601 research outputs found
Can Fiscal Budget-Neutral Reforms Stimulate Growth? Model-Based Results
This paper focuses on growth enhancing budget-neutral fiscal reforms, i.e. changes in the
composition of government revenues and spending that stimulate GDP growth while keeping the
ratio of the fiscal budget to GDP constant. To this aim, we present simulation results using a
multi-country DSGE model with three large economic regions, the US, the euro area and the rest
of the world. The model features constrained and unconstrained non-Ricardian households and a
detailed government sector; its multi-country nature allows investigating cross-country
spillovers. The paper focuses on the most growth-friendly budget-neutral fiscal measures: (i) an
incomplete fiscal devaluation (ii) a rise in government investment compensated by a fall in
government consumption and (iii) a rise in government investment compensated by a rise in
consumption and labor taxes. Dampening or amplifying effects due to coordination across
policies (monetary and fiscal) and across economic regions are also considered. Three main
results stand out. First, an increase in government investment financed by rising less
distortionary taxes appears to be an effective growth-friendly budget-neutral reform in the sense
that it generates both short- and long-run GDP growth and improves fiscal sustainability. Second,
benefits and costs of budget-neutral reforms are not equally distributed across agents, giving rise
to a policy trade-off between growth and distributional consequences. Third, budget-neutral
reforms do not have large cross-border trade spillovers; however, reforms coordinated across all
countries in periods of accommodative monetary policy do have amplified domestic effects
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Emerging markets finance: Issues of international capital flows - Overview of the special issue
Chronic urban hotspots and agricultural drainage drive microbial pollution of karst water resources in rural developing regions
Contamination of surface and groundwater systems with human and animal faecal matter leads to exposure of reliant populations to disease causing micro-organisms. This exposure route remains a major cause of infection and mortality in developing countries, particularly rural regions. To meet the UN's sustainable development goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, we need to identify the key controls on faecal contamination across relevant settings. We conducted a high-resolution spatial study of E. coli concentration in catchment drainage waters over 6 months in a mixed land-use catchment in the extensive karst region extending across impoverished southwest China. Using a mixed effects modelling framework, we tested how land-use, karst hydrology, antecedent meteorological conditions, agricultural cycles, hydrochemistry, and position in the catchment system affected E. coli concentrations. Land-use was the best predictor of faecal contamination levels. Sites in urban areas were chronically highly contaminated, but water draining from agricultural land was also consistently contaminated and there was a catchment wide pulse of higher E. coli concentrations, turbidity, and discharge during paddy field drainage. E. coli concentration increased with increasing antecedent rainfall across all land-use types and compartments of the karst hydrological system (underground and surface waters), but decreased with increasing pH. This is interpreted to be a result of processes affecting pH, such as water residence time, rather than the direct effect of pH on E. coli survival. Improved containment and treatment of human waste in areas of higher population density would likely reduce contamination hotspots, and further research is needed to identify the nature and distribution of sources in agricultural land
Political institutions and debt crises
This paper shows that political institutions matter in explaining defaults on external and domestic debt obligations. We explore a large number of political and macroeconomic variables using a non-parametric technique to predict safety from default. The advantage of this technique is that it is able to identify patterns in the data that are not captured in standard probit analysis. We find that political factors matter, and do so in different ways for democratic and non-democratic regimes, and for domestic and external debt. In democracies, a parliamentary system or sufficient checks and balances almost guarantee the absence of default on external debt when economic fundamentals or liquidity are sufficiently strong. In dictatorships, high stability and tenure play a similar role for default on domestic debt
High-temperature integrated and flexible ultrasonic transducers for nondestructive testing
Integrated ultrasonic transducers (IUTs) and flexible ultrasonic transducers (FUTs) are presented for nondestructive testing at high temperatures. These transducers are made of sol-gel-sprayed piezoelectric thick (>40 \ub5m) ceramic films. The ceramic materials are lead-zirconate-titanate, bismuth titanate and lithium niobate which are for thickness measurements up to 150, 400 and 800\ub0C, respectively. The IUT can also be deposited onto one end of a long ultrasonic delay line to perform nondestructive testing at the other end at even higher temperatures. FUTs made of bismuth titanate films onto thin stainless steel foils are also used for thickness measurements at 300\ub0C with a high-temperature couplant sandwiched between the FUT and a steel substrate. All experiments at high temperatures were performed in pulse-echo mode and ultrasonic echoes with signal-to-noise ratios above 20 dB were obtained. The center operation frequencies of both IUTs and FUTs range from 4.4 to 10.7 MHz.On pr\ue9sente des transducteurs ultrasoniques int\ue9gr\ue9s (TUI) et des transducteurs ultrasoniques souples (TUS) \ue0 des fins d\u2019essai \ue0 haute temp\ue9rature. Ces transducteurs sont en films c\ue9ramiques \ue9pais (> 40 \u3bcm), pi\ue9zo\ue9lectriques de type sol-gel pulv\ue9ris\ue9. Au nombre des mat\ue9riaux c\ue9ramiques figurent le titanate, le zirconate de plomb, le titanate de bismuth et le niobate de lithium; mat\ue9riaux qui conviennent pour des mesures d\u2019\ue9paisseur jusqu\u2019\ue0 150, 400 et 800 \ub0C respectivement. Les TUI peuvent aussi \ueatre d\ue9pos\ue9s \ue0 une extr\ue9mit\ue9 d\u2019une longue ligne de retard ultrasonique pour r\ue9aliser un essai non destructif \ue0 l\u2019autre extr\ue9mit\ue9 \ue0 des temp\ue9ratures encore plus \ue9lev\ue9es. Les TUS en film de titanate de bismuth sur de fines feuilles d\u2019acier inoxydable sont \ue9galement utilis\ue9s pour des mesures d\u2019\ue9paisseur \ue0 300 \ub0C avec un agent couplant pris en sandwich entre le TUS et un substrat en acier. Toutes les exp\ue9riences \ue0 haute temp\ue9rature ont \ue9t\ue9 r\ue9alis\ue9es en mode impulsion/\ue9cho, et on a obtenu des \ue9chos ultrasoniques avec des rapports signal/bruit sup\ue9rieurs \ue0 20 dB. Les fr\ue9quences centrales d\u2019exploitation des TUI et des TUS \ue9taient situ\ue9es dans la gamme allant de 4,4 \ue0 10,7 MHz.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
The effects of pioglitazone, a PPARγ receptor agonist, on the abuse liability of oxycodone among nondependent opioid users
Aims: Activation of PPARγ by pioglitazone (PIO) has shown some efficacy in attenuating addictive-like responses in laboratory animals. The ability of PIO to alter the effects of opioids in humans has not been characterized in a controlled laboratory setting. The proposed investigation sought to examine the effects of PIO on the subjective, analgesic, physiological and cognitive effects of oxycodone (OXY). Methods: During this investigation, nondependent prescription opioid abusers (N = 17 completers) were maintained for 2-3 weeks on ascending daily doses of PIO (0 mg, 15 mg, 45 mg) prior to completing a laboratory session assessing the aforementioned effects of OXY [using a within-session cumulative dosing procedure (0, 10, and 20 mg, cumulative dose = 30 mg)]. Results: OXY produced typical mu opioid agonist effects: miosis, decreased pain perception, and decreased respiratory rate. OXY also produced dose-dependent increases in positive subjective responses. Yet, ratings such as: drug "liking," "high," and "good drug effect," were not significantly altered as a function of PIO maintenance dose. Discussion: These data suggest that PIO may not be useful for reducing the abuse liability of OXY. These data were obtained with a sample of nondependent opioid users and therefore may not be applicable to dependent populations or to other opioids. Although PIO failed to alter the abuse liability of OXY, the interaction between glia and opioid receptors is not well understood so the possibility remains that medications that interact with glia in other ways may show more promise
The dependence of the anomalous J/psi suppression on the number of participant nucleons
The observation of an anomalous J/psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions by the NA50 Collaboration can be considered as the most striking indication for the deconfinement of quarks and gluons at SPS energies. In this Letter, we determine the J/psi suppression pattern as a function of the forward hadronic energy E-ZDC measured in a Zero Degree Calorimeter (ZDC). The direct connection between EZDC and the geometry of the collision allows us to calculate, within a Glauber approach, the precise relation between the number of participant nucleons N-part and E-ZDC. Then, we check if the experimental data can be better explained by a sudden or a smooth onset of the anomalous J/psi suppression as a function of the number of participants. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Centrality Behaviour of J/ Production in Na50
The J/ production in 158 A GeV Pb-Pb interactions is studied, in the
dimuon decay channel, as a function of centrality, as measured with the
electromagnetic or with the very forward calorimeters. After a first sharp
variation at mid centrality, both patterns continue to fall down and exhibit a
curvature change at high centrality values. This trend excludes any
conventional hadronic model and is in agreement with a deconfined quark-gluon
phase scenario. We report also preliminary results on the measured charged
multiplicity, as given by a dedicated detector.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures (in eps) talk given at XXXI International
Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics, Sep. 1-7, 2001, Datong China URL
http://ismd31.ccnu.edu.cn
Dilepton production in heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies
We present a unified description of the vector meson and dilepton production
in elementary and in heavy ion reactions. The production of vector mesons
() is described via the excitation of nuclear resonances ().
The theoretical framework is an extended vector meson dominance model (eVMD).
The treatment of the resonance decays with arbitrary spin is
covariant and kinematically complete. The eVMD includes thereby excited vector
meson states in the transition form factors. This ensures correct asymptotics
and provides a unified description of photonic and mesonic decays. The
resonance model is successfully applied to the production in
reactions. The same model is applied to the dilepton production in elementary
reactions (). Corresponding data are well reproduced. However, when
the model is applied to heavy ion reactions in the BEVALAC/SIS energy range the
experimental dilepton spectra measured by the DLS Collaboration are
significantly underestimated at small invariant masses. As a possible solution
of this problem the destruction of quantum interference in a dense medium is
discussed. A decoherent emission through vector mesons decays enhances the
corresponding dilepton yield in heavy ion reactions. In the vicinity of the
-peak the reproduction of the data requires further a substantial
collisional broadening of the and in particular of the meson.Comment: 32 pages revtex, 19 figures, to appear in PR
Design and operation of a fast high-granularity silicon detector system in a high-radiation environment
Abstract We have designed, realized and operated a fast silicon detector system (50 MHz sampling frequency) to measure the angular distribution and the multiplicity of charged secondaries produced in high-energy Pb–Pb interactions, within the NA50 experiment. We present here the detector design, discuss some of the problems faced during the commissioning and report on the first results on the operation of the full system. In particular, the questions related to the operation of an integrated high-speed binary readout in a high-radiation environment (1014 particles/cm2 and about 10 Mrads) and to the radiation effects on the system during the run will be addressed
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