Multinational Firms and Manufactured Exports from Developing Countries

Multinational firms have played an important role in leading the developing countries into world markets. Multinationals from the United States, Japan and Sweden have all increased their shares of LDC exports of manufactures since the mid-1960s or mid-1970s. Their importance was particularly notable in Latin America, while their role in the Asian NICs decreased. The comparative advantages of U.S. and Swedish multinationals' affiliates in developing countries resembled those of their home countries more than those of their host countries, while Japanese affiliates' exports are lore similar to those of their host countries. There are some cases in which the advantage of the multinationals as exporters seems to be that they are able to combine company comparative advantages with the location advantages of producing in the developing countries.

Developmental Delays in Executive Function from 3 to 5 Years of Age Predict Kindergarten Academic Readiness

Substantial evidence has established that individual differences in executive function (EF) in early childhood are uniquely predictive of children’s academic readiness at school entry. The current study tested whether growth trajectories of EF across the early childhood period could be used to identify a subset of children who were at pronounced risk for academic impairment in kindergarten. Using data that were collected at the age 3, 4, and 5 home assessments in the Family Life Project (N = 1,120), growth mixture models were used to identify 9% of children who exhibited impaired EF performance (i.e., persistently low levels of EF that did not show expected improvements across time). Compared to children who exhibited typical trajectories of EF, the delayed group exhibited substantial impairments in multiple indicators of academic readiness in kindergarten (Cohen’s ds = 0.9–2.7; odds ratios = 9.8–23.8). Although reduced in magnitude following control for a range of socioeconomic and cognitive (general intelligence screener, receptive vocabulary) covariates, moderate-sized group differences remained (Cohen’s ds = 0.2–2.4; odds ratios = 3.9–5.4). Results are discussed with respect to the use of repeated measures of EF as a method of early identification, as well as the resulting translational implications of doing so

Integrating Item Accuracy and Reaction Time to Improve the Measurement of Inhibitory Control Abilities in Early Childhood

Efforts to improve children’s executive function are often hampered by the lack of measures that are optimized for use during the transition from preschool to elementary school. Whereas preschool-based measures often emphasize response accuracy, elementary school-based measures emphasize reaction time (RT)—especially for measures inhibitory control (IC) tasks that typically have a speeded component. The primary objective of this study was to test in a preschool-aged sample whether the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT data resulted in improved scoring for three IC tasks relative to scores derived from accuracy data alone. Generally, the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT data resulted in modest improvements in the measurement precision of IC abilities. Moreover, the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT helped eliminate floor and ceiling effects that occurred when accuracy data were considered alone. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of scoring IC tasks in ways that are maximally informative for program evaluation and longitudinal modeling

Topological interface engineering and defect crossing in ultracold atomic gases

We propose an experimentally feasible scheme for topological interface engineering and show how it can be used for studies of dynamics of topologically nontrivial interfaces and perforation of defects and textures across such interfaces. The method makes use of the internal spin structure of the atoms together with locally applied control of interaction strengths to create many-particle states with highly complex topological properties. In particular, we consider a constructed coherent interface between topologically distinct phases of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Ola Bratteli and his diagrams

This article discusses the life and work of Professor Ola Bratteli (1946--2015). Family, fellow students, his advisor, colleagues and coworkers review aspects of his life and his outstanding mathematical accomplishments.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figure

Spectral singularities in PT-symmetric periodic finite-gap systems

The origin of spectral singularities in finite-gap singly periodic PT-symmetric quantum systems is investigated. We show that they emerge from a limit of band-edge states in a doubly periodic finite gap system when the imaginary period tends to infinity. In this limit, the energy gaps are contracted and disappear, every pair of band states of the same periodicity at the edges of a gap coalesces and transforms into a singlet state in the continuum. As a result, these spectral singularities turn out to be analogous to those in the non-periodic systems, where they appear as zero-width resonances. Under the change of topology from a non-compact into a compact one, spectral singularities in the class of periodic systems we study are transformed into exceptional points. The specific degeneration related to the presence of finite number of spectral singularities and exceptional points is shown to be coherently reflected by a hidden, bosonized nonlinear supersymmetry.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures; a difference between spectral singularities and exceptional points specified, the version to appear in PR

Process-Related Mechanical Degradation of the Wood Component in High-Wood-Content Wood-Plastic Composites

Micromorphological studies of wood-plastic composites (WPC) are crucial for deeper understanding of their physical, mechanical, and durability properties. The objective of this study was to examine process-related mechanical degradation of the wood component in an extruded high-wood-content WPC. WPC with ≈70% wood content and three distinctly different ground wood components were manufactured by a conical extrusion technology, ie WPC were prepared with an unmodified, acetylated, or thermally modified wood component. Size and shape of wood components were determined before and after the extrusion process. Micromorphology of WPC samples was studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a surface preparation technique based on UV laser ablation. This micromachining technique was also applied to prepare thin specimens for micromechanical analysis using a tensile stage mounted in a SEM. Results show that extrusion processes cause a significant mechanical degradation of the wood component. Degradation was most pronounced for the thermally modified wood component, and interestingly, this resulted in a more homogenous WPC micromorphology compared with WPC with unmodified and acetylated wood components. WPC with thermally modified wood also exhibited the highest micromechanical strength

Semi-classical Laguerre polynomials and a third order discrete integrable equation

A semi-discrete Lax pair formed from the differential system and recurrence relation for semi-classical orthogonal polynomials, leads to a discrete integrable equation for a specific semi-classical orthogonal polynomial weight. The main example we use is a semi-classical Laguerre weight to derive a third order difference equation with a corresponding Lax pair.Comment: 11 page

Preliminary Measurements of the Motion of Arcjet Current Channel Using Inductive Magnetic Probes

This paper covers the design and first measurements of non-perturbative, external inductive magnetic diagnostics for arcjet constrictors which can measure the motion of the arc current channel. These measurements of arc motion are motivated by previous simulations using the ARC Heater Simulator (ARCHeS), which predicted unsteady arc motion due to the magnetic kink instability. Measurements of the kink instability are relevant to characterizing motion of the enthalpy profile of the arcjet, the arcjet operational stability, and electrode damage due to associated arc detachment events. These first measurements indicate 4 mm oscillations at 0.5-2 kHz of the current profile

Discrete Darboux transformation for discrete polynomials of hypergeometric type

Darboux Transformation, well known in second order differential operator theory, is applied here to the difference equation satisfied by the discrete hypergeometric polynomials(Charlier, Meixner-Krawchuk, Hahn)