Harnessing Windfall Revenues: Optimal Policies for Resource-Rich Developing Economies

A windfall of natural resource revenue (or foreign aid) faces government with choices of how to manage public debt, investment, and the distribution of funds for consumption, particularly if the windfall is both anticipated and temporary. We show that the permanent income hypothesis prescription of an ever-lasting increase in consumption financed by borrowing ahead of the windfall and then accumulating a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is not optimal for capital-scarce developing economies. Such countries should accumulate public and private capital to accelerate their development and, only if the windfall is large relative to initial foreign debt, is it optimal to build a SWF. The optimal time profile of consumption is biased towards the near future, as compared to the permanent income hypothesis. Outcomes depend on instruments available to government. We study cases where the government can make lump-sum transfers to consumers; where such transfers are impossible so optimal policy involves cutting distortionary taxation in order to raise investment and wages; and where Ricardian consumers can borrow against future revenues, in which case the policy response to possible over-consumption is a high level of investment in infrastructure.natural resource revenue, windfall public revenues, risk premium on foreign debt, public infrastructure, private investment, credit constraints, optimal fiscal policy, debt management, Sovereign Wealth Fund, asset holding subsidy, developing economies

VEHIL - HIL testing of advanced driver assistance systems

A new Hardware-in-the-Loop method for the design of Advanced Driver Assistance (ADA) systems for road vehicles is presented. This method, called VEHIL, aims to support the development and verification of ADA systems, increasing the level of reproducibility, effectiveness and safety of the testing process. To this end, a test vehicle, positioned on a roller bench, is placed in a simulated traffic environment. A selection of simulated traffic participants is represented by wheeled mobile robots in order to provide the test vehicle’s environment sensor input. VEHIL is positioned in the development methodology as commonly used by OEM’s and 1st Tier suppliers and the added value of VEHIL is illustrated by means of three test cases regarding sensor mapping, ACC and collision mitigation

Genome sequence of Streptococcus mutans bacteriophage M102

Bacteriophage M102 is a lytic phage specific for serotype c strains of Streptococcus mutans, a causative agent of dental caries. In this study, the complete genome sequence of M102 was determined. The genome is 31,147 bp in size and contains 41 ORFs. Most of the ORFs encoding putative phage structural proteins show similarity to those from bacteriophages from Streptococcus thermophilus. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that the M102 genome contains an unusual lysis cassette, which encodes a holin and two lytic enzyme

Characterization of Streptococcus gordonii prophage PH15: complete genome sequence and functional analysis of phage-encoded integrase and endolysin

Streptococcus gordonii OMZ1039, isolated from supragingival dental plaque, was found to harbour a prophage, PH15, whose excision could be induced by mitomycin treatment. Phage PH15 belongs to the Siphoviridae. The complete genome sequence of PH15 was determined. The genome was 39 136 bp in size and contained 61 ORFs. The genome of PH15 was most similar in the structural module to the temperate bacteriophages MM1 and phiNIH1.1 from Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes, respectively. In strain OMZ1039, PH15 was found to reside as a prophage in the cysteinyl-tRNA gene. A plasmid, harbouring the attP site and the integrase gene downstream of a constitutive promoter, was capable of site-specific integration into the genomes of different oral streptococcal species. The phage endolysin was purified after expression in Escherichia coli and found to inhibit growth of all S. gordonii strains tested and several different streptococcal species, including the pathogens Streptococcus mutans, S. pyogenes and Streptococcus agalactiae

Collision warning system based on probability density functions

In this paper, a collision warning method between the host vehicle and target object(s) is studied. A probabilistic collision warning method is proposed, which is, in particular, useful for objects, e.g. vulnerable road users, which trajectories can rapidly change heading and/or velocity with respect to time. A vehicle is equipped with the probabilistic collision warning system and its functionality is validated in experiments with a bicyclist as target object