Short-Term Capital Flows, The Real Economy and Income Distribution in Developing Countries

The volatility of short-term capital flows (or 'capital surges') is now recognized as a major problem for macroeconomic management in developing countries; but the consequences for the 'real' economy - that is, the behaviour of government, firms and households which subsequently translates into investment, growth, employment and welfare - is less well understood. Short-term capital flow instability arises from the desire of investors to hold liquid assets in the face of uncertainty; affecting the real economy both through variations in both prices such as the interest rate and the exchange rate, and quantities such as levels of bank credit and government bond sales. In this chapter, government expenditure is shown to respond in an asymmetric manner to sudden changes in investor perceptions of fiscal solvency associated with portfolio capital surges. The impact of short flows on output and investment by firms through the availability of bank credit is also found to be large and asymmetric. The macroeconomic effect of capital surges on employment levels and the real wage rate is shown to arise from their influence on real exchange rates and domestic demand levels, although whether employment or wages adjust depends the monetary stabilization policy adopted. The chapter concludes with some implications of the analysis for longer-term growth and policy design.

Time frequency analysis in terahertz pulsed imaging

Recent advances in laser and electro-optical technologies have made the previously under-utilized terahertz frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum accessible for practical imaging. Applications are emerging, notably in the biomedical domain. In this chapter the technique of terahertz pulsed imaging is introduced in some detail. The need for special computer vision methods, which arises from the use of pulses of radiation and the acquisition of a time series at each pixel, is described. The nature of the data is a challenge since we are interested not only in the frequency composition of the pulses, but also how these differ for different parts of the pulse. Conventional and short-time Fourier transforms and wavelets were used in preliminary experiments on the analysis of terahertz pulsed imaging data. Measurements of refractive index and absorption coefficient were compared, wavelet compression assessed and image classification by multidimensional clustering techniques demonstrated. It is shown that the timefrequency methods perform as well as conventional analysis for determining material properties. Wavelet compression gave results that were robust through compressions that used only 20% of the wavelet coefficients. It is concluded that the time-frequency methods hold great promise for optimizing the extraction of the spectroscopic information contained in each terahertz pulse, for the analysis of more complex signals comprising multiple pulses or from recently introduced acquisition techniques

Imaging diagnosis-computed tomography of traction bronchiectasis secondary to pulmonary fibrosis in a Patterdale Terrier

An 8-year-old, Patterdale terrier was referred for evaluation of tachypnoea, exercise intolerance, and weight loss. Computed tomographic images showed pneumomediastinum, diffuse pulmonary ground glass opacity, and marked dilatation of peripheral bronchi, but no evidence of thickened bronchial walls. The histopathologic diagnosis was diffuse pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, type II pneumocyte hyperplasia, and bronchiectasis. The lack of evidence of primary bronchitis supported a diagnosis of traction bronchiectasis. Traction bronchiectasis can occur as a sequela to pulmonary fibrosis in dogs. (C) 2016 American College of Veterinary Radiology

An analysis of new techniqes for radiometric correction of LANDSAT-4 Thematic Mapper images

The utility of methods for generating TM RLUTS which can improve the quality of the resultant images was investigated. The TM-CCT-ADDS tape was changed to account for a different collection window for the calibration data. Several scenes of Terrebonne Bay, Louisiana and the Grand Bahamas were analyzed to evaluate the radiometric corrections operationally applied to the image data and to investigate several techniques for reducing striping in the images. Printer plots for the TM shutter data were produced and detector statistics were compiled and plotted. These statistics included various combinations of the average shutter counts for each scan before and after DC restore for forward and reverse scans. Results show that striping is caused by the detectors becoming saturated when they view a bright cloud and depress the DC restore level

The development of structural adhesive systems suitable for use with liquid oxygen /LOX/ Summary report, 20 Jun. 1969 - 19 Apr. 1970

Development of structural adhesive systems suitable for use with liquid oxyge

Redesigning gfp Reporter System for Utilization in Clostridium Difficile

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a gram-positive bacterium that comprises part of the healthy human gut microbiome. When it gains sufficient access to peptides, C. difficile flourishes and releases tissue-damaging toxins, which cause inflammation of the colon that can develop into a Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI).10 The Ivey Laboratory believes that the best tactic in preventing CDIs is stopping peptide ingestion, which theoretically could be accomplished by manipulating the oligopeptide permease (App) system.7 In order to verify that altering the App system would successfully impede peptide uptake, first the expression of the app Promoter Region (appProR) of C. difficile’s DNA needs to be better understood. This characterization can be accomplished by fusing appProR to the gfp-reporter gene, which codes for Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). GFP emits green fluorescent light when exposed to blue or ultraviolet light, and the degree of fluorescence can be used to quantify the gene expression of whatever DNA sequence to which the gfp-reporter gene is fused.9 The specific aim of this project was to incorporate the appProR-gfp-reporter gene complex first into Eschericheria coli (E. coli), and then into Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis). Those two bacterial species were chosen as hosts for the transformations, for E. coli and B. subtilis are known for being more receptive to recombinant DNA techniques than C. difficile.22 By ligating the appProR-gfp-reporter gene sequence of pUA321 to pG+host4, the resulting plasmid, pUA625, contained a broad enough host range to transform both gram-negative E. coli and gram-positive B. subtilis. Those successful transformations indicate that pUA625 could be integrated into C. difficile in the future, an achievement which would lead to a better understanding of the expression of C. difficile’s App system