Does greater financial openness promote external competitiveness in emerging markets? The role of institutional quality

Studies have shown that external capital account liberalisation can boost capital inflows and augment economic development. Nevertheless, in the case of developing and emerging economies (DEE), adverse currency fluctuations could hamper external competitiveness due to relative price differences creating currency overvaluation, which might not be mitigated via financial openness alone. Therefore, this paper uses annual panel data for 35 DEEs over 40 years to explore whether financial openness of countries can help preserve their external price competitiveness, in the presence of greater trade openness and better institutional quality. Our findings suggest that financial openness alone does not aid export competitiveness, unless it is supported by greater trade openness. In addition, both cross country and regional analyses show that financial openness can benefit economies in maintaining their export competitiveness if they have stronger quality of institutions. Our results remain robust when we estimate the role of financial openness and institutional quality jointly on external competitiveness across regions, and during the pre‐ and post‐crisis periods. We conclude that financial openness alone is not sufficient to improve external competitiveness of an emerging economy, but it does help in the presence of greater trade openness or better institutions, enabling reduction in trade costs and thereby making these countries more price‐competitive

A Bayesian semiparametric approach to stochastic frontiers and productivity

In this paper we take up the analysis of production functions / frontiers removing the assumptions of known functional form for the productivity equation, given the heterogeneity of productivity and the endogeneity of inputs at firm level. The assumption of exogenous regressors is removed through taking account of the first order conditions of profit maximization. We introduce latent dynamic stochastic productivity in our framework and perform Bayesian analysis using a Sequential Monte Carlo Particle-Filtering approach. We investigate the performance of the new approach relative to alternative methods in the literature, in a substantive application to Indian non-financial firms, and find that total factor productivity (TFP) growth has remained stagnant at firm level in India despite rapid growth at the aggregate level, with technical efficiency or catching-up effect driving TFP growth in the recent years rather than technological progress or frontier shift. © 2018 Elsevier B.V

Embedded polarizing filters to separate diffuse and specular reflection

Polarizing filters provide a powerful way to separate diffuse and specular reflection; however, traditional methods rely on several captures and require proper alignment of the filters. Recently, camera manufacturers have proposed to embed polarizing micro-filters in front of the sensor, creating a mosaic of pixels with different polarizations. In this paper, we investigate the advantages of such camera designs. In particular, we consider different design patterns for the filter arrays and propose an algorithm to demosaic an image generated by such cameras. This essentially allows us to separate the diffuse and specular components using a single image. The performance of our algorithm is compared with a color-based method using synthetic and real data. Finally, we demonstrate how we can recover the normals of a scene using the diffuse images estimated by our method.Comment: ACCV 201

Current challenges in software solutions for mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics

This work was in part supported by the PRIME-XS project, grant agreement number 262067, funded by the European Union seventh Framework Programme; The Netherlands Proteomics Centre, embedded in The Netherlands Genomics Initiative; The Netherlands Bioinformatics Centre; and the Centre for Biomedical Genetics (to S.C., B.B. and A.J.R.H); by NIH grants NCRR RR001614 and RR019934 (to the UCSF Mass Spectrometry Facility, director: A.L. Burlingame, P.B.); and by grants from the MRC, CR-UK, BBSRC and Barts and the London Charity (to P.C.

Characterization of Coupled Ground State and Excited State Equilibria by Fluorescence Spectral Deconvolution

Fluorescence probes with multiparametric response based on the relative variation in the intensities of several emission bands are of great general utility. An accurate interpretation of the system requires the determination of the number, positions and intensities of the spectral components. We have developed a new algorithm for spectral deconvolution that is applicable to fluorescence probes exhibiting a two-state ground-state equilibrium and a two-state excited-state reaction. Three distinct fluorescence emission bands are resolved, with a distribution of intensities that is excitation-wavelength-dependent. The deconvolution of the spectrum into individual components is based on their representation as asymmetric Siano-Metzler log-normal functions. The application of the algorithm to the solvation response of a 3-hydroxychromone (3HC) derivative that exhibits an H-bonding-dependent excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) reaction allowed the separation of the spectral signatures characteristic of polarity and hydrogen bonding. This example demonstrates the ability of the method to characterize two potentially uncorrelated parameters characterizing dye environment and interactions

Genetic structure of Plasmodium falciparum field isolates in eastern and north-eastern India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Molecular techniques have facilitated the studies on genetic diversity of <it>Plasmodium </it>species particularly from field isolates collected directly from patients. The <it>msp-1 </it>and <it>msp-2 </it>are highly polymorphic markers and the large allelic polymorphism has been reported in the block 2 of the <it>msp-1 </it>gene and the central repetitive domain (block3) of the <it>msp-2 </it>gene. Families differing in nucleotide sequences and in number of repetitive sequences (length variation) were used for genotyping purposes. As limited reports are available on the genetic diversity existing among <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>population of India, this report evaluates the extent of genetic diversity in the field isolates of <it>P. falciparum </it>in eastern and north-eastern regions of India.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A study was designed to assess the diversity of <it>msp-1 </it>and <it>msp-2 </it>among the field isolates from India using allele specific nested PCR assays and sequence analysis. Field isolates were collected from five sites distributed in three states namely, Assam, West Bengal and Orissa.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>P. falciparum </it>isolates of the study sites are highly diverse in respect of length as well as sequence motifs with prevalence of all the reported allelic families of <it>msp-1 </it>and <it>msp-2</it>. Prevalence of identical allelic composition as well as high level of sequence identity of alleles suggest a considerable amount of gene flow between the <it>P. falciparum </it>populations of different states. A comparatively higher proportion of multiclonal isolates as well as multiplicity of infection (MOI) was observed among isolates of highly malarious districts Karbi Anglong (Assam) and Sundergarh (Orissa). In all the five sites, R033 family of <it>msp-1 </it>was observed to be monomorphic with an allele size of 150/160 bp. The observed 80–90% sequence identity of Indian isolates with data of other regions suggests that Indian <it>P. falciparum </it>population is a mixture of different strains.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study shows that the field isolates of eastern and north-eastern regions of India are highly diverse in respect of <it>msp-1 </it>(block 2) and <it>msp-2 </it>(central repeat region, block 3). As expected Indian isolates present a picture of diversity closer to southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea and Latin American countries, regions with low to meso-endemicity of malaria in comparison to African regions of hyper- to holo-endemicity.</p

Overexpression of the Lung Cancer-Prognostic miR-146b MicroRNAs Has a Minimal and Negative Effect on the Malignant Phenotype of A549 Lung Cancer Cells

INTRODUCTION:Expression levels of miR-146b-5p and -3p microRNAs in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are associated with recurrence of the disease after surgery. To understand this, the effect of miR-146b overexpression was studied in A549 human lung cancer cells. METHODS:A549 cells, engineered with lentiviruses to overexpress the human pre-miR-146b precursor microRNA, were examined for proliferation, colony formation on plastic surface and in soft agar, migration and invasiveness in cell culture and in vivo in mice, chemosensitivity to cisplatin and doxorubicin, and global gene expression. miR-146b expressions were assessed in microdissected stroma and epithelia of human NSCLC tumors. Association of miR-146b-5p and -3p expression in early stage NSCLC with recurrence was analyzed. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:A549 pre-miR-146b-overexpressors had 3-8-fold higher levels of both miR-146b microRNAs than control cells. Overexpression did not alter cellular proliferation, chemosensitivity, migration, or invasiveness; affected only 0.3% of the mRNA transcriptome; and, reduced the ability to form colonies in vitro by 25%. In human NSCLC tumors, expression of both miR-146b microRNAs was 7-10-fold higher in stroma than in cancerous epithelia, and higher miR-146b-5p but lower -3p levels were predictive of recurrence. CONCLUSIONS:Only a minimal effect of pre-miR-146b overexpression on the malignant phenotype was seen in A549 cells. This could be because of opposing effects of miR-146b-5p and -3p overexpression as suggested by the conflicting recurrence-predictive values of the two microRNAs, or because miR-146b expression changes in non-cancerous stroma and not cancerous epithelia of tumors are responsible for the prognostic value of miR-146b

SaS-BCI: A New Strategy to Predict Image Memorability and use Mental Imagery as a Brain-Based Biometric Authentication

Security authentication is one of the most important levels of information security. Nowadays, human biometric techniques are the most secure methods for authentication purposes that cover the problems of older types of authentication like passwords and pins. There are many advantages of recent biometrics in terms of security; however, they still have some disadvantages. Progresses in technology made some specific devices, which make it possible to copy and make a fake human biometric because they are all visible and touchable. According to this matter, there is a need for a new biometric to cover the issues of other types. Brainwave is human data, which uses them as a new type of security authentication that has engaged many researchers. There are some research and experiments, which are investigating and testing EEG signals to find the uniqueness of human brainwave. Some researchers achieved high accuracy rates in this area by applying different signal acquisition techniques, feature extraction and classifications using Brain–Computer Interface (BCI). One of the important parts of any BCI processes is the way that brainwaves could be acquired and recorded. A new Signal Acquisition Strategy is presented in this paper for the process of authorization and authentication of brain signals specifically. This is to predict image memorability from the user’s brain to use mental imagery as a visualization pattern for security authentication. Therefore, users can authenticate themselves with visualizing a specific picture in their minds. In conclusion, we can see that brainwaves can be different according to the mental tasks, which it would make it harder using them for authentication process. There are many signal acquisition strategies and signal processing for brain-based authentication that by using the right methods, a higher level of accuracy rate could be achieved which is suitable for using brain signal as another biometric security authentication

Genetic variation among species, races, forms and inbred lines of lac insects belonging to the genus Kerria (Homoptera, Tachardiidae)

The lac insects (Homoptera: Tachardiidae), belonging to the genus Kerria, are commercially exploited for the production of lac. Kerria lacca is the most commonly used species in India. RAPD markers were used for assessing genetic variation in forty-eight lines of Kerria, especially among geographic races, infrasubspecific forms, cultivated lines, inbred lines, etc., of K. lacca. In the 48 lines studied, the 26 RAPD primers generated 173 loci, showing 97.7% polymorphism. By using neighbor-joining, the dendrogram generated from the similarity matrix resolved the lines into basically two clusters and outgroups. The major cluster, comprising 32 lines, included mainly cultivated lines of the rangeeni form, geographic races and inbred lines of K. lacca. The second cluster consisted of eight lines of K. lacca, seven of the kusmi form and one of the rangeeni from the southern state of Karnataka. The remaining eight lines formed a series of outgroups, this including a group of three yellow mutant lines of K. lacca and other species of the Kerria studied, among others. Color mutants always showed distinctive banding patterns compared to their wild-type counterparts from the same population. This study also adds support to the current status of kusmi and rangeeni, as infraspecific forms of K. lacca