Foreign Direct Investment and the Business Environment in Developing Countries: the Impact of Bilateral Investment Treaties

Bilateral Investment Treaty’s effects on FDI and the domestic business environment remain unexplored despite the proliferation of treaties over the past several years. This paper asks whether BITs stimulate FDI flows to host countries, and if the treaties have any impact on the environment for domestic private investment. We find a weak relationship between BITs and FDI. However, for risky countries, BITs attract greater amounts of FDI. We also find a weak relationship between BITs and the domestic investment environment. Thus, while BITs may not alter the domestic investment environment, they also may not be fulfilling their primary objective.

Engaging youth in post-disaster research: Lessons learned from a creative methods approach

Children and youth often demonstrate resilience and capacity in the face of disasters. Yet, they are typically not given the opportunities to engage in youth-driven research and lack access to official channels through which to contribute their perspectives to policy and practice during the recovery process. To begin to fill this void in research and action, this multi-site research project engaged youth from disaster-affected communities in Canada and the United States. This article presents a flexible youth-centric workshop methodology that uses participatory and arts-based methods to elicit and explore youth’s disaster and recovery experiences. The opportunities and challenges associated with initiating and maintaining partnerships, reciprocity and youth-adult power differentials using arts-based methods, and sustaining engagement in post-disaster settings, are discussed. Ultimately, this work contributes to further understanding of the methods being used to conduct research for, with, and about youth.Keywords: youth, disaster recovery, engagement, resilience, arts-based methods, participatory researc

A Detailed Study of Spitzer-IRAC Emission in Herbig-Haro Objects (I): Morphology and Flux Ratios of Shocked Emission

We present a detailed analysis of Spitzer-IRAC images obtained toward six Herbig-Haro objects (HH 54/211/212, L 1157/1448, BHR 71). Our analysis includes: (1) comparisons in morphology between the four IRAC bands (3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0 um), and H2 1-0 S(1) at 2.12 um for three out of six objects; (2) measurements of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) at selected positions; and (3) comparisons of these results with calculations of thermal H2 emission at LTE (207 lines in four bands) and non-LTE (32-45 lines, depending on particle for collisions). We show that the morphologies observed at 3.6 and 4.5 um are similar to each other, and to H2 1-0 S(1). This is well explained by thermal H2 emission at non-LTE if the dissociation rate is significantly larger than 0.002-0.02, allowing thermal collisions to be dominated by atomic hydrogen. In contrast, the 5.8 and 8.0 um emission shows different morphologies from the others in some regions. This emission appears to be more enhanced at the wakes in bow shocks, or less enhanced in patchy structures in the jet. These tendencies are explained by the fact that thermal H2 emission in the 5.8 and 8.0 um band is enhanced in regions at lower densities and temperatures. Throughout, the observed similarities and differences in morphology between four bands and 1-0 S(1) are well explained by thermal H2 emission. The observed SEDs are categorized into:- (A) those in which the flux monotonically increases with wavelength; and (B) those with excess emission at 4.5-um. The type-A SEDs are explained by thermal H2 emission, in particular with simple shock models with a power-law cooling function. Our calculations suggest that the type-B SEDs require extra contaminating emission in the 4.5-um band. The CO vibrational emission is the most promising candidate, and the other contaminants discussed to date are not likely to explain the observed SEDs.Comment: 35 pages, 21 figures, 6 tables, accepted by Astrophysical Journa

Alterations to the Gastrointestinal Microbiome Associated with Methamphetamine Use among Young Men who have Sex with Men.

Methamphetamine (MA) use is a major public health problem in the United States, especially among people living with HIV (PLWH). Many MA-induced neurotoxic effects are mediated by inflammation and gut microbiota may play a role in this process, yet the effects of MA on the microbiome have not been adequately explored. Therefore, we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing on rectal swab samples from 381 men who have sex with men, 48% of whom were PLWH and 41% of whom used MA. We compared microbiome composition between MA users and non-users while testing for potential interactions with HIV and controlling for numerous confounders using inverse probability of treatment weighting. We found that MA use explained significant variation in overall composition (R2 = 0.005, p = 0.008) and was associated with elevated Finegoldia, Parvimonas, Peptoniphilus, and Porphyromonas and reduced Butyricicoccus and Faecalibacterium, among others. Genera including Actinomyces and Streptobacillus interacted with HIV status, such that they were increased in HIV+ MA users. Finegoldia and Peptoniphilus increased with increasing frequency of MA use, among others. In summary, MA use was associated with a microbial imbalance favoring pro-inflammatory bacteria, including some with neuroactive potential and others that have previously been associated with poor HIV outcomes

Comprehensive behavioral testing in the R6/2 mouse model of Huntington's disease shows no benefit from CoQ10 or minocycline

Previous studies of the effects of coenzyme Q10 and minocycline on mouse models of Huntington’s disease have produced conflicting results regarding their efficacy in behavioral tests. Using our recently published best practices for husbandry and testing for mouse models of Huntington’s disease, we report that neither coenzyme Q10 nor minocycline had significant beneficial effects on measures of motor function, general health (open field, rotarod, grip strength, rearing-climbing, body weight and survival) in the R6/2 mouse model. The higher doses of minocycline, on the contrary, reduced survival. We were thus unable to confirm the previously reported benefits for these two drugs, and we discuss potential reasons for these discrepancies, such as the effects of husbandry and nutrition

Educational continuity following the 2013 Colorado Front Range Floods: a case study of Lyons elementary and middle/senior high schools

2019 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Educational continuity is a complex social process where school, school district, and community leaders work together to continue providing education and all other school-based services for students following a disaster. Schools are vital social institutions that serve a variety of functions for students and communities and are integral to post-disaster response and recovery activities. Moreover, schools can offer protective mechanisms when they continue to care for and educate students following a crisis. However, current literature pays little attention to the organizational capacity of school districts to respond to disasters and what district-and school-level characteristics create the context for educational continuity. This research begins to fill this gap by exploring how the St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) prepared for, responded to, and continued to educate Lyons students following the 2013 Colorado Front Range Floods. This dissertation draws from organization theory, school management, and disaster sociology literatures to frame the educational continuity process for Lyons Elementary and Middle/Senior High Schools. The research questions that guide this dissertation are: 1) How did Lyons Elementary and Middle/Senior High Schools and the St. Vrain Valley School District keep students and staff together after the 2013 Colorado Front Range Floods? 2) What was the pre-existing social context that allowed school administrators to prioritize educational continuity for Lyons students? and 3) What resources were needed and what actions were taken by Lyons Elementary and Middle/Senior High School staff to continue operations and assist students in recovering from the disaster? To answer these questions, I conducted a qualitative case study that included: 1) semi-structured in-depth interviews with 67 key community leaders, district administrators, school administrators, teachers, counselors, parents, and students involved in the educational continuity process; and 2) the analysis of secondary data in the form of preparedness plans, student created photo and story books, demographic information, and official and personal documents generated in response to the flood. Findings from this dissertation research revealed five major influences that contributed to educational continuity for Lyons students. First, the school district purposefully dedicated time and resources to preparedness planning. This included employing a full-time emergency manager who developed and carried out critical training exercises prior to the flood. The knowledge gained from these activities contributed to the capacity of the school district to swiftly resume classes for students at a new location just eleven days after floodwaters displaced Lyons residents. Second, the school district had a well-established organizational ethos that was built on distributed control, dedication to students, strong social bonds, and a reciprocity of trust between and across organizational members. Third, this organizational ethos was developed with and supported by the superintendent of the district, who had a documented history and lauded reputation of being a strong and compassionate leader with years of experience. Fourth, parents, teachers, staff, and administrators were dedicated to helping students recover. School level efforts to facilitate recovery included establishing routine and stability, allowing space for flexibility and adaptability, and implementing the use of creative methods such as art and storytelling. Fifth, the above efforts were, in part, made possible because of the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the school district and the community of Lyons. The SVVSD has a robust fiscal budget that provided the immediate financial resources necessary to reopen school quickly. The district and school staff are highly educated, well-trained, and have many years of experience, which made them well-equipped to respond to this event. Furthermore, like the demographics of the school district, Lyons is a mostly white, educated, upper-middle class community. Therefore, community leaders and families were able to draw upon their own education and social, cultural, and material resources to help facilitate the smooth transition and educational continuity process for Lyons students. This dissertation operationalizes the concept of educational continuity and offers clear examples for how to plan for this process. Further, it contributes theoretically by advancing understanding of how preexisting organizational structures and management styles influence disaster recovery. Based on the findings from this research, I argue that schools and school districts should be more formally integrated into community level disaster preparedness and response frameworks and better utilized as emergent organizations when disasters strike. Finally, this dissertation contributes methodologically, by offering an in-depth case study for school district emergency managers to draw from when creating their own educational continuity plans. This work also reveals the need for more research to examine and measure preparedness, response, and recovery efforts and the organizational capacity of schools across a variety of locations and social contexts

“I Know Down to My Ribs”: A Study of the Embodied Adult Learning of Creative Writers

This paper reports a narrative analysis on the embodied learning of creative writers, by providing an extended narrative on the embodied learning of one participant. It is theoretically grounded in Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of the body, Gendlin’s notion of the “felt sense, and Jordi’s analysis of reflection for integrating mind and body