Capital Account Liberalization and Foreign Direct Investment

We examine the impact of capital account policies on FDI inflows. Using an annual panel dataset of 83 developing and developed countries for 1984-2000, we find that capital account openness is positively but only very moderately associated with the amount of FDI inflows after controlling for other macroeconomic and institutional measures. To a large extent, other country characteristics seem to determine FDI inflows instead of capital account policies. Furthermore, we find that capital controls are easily circumvented in corrupt and politically unstable regimes. We conclude that liberalizing the capital account is not sufficient to generate increases in inflows unless it is accompanied by a lower level of corruption or a decrease in political risk.Foreign direct investment, capital controls, capital flows, capital account liberalization

Thin shell implies spectral gap up to polylog via a stochastic localization scheme

We consider the isoperimetric inequality on the class of high-dimensional isotropic convex bodies. We establish quantitative connections between two well-known open problems related to this inequality, namely, the thin shell conjecture, and the conjecture by Kannan, Lovasz, and Simonovits, showing that the corresponding optimal bounds are equivalent up to logarithmic factors. In particular we prove that, up to logarithmic factors, the minimal possible ratio between surface area and volume is attained on ellipsoids. We also show that a positive answer to the thin shell conjecture would imply an optimal dependence on the dimension in a certain formulation of the Brunn-Minkowski inequality. Our results rely on the construction of a stochastic localization scheme for log-concave measures.Comment: 33 page

Is Foreign Direct Investment Good for Growth? Evidence from Sectoral Analysis of China and Vietnam

We estimate the impact of FDI on growth using sectoral data for FDI inflows to China and Vietnam. Previous empirical studies, using either cross-country growth regressions or firm-level micro-econometric analysis, fail to reach a consensus. Our paper is the first to use sectoral FDI inflow data to evaluate the sector-specific impact of FDI on growth. Our results show that, for the two developing-transition economies we examine, FDI has a statistically-significant positive effect on economic growth operating directly and through its interaction with labor. Intriguingly, we find the effects seem to be very different across economic sectors, with almost all the beneficial impact limited to industrial sector. Other sectors appear to gain very little growth benefit from sector-specific FDI.Foreign direct investment, growth, China, Vietnam

Evaluation of seals for high-performance cryogenic turbomachines

An approach to computing flow and dynamic characteristics for seals or bearings is discussed. The local average velocity was strongly influenced by inlet and exit effects and fluid injection, which in turn drove zones of secondary flow. For the restricted three-dimensional model considered, the integral averaged results were in reasonable agreement with selected data. Unidirectional pressure measurements alone were insufficient to define such flow variations. However, for seal and bearing leakage correlations the principles of corresponding states were found to be useful. Also discussed are three phenomena encountered during testing of three eccentric nonrotating seal configurations for the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Program. Fluid injection, choking within a seal, and pressure profile crossover are related to postulated zones of secondary flow or separation and to direct stiffness

Towards the production of radiotherapy treatment shells on 3D printers using data derived from DICOM CT and MRI: preclinical feasibility studies

Background: Immobilisation for patients undergoing brain or head and neck radiotherapy is achieved using perspex or thermoplastic devices that require direct moulding to patient anatomy. The mould room visit can be distressing for patients and the shells do not always fit perfectly. In addition the mould room process can be time consuming. With recent developments in three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies comes the potential to generate a treatment shell directly from a computer model of a patient. Typically, a patient requiring radiotherapy treatment will have had a computed tomography (CT) scan and if a computer model of a shell could be obtained directly from the CT data it would reduce patient distress, reduce visits, obtain a close fitting shell and possibly enable the patient to start their radiotherapy treatment more quickly. Purpose: This paper focuses on the first stage of generating the front part of the shell and investigates the dosimetric properties of the materials to show the feasibility of 3D printer materials for the production of a radiotherapy treatment shell. Materials and methods: Computer algorithms are used to segment the surface of the patient’s head from CT and MRI datasets. After segmentation approaches are used to construct a 3D model suitable for printing on a 3D printer. To ensure that 3D printing is feasible the properties of a set of 3D printing materials are tested. Conclusions: The majority of the possible candidate 3D printing materials tested result in very similar attenuation of a therapeutic radiotherapy beam as the Orfit soft-drape masks currently in use in many UK radiotherapy centres. The costs involved in 3D printing are reducing and the applications to medicine are becoming more widely adopted. In this paper we show that 3D printing of bespoke radiotherapy masks is feasible and warrants further investigation

Clarification of Failure Terminology by Examining a Generic Failure Development Process

One key objective of good plant asset management is to prevent undesirable failure that may cause loss of life, destruction of asset, loss of economic benefit or damage to the environment. In order to deploy strategies that prevent failure, one needs to first understand the processes leading to failure, and definitions used for describing the failure of physical assets. A number of different definitions for the same terms related to equipment failure can be found in the literature. The looseness of terminology and often overlapping shades of meaning lead to ambiguity and confusion. This paper aims to offer clearer definitions derived from examining a generic failure development process exhibited by physical assets (herein referred to as “equipment”)

Human Apolipoprotein B Transgenic Mice Generated with 207- and 145-Kilobase Pair Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes. Evidence that a distant 5'-element confers appropriate transgene expression in the intestine

We reported previously that ~80-kilobase pair (kb) P1 bacteriophage clones spanning either the human or mouse apoB gene (clones p158 and p649, respectively) confer apoB expression in the liver of transgenic mice, but not in the intestine. We hypothesized that the absence of intestinal expression was due to the fact that these clones lacked a distant DNA element controlling intestinal expression. To test this possibility, transgenic mice were generated with 145- and 207-kb bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) that contained the human apoB gene and more extensive 5'- and 3'-flanking sequences. RNase protection, in situ hybridization, immunohistochemical, and genetic complementation studies revealed that the BAC transgenic mice manifested appropriate apoB gene expression in both the intestine and the liver, indicating that both BACs contained the distant intestinal element. To determine whether the regulatory element was located 5' or 3' to the apoB gene, transgenic mice were generated by co-microinjecting embryos with p158 and either the 5'- or 3'-sequences from the 145-kb BAC. Analysis of these mice indicated that the apoB gene's intestinal element is located 5' to the structural gene. Cumulatively, the transgenic mouse studies suggest that the intestinal element is located between -33 and -70 kb 5' to the apoB gene

A defined medium to investigate sliding motility in a Bacillus subtilis flagella-less mutant

BACKGROUND: We have recently shown that undomesticated strains of Bacillus subtilis can extensively colonize the surfaces of rich, semi-solid media, by a flagellum-independent mechanism and suggested that sliding motility is responsible for surface migration. Here we have used a flagella-less hag null mutant to examine and confirm sliding motility. RESULTS: Using a defined semi-solid medium we determined that a B. subtilis hag mutant colonized the surface in two stages, first as tendril-like clusters of cells followed by a profuse pellicle-like film. We determined the levels of macro- and micro-nutrients required for the tendril-to-film transition. Sufficient levels of each of the macronutrients, glycerol, Na-glutamate, and Na-phosphate, and inorganic nutrients, K(+), Mg(2+), Fe(2+ )and Mn(2+), were required for robust film formation. The K(+ )requirement was quantified in more detail, and the thresholds for complete tendril coverage (50 μM KCl) or film coverage (2–3 mM KCl) were determined. In addition, disruption of the genes for the higher affinity K(+ )transporter (KtrAB), but not the lower affinity K(+ )transporter (KtrCD), strongly inhibited the formation of both tendrils and films, and could be partially overcome by high levels of KCl. Examination of hag tendrils by confocal scanning laser microscopy revealed that tendrils are multicellular structures, but that the cells are not as highly organized as cells in wild-type B. subtilis pellicles. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that B. subtilis can use sliding motility to colonize surfaces, using a tendril-like growth mode when various macronutrients or micronutrients are limiting. If nutrients are balanced and sufficient, the surfaces between tendrils can be colonized by robust surface films. Sliding motility may represent a strategy for nutrient-deprived cells to colonize surfaces in natural environments, such as plant roots, and the media described here may be useful in investigations of this growth phenotype