Cross sectoral FDI spillovers and their impact on manufacturing productivity

This paper explores the relationship between FDI spillovers and productivity in manufacturing firms in five European transition countries. The novelty of our approach lies in exploring different mechanisms of horizontal spillovers and disentangling the impact of backward and forward vertical spillovers from services and manufacturing sectors. We rely on firm level data obtained from the Amadeus database and annual input-output tables. The results from dynamic panel model estimations reveal that local manufacturing firms benefit from the presence of foreign firms in upstream services, especially in the knowledge intensive services, and in downstream manufacturing sector. Demonstration effect is found to be negatively associated with domestic firms’ productivity, while worker mobility and increased competition appear to be the main channels of horizontal knowledge diffusion. The firms’ productivity is also influenced positively by human capital and intangible assets. Finally, we show that the direction and intensity of both vertical and horizontal spillovers depend on the absorptive capacity of domestic firms

Creativity, innovation effectiveness and productive efficiency in the United Kingdom

Purpose Creativity is often referred to as a seedbed of innovation. As such it holds the key to better performance and the competitiveness of firms. To better understand how creativity influences birth and commercialization of innovations and productive efficiency of firms the paper investigates how hiring of employees with different creative skills impacts innovation process and productivity. The purpose of the paper is to determine the role of creativity in innovation behaviour and productive efficiency of firms. Design/Methodology/Approach Theoretical framework of the paper rests on pillars of evolutionary, Schumpeterian and endogenous growth literature contributions to the economics of innovation. The multi-stage analytical framework is applied to examine contribution of creativity to the decision of firms to innovate, investment in innovation activities, commercialization of innovations and firm efficiency. The econometric techniques of generalised tobit and simultaneous equations framework are applied to confidential data from the United Kingdom Innovation Survey in 2010-2012 period. Findings The investigation broadens our understanding of factors and forces that shape innovation process and improve productive efficiency of firms. It provides empirical evidence on an impact of the effectiveness of innovation process on the productivity of firms. The results reveal that creative skills contribute to the generation of novel ideas and investment in R&D but the ability to meet customer requirements draws from other organizational skills such as marketing or organizational innovations. Differences are revealed among economic sectors with respect to the forces driving the innovation process. Practical implications The results provide implications to managers regarding the management of innovation process. First, the study reveals how creative potential of employees can be optimally exploited in different stages of innovation process. Second, the research highlights number of other factors relevant in this process from the utilization of information, subsidies and the general management of human resources. Finally, the result suggest that sectoral heterogeneity should be taken into account in management of innovation activities of individual firms. Research limitations/implications Further research will be needed to investigate cross-country differences in management of creativity and its contribution to the innovation process and productivity. The limited availability of data on creativity and innovation activities of firms presents the most important limitation in this sense. The framework set by this paper can serve as direction for further investigations. Originality/Value While the impact of creativity on innovation has been addressed previously, this paper is one of first attempts to examine the linkages between management of creativity, effectiveness of innovation process and productive efficiency of firms within a single framework. One of reasons for this is the fact that it relies on the confidential dataset of firms not easily accessible to researcher

Dynamically reconfigurable resource-aware component framework: architecture and concepts

Applications executed on a shared distributed platform compete for resources provided by the platform. In case these applications have highly fluctuating resource demands, a software architecture is required that provides support for runtime resource management. In position paper [1], we have proposed such architecture and have introduced its key concepts and entities. In this paper, we introduce a metamodel that captures the key concepts and we identify lifecycle models for both applications and individual components. A set of dynamic reconfiguration strategies is introduced and their relationship to the stages of the application lifecycle is given. Keywords: Component framework – networked services – resource management – dynamic reconfiguration – application lifecycle – component lifecycl

Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development: Synthesis Report, Mobile Learning Week 2019

(First paragraph) 2019’s Mobile Learning Week (MLW), UNESCO’s flagship event for information and communication technology (ICT) in education, focused on the theme ‘Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development’. Held over five days in Paris, it comprised a sequence of high-profile events (a global conference, a policy forum and workshops, a symposium and strategy labs), and involved more than 1,500 participants from 140 countries (including Ministers of Education and ICT, other representatives from Member States, the private sector, academia and international organizations)

Comparative characterization of mesenchymal stem cells from eGFP transgenic and non-transgenic mice

Abstract Background Adipose derived- and bone marrow-derived murine mesenchymal stem cells (mMSCs) may be used to study stem cell properties in an in vivo setting for the purposes of evaluating therapeutic strategies that may have clinical applications in the future. If these cells are to be used for transplantation, the question arises of how to track the administered cells. One solution to this problem is to transplant cells with an easily identifiable genetic marker such as enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP). This protein is fluorescent and therefore does not require a chemical substrate for identification and can be visualized in living cells. This study seeks to characterize and compare adipose derived- and bone marrow-derived stem cells from C57Bl/6 mice and eGFP transgenic C57Bl/6 mice. Results The expression of eGFP does not appear to affect the ability to differentiate along adipogenic or osteogenic lineages; however it appears that the tissue of origin can influence differentiation capabilities. The presence of eGFP had no effect on cell surface marker expression, and mMSCs derived from both bone marrow and adipose tissue had similar surface marker profiles. There were no significant differences between transgenic and non-transgenic mMSCs. Conclusion Murine adipose derived and bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells from non-transgenic and eGFP transgenic C57Bl/6 mice have very similar characterization profiles. The availability of mesenchymal stem cells stably expressing a genetic reporter has important applications for the advancement of stem cell research.</p

Transport in an idealized three-gyre system with application to the Adriatic Sea

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 39 (2009): 675-690, doi:10.1175/2008JPO3975.1.Motivated by observations of surface drifters in the Adriatic Sea, transport in a three-gyre system is studied with the aid of dynamical systems techniques. Particular attention is paid to the issue of intergyre transport. The velocity field is assumed to be two-dimensional and incompressible and composed of a steady three-gyre background flow on which a time-dependent perturbation is superimposed. Two systems of this type are considered: 1) an observationally motivated, analytically prescribed model consisting of a steady background on which a multiperiodic time-dependent perturbation is superimposed, and 2) an observationally based model of the Adriatic Sea consisting of the mean surface circulation derived from surface drifter trajectories on which a time-dependent altimetry-based perturbation velocity field is superimposed. It is shown that for a small perturbation to the steady three-gyre background, two of the gyres exchange no fluid with the third gyre. When the perturbation strength exceeds a certain threshold, transport between all three gyres occurs. This behavior is described theoretically, illustrated using the analytic model and shown to be consistent with the observationally based model of the Adriatic. The relevance of the work presented to more complicated multiple-gyre problems is discussed.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Grants CMG0417425 and CMG0825547

Local erythropoietin and endothelial progenitor cells improve regional cardiac function in acute myocardial infarction

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Expanded endothelial progenitor cells (eEPC) improve global left ventricular function in experimental myocardial infarction (MI). Erythropoietin beta (EPO) applied together with eEPC may improve regional myocardial function even further by anti-apoptotic and cardioprotective effects. Aim of this study was to evaluate intramyocardial application of eEPCs and EPO as compared to eEPCs or EPO alone in experimental MI.</p> <p>Methods and Results</p> <p>In vitro experiments revealed that EPO dosed-dependently decreased eEPC and leukocyte apoptosis. Moreover, in the presence of EPO mRNA expression in eEPC of proangiogenic and proinflammatory mediators measured by TaqMan PCR was enhanced. Experimental MI was induced by ligation and reperfusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery of nude rats (n = 8-9). After myocardial transplantation of eEPC and EPO CD68+ leukocyte count and vessel density were enhanced in the border zone of the infarct area. Moreover, apoptosis of transplanted CD31 + TUNEL + eEPC was decreased as compared to transplantation of eEPCs alone. Regional wall motion of the left ventricle was measured using Magnetic Resonance Imaging. After injection of eEPC in the presence of EPO regional wall motion significantly improved as compared to injection of eEPCs or EPO alone.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Intramyocardial transplantation of eEPC in the presence of EPO during experimental MI improves regional wall motion. This was associated with an increased local inflammation, vasculogenesis and survival of the transplanted cells. Local application of EPO in addition to cell therapy may prove beneficial in myocardial remodeling.</p

Plasmid-based transient human stromal cell-derived factor-1 gene transfer improves cardiac function in chronic heart failure

We previously demonstrated that transient stromal cell-derived factor-1 alpha (SDF-1) improved cardiac function when delivered via cell therapy in ischemic cardiomyopathy at a time remote from acute myocardial infarction (MI) rats. We hypothesized that non-viral gene transfer of naked plasmid DNA-expressing hSDF-1 could similarly improve cardiac function. To optimize plasmid delivery, we tested SDF-1 and luciferase plasmids driven by the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter with (pCMVe) or without (pCMV) translational enhancers or α myosin heavy chain (pMHC) promoter in a rodent model of heart failure. In vivo expression of pCMVe was 10-fold greater than pCMV and pMHC expression and continued over 30 days. We directly injected rat hearts with SDF-1 plasmid 1 month after MI and assessed heart function. At 4 weeks after plasmid injection, we observed a 35.97 and 32.65% decline in fractional shortening (FS) in control (saline) animals and pMHC-hSDF1 animals, respectively, which was sustained to 8 weeks. In contrast, we observed a significant 24.97% increase in animals injected with the pCMVe-hSDF1 vector. Immunohistochemistry of cardiac tissue revealed a significant increase in vessel density in the hSDF-1-treated animals compared with control animals. Increasing SDF-1 expression promoted angiogenesis and improved cardiac function in rats with ischemic heart failure along with evidence of scar remodeling with a trend toward decreased myocardial fibrosis. These data demonstrate that stand-alone non-viral hSDF-1 gene transfer is a strategy for improving cardiac function in ischemic cardiomyopathy