Financial and capital account liberalisation, financial development and economic development: a review of some recent contributions

This article presents a review of some recent contributions on the relation between global finance and economic development in emerging economies. It first, stresses the growing consensus among economists on the financial instability that financial and capital account liberalization can possibly cause in emerging economies. It then outlines and compares two alternative strategies to tame such instability. The comparison is between the “good-institutions need-to-come-first” approach put forward by some mainstream economists, and the request for a deeper reform of the existing monetary system advocated by heterodox economists

‘Sub-Prime’ Water, Low-Security Entitlements and Policy Challenges in Over-Allocated River Basins: the Case of the Murray–Darling Basin

Environmental policy is often implemented using market instruments. In some cases, including carbon taxing, the links between financial products and the environmental objectives, are transparent. In other cases, including water markets, the links are less transparent. In Australia’s Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), financial water products are known as ‘entitlements’, and are similar to traditional financial products, such as shares. The Australian water market includes ‘Low Security’ entitlements, which are similar to ‘sub-prime’ mortgage bonds because they are unlikely to yield an amount equal to their financial worth. Nearly half the water purchased under the Murray–Darling Basin Plan for environmental purposes is ‘Low Security’. We suggest that the current portfolio of water held by the Australian Government for environmental purposes reflects the mortgage market in the lead-up to the global financial crisis. Banks assumed that the future value of the mortgage market would reflect past trends. Similarly, it is assumed that the future value of water products will reflect past trends, without considering climate change. Historic records of allocations to ‘Low Security’ entitlements in the MDB suggest that, in the context of climate change, the Basin Plan water portfolio may fall short of the target annual average yield of 2075 GL by 511 GL. We recommend adopting finance sector methods including ‘hedging’ ‘Low Security’ entitlements by purchasing an additional 322–2755 GL of ‘Low Security’, or 160–511 GL of ‘High Security’ entitlements. Securing reliable environmental water is a global problem. Finance economics present opportunities for increasing the reliability of environmental flows

Kinetics and equilibrium constants of some pentacyanoferrate(II) complexes of nitrogen and sulfur containing heterocycles

The kinetics of the substitution reactions of Fe(CN)5H2O3- ion with a series of nitrogen and sulfur containing heterocycles were studied in aqueous media. In the presence of excess ligand, varied over a large range of concentrations, second-order rate constants were calculated at µ = 0.100 M NaClO4. Activation parameters for the formation reactions were found, ?H* and ?S*, 28 ± 6 kJ/mol and 135 ± 20 J/mol, respectively. The results are interpreted as being consistent with dissociative, SN1 mechanism. The kinetics of formation and dissociation were studied by stopped-flow technique at several temperatures. An investigation of the kinetics of exchange of coordinated heterocycles for 1,3,5-triazine, yielded rate saturation that is typical of a limiting SN, mechanism, Activation parameters of the limiting first-order specific rate of dissociations were found with ?H* and ?S* 53 ± 2 kJ/mol and 105 ± 5 J/mol, respectively. From the specific rates of formation and dissociation reactions the equi- librium constants were calculated. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Gamma Knife 3-D dose distribution near the area of tissue inhomogeneities by normoxic gel dosimetry

The accuracy of the Leksell GammaPlan (R), the dose planning system of the Gamma Knife Model-B, was evaluated near tissue inhomogeneities, using the gel dosimetry method. The lack of electronic equilibrium around the small-diameter gamma beams can cause dose calculation errors in the neighborhood of an air-tissue interface. An experiment was designed to investigate the effects of inhomogeneity near the paranosal sinuses cavities. The homogeneous phantom was a spherical glass balloon of 16 cm diameter, filled with MAGIC gel; i.e., the normoxic polymer gel. Two hollow PVC balls of 2 cm radius, filled with N-2 gas, represented the air cavities inside the inhomogeneous phantom. For dose calibration purposes, 100 ml gel-containing vials were irradiated at predefined doses, and then scanned in a MR unit. Linearity was observed between the delivered dose and the reciprocal of the T2 relaxation time constant of the gel. Dose distributions are the results of a single shot of irradiation, obtained by collimating all 201 cobalt sources to a known target in the phantom. Both phantoms were if-radiated at the same dose level at the same coordinates. Stereotactic frames and fiducial markers were attached to the phantoms prior to MR scanning. The dose distribution predicted by the Gamma Knife planning system was compared with that of the gel dosimetry. As expected, for the homogeneous phantom the isodose diameters measured by the gel dosimetry and the GammaPlan (R) differed by 5% at most. However, with the inhomogeneous phantom, the dose maps in the axial, coronal and sagittal planes were spatially different. The diameters of the 50% isodose curves differed 43% in the X axis and 32% in the Y axis for the Z = 90 mm axial plane; by 44% in the X axis and 24% in the Z axis for the Y = 90 mm coronal plane; and by 32% in the Z axis and 42% in the Y axis for the X = 92 mm, sagittal plane. The lack of ability of the GammaPlan (R) to predict the rapid dose fall off, due to the air cavities behind or near the lesion led to an overestimation of the dose that was actually delivered. Clinically, this can result in underdosing of lesions near tissue inhomogeneities in patients under treatment. (c) 2007 American Association of Physicists in Medicine

Condensed 1,4-dihydropyridines with various esters and their calcium channel antagonist activities

New alkyl 2,6,6-(2,7,7)-trimethyl-4-(2-fluoro-3-chloro-5-trifluoromethylphenyl)-5-oxo-1,4,5,6,7,8-hexahydroquinoline-3-carboxylates and 9-(3-chloro-2-fluoro-5-trifluoromethylphenyl)-6,6(7,7)-dimethyl-6,7-dihydrofuro[3,4-b]quinoline-1,8-diones have been synthesised and their calcium antagonistic activities on isolated rabbit sigmoid colon have been investigated and compared with Nifedipine. The investigation examined the influence of ester groups in the 3-position of the HHQ ring and the 2-methoxyethyl analogs were found to be the most active derivatives