Search results for "Spar"
showing 10 items of 1739 documents
ASSESSMENT OF CORRUPTION EFFECT ON FOREIGN INVESTMENT FLOWS
2011
The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the impact of corruption on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. Using data from the International Monetary Fund, Transparency International and United Nations conference about commerce and development data bases a cross-section econometric model was estimated to evaluate in which way and how strong corruption influence FDI inflows. Econometric modelling covers the period from year 2000 to 2007 and the data about 82 world countries that constitute more than 500 records. The main conclusion of the paper is that corruption has a negative and significant impact on the foreign direct investment inflows. Thus, changes in the level of corruptio…
Fluvastatin prevents glutamate-induced blood-brain-barrier disruption in vitro.
2008
Abstract Glutamate is an important excitatory amino acid in the central nervous system. Under pathological conditions glutamate levels dramatically increase. Aim of the present study was to examine whether the HMG-CoA inhibitor fluvastatin prevents glutamate-induced blood-brain-barrier (BBB) disruption. Measurements of transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) were performed to analyze BBB integrity in an in vitro co-culture model of brain endothelial and glial cells. Myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation was detected by immunohistochemistry, or using the in-cell western technique. Intracellular Ca 2+ and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were analyzed using the fluorescence dyes …
Hydantoin-substituted 4,6-dichloroindole-2-carboxylic acids as ligands with high affinity for the glycine binding site of the NMDA receptor.
2002
A novel series of C-3 substituted 4,6-dichloroindole-2-carboxylic acids was synthesized to investigate the influence of different hydrogen-bond donor and acceptor groups at this specific position on the affinity to the glycine site of the NMDA receptor. These novel 3-indolylmethyl derivatives with ring-open (amines, sulfonamides, amides, ureas) and cyclic substituents (imidazolidin-2-ones, (thio)hydantoins) led to the discovery that compounds bearing a hydantoin substituent at the C-3 position of the indole nucleus are the most promising ones. In this series the hydantoins, ureas, and imidazolidin-2-ones were identified as very potent inhibitors of the binding of the glycine site specific l…
Sub-critical long-term operation of industrial scale hollow-fibre membranes in a submerged anaerobic MBR (HF-SAnMBR) system
2012
The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term performance of hollow-fibre (HF) membranes used to treat urban wastewater in a submerged anaerobic MBR when operating sub-critically. To this end, a demonstration plant with two industrial scale HF ultrafiltration membrane modules was operated under different conditions. The main factor affecting membrane performance was the concentration of mixed liquor total solids (MLTS). The reversible fouling rate remained low even when MLTS levels (about 25 g L−1) in the membrane tank were high. No chemical cleaning was conducted whilst operating the plant for more than one year because no irreversible fouling problems were detected. The almost compl…
Does hospital competition harm equity? Evidence from the English National Health Service
2011
Increasing evidence shows that hospital competition under fixed prices can improve quality and reduce cost. Concerns remain, however, that competition may undermine socio-economic equity in the utilisation of care. We test this hypothesis in the context of the pro-competition reforms of the English National Health Service progressively introduced from 2004 to 2006. We use a panel of 32,482 English small areas followed from 2003 to 2008 and a difference in differences approach. The effect of competition on equity is identified by the interaction between market structure, small area income deprivation and year. We find a negative association between market competition and elective admissions …
Inflation anchoring and growth: The role of credit constraints
2022
Abstract Can inflation anchoring foster growth? To answer this question, we use panel data on sectoral growth for 22 manufacturing industries from 39 advanced and emerging market economies over 1990–2014 and employ a difference-in-differences strategy based on the theoretical prediction that higher inflation uncertainty particularly depresses investment in industries that are more credit constrained. Industries characterized by high external financial dependence, liquidity needs, and R&D intensity, and low asset tangibility, tend to grow faster in countries with well-anchored inflation expectations. The results, based on an IV approach—using indicators of monetary policy transparency and ce…
Does Inflation Targeting Affect the Trade-off Between Output Gap and Inflation Variability?
2002
We utilize a stochastic volatility model to analyse the possible effects of inflation targeting on the trade–off between output gap variability and inflation variability. We find that the adoption of inflation targets (in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK, Sweden and Finland) might result in a more favourable monetary policy trade–off (except in Australia and Finland). This conclusion is reached by comparing, first, the economic performance of targeting countries in the 1980s and the 1990s; and second, the economic performance in the 1990s of targeting and non–targeting countries (the USA, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands). We focus on two possible explanations f…
A branch and bound algorithm for the matrix bandwidth minimization
2008
In this article, we first review previous exact approaches as well as theoretical contributions for the problem of reducing the bandwidth of a matrix. This problem consists of finding a permutation of the rows and columns of a given matrix which keeps the non-zero elements in a band that is as close as possible to the main diagonal. This NP-complete problem can also be formulated as a labeling of vertices on a graph, where edges are the non-zero elements of the corresponding symmetrical matrix. We propose a new branch and bound algorithm and new expressions for known lower bounds for this problem. Empirical results with a collection of previously reported instances indicate that the propose…
The determinants affecting the internationalisation of the Italian SMEs producing sparkling wines: An empirical study on the RBV of the firms
2014
In the last few years, wine industry has been characterised by profound changes that have determined an intensification of competition on a global scale. The aim of this study is to identify the firms’ internal factors that most influence the export intensity and the ability to fit into the international market of the Italian wineries producing sparkling wines through a resource-based view (RBV) approach. Results of our study supporting the findings of previous empirical researches presented in this paper. In particular, the main factors affecting export intensity are: innovation degree and intensity of investment in advertising and promotion, among firms’ characteristics, and abroad experi…
Operations & Maintenance Business Model Transformation—Multiple Case Studies
2014
Capital goods companies’ service offering has been mainly to provide spare parts and maintenance work. In search of growth, these companies have expanded to new areas, such as Operations & Maintenance. Instead of operating and maintaining e.g. production processes itself, a customer can outsource a wide variety of managed services based on agreed service levels. There has been a special focus on global information management know-how, governance, process know-how, physical assets, and spare and wear parts. In order to get a good coverage of case studies, we selected five large global suppliers and two customer companies in telecommunication, energy, mining, and pulp and paper business. By i…