Foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa

The authors of this paper examine trends in private foreign direct investment in sub - Saharan Africa, assess how this has affected the host economies, and discuss the prospects for increased investment in the 1990s. They examine new or nontraditional forms of investment as well as more traditional stock and flow trends. They also focus on the relationship between structural adjustment programs and foreign private investment. Foreign investment in the 1990s (as in the 1980s) is likely to flow to a few key sectors: energy, selected export manufacturing sectors, and possibly the tourist industry. The least attractive area for the foreign investor is exclusively import-substituting industrialization. Interested investors are more likely to commit technology and management than equity capital. As a result, development finance institutions are likely to play an increasingly important role in meeting the need for capital. Thus, activity in sub - Saharan Africa may be more effective at raising the total volume of investment than any change in the climate of fiscal and other incentives. There is no prospect whatsoever for foreign investment to meet sub - Saharan Africa's rising foreign exchange and savings gaps. For one thing, prospects in other parts of the rapidly changing world look brighter and less risky and are closer to home. For another (Catch 22), sub - Saharan Africa is unlikely to attract capital until the prospects for growth improve.International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Trade and Regional Integration,ICT Policy and Strategies,Environmental Economics&Policies

The Importance of irregular opacities on the chest radiograph of coalworkers

Imperial Users onl

On the Relevance of Police Organisational Culture Approaches to the Prison Context

Research into the occupational culture of prison officers has provided some important and enriching accounts of prisons, of the lives of those who live and work in them and the kinds of work that take place within them. Such accounts tend to use police occupational culture as a reference point, if not as a template for such observations. In many respects, this is understandable and a perhaps obvious choice given that prison officers and police officers both work within the criminal justice system. Similarly, the wealth of literature focussing on police occupational culture provides a foundation for understanding and exploring different occupational groups which function within the criminal justice arena. This paper, however, will explore some of the broader differences between the two occupations. The purpose of this is to assess the limits to the usefulness of police occupational culture as a means of understanding the cultural world of prison officers. This is not to understate the similarities between the two occupations and the ways in which these might contribute to similar or shared culturally driven experiences, perceptions and behaviours. What this paper will do, however, is to provide a brief overview of some of the areas of difference which might lead to different cultural reference points

Unpacking the Blue Box: structure, control and education in policing

Research addressing the relationship between Higher Education (HE) and police officers tends to fall into one of three camps. First, that which explores the relationship between police institutions and academic institutions, second, those which explore the appropriateness of the HE setting for the delivery of police-specific knowledge, and, finally, research which investigates the impact of police higher education engagement upon police officer attributes and practice (Brown. 2018. Do graduate police officers make a difference to policing? Results of an integrative literature review. Policing: a journal of policy and practice, policing, 1–22. doi:10.1093/police/pay075). Thus far, little research has discussed the impact HE has on the relationship between officers and the police organisation. This research, derived from interviews with 31 police officers who undertook in-service degrees, explores police officers’ engagement with HE study and the consequent changes to their perception of their relationship with the profession. This is contrasted with the relatively unchanged structural and cultural expectations the organisation places on officers regardless of their newly acquired graduate status as reported in the extant literature (Hallenberg and Cockcroft. 2017. From indifference to hostility: police officers, organisational responses and the symbolic value of ‘in-service’ higher education in policing. Policing: a journal of policy and practice, 11 (3), 273–288). The discrepancy can be explained through the recent scholarship on public sector isomorphism and the police’s transformation into a hybrid organisation (Noordegraaf. 2015. Hybrid professionalism and beyond: new forms of public professionalism in changing organizational and societal contexts. Journal of professions and organization, 2, 187–206), as well as the competing knowledge paradigms within policing (Williams and Cockcroft. 2018. Knowledge wars: professionalisation, organisational justice and competing knowledge paradigms in British policing. In: L. Huey, and R Mitchell, eds. Evidence-based policing: an introduction. Bristol: Policy Press, 131–141). Importantly, however, the current paper takes this discussion deeper. It argues that the police’s unique role in serving not just the public but also state interests inevitably shapes and constrains the process of professionalisation, the relationship between the police and HE, and officers’ ability to use knowledge and skills gained through HE study

The use of social network analysis to explore relationships between the medical informatics and information systems literature

Health informatics (HI) research has evolved over several decades from its roots in computer science (CS) and artificial intelligence in medicine (AIM). Information Systems (IS) evolved independently, but recently IS within health environments are being embraced as a new test bed for Information Systems theories. The purpose of this paper is to present an objective view of the level of cross reference between the IS and MI bodies of literature, and to either provide evidence of uptake of IS theories in HI or of outlets that would provide appropriate targets for such work due to their antecedents and influence. The extent of the cross fertilization between the two disciplines is still thought to be low. Using social network analysis (SNA) we present an exploratory study which identifies the bridges and cutpoints within a basket of 44 key journals and identify the impact of Information Systems research on the Health Informatics discipline. This work is informed by a number of recent studies using this approach

Police and higher education

The paper reports on a small pilot study which explored the above themes through semi-structured interviews of police officers and staff with higher education experiences

Ontological clarity and comprehension in health data models

Conceptual modeling forms an important part of systems analysis. If this is done incorrectly or incompletely, there can be serious implications for the resultant system, specifically in terms of rework and useability. One approach to improving the conceptual modelling process is to evaluate how well the model represents reality. Emergence of the Bunge-Wand-Weber (BWW) ontological model introduced a platform to classify and compare the grammar of conceptual modelling languages. This work applies the BWW theory to a real world example in the health arena. The general practice computing group data model was developed using the Barker Entity Relationship Modelling technique. We describe an experiment, grounded in ontological theory, which evaluates how well the GPCG data model is understood by domain experts. The results show that with the exception of the use of entities to represent events, the raw model is better understood by domain expert

A review of the safety and efficacy of nebivolol in the mildly hypertensive patient

Nebivolol is a third generation beta-blocker, which can be distinguished from other beta-blockers by its hemodynamic profile. It combines beta-adrenergic blocking activity with a vasodilating effect mediated by the endothelial L-arginine nitric oxide (NO) pathway. The effects of nebivolol have been compared with other beta-blockers and also with other classes of antihypertensive agents. In general, response rates to treatment are higher, and the frequency and severity of adverse events are either comparable or lower with nebivolol. Nebivolol is also effective in reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in elderly patients with heart failure, regardless of the initial ejection fraction. Endothelium-derived NO is important in the regulation of large arterial stiffness, which in turn is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Treatment with nebivolol increases the release of NO from the endothelium and improves endothelial function, leading to a reduction in arterial stiffness. Decreased arterial stiffness has beneficial hemodynamic effects including reductions in central aortic blood pressure. Unlike first generation beta-blockerrs, vasodilator beta-blockerrs such as nebivolol have favorable hemodynamic effects, which may translate into improved cardiovascular outcomes in patients with hypertension

Mammalian lipids: structure, synthesis and function

Lipids are essential constituents of cellular membranes. Once regarded merely as structural components, lipids have taken centre stage with the discovery of their roles in cell signalling and in the generation of bioactive metabolites. Lipids regulate many physiological functions of cells and alterations in membrane lipid metabolism are associated with major diseases including cancer, Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease and immune disorders. Understanding lipid diversity, their synthesis and metabolism to generate signalling molecules will provide insight into the fundamental function of the cell. This review summarises the biosynthesis of the lipids of the mammalian cell; phospholipids, sphingolipids and cholesterol and how lipid diversity is achieved. The fatty acids (FAs) are the main building blocks of lipids and contribute to the diversity. Lipid synthesis is intimately connected to their transport within cells; the contribution by proteins that transport lipids, lipid transport proteins will be described. Cellular lipids are metabolised by phospholipases, lipid kinases and phosphatases to make new bioactive metabolites. These transient bioactive metabolites allow cells to respond to the external environment to maintain cellular health. The function of individual metabolites is also highlighted. Bioactive metabolites can be second messengers, or released to the external medium to regulate other cells. Alternatively, bioactive lipids also provide a platform for reversible recruitment of proteins to membranes using their lipid-binding domains. The wide range of physiological processes in which a specific involvement of lipids has been identified explains the need for lipid diversity present in mammalian cells