by the mutation on the other domain

Road Condition Estimation with Data Mining Methods using Vehicle Based Sensors

The work provides novel methods to process inertial sensor and acoustic sensor data for road condition estimation and monitoring with application in vehicles, which serve as sensor platforms. Furthermore, methods are introduced to combine the results from various vehicles for a more reliable estimation

The objectification of the navy standard physical fitness test by the construction of the mechanical and electrical equipment pertaining to the problem

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1945. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive