Why and how FDI stocks are a biased measure of MNE affiliate activity

Many international business (IB) studies have used foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks to measure the aggregate value-adding activity of multinational enterprises (MNE) affiliates in host countries. We argue that FDI stocks are a biased measure of that activity, because the degree to which they overestimate or underestimate affiliate activity varies systematically with host-country characteristics. First, most FDI into countries that serve as tax havens generate no actual productive activity; thus FDI stocks in such countries overestimate affiliate activity. Second, FDI stocks do not include locally raised external funds, funds widely used in countries with well-developed financial markets or volatile exchange rates, resulting in an underestimation of affiliate activity in such countries. Finally, the extent to which FDI translates into affiliate activity increases with affiliate labor productivity, so in countries where labor is more productive, FDI stocks also result in an underestimation of affiliate activity. We test these hypotheses by first regressing affiliate value-added and affiliate sales on FDI stocks to calculate a country-specific mismatch, and then by regressing this mismatch on a host country's tax haven status, level of financial market development, exchange rate volatility, and affiliate labor productivity. All hypotheses are supported, implying that FDI stocks are a biased measure of MNE affiliate activity, and hence that the results of FDI-data-based studies of such activity need to be reconsidered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A universal measure of chaotropicity and kosmotropicity

Diverse parameters, including chaotropicity, can limit the function of cellular systems and thereby determine the extent of Earth's biosphere. Whereas parameters such as temperature, hydrophobicity, pressure, pH, Hofmeister effects, and water activity can be quantified via standard scales of measurement, the chao-/kosmotropic activities of environmentally ubiquitous substances have no widely accepted, universal scale. We developed an assay to determine and quantify chao-/kosmotropicity for 97 chemically diverse substances that can be universally applied to all solutes. This scale is numerically continuous for the solutes assayed (from +361kJkg^-1mol^-1 for chaotropes to -659kJkg^-1mol^-1 for kosmotropes) but there are key points that delineate (i) chaotropic from kosmotropic substances (i.e. chaotropes =+4; kosmotropes =-4kJkg^-1mol^-1); and (ii) chaotropic solutes that are readily water-soluble (log P<1.9) from hydrophobic substances that exert their chaotropic activity, by proxy, from within the hydrophobic domains of macromolecular systems (log P>1.9). Examples of chao-/kosmotropicity values are, for chaotropes: phenol +143, CaCl₂ +92.2, MgCl₂ +54.0, butanol +37.4, guanidine hydrochloride +31.9, urea +16.6, glycerol [>6.5M] +6.34, ethanol +5.93, fructose +4.56; for kosmotropes: proline -5.76, sucrose -6.92, dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) -9.72, mannitol -6.69, trehalose -10.6, NaCl -11.0, glycine -14.2, ammonium sulfate -66.9, polyethylene glycol- (PEG-)1000 -126; and for relatively neutral solutes: methanol, +3.12, ethylene glycol +1.66, glucose +1.19, glycerol [<5M] +1.06, maltose -1.43 (kJkg^-1mol^-1). The data obtained correlate with solute interactions with, and structure-function changes in, enzymes and membranes. We discuss the implications for diverse fields including microbial ecology, biotechnology and astrobiology.

The validation of Fibit ZipTM physical activity monitor as a measure of free-living physical activity

BACKGROUND: The new generation of activity monitors allow users to upload their data to the internet and review progress. The aim of this study is to validate the Fitbit Zip as a measure of free-living physical activity.

FINDINGS: Participants wore a Fitbit Zip, ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer and a Yamax CW700 pedometer for seven days. Participants were asked their opinion on the utility of the Fitbit Zip. Validity was assessed by comparing the output using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients, Wilcoxon signed rank tests and Bland-Altman plots. 59.5% (25/47) of the cohort were female. There was a high correlation in steps/day between the Fitbit Zip and the two reference devices (r = 0.91, p < 0.001). No statistically significant difference between the Fitbit and Yamax steps/day was observed (Median (IQR) 7477 (3597) vs 6774 (3851); p = 0.11). The Fitbit measured significantly more steps/day than the Actigraph (7477 (3597) vs 6774 (3851); p < 0.001). Bland-Altman plots revealed no systematic differences between the devices.

CONCLUSIONS: Given the high level of correlation and no apparent systematic biases in the Bland Altman plots, the use of Fitbit Zip as a measure of physical activity. However the Fitbit Zip recorded a significantly higher number of steps per day than the Actigraph.

Ultrasound entropy may be a new non-invasive measure of pre-clinical vascular damage in young hypertensive patients

Background: The identification of pre-clinical microvascular damage in hypertension by non-invasive techniques has proved frustrating for clinicians. This proof of concept study investigated whether entropy, a novel summary measure for characterizing blood velocity waveforms, is altered in participants with hypertension and may therefore be useful in risk stratification.

Methods: Doppler ultrasound waveforms were obtained from the carotid and retrobulbar circulation in 42 participants with uncomplicated grade 1 hypertension (mean systolic/diastolic blood pressure (BP) 142/92 mmHg), and 26 healthy controls (mean systolic/diastolic BP 116/69 mmHg). Mean wavelet entropy was derived from flow-velocity data and compared with traditional haemodynamic measures of microvascular function, namely the resistive and pulsatility indices.

Results: Entropy, was significantly higher in control participants in the central retinal artery (CRA) (differential mean 0.11 (standard error 0.05 cms(-1)), CI 0.009 to 0.219, p 0.017) and ophthalmic artery (0.12 (0.05), CI 0.004 to 0.215, p 0.04). In comparison, the resistive index (0.12 (0.05), CI 0.005 to 0.226, p 0.029) and pulsatility index (0.96 (0.38), CI 0.19 to 1.72, p 0.015) showed significant differences between groups in the CRA alone. Regression analysis indicated that entropy was significantly influenced by age and systolic blood pressure (r values 0.4-0.6). None of the measures were significantly altered in the larger conduit vessel.

Conclusion: This is the first application of entropy to human blood velocity waveform analysis and shows that this new technique has the ability to discriminate health from early hypertensive disease, thereby promoting the early identification of cardiovascular disease in a young hypertensive population.

The reliability of R50 as a measure of vulnerability of food webs to sequential species deletions

Recent studies predict elevated and accelerating rates of species extinctions over the 21st century, due to climate change and habitat loss. Considering that such primary species loss may initiate cascades of secondary extinctions and push systems towards critical tipping points, we urgently need to increase our understanding of if certain sequences of species extinctions can be expected to be more devastating than others Most theoretical studies addressing this question have used a topological (non-dynamical) approach to analyse the probability that food webs will collapse, below a fixed threshold value in species richness, when subjected to different sequences of species loss. Typically, these studies have neither considered the possibility of dynamical responses of species, nor that conclusions may depend on the value of the collapse threshold. Here we analyse how sensitive conclusions on the importance of different species are to the threshold value of food web collapse. Using dynamical simulations, where we expose model food webs to a range of extinction sequences, we evaluate the reliability of the most frequently used index, R<inf>50</inf>, as a measure of food web robustness. In general, we find that R<inf>50</inf> is a reliable measure and that identification of destructive deletion sequences is fairly robust, within a moderate range of collapse thresholds. At the same time, however, focusing on R<inf>50</inf> only hides a lot of interesting information on the disassembly process and can, in some cases, lead to incorrect conclusions on the relative importance of species in food webs.

Development of the Consumer Refrigerator Safety Questionnaire (CRSQ): A Measure of Consumer Perceptions and Practices

Food preparation and storage behaviors in the home deviating from the ‘best practice’ food safety recommendations may result in food borne illnesses. Currently, there are limited tools available to fully evaluate the consumer knowledge, perceptions and behavior in the area of refrigerator safety. The current study aimed to develop a valid and reliable tool in the form of a questionnaire (CFSQCRSQ) for assessing systematically all these aspects. Items relating to refrigerator safety knowledge (n=17), perceptions (n=46), reported behavior (n=30) were developed and pilot tested by an expert reference group and various consumer groups to assess face and content validity (n=20), item difficulty and item consistency (n=55) and construct validity (n=23). The findings showed that the CFSQCRSQ has acceptable face and content validity with acceptable levels of item difficulty. Item consistency was observed for 12 out of 15 refrigerator safety knowledge. Further, all five of the subscales of consumer perceptions of refrigerator safety practices relating to risk of developing foodborne disease food poisoning showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α value > 0.8). Construct validity of the CFSQCRSQ was shown to be very good (p=0.022). The CFSQCRSQ exhibited acceptable test-retest reliability at 14 days with majority of knowledge items (93.3%) and reported behavior items (96.4%) having correlation coefficients of greater than 0.70. Overall, the CFSQCRSQ was deemed valid and reliable in assessing refrigerator safety knowledge and behavior and therefore has the potential for future use in identifying groups of individuals at increased risk of deviating from recommended refrigerator safety practices as well as the assessment of refrigerator safety knowledge, behavior for use before and after an intervention.

Correlates of reproductive success in a population of nine-banded armadillos: a preliminary report.

We used microsatellite DNA markers to identify the putative parents of 69 litters of nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) over 4 years. Male and female parents did not differ in any measure of body size in comparisons with nonparents. However, males observed paired with a female were significantly larger than unpaired males, although paired females were the same size as unpaired females. Females categorized as possibly lactating were significantly larger than females that were either definitely lactating or definitely not lactating. There was no evidence of assortative mating: body-size measurements of mothers were not significantly correlated with those of fathers. Nine-banded armadillos give birth to litters of genetically identical quadruplets. Mothers (but not fathers) of female litters were significantly larger than mothers of male litters, and maternal (but not paternal) body size was positively correlated with the number of surviving young within years, but not cumulatively. There were no differences in dates of birth between male and female litters, nor were there any significant relationships between birth date and maternal body size. Body size of either parent was not correlated with the body sizes of their offspring. Cumulative and yearly reproductive success did not differ between reproductively successful males and females. Average reproductive success (which included apparently unsuccessful individuals) also did not differ between males and females. The majority of adults in the population apparently failed to produce any surviving offspring, and even those that did usually did so in only 1 of the 4 years. This low reproductive success is unexpected, given the rapid and successful range extension of this species throughout the southeastern United States in this century.

Microabrasion : A novel method to assess surface degradation of UHMWPE following sterilisation and ageing

The ageing behaviour of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has been studied following gamma irradiation (25 or 40 kGy) in air. Accelerated ageing procedures used elevated temperature (70°C) and/or pressurised oxygen (5 bar). Shelf-aged UHMWPE was also studied. The variation in surface density and mechanical properties were determined following the various sterilisation and ageing treatments. Microabrasive wear testing was also performed. Wear rates were found to correlate well with stress at break for sterilised and aged UHMWPE but not with elongation to failure. It is proposed that the wear mechanism is fracture dominated and occurs following some disentanglement of the polymer chains. Wear also depends upon embrittlement of the surface layer due to its processing and ageing. Elongation to failure in a tensile test is not a good measure of this embrittlement whereas the microabrasion test provides more surface sensitive information concerning this property.

The validity of the MacNew Quality of Life Questionnaire in heart disease.

Background A previous review suggested that the MacNew Quality of Life Questionnaire was the most appropriate disease-specific measure of health-related quality of life among people with ischaemic heart disease. However, there is ambiguity about the allocation of items to the three factors underlying the MacNew and the factor structure has not been confirmed previously among the people in the UK. Methods The MacNew Questionnaire and the SF-36 were administered to 117 newly admitted patients to a tertiary referral centre in Northern Ireland. All patients had been diagnosed with ischaemic heart disease. Results A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the factor structure of the MacNew and the model was found to be an inadequate fit of the data. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the items suggested that a five factor solution was more appropriate and this was validated by confirmatory factor analysis. This new structure also displayed strong evidence of concurrent validity when compared to the SF-36. Conclusion We recommend that researchers should submit scores obtained from items on the MacNew to secondary analyses after being grouped according to the factor structure proposed in this paper, in order to explore further the most appropriate grouping of items.

The differential effects of chlorpromazine and haloperidol on latent inhibition in healthy volunteers.

Latent inhibition (LI) is a measure of reduced learning about a stimulus to which there has been prior exposure without any consequence. It therefore requires a comparison between a pre-exposed (PE) and a non-pre-exposed (NPE) condition. Since, in animals, LI is disrupted by amphetamines and enhanced by antipsychotics, LI disruption has been proposed as a measure of the characteristic attentional deficit in schizophrenia: the inability to ignore irrelevant stimuli. The findings in humans are, however, inconsistent. In particular, a recent investigation suggested that since haloperidol disrupted LI in healthy volunteers, and LI was normal in non-medicated patients with schizophrenia, the previous findings in schizophrenic patients were entirely due to the negative effects of their medication on LI (Williams et al., 1998). We conducted two studies of antipsychotic drug effects on auditory LI using a within-subject, parallel group design in healthy volunteers. In the first of these, single doses of haloperidol (1 mg. i.v.) were compared with paroxetine (20 mg p.o.) and placebo, and in the second, chlorpromazine (100 mg p.o.) was compared with lorazepam (2 mg. p.o.) and placebo. Eye movements, neuropsychological test performance (spatial working memory (SWM), Tower of London and intra/extra dimensional shift, from the CANTAB test battery) and visual analogue rating scales, were also included as other measures of attention and frontal lobe function. Haloperidol was associated with a non-significant reduction in LI scores, and dysphoria/akathisia (Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale) in three-quarters of the subjects. The LI finding may be explained by increased distractibility which was indicated by an increase in antisaccade directional errors in this group. In contrast, LI was significantly increased by chlorpromazine but not by an equally sedative dose of lorazepam (both drugs causing marked decreases in peak saccadic velocity). Paroxetine had no effect on LI, eye movements or CANTAB neuropsychological test performance. Haloperidol was associated with impaired SWM, which correlated with the degree of dysphoria/akathisia, but no other drug effects on CANTAB measures were detected. We conclude that the effect of antipsychotics on LI is both modality and pharmacologically dependent and that further research using a wider range of antipsychotic compounds is necessary to clarify the cognitive effects of these drugs, and to determine whether there are important differences between them.

Perceptions of stressful life events in Northern Irish school children: a longitudinal study.

Adults’ perceptions of stressful life events have been acknowledged as important moderators of the stress adjustment relationship. Until recently, however, there has been a lack of research on children's perceptions of negative life events. This study assesses children's own perceptions of the stressfulness of negative familial, academic and social events as well as events related to the political conflict in Northern Ireland. Method: Developmental changes in children's perceptions of events are traced over time. One hundred and sixty 8-year-old children completed a self-report measure of the perceived stressfulness of a range of negative life events. The sample was drawn from schools in the Greater Belfast area to include children of both genders, primary religious affiliations in Northern Ireland (i.e., Protestant and Roman Catholic) and of varying socio-economic status. Three years later, 113 of these children, then aged 11, were traced through the school system and completed the same measure. Results: Children's perceptions of stressful events are related to a host of social factors. Girls viewed many negative events as more stressful than their male counterparts. Roman Catholic and Protestant children differed in their perceptions of conflict-related events. Perceptions of various types of negative experiences were differentially related to socio-economic status and age. Conclusion: Personal, social and situational factors differentially determine children's perceptions of negative life experiences.

Communal larval rearing of European lobster (Homarus gammarus): family identification by microsatellite DNA profiling an offspring fitness.

Stock enhancement experiments of European lobster (Homarus gammarus) have been carried out around the Kvitsoy Islands in south-western Norway since 1990. In addition to releases of coded wire tagged lobster juveniles (cultured) and subsequent monitoring of commercial fishery, a lobster hatchery was established in 1997. Several experiments were made on the communal-rearing approach where the performance of mixed larval groups (families) was evaluated under identical conditions. Berried females of wild and cultured origin and their respective fertilised eggs were screened by using microsatellite DNA profiling involving a multiplex set of six lobster specific primers, thereby allowing determination of both parental genotypes. Each female were kept separately during hatching, and the offspring were later mixed and raised in a communal rearing system. The early-larval survival was estimated at stage IV (bottom stage), and the survivors were identified to family and group by microsatellite profiling. Five different communal experiments were conducted, representing offspring from 65 berried females. Of the surviving larvae, 6.3% could not be assigned to family due to degraded DNA and no PCR amplification. Significant differences in early survival between offspring of wild and cultured origin were found in the experiments. No differences between the groups were found in stage IV larval size. Based on the pooled data on survival (as a measure of early larvae fitness) offspring of cultured females displayed a relative fitness of 60% in comparison to offspring from wild females. Large variation in survival was also observed among families within the wild and cultured groups, suggesting a genetic component for these traits and a potential for selective breeding.

The uptake of silica during the spring bloom in the North East Atlantic Ocean

A full understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of silica in the North Atlantic is hampered by a lack of estimates of silica uptake by phytoplankton. We applied the ${}^{32}\text{Si}$ radiotracer incubation technique to determine silica uptake rates at 10 sites during the UK-(Natural Environment Research Council) Faroes-Iceland-Scotland hydrographic and environmental survey (FISHES) cruise in the Northeast Atlantic, May 2001. Column silica uptake rates ranged between 6 and 166 mmol Si $\text{m}^{-2}\ \text{d}^{-1}$; this data set was integrated with concurrent hydrographic, chemical, and primary productivity data to explain these changes in silica uptake in terms of the progress of the spring bloom. In order to interpret data covering a relatively large spatial and temporal scale, we used mean photic zone silica concentration as a proxy time-series measure of diatom bloom progression. Both absolute and specific silica uptake rates were highest at dissolved silica concentrations >2 mmol $\text{L}^{-1}$. Si and C uptake were vertically decoupled at those stations where surface silica was strongly depleted. Absolute primary productivity was not strongly correlated with dissolved silica concentrations, owing to either exhaustion of silica at diatom-dominated stations or to dominance of the community by other phytoplankton. Silica uptake as a function of increased substrate concentration was linear up to 25 $\mu \text{mol}\ \text{L}^{-1}$; we consider some possible reasons for the nonhyperbolic response.