Foreign Capital Inflows and Economic Well-being: A Statistical Analysis of 46 Sub-Saharan African Countries From 1995-2015

Variation in the economic well-being among sub-Saharan African countries is among the highest of any region in the world. This paper attempts to address this disparity by exploring the role of foreign capital inflows. This project extends the concept of well-being beyond GDP growth, to include measures of poverty and inequality. A multivariate regression analysis finds that the observed capital inflows have significant effects on all three measurements of well-being. Findings suggest that the level of affluence of the domestic population has significant effects on the ability of those populations to translate diaspora remittances into improvements in well-being

Processing and Properties of High-Entropy Ultra-High Temperature Carbides

The research was supported by the EPSRC Programme Grant XMAT [EP/K008749/2]. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from projects: APVV-15-0469 & VEGA 2/0163/16

Biotechnological production and application of fructooligosaccharides

Currently, prebiotics are all carbohydrates of relatively short chain length. An important group is the fructooligosaccharides, which are a special kind of prebiotics associated to their selective stimulation of the activity of certain groups of colonic bacteria that have a positive and beneficial effect on intestinal microbiota, reducing incidence of gastrointestinal infections, respiratory and also possessing a recognized bifidogenic effect. Traditionally, these prebiotic compounds have been obtained through extraction processes from some plants, as well as through enzymatic hydrolysis of sucrose. However, different fermentative methods have also been proposed for the production of fructooligosaccharides, such as solid-state fermentation utilizing various agroindustrial by-products. By optimizing the culture parameters, fructooligosaccharides yields and productivity can be improved. The use of immobilized enzymes and cells has also been proposed as being an effective and economic method for large-scale production of fructooligosaccharides. This paper is an overview on the results of recent studies on fructooligosacharides biosynthesis, physicochemical properties, sources, biotechnological production and applications.The authors thank the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico (CONACYT) for funding this study. D. A. Flores-Maltos thank the CONACYT for the financial support provided for her postgraduate studies in the Food Science and Technology Program, Universidad Autonoma de Coahuila, Mexico

Transition metal complexes with Girard reagent-based ligands, Part I: Synthesis and crystal structure of the first cobalt(III) complexes with Schiff base derivative of Girard reagent

A new ligand, pyridoxilidene Girard-T hydrazone, [H3L]Cl-2 . 2H(2)O, and its octahedral cobalt(III) complexes [Co(HL) (NO2)(3)] . H2O (1) and [Co(HL)(2)](PF6)(3) (2) were synthesized. The X-ray analysis of (1) showed that the complex has a mer-octahedral configuration formed by coordination of the tridentate ONO neutral Schiff-base molecule and three monodentate N-bonded NO2 groups. Hydrogen bonds and intermolecular interactions for this complex are discussed. Complex (2) also has a mer-octahedral configuration. The ligand and complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, conductometric and magnetochemical measurements, IR and UV-Visible, H-1 and C-13 NMR spectra. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V

Glycolyzed poly(ethylene terephthalate) waste and castor oil-based polyols for waterborne polyurethane adhesives containing hexamethoxymethyl melamine

Glycolysis of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) waste using different molar ratio of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG400), was used to produce saturated hydroxyl-functional polyester polyols with castor oil (CO) by transesterification process. The waterborne polyurethane (WBPU) adhesives were synthesized from these saturated polyester polyols, isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), dimethylolpropionic acid (DMPA), and hexamethoxymethyl melamine (HMMM) as cross-linking agent by a conventional prepolymer process. The glycolyzed polyols and polyester polyos formations were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and the molecular weights were determined using gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The cross-linking reaction between WBPU and HMMM was verified using FfIR and H-1 NMR analysis. Thermal properties were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TG). Thermal stability of cross-linked WBPU significantly increased with decreasing castor oil content in the process of transesterification to obtain polyester polyol as a soft segment. The T-15% and T-50% (the temperature where 15 and 50% weight loss occurred) of WBPU increased with the decreasing of castor oil content in the obtained polyester polyols, caused by the steric hindrance of polyester polyol with higher castor oil content, in the process of cross-linking reactions with HMMM. The physico-mechanical properties of WBPU, such as hardness, adhesion test, and gloss of the dried films were also determined considering the effect of participation of HMMM in cross-linking reactions with polyurethane, on coating properties. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved