Whereas conventional wisdom holds that multinational enterprises (MNEs) invest less in host countries that pose greater policy risk—the risk that a government will opportunistically alter policies to ...expropriate an investing firm's profits or assets—we argue that MNEs vary in their response to host-country policy risk as a result of differences in organizational capabilities for assessing such risk and managing the policy-making process. We hypothesize that firms from home countries characterized by weaker institutional constraints on policy makers or greater redistributive pressures associated with political rent seeking will be less sensitive to host-country policy risk in their international expansion strategies. Moreover, firms from home countries characterized by sufficiently weak institutional constraints or sufficiently strong redistributive pressures will seek out riskier host countries for their international investments to leverage their political capabilities, which permit them to attain and defend attractive positions or industry structures. We find support for our hypotheses in a statistical analysis of the foreign direct investment location choices of MNEs in the electric power generation industry during the period 1990-1999, the industry's first decade of internationalization.
Spearheads a new field for the combined study of religion and music, drawing upon theories and methods of the social sciences, ethnomusicology, philosophy, theology, liturgical studies, and cognitive ...studies.
Cable supported bridges are flexible structures which may be excited into oscillations by the wind. The excitation forces acting on cable supported bridges are aerodynamic by nature, but are for a ...large part set into play by the underlying structural dynamics of the bridge structures. The paper discusses the various types of dynamic wind effects commonly encountered for suspension and cable-stayed bridges emphasizing the importance of the structural dynamics.
•This paper reviews dynamic wind effects on cable supported bridges.•The importance of the structural dynamics on the wind response is emphasized.•The physics of flutter, vortex shedding excitation, buffeting and galloping is discussed.
Gaia Data Release 2 Clementini, G.; Ripepi, V.; Molinaro, R. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
02/2019, Letnik:
622
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Context.
The
Gaia
second Data Release (DR2) presents a first mapping of full-sky RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids observed by the spacecraft during the initial 22 months of science operations.
Aims.
The ...Specific Objects Study (SOS) pipeline, developed to validate and fully characterise Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars (SOS Cep&RRL) observed by
Gaia
, has been presented in the documentation and papers accompanying the
Gaia
first Data Release. Here we describe how the SOS pipeline was modified to allow for processing the
Gaia
multi-band (
G
,
G
BP
, and
G
RP
) time-series photometry of all-sky candidate variables and produce specific results for confirmed RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids that are published in the DR2 catalogue.
Methods.
The SOS Cep&RRL processing uses tools such as the period–amplitude and the period–luminosity relations in the
G
band. For the analysis of the
Gaia
DR2 candidates we also used tools based on the
G
BP
and
G
RP
photometry, such as the period–Wesenheit relation in (
G
,
G
RP
).
Results.
Multi-band time-series photometry and characterisation by the SOS Cep&RRL pipeline are published in
Gaia
DR2 for 150 359 such variables (9575 classified as Cepheids and 140 784 as RR Lyrae stars) distributed throughout the sky. The sample includes variables in 87 globular clusters and 14 dwarf galaxies (the Magellanic Clouds, 5 classical and 7 ultra-faint dwarfs). To the best of our knowledge, as of 25 April 2018, the variability of 50 570 of these sources (350 Cepheids and 50 220 RR Lyrae stars) has not been reported before in the literature, therefore they are likely new discoveries by
Gaia
. An estimate of the interstellar absorption is published for 54 272 fundamental-mode RR Lyrae stars from a relation based on the
G
-band amplitude and the pulsation period. Metallicities derived from the Fourier parameters of the light curves are also released for 64 932 RR Lyrae stars and 3738 fundamental-mode classical Cepheids with periods shorter than 6.3 days.
Gene replacement therapies utilizing adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors hold great promise for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). A related approach uses AAV vectors to edit specific ...regions of the DMD gene using CRISPR/Cas9. Here we develop multiple approaches for editing the mutation in dystrophic mdx
mice using single and dual AAV vector delivery of a muscle-specific Cas9 cassette together with single-guide RNA cassettes and, in one approach, a dystrophin homology region to fully correct the mutation. Muscle-restricted Cas9 expression enables direct editing of the mutation, multi-exon deletion or complete gene correction via homologous recombination in myogenic cells. Treated muscles express dystrophin in up to 70% of the myogenic area and increased force generation following intramuscular delivery. Furthermore, systemic administration of the vectors results in widespread expression of dystrophin in both skeletal and cardiac muscles. Our results demonstrate that AAV-mediated muscle-specific gene editing has significant potential for therapy of neuromuscular disorders.
The regulation of temperature is a major energy‐consuming process of humankind. Today, around 15% of the global‐energy consumption is dedicated to refrigeration and this figure is predicted to triple ...by 2050, thus linking global warming and cooling needs in a worrying negative feedback‐loop. Here, an inexpensive solution is proposed to this challenge based on a single layer of silica microspheres self‐assembled on a soda‐lime glass. This 2D crystal acts as a visibly translucent thermal‐blackbody for above‐ambient radiative cooling and can be used to improve the thermal performance of devices that undergo critical heating during operation. The temperature of a silicon wafer is found to be 14 K lower during daytime when covered with the thermal emitter, reaching an average temperature difference of 19 K when the structure is backed with a silver layer. In comparison, the soda‐lime glass reference used in the measurements lowers the temperature of the silicon by just 5 K. The cooling power of this simple radiative cooler under direct sunlight is found to be 350 W m−2 when applied to hot surfaces with relative temperatures of 50 K above the ambient. This is crucial to radiatively cool down devices, i.e., solar cells, where an increase in temperature has drastic effects on performance.
Powerless thermal management with zero emissions is more important than ever in the world's current climate crisis. This work unravels the radiative sky cooling potential of self‐assembled 2D crystals, showing that only a single layer of microspheres is necessary for achieving the maximum infrared emissivity, and thus the best cooling performance, greatly reducing the material costs for future upscaling and applicability.
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