Home bias persistence in foreign direct investments

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the issues related to home bias and foreign direct investments (FDIs). We study the role of physical, cultural, and institutional distances from home on FDI decisions taken by corporations to assess whether the globalization of the past two decades has reduced their influence. Using the ‘home bias’ framework from the finance literature and the gravity model from the economics literature, we utilize a large sample of both developed and emerging markets, using FDI flows of 6263 unique bilateral country pairs over a 30-year period. We find strong empirical evidence of persistent home bias in FDI outflows, and we show that not only physical distance but also cultural and institutional similarities between host and source countries remain a decisive factor in foreign corporate investment decisions. We also show that such home bias is persistent over time and is observed around the world

Herding in foreign direct investment

This paper, to our knowledge, is the first to examine herding in foreign direct investment (FDI). We investigate it from two perspectives, first the number of countries investing in the host country and then the dollar volumes of those investments. Our results provide strong evidence of herding in FDI. We also show herding in the divestures of these investors. We show that herding in FDI is related to host country characteristics and governance parameters

MULTIPLE ENDOCRINE ADENOMATOSIS (MEA) - CASE REPORTS

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Medical photography

The photography is a method for creating a permanent image of an object through designing the image on a light-sensitive media (film or sensor). The word “photography” comes from greek (“photos” - light and “grapho” - write) and means “light-writing”, or, in other words, a method of producing photographic image by using light and according to the laws of optics.(1)Specific qualities of the photography are its objectivity and documentary.It records events, phenomena in nature, events from common life, personalities - everything that leaves a lasting memory of what happened before. And not only. With the help of the photography, we can create convincing and realistic works that through their deep impact develop mental capabilities and enrich the cultural knowledge of every thinking person, create new, different ideas for the outside world, evoke feelings, thoughts and emotions.(2)Due to its rapid development, especially in the recent “digital” years, photography became an integral part of all spheres of life. Besides being a documentary tool, it is also an extremely powerful method of research and analysis for inaccessible to the human eye spheres and phenomena - the processes that takes place in an environment unattainable for man, studying the atomic nucleus, exploring the secrets of the cosmic space, observations on the functionality of the human organism and many others

Prediction of sanding in subsurface hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Sand production in oil and gas wells can occur if the fluid velocity exceeds a certain value. Due to drilling operations, the mechanical stresses can exceed the load bearing capacity of the rock. As the local stresses exceed certain level, a certain amount of rock is fractured into sand. Then, the sand is carried by the fluid through the wellbore depending on the flow rate. The amount of the solids can be less than a few grams per cubic meter of reservoir fluid or an essential amount. In the later case erosion of the rock and removing sufficient quantities of rock can occur. This can produce subsurface cavities which collapse and destroy the well. When sanding is unavoidable it is necessary to estimate the characteristics of the process. Our aim was to generate a simple one-dimensional local model, which predicts the volume of sanding, the radius and the porosity of the yielded zone. Such model will help the company in the development of complex 3D models

STUDIES ON CYTOMEGALOVIRAL (CMV) INFECTIONS IN NEWBORN CHILDREN

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Microstructural-mechanical properties relationship in single polymer laminate composites based on polyamide 6

This paper studies theflexural and the impact properties of polyamide 6-based knitted reinforced single polymercomposites (KSPCs) prepared by compression molding of powder-coated textile structures. To prepare matrixcomponent, polyamide 6 microparticles (MPs) were synthesized by activated anionic ring-opening poly-merization ofε-caprolactam in solution and then used for powder-coating of the knitted structures. The influenceof the reinforcements' architecture, plies orientation, stacking order andfiber content on thefinal mechanicalproperties of KSPCs were investigated. Rib1 × 1 and Jersey knitted structures were selected as reinforcementsand treated by a stretching-annealing procedure to modify their mechanical properties. The anisotropic tensileand compression properties imparted by the knitted structures were found to be the major factors determiningthe impact andflexural behavior of KSPCs. Moreover, reinforcement's crossover points, the plies orientation andthe presence of a transcrystalline layer at the matrix-reinforcement interface were identified as relevant para-meters. The fracture mechanism of KSPCs was linked to the morphology and crystalline structure of the resultingcomposites and investigated by simulation andfinite element analysis of knitted reinforcemenents.This work was partially financed by FEDER funds through the COMPETE program and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER 007136. SDT thanks FCT for his Ph.D. Grant SFRH/BD/94759/2013. NVD thanks for the financial support of FCT in the frames of the stra tegic project UID/CTM/50025/2013. Finally, ZZD is thankful to FCT for the SFRH/BSAB/130271/2017 personal research grant. All authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the project TSSiPRO-NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000015 funded by the regional operational program NORTE 2020, under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund

Structure and molecular dynamics in metal-containing polyamide 6 microparticles

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.Polymer microparticles are used in additive manufacturing, separation and purification devices, biocatalysis, or for the recognition of biomolecules. This study reports on the effect of metal fillers on the structure and molecular dynamics of polyamide 6 (PA6) microparticles (MPs) containing up to 19 wt.% of Al, Cu, or Mg. These hybrid MPs are synthesized via reactive microencapsulation by anionic ring-opening polymerization in solution, in the presence of the metal filler. 13C high-resolution solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy is employed as the primary characterization method using magic angle spinning (MAS) and cross-polarization (CP)/MAS. Depending on the metal filler, the ssNMR crystallinity index of the MP varies between 39–50%, as determined by deconvolution of the 13C MAS and CP/MAS spectra. These values correlate very well with the crystallinity derived from thermal or X-ray diffraction data. The molecular dynamics study on PA6 and Cu-containing MP shows similar mobility of carbon nuclei in the kHz, but not in the MHz frequency ranges. The paramagnetic Al and Mg have an observable effect on the relaxation; however, conclusions regarding the PA6 carbon motions cannot be unequivocally made. These results are useful in the preparation of hybrid microparticles with customized structures and magneto-electrical properties.This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), project UID/CTM/50025/2019. N. Dencheva is also grateful for the personal program contract CTTI-51/18-IPC. FMO wishes to thank the AdvaMTech—Ph.D. Program in Advanced Materials and Processing for the Ph.D. grant PD/BD/114372/2016 (FCT)

Single polymer laminate composites by compression molding of knitted textiles and microparticles of polyamide 6: Preparation and structure-properties relationship

Knitted reinforced single polymer laminate composites based on polyamide 6 (KSPCsPA6) were produced bycompression molding of polyamide 6 microparticlesMPs()PA6powder-coating annealed PA6 Rib or Jersey knittedtextile structures. TheMPsPA6were synthesized by solution/precipitation activated anionic ring-opening poly-merization ofε-caprolactam. The tensile properties ofKSPCsPA6were studied in relation to the knitted re-inforcement architecture,fiber volume fraction, ply orientation and stacking orders. The tensile stiffness andstrength of the newly preparedKSPCsPA6withfiber content of 15% showed significant improvements as com-pared to the neat anionic PA6 matrix and to commercial hydrolytic PA6 (HPA6). The mechanical behavior of theKSPCsPA6was correlated with the geometry parameters of the knitted reinforcements, the polymorph content ofthe samples and their crystallinity indexes determined by differential scanning calorimetry and wide-angle X-raydiffraction. The fracture behavior of KSPCsPA6was investigated by electron microscopy complemented by si-mulation studies.All authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the project TSSiPRO-NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000015 funded by the regional operational program NORTE 2020, under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund. This work was partially financed by FEDER funds through the Competitiy Factors Operational Program - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136. SDT thanks FCT for his PhD Grant SFRH/BD/94759/2013. NVD thanks for the financial support of FCT through the strategic projects LA25/2013-2014 and UID/CTM/50025/2013. Finally, ZZD is thankful to FCT for the SFRH/BSAB/130271/2017 personal research grant

Quantum interference and multielectron effects in high-harmonic spectra of polar molecules

ISSN:1094-1622ISSN:0556-2791ISSN:1050-294