FDI and Local Financial Market Development:A Granger Causality Test Using Panel Data

This paper reports the findings of Granger causality tests on the relationship between foreign direct investment (henceforth, FDI) and local financial market development across 62 countries from 1996 to 2007. In this paper we explore whether local financial market development is important in catalyzing the flow of foreign direct investment. findings results are robust to different measures of financial market development. Furthermore, the results indicate that most of the causal links are found in Non OECD, Low income and Lower middle Income countries.FDI; Financial market, Capital markets; Credit markets;

FDI, local Financial Markets, employment and poverty alleviation

This paper examines the precise links between foreign direct investment (henceforth, FDI) and poverty alleviation, where so far there are few studies attempted to analyze empirically this relationship. The FDI inflows vary across international borders, therefore FDI reduces poverty only under certain circumstances. “Roll out the red carpet for foreign investors and they will come” ; Countries with better financial systems, and healthy business environment are able to attract more FDI, exploit it more efficiently and reduce poverty. Empirical analysis using panel data of 62 countries, from 1996 to 2007, shows that FDI appears regularly to be a key source of employment for women in Non OECD countries and has a favorable effect on poverty reduction in the host country if interacted with monetary and nonmonetary variables.FDI; Financial market ; Poverty ; Employment

Preliminary Investigation of the Frictional Response of Reptilian Shed Skin

Developing deterministic surfaces relies on controlling the structure of the rubbing interface so that not only the surface is of optimized topography, but also is able to self-adjust its tribological behaviour according to the evolution of sliding conditions. In seeking inspirations for such designs, many engineers are turning toward the biological world to correlate surface structure to functional behavior of bio-analogues. From a tribological point of view, squamate reptiles offer diverse examples where surface texturing, submicron and nano-scale features, achieve frictional regulation. In this paper, we study the frictional response of shed skin obtained from a snake (Python regius). The study employed a specially designed tribo-acoustic probe capable of measuring the coefficient of friction and detecting the acoustical behavior of the skin in vivo. The results confirm the anisotropy of the frictional response of snakes. The coefficient of friction depends on the direction of sliding: the value in forward motion is lower than that in the backward direction. In addition it is shown that the anisotropy of the frictional response may stem from profile asymmetry of the individual fibril structures present within the ventral scales of the reptil

Improving the classification of multiple disorders with problem decomposition

AbstractDifferential diagnosis of multiple disorders is a challenging problem in clinical medicine. According to the divide-and-conquer principle, this problem can be handled more effectively through decomposing it into a number of simpler sub-problems, each solved separately. We demonstrate the advantages of this approach using abductive network classifiers on the 6-class standard dermatology dataset. Three problem decomposition scenarios are investigated, including class decomposition and two hierarchical approaches based on clinical practice and class separability properties. Two-stage classification schemes based on hierarchical decomposition boost the classification accuracy from 91% for the single-classifier monolithic approach to 99%, matching the theoretical upper limit reported in the literature for the accuracy of classifying the dataset. Such models are also simpler, achieving up to 47% reduction in the number of input variables required, thus reducing the cost and improving the convenience of performing the medical diagnostic tests required. Automatic selection of only relevant inputs by the simpler abductive network models synthesized provides greater insight into the diagnosis problem and the diagnostic value of various disease markers. The problem decomposition approach helps plan more efficient diagnostic tests and provides improved support for the decision-making process. Findings are compared with established guidelines of clinical practice, results of data analysis, and outcomes of previous informatics-based studies on the dataset