Adjustment and the labor market

How has the labor market responded to changes in macroeconomic conditions and related government policies? And to what extent has government intervention affected the microeconomic functioning of the labor market. Geographical immobility of workers does not seem to hinder adjustment. Labor is increasingly deployed in nontradables and import competing sectors, however, and problems of mobility between tradables and nontradables are reported. In addition, shortages of skilled manpower are reported. There is little evidence of wage resistence where wage indexation is not institutionalized. Traditional methods of wage support have become less important in the past two decades. Where effective minimum wage policies exist, they have the expected distortionary effects. Wage differences between the public and private sectors, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, have continued to widen, and the efficiency of the public sector has declined as a result. Job security regulations may be an obstacle to structural adjustment programs insofar as they hinder the release of labor from contracting sectors.Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Poverty Assessment

Chinese multinational enterprises' firm-specific advantages and a critic on the international business theory

We argue that the extant literature tends to view that EMNEs do not have FSAs and in particular, innovation-based ownership advantages. This, however, is not a fact but a myth that deserves detailed examination. Drawing on a case study of four Chinese multinationals, we argue that some Chinese multinationals have brilliant innovation capabilities particularly in areas such as services-based innovation, architectural innovation and grafting innovation. This helps to explain their rapid rise and internationalisation. We therefore argue that Dunning’s OLI paradigm is still relevant in the context of EMNEs. However we also accept that the OLI paradigm needs to be taken with a complementary view that EMNEs also internationalise to augment their assets/capabilities. We call for further studies on EMNEs’ FSAs with a broader view of innovatio

Evaluation of the efficacy of test products to ameliorate the toxic effects of aflatoxin present in broiler chick diets

Abstract only availableAn in vivo study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of several adsorbent test products to ameliorate the toxic effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in chicks. Ninety day-old straight run chicks were purchased from a commercial hatchery, weighed, wing-banded, and assigned to floor pens. A completely randomized design was used with 10 chicks (chick was experimental unit) assigned to each of 9 dietary treatments from hatch to 28 days. The aflatoxin used for this study was supplied by Aspergillus parasiticus (NRRL-2999) culture material (815 mg AFB1/kg). The dietary treatments included: 1) basal diet containing no AFB1); 2) basal diet supplemented with 1.5 mg AFB1 /kg diet; 3) As diet 2 plus Product 1; 4) As diet 2 plus Product 2; 5) As diet 2 plus Product 3; 6) As diet 2 plus Product 4; 7) As diet 2 plus Product 5; 8) As diet 2 plus Product 6; and 9) As diet 2 plus Product 7. The addition of Products 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 to AF diets did not prevent the reduction in body weight gain (BWG) due to AFB1. Chicks fed diets containing Products 1 thru 6 all had lower BWG (P >.05) compared with control chicks. Body weight gain of birds fed Product 7 was not significantly different (P > .05) from the birds fed the positive control; however, it was also not significantly different (P >.05) from birds fed AF B1 alone. Relative liver weights were not affected by dietary treatments (P > .05) and averaged 3.06 g/100g body weight across all treatments. Results of this study indicate that none of these products were effective in ameliorating the toxic effects of AFB1.Louis Stokes Missouri Alliance for Minority Participatio

Body Composition Measurement in Children with Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida and Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Pediatric obesity is a major health concern that has an increased prevalence in children with special needs. In order to categorize a child’s weight, an assessment of body composition is needed. Obtaining an accurate body composition measurement in children with special needs has many challenges associated with it. This perplexing scenario limits the provider’s ability to screen, prevent and treat an abnormal weight status in this vulnerable population. This systematic review summarizes common methods of body composition measurements, their strengths and limitations and reviews the literature when measurements were used in children with cerebral palsy, spina bifida and spinal cord injury. Following PRISMA guidelines, 222 studies were identified. The application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria yielded a final sample of nine studies included in this review. Overall, articles reinforced the inconsistencies of body composition measurement and methodology when used with children with special needs. Concerns include small sample sizes, the need to validate prediction equations for this population, and the lack of controlled trials and reporting of measurement methodology. Healthcare providers need to be aware of the complexities associated with measuring body composition in children with special needs and advocate for further testing of these measurements. Additional studies addressing the reliability and validity of these measures are needed to facilitate appropriate health promotion in children

Application of NASTRAN/COSMIC in the analysis of ship structures to underwater explosion shock

The application of NASTRAN/COSMIC in predicting the transient motion of ship structures to underwater, non-contact explosions is discussed. Examples illustrate the finite element models, mathematical formulations of loading functions and, where available, comparisons between analytical and experimental results

Graphitization of small carbonate samples for paleoceanographic research at the godwin radiocarbon laboratory, University of Cambridge

AbstractA new radiocarbon preparation facility was set up in 2010 at the Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research, at the University of Cambridge. Samples are graphitized via hydrogen reduction on an iron powder catalyst before being sent to the Chrono Centre, Belfast, or the Australian National University for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) analysis. The experimental setup and procedure have recently been developed to investigate the potential for running small samples of foraminiferal carbonate. By analyzing background values of samples ranging from 0.04 to 0.6 mg C along with similar sized secondary standards, the setup and experimental procedures were optimized for small samples. “Background” modern 14C contamination has been minimized through careful selection of iron powder, and graphitization has been optimized through the use of “small volume” reactors, allowing samples containing as little as 0.08 mg C to be graphitized and accurately dated. Graphitization efficiency/fractionation is found not to be the main limitation on the analysis of samples smaller than 0.07 mg C, which rather depends primarily on AMS ion beam optics, suggesting further improvements in small sample analysis might yet be achieved with our methodology.We would like to thank James Rolfe for running the stable isotope measurements, as well as the Royal Society and NERC grant NE/L006421/1 for research support.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Cambridge University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2015.

Orbifold projection in supersymmetric QCD at N_f\leq N_c

Supersymmetric orbifold projection of N=1 SQCD with relatively small number of flavors (not larger than the number of colors) is considered. The purpose is to check whether orbifolding commutes with the infrared limit. On the one hand, one considers the orbifold projection of SQCD and obtains the low-energy description of the resulting theory. On the other hand, one starts with the low-energy effective theory of the original SQCD, and only then perfoms orbifolding. It is shown that at finite N_c the two low-energy theories obtained in these ways are different. However, in the case of stabilized run-away vacuum these two theories are shown to coincide in the large N_c limit. In the case of quantum modified moduli space, topological solitons carrying baryonic charges are present in the orbifolded low-energy theory. These solitons may restore the correspondence between the two theories provided that the soliton mass tends to zero in the large N_c limit.Comment: 10 pages; misprint corrected, reference adde