Does Inward Foreign Direct Investment Boost the Productivity of Domestic Firms?

Are there productivity spillovers from FDI to domestic firms, and, if so, how much should host countries be willing to pay to attract FDI? To examine these questions we use a plant-level panel covering U.K. manufacturing from 1973 through 1992. Across a wide range of specifications, we estimate a significantly positive correlation between a domestic plant's TFP and the foreign-affiliate share of activity in that plant's industry. This is consistent with positive FDI spillovers. We do not generally find significant effects on plant TFP of the foreign-affiliate share of activity in that plant's region. Typical estimates suggest that a 10 percentage-point increase in foreign presence in a U.K. industry raises the TFP of that industry's domestic plants by about 0.5 percent. We also use these estimates to calculate the per-job value of these spillovers. These calculated values appear to be less than per-job incentives governments have granted in recent high-profile cases, in some cases several times less.Multinational firms, Foreign direct investment, Productivity spillovers

Does Inward Foreign Direct Investment Boost the Productivity of Domestic Firms?

Are there productivity spillovers from FDI to domestic firms, and, if so, how much should host countries be willing to pay to attract FDI? To examine these questions we use a plant-level panel covering U.K. manufacturing from 1973 through 1992. Across a wide range of specifications, we estimate a significantly positive correlation between a domestic plant's TFP and the foreign-affiliate share of activity in that plant's industry. This is consistent with positive FDI spillovers. We do not generally find significant effects on plant TFP of the foreign-affiliate share of activity in that plant's region. Typical estimates suggest that a 10 percentage-point increase in foreign presence in a U.K. industry raises the TFP of that industry's domestic plants by about 0.5 percent. We also use these estimates to calculate the per-job value of these spillovers. These calculated values appear to be less than per-job incentives governments have granted in recent high-profile cases, in some cases several times less.

Urbanizaçâo, impactos ambientais e governança no complexo regional Centro-Sul

A palavra governança vem servindo para designar diferentes formas de governar, particularmente aquelas mais sensíveis às demandas da população e que estimulem a inserção dos movimentos sociais nos processos decisórios. No Brasil, “governança ambiental” é usado, em geral, para se referir a processos de exercício de poder que, na área do meio ambiente, estejam ampliando os espaços de participação dos diversos segmentos da sociedade civil organizada. Este artigo analisa aspectos da governança ambiental no contexto do complexo regional Centro-Sul a partir dos resultados obtidos em pesquisa do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). Examinou-se a relação porventura existente entre os problemas ambientais detectados e as medidas que, em nível local, vinham sendo tomadas pelo gestor. O estudo considerou duas faixas diferenciadas de urbanização dos municípios do Centro-Sul e, como indicadores clássicos, o IDH e o PIB. O objetivo foi identificar diferenças com relação à inserção da participação popular na gestão ambiental, mediante a análise de algumas variáveis específicas, como participação em Comitês de bacia, existência e composição do Conselho Municipal de Meio Ambiente e do Fórum da Agenda 21 local.governança ambiental; impactos ambientais; urbanização; PIB; IDH

Bacterial infections in Indian cirrhotic patients: a prospective study

Background: Bacterial infections (BI) are more prevalent in liver cirrhosis (LC), high among hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to explore the epidemiological pattern of BI in hospitalized patients with LC, and identification the causative agents. Objective of the study was evaluation of therapeutic/empirical approaches for these infections.Methods: Inputs from the body fluid analysis and culture reports were recorded. The Child Pugh score (CPS) was used to assess the severity of liver disease. Antibiotic treatment strategy was analysed, prescribed antibiotics were checked for contraindications using Lexicomp software.Results: Of 60 enrolled patients, four had mixed infection and 55% were culture positive. There was a male preponderance (83.3%). BI was more frequent in those aged 51-60 years (38.3%) and >60 years (35%). Higher proportion of patients (60%) belonged to class C of CPS followed by class B (31.7%). The most common causative organisms identified were E. coli (28.5%), K. pneumonia (14.2%), Enterococcus spp (11.4 %) and less common were K. oxytoca, Coagulase-negative staphylococci, Staphylococcus aureus, gram-positive cocci, gram-negative cocci, P. aeruginosa, S. hemolyticus, ß-hemolytic streptococcus spp. Majority of the subjects had spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (36.7%) followed by urinary tract infection (21%), lower respiratory tract infection (18.3%), sepsis (13.3%), cellulitis (3.3%) and acute gastroenteritis (1.7%). Cephalosporin (61.7%), rifaximin (51.7%), penicillin and β lactamase inhibitors (36.7%) were the common prescribed antimicrobials.Conclusions: There is a positive association between the risk of BI and severity of liver damage

"My Child has Cerebral Palsy": Parental Involvement and Children's School Engagement

Engaged students tend to show school-committed behaviors (e.g., attend classes, get involved with the learning process), high achievement, and sense of belonging. However, students with disabilities are prone to show a lack of engagement with school due to the specific difficulties they have to handle. In fact, children with disabilities are likely to show poor participation in school when compared with children without disabilities. This poor involvement is related to their low autonomy to participate in the school activities, which, in turn, results in low school engagement. Parents play a crucial role in their childrens education. Parental involvement in school activities promotes autonomous behaviors and, consequently, school engagement. In fact, extant literature has shown close relationships between parental involvement, school engagement, and academic performance. Yet, parental involvement in school activities of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) has received little direct attention from researchers. These children tend to display lower participation due to the motor, or cognitive, impairments that compromise their autonomy, and have a high likelihood to develop learning disabilities, with special incidences in reading and arithmetic. Therefore, our aim is twofold, to understand the parental styles; and how the perceived parental involvement in school activities is related to their children school engagement. Hence, 19 interviews were conducted with one of the parents of 19 children with CP. These interviews explored the school routines of children and the perceived involvement of parents in those routines. Additionally, children filled out a questionnaire on school engagement. Results show that the majority of the parents were clustered in the Autonomy Allowance and Acceptance and Support parental style, and the majority of their children were perceived as autonomous. Moreover, about a half of the children reported a high level of school engagement. Finally, neither childrens autonomous behaviors reportedThis study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (FOCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). AP was supported by a PhD fellowship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT - SFRH/BD/95104/2013). PM was supported by a Post-Doctoral fellowship from the Research Center on Psychology (CIPsi), School of Psychology, University of Minho.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Pt-Au Nanoparticles with Enhanced Electrocatalytic Activity for the Oxidation of Formic Acid

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) is gratefully acknowledged for financial support under Research Project BJT-2014/400117/2014-2 and for the research support (HV: grant #306151/2010-3). Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) is also acknowledged for financial support (grants #2013/07296-2 and #2013/16930-7), and scholarship (FWH: grant #2014/08030-9). GC gratefully acknowledges R. Camargo for his collaboration in the acquisition of the HR-TEM images and for useful discussion and suggestions.Peer reviewedPostprin

Urbanizaçâo, impactos ambientais e governança no complexo regional Centro-Sul

A palavra governança vem servindo para designar diferentes formas de governar, particularmente aquelas mais sensíveis às demandas da população e que estimulem a inserção dos movimentos sociais nos processos decisórios. No Brasil, "governança ambiental" é usado, em geral, para se referir a processos de exercício de poder que, na área do meio ambiente, estejam ampliando os espaços de participação dos diversos segmentos da sociedade civil organizada. Este artigo analisa aspectos da governança ambiental no contexto do complexo regional Centro-Sul a partir dos resultados obtidos em pesquisa do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). Examinou-se a relação porventura existente entre os problemas ambientais detectados e as medidas que, em nível local, vinham sendo tomadas pelo gestor. O estudo considerou duas faixas diferenciadas de urbanização dos municípios do Centro-Sul e, como indicadores clássicos, o IDH e o PIB. O objetivo foi identificar diferenças com relação à inserção da participação popular na gestão ambiental, mediante a análise de algumas variáveis específicas, como participação em Comitês de bacia, existência e composição do Conselho Municipal de Meio Ambiente e do Fórum da Agenda 21 local.The word governance has been used to define forms of governing which encourage the inclusion of social movements into the decision making process. In Brazil, "environmental governance" is used, in general, to refer to the power process that, at the environment area, increases the participation of organized civil society. This paper analyses environmental governance at the South-Center regional complex based on researches conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). It studies the relationship between environmental problems and the political decisions taken by the decision-makers. The study included two different urbanization structures and two classic indicators, such as HDI and GIP. The aim of this paper is to identify different forms of popular participation at the environmental administration

Electrochromic device composed of a Di-Urethanesil electrolyte incorporating lithium triflate and 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium chloride

A di-urethane cross-linked poly(oxyethylene)/silica hybrid matrix [di-urethanesil, d-Ut(600)], synthesized by the sol-gel process, was doped with lithium triflate (LiCF3SO3) and the 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Bmim]Cl) ionic liquid. The as-produced xerogel film is amorphous, transparent, flexible, homogeneous, hydrophilic, and has low nanoscale surface roughness. It exhibits an ionic conductivity of 3.64 x 10(-6) and 5.00 x 10(-4) S cm(-1) at 21 and 100 degrees C, respectively. This material was successfully tested as electrolyte in an electrochromic device (ECD) with the glass/ITO/a-WO3/d-Ut(600)(10)LiCF3SO3[Bmim]Cl/c-NiO/ITO/glass configuration, where a-WO3 and c-NiO stand for amorphous tungsten oxide and crystalline nickel oxide, respectively. The device demonstrated attractive electro-optical performance: fast response times (1-2 s for coloring and 50 s for bleaching), good optical memory [loss of transmittance (T) of only 41% after 3 months, at 555 nm], four mode modulation [bright mode (+3.0 V, T = 77% at 555 nm), semi-bright mode (-1.0 V, T = 60% at 555 nm), dark mode (-1.5 V, T = 38 % at 555 nm), and very dark mode (-2.0 V, T = 11% and -2.5 V, T = 7% at 555 nm)], excellent cycling stability denoting improvement with time, and high coloration efficiency [CEin = -6727 cm(2) C-1 (32th cycle) and CEout = +2794 cm(2) C-1 (480th cycle), at 555 nm].The authors are grateful to Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) and when applicable by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement for financial support under contracts PEst-OE/SAU/UI0709/2014, UID/Multi/00709/2013, UID/QUI/00686/2016, UID/QUI/00686/2018, UID/QUI/00686/2019, PEst-OE/QUI/UI0616/2016, FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER037271, UID/CTM/50011/2013, LUMECD project (POCI01-0145-FEDER-016884 and PTDC/CTM-NAN/0956/2014), UniRCell project (SAICTPAC/0032/2015 and POCI-01-0145FEDER-016422). RP and SN acknowledge FCT-MCTES for grants (SFRH/BPD/87759/2012 and LUMECD, respectively). RP thanks FCT-UM for the contracts in the scope of Decreto-Lei 57/2016 and 57/2017. MF acknowledges FCTUTAD for the contract in the scope of Decreto-Lei 57/2016 -Lei 57/2017. HG acknowledges projects POCI-010145-FEDER-030858 and PTDC/BTM-MAT/30858/2017 for financial support

Brazilian vodkas have undetectable levels of ethyl carbamate

While in Europe vodka is mainly derived from potatoes or cereals, a large proportion of Brazilian vodka is likely obtained from sugarcane, which contains ethyl carbamate (EC) precursors. EC, in addition to several other contaminants and congeners, were investigated in 32 samples of Brazilian vodka. All samples complied with the Brazilian regulations for congeners and contaminants, having EC content below 0.01 mg/L (detection limit). These results are probably related to the processing of vodka, in particular the use of extractive and rectifying stainless steel distillation columns, which allow the production of high strength spirits with low levels of congeners and contaminants