114 research outputs found
Modulation of molecular mobility in sucrose-based amorphous solids detected by phosphorescence of erythrosin B
No full textThis project studied the temperature and composition dependence of molecular mobility in amorphous sucrose. Phosphorescence of erythrosin B provided parameters sensitive to localized molecular mobility in the glass and to more global modes of mobility activated at the glass transition and provided evidence of dynamic site heterogeneity in amorphous sucrose solids. In sucrose-based binary matrices, plasticizer (glycerol), salts (NaCl, CaCl2, MgCl2, Na-citrate, Na-acetate, Na-phosphates), maltodextrins (DE 5 to 18), protein (gelatin), and polysaccharides (xanthan and high amylose starch) were selected to investigate how variations in nature and content of each additive influence the molecular mobility as well as dynamic site heterogeneity in amorphous sucrose matrix.
Measurements of phosphorescence intensity, lifetime, and emission energy were made in amorphous sucrose-additive films containing the probe erythrosin B. Results showed the complex effects of additives on the mobility in a hydrogen-bonded sugar matrix. Glycerol exhibited an antiplasticization effect shown as decreased mobility at glycerol/sucrose mole ratio ≤ 0.27 and at temperature ≤ 45° C. On the contrary, all the polymers studied, including gelatin, xanthan and high amylose starch, displayed a ‘plasticization’ effect (increasing mobility) at very low while a rigidification effect (decreasing mobility) at higher concentration without significant change in Tg. Maltodextrins, mixtures of molecules with a variety of molecular weights, increase the mobility in spite of their high Tg. Sodium chloride showed a strong rigidification effect on the sucrose matrix; however, this effect was weakened at mole ratio NaCl/sucrose above 0.5. Other salts showed effects resulting from a compromise between two opposite actions (decreasing mobility due to salt itself and increasing mobility due to absorbed moisture). All above behaviors are difficult to interpret using Tg alone. Molecular mobility appears to be more accurate to evaluate the physical stability of the matrix.
Phosphorescence of erythrosin B was also able to report dynamic site heterogeneity that is an intrinsic property of the amorphous solid state. The heterogeneity was be evaluated by the variation of lifetime and lifetime heterogeneity across the excitation and emission band and the temperature dependence of bandwidth and lifetime heterogeneity. The composition influence on the dynamic site heterogeneity was discussed as well.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references
Yumin of Thembang
No full textA collection of recordings from the annual propitiation rite by yumin Namje at Thembang village, Thembang circle, West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh India, recorded on April 29th, 2013 at his residence. The language spoken in Thembang is a variety of Dirang Tshangla. The yumin originally comes from Jerigaon village and settled in Thembang village, where he got married to a local woman. He continues to propitiate an impressive assembly of deities from various parts of the Himalayas, including as far away as western Bhutan, and including local deities of the Monpa, the Sartangpa, and the Miji. In addition, since he is a yumin, the local deities enter him and take possession of him turn by turn. The propitiation is in a curious mixture of Tibetan and local languages.
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Tim Bodt: bodttim (at) gmail (dot) co
RETHINKING INDUSTRIAL POLICY
No full textDespite the hold of the neoliberal orthodoxy on policy making in developing countries, industrial policy remains important for the promotion of industrial development. However, the context for the design of industrial policy has profoundly changed as a result of new rules governing international trade, the rise of global value chains and marketing networks, and other aspects of globalization. Traditionally, the case for industrial policy has been framed in terms of “market failures” but the paper argues that that is not a sufficient basis. After addressing the traditional points of criticism, an attempt is made to outline the “domains” of industrial policy in the current circumstances, especially for industrially lagging countries. As country contexts differ widely there are no satisfactory blueprints for policy making that countries can readily adopt. As in production decisions, considerable ingenuity and innovation is needed in designing policies. This is all the more necessary as the WTO rules have become increasingly stringent and the rise of international trading networks has created new barriers for young firms to enter the world market. These developments have changed the context but not the importance of policy in industrial development. The paper identifies areas where government intervention is needed and can still make a positive difference.
two attacks on xia-you Group Signature
No full textGroup signature is very important primitive in cryptography. A group signature scheme allows any group member to sign on behalf of the group in an anonymous and unlinkable fashion .In case of dispute, group manager can reveal the identity of the signer. Recently, S.Xia and J.You proposed a group signature scheme based on identity with strong separability in which the revocation manager can work without the involvement of the membership manger. In this paper, we analyze the security of Xia-You group signature and indicate that two or more group members can collude to construct a valid signature and any group member can forge a valid membership certification
A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC SYSTEM IN A GLOBAL SETTING: ISSUES AND PROPOSALS
No full textThe globalization of the world economy poses major challenges to the prevailing international economic system. The recent trade-investment system raises the issues of the marginalization of countries, firms, and agents if they are not capable to compete with large successful entities. The system engenders conflicts of interest in its interfacing with sovereign domains. In numerous cases such as employment and mutual trade benefits, it can produce zero sum outcomes. Consequently, significant segments of public opinion in many countries have mobilized against it. In the monetary and financial area, the system has from 1945 evolved on a piecemeal and ad hoc basis. In recent years, it has not been able to predict, prevent or effectively deal with financial crisis. It demonstrates a lacuna in global financial governance especially with respect to enforcing its rules on the major countries and bringing the private sector therein. The central institution, the IMF, is shown to be in need of basic reforms involving forging a global vision, reconsidering and updating conditionality, further democratization of political governance, and revamping the exchange rates and surveillance functions.
Author response
No full textDespite their importance in sexual differentiation and reproduction, Y chromosome genes are rarely described because they reside in repeat-rich regions that are difficult to study. Here, we show that Guy1, a unique Y chromosome gene of a major urban malaria mosquito Anopheles stephensi, confers 100% female lethality when placed on the autosomes. We show that the small GUY1 protein (56 amino acids in length) causes female lethality and that males carrying the transgene are reproductively more competitive than their non-transgenic siblings under laboratory conditions. The GUY1 protein is a primary signal from the Y chromosome that affects embryonic development in a sex-specific manner. Our results have demonstrated, for the first time in mosquitoes, the feasibility of stable transgenic manipulation of sex ratios using an endogenous gene from the male-determining chromosome. These results provide insights into the elusive M factor and suggest exciting opportunities to reduce mosquito populations and disease transmission
AN OVERVIEW OF MAJOR SOURCES OF DATA AND ANALYSES RELATING TO PHYSICAL FUNDAMENTALS IN INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY MARKETS
No full textThe debate on whether price movements in commodity markets are determined by changes in physical supply and demand fundamentals or by the speculative effects of financial investors seems to find some element of agreement on one particular point: the need for increased transparency and improved information on futures markets and physical commodity markets. This discussion paper provides an assessment of the current situation with regard to availability of information on physical commodity markets, pointing to some of the existing information gaps and areas for improvement. The paper presents a comprehensive account of the different information sources for physical commodity markets (including their websites), and could therefore be considered a practical information tool in itself, of use to different stakeholders interested in knowing about developments in these markets.
POLICY SPACE: WHAT, FOR WHAT, AND WHERE?
No full textThe paper examines how developing countries can use existing policy space, and enlarge it, without opting out of international commitments. It argues that: (i) a meaningful context for policy space must extend beyond trade policy and include macroeconomic and exchange-rate policies that will achieve developmental goals more effectively; (ii) policy space depends not only on international rules but also on the impact of international market conditions and policy decisions taken in other countries on the effectiveness of national policy instruments; and (iii) international integration affects policy space through several factors that pull in opposite directions; whether it increases or reduces policy space differs by country and type of integration.
THE EMERGING OF A MULTILATERAL FORUM FOR DEBT RESTRUCTURING: THE PARIS CLUB
No full textThis paper describes the evolution of intergovernmental relationships on debt rescheduling. It starts describing some experiences that aroused in the 18th Century and which negotiations were carried out, in many occasions, with the help of gunboat diplomacy. The settlement of liabilities that were created at the aftermath of the two 20th Century World Wars, which were – at least for some countries –- not exactly debt but war reparations, gave some insights in how to deal with these problems allowing the debtor country to find its own path to get out of the debt overhang. The settlement of these foreign liabilities may give some guidelines for dealing with debt restructuring in more general cases The creation of the Paris Club – which is a very civilized way to settle debt defaults compared to gunboat diplomacy – is analyzed and described here: first its emergency as an ad hoc transitory institution and later its evolution toward its definitive establishment in the international financial system landscape. It is also suggested that for a combination of events, which included the launch in Evian of the G-8’s so-called Evian Approach for the Paris Club, as well as the lack of support of some major industrialized countries to the implementation of a Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism (SDRM), the Paris Club has become the only feasible international intergovernmental debt restructuring mechanism in spite of numerous shortcomings embodied in it. On this basis, some improvements of the actual mechanism are proposed, without precluding the possibility of the implementation of a more equilibrated SDRM in the future.
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