Institutional Quality and FDI to the South An Analytical Approach

We ask whether MNEs’ experience of institutional quality and political risk within their “home” business environments influences their decisions to enter a given country. We set out an explicit theoretical model that allows for the possibility that firms from South source countries may, by virtue of their experience with poor institutional quality, derive a competitive advantage over firms from North countries with respect to investing in destinations in the South. We show that the experience gained by such MNEs of poorer institutional environments may result in their being more prepared to invest in other countries with correspondingly weak institutions.

Extending contingency: the impact of strategy, technology, size and business environment on the organisational form of small Chinese firms

This paper is inspired by articles in the last decade or so that have argued for more attention to theory, and to empirical analysis, within the well-known, and long-lasting, contingency framework for explaining the organisational form of the firm. Its contribution is to extend contingency analysis in three ways: (a) by empirically testing it, using explicit econometric modelling (rather than case study evidence) involving estimation by ordered probit analysis; (b) by extending its scope from large firms to SMEs; (c) by extending its applications from Western economic contexts, to an emerging economy context, using field work evidence from China. It calibrates organizational form in a new way, as an ordinal dependent variable, and also utilises new measures of familiar contingency factors from the literature (i.e. Environment, Strategy, Size and Technology) as the independent variables. An ordered probit model of contingency was constructed, and estimated by maximum likelihood, using a cross section of 83 private Chinese firms. The probit was found to be a good fit to the data, and displayed significant coefficients with plausible interpretations for key variables under all the four categories of contingency analysis, namely Environment, Strategy, Size and Technology. Thus we have generalised the contingency model, in terms of specification, interpretation and applications area.

Joint estimates of automatic and discretionary fiscal policy: the OECD 1981-2003

Official calculations of automatic stabilizers are seriously flawed since they rest on the assumption that the only element of social spending that reacts automatically to the cycle is unemployment compensation. This puts into question many estimates of discretionary fiscal policy. In response, we propose a simultaneous estimate of automatic and discretionary fiscal policy. This leads us, quite naturally, to a tripartite decomposition of the budget balance between revenues, social spending and other spending as a bare minimum. Our headline results for a panel of 20 OECD countries in 1981-2003 are .59 automatic stabilization in percentage-points of primary surplus balances. All of this stabilization remains following discretionary responses during contractions, but arguably only about 3/5 of it remains so in expansions while discretionary behavior cancels the rest. We pay a lot of attention to the impact of the Maastricht Treaty and the SGP on the EU members of our sample and to real time data.

Joint estimates of automatic and discretionary fiscal policy: the OECD 1981-2003

Official calculations of automatic stabilizers are seriously flawed since they rest on the assumption that the only element of social spending that reacts automatically to the cycle is unemployment compensation. This puts into question many estimates of discretionary fiscal policy. In response, we propose a simultaneous estimate of automatic and discretionary fiscal policy. This leads us, quite naturally, to a tripartite decomposition of the budget balance between revenues, social spending and other spending as a bare minimum. Our headline results for a panel of 20 OECD countries in 1981-2003 are .59 automatic stabilization in percentage-points of primary surplus balances. All of this stabilization remains following discretionary responses during contractions, but arguably only about 3/5 of it remains so in expansions while discretionary behavior cancels the rest. We pay a lot of attention to the impact of the Maastricht Treaty and the SGP on the EU members of our sample and to real time data.

FDI, Trade Costs and Regional Asymmetries

We set up a trade model where three countries compete for an exogenous number of firms. Our innovation lies in the geography of the model. Of the three countries, one is the hub through which all trade takes place. First, we establish the natural geography of the region, which is given by the equilibrium distribution of industrial activity in the absence of taxes or subsidies. We then examine the implications for corporate taxes when the countries compete with each other to attract firms. We find that, even when all countries are the same size, the centrality of the hub gives it an advantage in tax setting, such that its equilibrium tax can be larger than that of the spokes and yet it still attracts a disproportionate share of industry. Thus geographic advantage in tax competition has a second dimension, centrality in addition to size.

Extrachromosomal nucleic acids in bovine babesia

Two kinds of small extrachromosomal nucleic acid elements were found in the bovine babesias, Babesia bovis and B. bigemina. One element with an apparent size of 5.5 kilobase pairs (kbp) is a double stranded RNA related to virus like particles. Another molecule is a double stranded DNA with a molecular size of about 6.2 kbp. Southern blot comparison of restriction DNA fragments of the latter molecule, which is present in both B. bovis and B. bigemina is described.

Análisis de una iniciativa estudiantil de investigación surgida en Criptogamia, una asignatura optativa de segundo ciclo de Biología = Analysis of a students’ research initiative originating in Cryptogamy, an elective course in the last two years of the Biology degree

Presentamos una experiencia exitosa de aprendizaje que partió de Criptogamia (asignatura optativa de segundo ciclo de Biología), que dio lugar a un proyecto de investigación gestionado por los propios alumnos. La iniciativa se consolidó estableciendo una Asociación de Estudiantes centrada en investigación y divulgación. En poco tiempo, los participantes han presentado comunicaciones científicas, y organizado actividades dirigidas a diversos públicos, dentro y fuera de la comunidad universitaria. Actualmente se plantea una colaboración multidisciplinar con otros organismos de investigación y la extensión de su ámbito de estudio. Abordamos su incidencia en el aprendizaje en varios aspectos: científico (técnicas específicas, rigor, búsqueda de información e interpretación de resultados), comunicativo (estructuración y presentación de la información obtenida, para diversos públicos), y organizativo, incluyendo el trabajo en equipo. Aunque de carácter espontáneo, esta experiencia muestra rasgos evaluables en cuanto a sus posibilidades para otras asignaturas. Analizamos las características y planteamiento de esta optativa, el perfil de sus alumnos, y el contexto universitario que la acoge. Detectamos como factores principales los aspectos participativos de la asignatura, la cohesión del grupo, el carácter voluntario de la implicación, los beneficios percibidos por los estudiantes, y la disponibilidad de recursos humanos (supervisión) y materiales (equipamiento y subvenciones).

Research needs in allergy: an EAACI position paper, in collaboration with EFA.

In less than half a century, allergy, originally perceived as a rare disease, has become a major public health threat, today affecting the lives of more than 60 million people in Europe, and probably close to one billion worldwide, thereby heavily impacting the budgets of public health systems. More disturbingly, its prevalence and impact are on the rise, a development that has been associated with environmental and lifestyle changes accompanying the continuous process of urbanization and globalization. Therefore, there is an urgent need to prioritize and concert research efforts in the field of allergy, in order to achieve sustainable results on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of this most prevalent chronic disease of the 21st century.The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) is the leading professional organization in the field of allergy, promoting excellence in clinical care, education, training and basic and translational research, all with the ultimate goal of improving the health of allergic patients. The European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations (EFA) is a non-profit network of allergy, asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) patients' organizations. In support of their missions, the present EAACI Position Paper, in collaboration with EFA, highlights the most important research needs in the field of allergy to serve as key recommendations for future research funding at the national and European levels.Although allergies may involve almost every organ of the body and an array of diverse external factors act as triggers, there are several common themes that need to be prioritized in research efforts. As in many other chronic diseases, effective prevention, curative treatment and accurate, rapid diagnosis represent major unmet needs. Detailed phenotyping/endotyping stands out as widely required in order to arrange or re-categorize clinical syndromes into more coherent, uniform and treatment-responsive groups. Research efforts to unveil the basic pathophysiologic pathways and mechanisms, thus leading to the comprehension and resolution of the pathophysiologic complexity of allergies will allow for the design of novel patient-oriented diagnostic and treatment protocols. Several allergic diseases require well-controlled epidemiological description and surveillance, using disease registries, pharmacoeconomic evaluation, as well as large biobanks. Additionally, there is a need for extensive studies to bring promising new biotechnological innovations, such as biological agents, vaccines of modified allergen molecules and engineered components for allergy diagnosis, closer to clinical practice. Finally, particular attention should be paid to the difficult-to-manage, precarious and costly severe disease forms and/or exacerbations. Nonetheless, currently arising treatments, mainly in the fields of immunotherapy and biologicals, hold great promise for targeted and causal management of allergic conditions. Active involvement of all stakeholders, including Patient Organizations and policy makers are necessary to achieve the aims emphasized herein.

Modularity of the Consani-Scholten quintic

We prove that the Consani-Scholten quintic, a Calabi-Yau threefold over Q, is Hilbert modular. For this, we refine several techniques known from the context of modular forms. Most notably, we extend the Faltings-Serre-Livn´e method to induced four-dimensional Galois representations over Q. We also need a Sturm bound for Hilbert modular forms; this is developed in an appendix by José Burgos Gil and the second author.

Estudi dels impactes ambientals del cicle de vida del compost, de la producció a l'apliacació

La gran majoria d'hivernacles situats en clima mediterrani són de cost relativament baix i de tecnologia senzilla. El cultiu en hivernacle te com a objectiu principal incrementar la producció agrícola per unitat de superfície mitjançant l'aïllament de les condicions del medi. Aquest projecte presenta inventaris detallats i de qualitat del cicle de vida complet del compost amb aplicació en aire lliure i en hivernacle, aportant informació dels impactes ambientals i avaluant la viabilitat agronómica del compost com a fertilitzant quan s’aplica en cultius hortícoles. S’han considerat quatre opcions de cultiu, depenent del tipus de fertilitzant utilitzat (fertilitzans minerals o compost) i de si el cultiu és a l’aire lliure o en hivernacle. Les dades s’han obtingut experimentalment en parceles pilot i en una planta de compostatge industrial, ambdos localitzats prop de Barcelona, en una àrea mediterrànea. Per al cultiu en hivernacle, s’han obtingut produccions de tomàquet superiors a les d’aire lliure en el cas d’aplicar fertilitzants minerals, mentre l’ús de compani són de cost relativament baix i de tecnologia senzilla.

Cryptosporidium sp. in children suffering from acute diarrhea at Uberlândia City, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

This study's objective was to search for Cryptosporidium sp. in diarrheic feces from children aged zero to 12 years and cared for at medical units within Universidade Federal de Uberlândia or at a private practice in Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from September 1992 to August 1993. Three fecal samples preserved in 10% formalin, were collected from 94 children. Oocyst concentration was performed through Ritchie's (modified) method and staining of fecal smears for each sample (total of 1128 slides) was done by the "Safranin/Methylene Blue" and the "Kinyoun (modified)" techniques. The Hoffmann, Pons & Janer method was also employed to look for other enteroparasites. From 94 children, 4.26% excreted fecal Cryptosporidium oocysts. The infection seemed to vary according to age: 5.08% of patients aged zero to two years old; 33.33% of those aging eight to ten years (P>0.05). Cryptosporidium appeared in November, December and March, during the rainy season. 20.21% of the children harbored at least one enteroparasite different from Cryptosporidium, mainly Giardia intestinalis (12.77%). From Cryptosporidium infected patients, two had only this kind, another harbored Giardia intestinalis; the last one hosted Strongyloides stercoralis.