External Growth Research Articles

Macroeconomic Determinants of External Debt Accumulation in Ethiopia: An ARDL Bound Testing Approach

This study attempts to explore the major macroeconomic determinants of external debt stock growth in Ethiopia prompted by a continuous increase in government external borrowing over the period 1981-2018. For this purpose, the study employed the ARDL bound testing approach and all the necessary time series diagnostic tests were conducted. The long run model estimation result revealed that per capita GDP growth has a positive and significant effect on the country’s external debt stock. The result also revealed that the budget deficit and political instability put a significant upward pressure on the external debt stock growth of the country both in the short run and long run. Consistent with some existing empirical evidence, the study revealed negative and significant influence of openness and infrastructure development on the external debt stock growth. Consequently, the government should embark on prudent borrowing to achieve structural transformation.

Does high external debt predict lower economic growth? Role of sovereign spreads and institutional quality

There has been a lengthy debate regarding the relationship between external borrowing and macroeconomic fragility. This paper investigates the predictive power of external debt as an indicator for economic growth to examine the argument that there is a dynamic relationship between external debt and growth. We conduct a panel regression using data from low- and middle-income countries (LMCs) between 1970 and 2018. The results indicate that an increase in total, long-term, or external public debt consistently predicts slowdowns in short- and medium-run growth. Limited evidence on non-linear external debt-growth relationship highlights the fact that external borrowing, especially by the public sector, significantly contributes to macroeconomic fragility. Proxy vector autoregressive (PVAR) estimation also confirms the dynamic causal effect of external sovereign debt expansion on economic slowdowns. Further evidence suggests that even the countries have high borrowing costs, better institutional quality can help mitigate the negative impact of external borrowing on growth.

Run or hide: changes in acquisition behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeMergers and acquisitions (M&As) are an important strategic tool for continuous adaptation, sustainable corporate development and external growth. At the same time, M&As involve high levels of risk with mixed performance results even under normal circumstances. Even though the M&A market was continuously growing for the last decade, it was abruptly ended by the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as executives were more concerned about liquidity than with long-term growth strategies. This raises the question how M&A behaviour is affected by the economic fall-out of the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe mixed method research design was employed in this study.FindingsThe authors particularly investigate how target selection as well as synergy management are affected by the pandemic. The study analysis reveals four archetypical responses to the COVID-19 crisis. The authors describe those responses in detail and analyse antecedents that seem to influence firms' acquisition behaviour during the pandemic.Originality/valueThe paper draws on survey and interview data of M&A practitioners.

Constitutive Activation of Ras and Inactivation of Ink4a/Arf Allele Induce a Fully Penetrant B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Phenotype in Mice

Despite recent advances in treatment, precursor-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) remains a challenging clinical entity. Recent genome-wide studies have uncovered frequent genetic alterations involving activating RAS pathway mutations and loss of the INK4A/ARF locus suggesting their important role in the pathogenesis, relapse, and chemoresistance of B-ALL. Therefore, to better understand the oncogenic mechanisms by which these alterations might promote B-ALL and to develop an in vivo preclinical model of relapsed B-ALL, we engineered mouse strains with induced somatic KrasG12D pathway activation and/or loss of Ink4a/Arf during early stages of B-cell development.Pathologic examination revealed significantly enlarged spleens and increased numbers of mononuclear cells in the spleens of 8-week-old KrasG12D mutated animals with or without Ink4a/Arf inactivation, but obvious histologic and IHC differences in spleens and lymph nodes between the mutant genotypes and CD19Cre/+ controls were not found. However, in agreement with the gross pathologic examination, an increase was noted by flow cytometry in splenic B220+ B-cells of mice with the KrasG12D mutation as compared with CD19Cre/+ and CD19Cre/+;Ink4a/ArfL/+ mice. In keeping with this, a significant increase in number of proliferating (Ki-67+) cells within spleen B-cell areas of CD19Cre/+;KrasG12D/+, and CD19Cre/+;KrasG12D/+;Ink4a/ArfL/+ mice were observed in comparison with CD19Cre/+ controls and CD19Cre/+;Ink4a/ArfL/+ mice. TUNEL staining revealed fewer apoptotic cells within germinal center B-cell areas in CD19Cre/+;KrasG12D/+, CD19Cre/+;Ink4a/ArfL/+, and CD19Cre/+;KrasG12D/+;Ink4a/ArfL/+ mice as compared with CD19Cre/+ controls. Next, to identify the biological processes underlying the observed phenotypical changes, we performed gene-set enrichment analysis of microarray expression data from mutant compared to control mice. In CD19+ B-cells from both CD19Cre/+;KrasG12D/+ and CD19Cre/+;KrasG12D/+;Ink4a/ArfL/+ mice, marked upregulation of gene signatures related to proliferation, Ras-related signaling pathways, apoptosis, rewired cellular metabolism, DNA repair, and pre-B stage of B-cell development were observed in both CD19Cre/+;KrasG12D/+ and CD19Cre/+;KrasG12D/+;Ink4a/ArfL/+ mice. Consistent with our previous observations, the proliferative signature in CD19+ B-cells from CD19Cre/+;Ink4a/ArfL/+ mice was less pronounced; instead, upregulation of several signaling pathways related to independence of external growth signals and retention of “stemness” was noted. Although constitutive activation of KrasG12D in B-cells induced prominent transcriptional changes that resulted in enhanced proliferation, it was insufficient by itself to induce development of a high-grade leukemia/lymphoma. Instead, in 40% of mice these engineered mutations promoted development of a clonal low-grade lymphoproliferative disorder resembling human extranodal marginal-zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue or lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma. Interestingly, loss of the Ink4a /Arf locus, apart from reducing the number of apoptotic B-cells broadly attenuated KrasG12D-induced transcriptional signatures. However, combinedKras activation and Ink4a/Arf inactivation cooperated functionally to induce a fully penetrant, highly aggressive B-ALL phenotype. Cross-species bioinformatic analyses consistently demonstrated that B-ALL tumors in the CD19Cre/+;KrasG12D/+;Ink4a/ArfL/+ mice recapitulated gene expression programs found in a poor-prognosis subgroups of human B-ALL that harbor BCR-ABL and CRLF2 rearrangements. Moreover, 90% of examined murine B-ALL tumors showed loss of the wild-type Ink4a/Arf locus without acquisition of common cooperating events, underscoring the role of Ink4a/Arf in restraining Kras-driven oncogenesis in the lymphoid compartment in our model.Taken together, the functional cooperation and the negative impact on survival of concurrent Ras mutation and Ink/Arf deletion in mice suggest that these changes may also have a functional impact in human B-ALL and should be considered in the course of disease classification, as well as for prognosis and choice of therapeutic strategy. DisclosuresSharpless:G1 Therapeutics: Equity Ownership; Pfizer: Other: NA; HealthSpan Diagnostics: Other: NA; Unity Biotechnology: Other: NA.

Moderating effect of institutional quality on the external debt-economic growth nexus: Insights from highly indebted poor countries (HIPC)

Moderating effect of institutional quality on the external debt-economic growth nexus: Insights from highly indebted poor countries (HIPC)

Mesenchymal stem cell-based bioengineered constructs enhance vaginal repair in ovariectomized rhesus monkeys

Transvaginal meshes repair for treating pelvic organ prolapse (POP) was halted by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because they can lead to severe complications. Therefore, investigations of new therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Cell-based regenerative therapy holds great promise for the repair and restoration of damaged tissue. Here, we generated a bioengineered graft by seeding human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUMSCs) on bioscaffolds to reconstruct the damaged vagina. In the in vitro study, HUMSCs proliferated well and the density was appropriate after 5 days of culture. Besides, we demonstrated that the differentiation potential of HUMSCs was maintained with external growth factor stimulation. The complete transcriptomic profile of HUMSCs revealed that HUMSCs cultured on grafts produced significantly higher levels of proangiogenic cytokines than cells cultured in tissue culture plates (TCPs). Three months after implantation of the bioengineered grafts into ovariectomized (OVX) rhesus monkeys via sacrocolpopexy, extracellular matrix reorganization, large muscle bundle formation, angiogenesis and, mechanical properties of the vagina were enhanced. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the utility of stem cell-based bioengineered grafts for repairing damaged vaginal tissue in rhesus monkeys. These results elucidate a new approach for vagina repair and provide new ideas for treating POP.

Natural occurrence of entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria felina (DC.) J.W. Carmich on fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith)

Fall army worm, Spodoptera frugiperda was reported as an invasive pest on maize in India during May 2018 at Karnataka, India. Surveys were conducted for occurrence of pathogens on S. frugiperda in affected maize fields in Karnataka, India. Mycosed larvae of FAW with abundant external white fungal growth and synnemata were observed in maize fields. About 20-30% of 4 and 5th instar larvae of FAW were affected by this fungus. Isolations from the infected cadavers on Sabourauds Dextrose Yeast extract Agar yielded creamish white, round, flat colonies initially, which later produced erect synnematous structures with abundant long erect clusters of condiogenous cells. The conidia were oval-ellipsoid shape with the size of 1.5-2.5 X 3- 3.5 µm. Further molecular characterization of the fungus using ITS region identified it as Beauveria felina. To best of our knowledge, this is the first report of occurrence of B. felina on maize fall armyworm.

Accounting and internal mechanisms of corporate governance during the inter-war-period in France

This article focuses on the role of accounting in governance arrangements. The French context is marked by the inexistence of external governance mechanisms and by the total lack of effectiveness of independent auditing. Therefore, the objective of this article is to shed light on the internal governance mechanisms implemented by the leading French aluminium producer during the inter-war period and the role played by accounting in this implementation. On the basis of the archives of the Compagnie Alais, Froges et Camargue (AFC) between 1921 and 1939, it appears that in a context marked by very strong external growth, management strengthened financial reporting systems and internal control procedures. In addition, the directors used the financial statements as early as 1923 to determine the financial effort of the AFC group and to measure the flows intended to finance the group’s material and financial investments. Accounting is unquestionably at the heart of AFC’s internal governance mechanisms.

China’s Economic Growth in 2010–2017: Analysis from the Perspective of the Input-Output Model and Modern Monetary Theory

The article aims to analyze the external and internal growth factors of the People’s Republic of China in 2010–2017. The authors use methods such as input-output modeling, statistical methods, content analysis of scientific publications. The study explores different perspectives on China’s rapid economic growth in recent decades. In particular, the authors consider neoclassical models that investigate and explain the dynamics of the Chinese economy due to the accumulation and development of factors of domestic production. Some studies are analyzed, which consider economic growth as a result of the final demand, both internal and external, on the basis of the input-output approach. The article examines the views that interpret the monetary policy as one of the most important factors in stimulating economic growth. The authors, based on the economic growth decomposition method, determine the components due to domestic demand and the components due to exports, both for the entire Chinese economy and for particular industries. Сalculations based on the data of input-output balances for 2010–2017 allowed the authors to draw a conclusion about the significant contribution of domestic demand to the economic growth of China in the context of active monetary stimulus. Thus, the novelty of the study is ensured by the fact that Thirlwall’s law does not apply to modern China –– stimulating the economy in China does not lead to a decrease in the trade surplus due to the monetary and financial sovereignty, industrial competitiveness, and the innovative economic development. The search for tools for adapting China’s monetary policy to the realities of Russia and the Republic of Belarus opens up opportunities for future research on the topic.

External Debt and Economic Growth: A Heterogeneous Static ‎Panel Study in Asian Developing and Transition Economies

Abstract‎This study examined the impact of total external debt, public external debt, and private external debt on economic growth of ‎Asian ‎developing and transition economies economic growth from 1995 to 2019. We ‎applied the fixed effect model with two ‎robust estimators of the feasible generalized least square estimator ‎and Driscoll-Kraay standard error estimator to address the ‎cross-sectional dependence. The findings showed that the total external debt has a significant and positive impact on economic ‎growth while the public external debt and private external debt affect economic growth adversely. ‎

Generation of 3D Whole Lung Organoids from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for Modeling Lung Developmental Biology and Disease.

Human lung development and disease has been difficult to study due to the lack of biologically relevant in vitro model systems. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) can be differentiated stepwise into 3D multicellular lung organoids, made of both epithelial and mesenchymal cell populations. We recapitulate embryonic developmental cues by temporally introducing a variety of growth factors and small molecules to efficiently generate definitive endoderm, anterior foregut endoderm, and subsequently lung progenitor cells. These cells are then embedded in growth factor reduced (GFR)-basement membrane matrix medium, allowing them to spontaneously develop into 3D lung organoids in response to external growth factors. These whole lung organoids (WLO) undergo early lung developmental stages including branching morphogenesis and maturation after exposure to dexamethasone, cyclic AMP and isobutylxanthine. WLOs possess airway epithelial cells expressing the markers KRT5 (basal), SCGB3A2 (club) and MUC5AC (goblet) as well as alveolar epithelial cells expressing HOPX (alveolar type I) and SP-C (alveolar type II). Mesenchymal cells are also present, including smooth muscle actin (SMA), and platelet-derived growth factor receptor A (PDGFRα). iPSC derived WLOs can be maintained in 3D culture conditions for many months and can be sorted for surface markers to purify a specific cell population. iPSC derived WLOs can also be utilized to study human lung development, including signaling between the lung epithelium and mesenchyme, to model genetic mutations on human lung cell function and development, and to determine the cytotoxicity of infective agents.

The openness-inflation puzzle: an asymmetric approach

ABSTRACT The paper analyzes Inflation Openness (IO) relationship in an asymmetric framework using lag inflation, lag external debt and lag output growth as transition variables. Considering a Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) model with annual data of 41 developing countries for a period of 45 years from 1972 to 2016, we found a clear negative relationship between inflation and openness. This relationship becomes strong during periods of high inflation, high output growth and low external debt. We argue that though openness reduces inflation, its impact varies depending upon the state of the economy. We conclude that analysing the IO relationship using a linear framework may result in inaccurate and misleading outcomes.

Detecting tropical cyclones from climate- and oscillation-free tree-ring width chronology of longleaf pine in south-central Georgia

The knowledge of past tropical cyclone (TC) activity is vital to understanding patterns of current and future TCs and how they will impact society, infrastructure, and the natural system. Various historical, biological, and geological proxies are commonly used to reconstruct TC behavior; however, these records vary significantly in their temporal resolution. Tree rings are known to provide high-resolution data and have been proven as a valuable proxy record of past TC activity. Here we aim to produce a TC reconstruction based on tree-ring width data of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) located in Lake Louise near Valdosta, Georgia. Results of growth-climate analysis showed that all climate and oscillation variables influence the tree growth, and removing this climate influence may be necessary to unmask the TC signal. For this purpose, we used stepwise linear regression to iteratively model tree growth with monthly climate factors (precipitation, temperature, drought) and monthly oscillation indices (ENSO, AMO, NAO, PDO) to obtain residual chronologies. Tree-ring chronologies were compared to TC data from the National Hurricane Center's North Atlantic Hurricane Database (HURDAT2) for a 150-km buffer zone around Lake Louise between 1894 and 1999. Of the storms that entered the buffer, 13 of the 17 ≤−0.3 growth rings and 8 of the 10 ≤−0.4 growth rings occurred in the year directly after a TC event. Our results revealed the strong climate and oscillation influence in the raw chronology and no significant TC signal. However, the removal of temperature and precipitation influence from raw chronology unmasked the TC signal (p < 0.05). The TC signal was even more pronounced if influence of oscillation indices on growth had been also removed. The most pronounced TC signal was identified between most intense TCs (≥ 33 ms−1) and the climate and oscillation signal-free chronology. We emphasize that future research is needed for validation and elimination of the influence of other external growth drivers, as well as replication studies at multiple sites using similar statistical applications.

Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Expropriations: Evidence from Pakistan Stock Exchange

This research study investigates the role of board gender diversity in mitigating the risk of corporate expropriation of listed companies in Pakistan. For this purpose, data from 2009 to 2019 has been collected for 223 firms randomly selected from 24 non-financial sectors. The current study used panel data analysis techniques i.e. random vs fixed-effect regression models were estimated for testing the relationship of board gender diversity and corporate expropriations. The results of the panel data analysis showed that Hausman test results support the random effect models for the analysis of the data. The results of the random effect models showed that board gender diversity has a negative significant effect on the dividend ratios and director loans, which are used as a proxy for corporate expropriations. Moreover, external audit quality, growth, and leverage are also found to hurt corporate expropriations. However, managerial ownership, net profit margin, and size variables are found to have a positive effect on corporate expropriations. The results of the study will be helpful for the corporate managers and policy makers regarding the corporate governance and provide a deep insight in to the role of the gender in managing and aligning the benefits of the outsider shareholders by reducing the corporate expropriations of controlling large shareholders. The study is novel in its nature as being the first study that has been conducted in the context of Pakistan and has studied the role of gender in managing corporate expropriations.

Thermodynamic formulations of the growth of solid bodies subjected to electromechanical interactions and application to bone external and internal remodeling

The thermodynamics of open systems exchanging mass, heat, energy and entropy with their environment is examined as a convenient unifying framework to describe the evolution of growing solid bodies subjected to electromechanical stimulations in the context of volumetric growth. Extending the framework of non-equilibrium thermodynamics to open systems, the balance laws for continuum solid bodies undergoing growth phenomena incorporating mass sources and mass fluxes in the presence of electromechanical stimuli are expressed. As an alternative, general balance laws for growing solid bodies in presence of electromechanical couplings are expressed in generic format without explicit consideration of the transport phenomena and chemical reactions responsible for growth and the production of mass. The proposed formulations are next extended to the writing of flexoelectric models for growing solid bodies. Applications to electrically induced bending of thin plates and to the combine volumetric and surface growth of the diaphyseal part of the femur are provided as two illustrations of the derived state laws and kinetic equations for irreversible phenomena. The paper concludes with the elaboration of a combined internal to external surface growth model for bone remodeling describing surface apposition of mineral and local density changes, incorporating the driving effects of both electrical and mechanical signals.

Effects of External Public Debt Cancellation on the Economic Growth of the Republic Of Congo

This study, through temporal data and the ARDL process, examined the effects of the cancellation of external public debt on economic growth in the Republic of Congo over the 1990 to 2016 period. From this review, it appears that debt cancellation has a positive impact on economic growth over the short-term and a negative impact over the long term. Beyond these results, we believe that additional research is needed to examine the channels through which external public debt cancellation influence economic growth in the Republic of Congo.

Growth velocity and microhardness dependences of intermetallic compound phases on solubility range during peritectic solidification

It is well known that the growth of solid phases are determined by both the external solidification growth conditions and the solidification characteristics of themselves. The growth of intermetallic compound phases (IMCs) has been analyzed in two peritectic systems containing IMCs: Sn-Ni and Sn-Mn through secondary dendrite, indicating that the solidification characteristics of them are closely related to the growth of IMCs in these alloys. However, the relationship between the solidification characteristics of IMCs and the growth of secondary branch has not been discussed yet. The IMCs can be classified to be different types according to whether their solubility ranges are nil. Thus, the solubility ranges of IMCs are chosen as the representative solidification characteristics. In this work, through a morphology parameter φ characterizing the morphology of secondary branch, the quantitative relationship between the growth behaviors of secondary dendrite arm of IMCs and their solubility ranges has been established. Comparison in both the theoretical prediction of this work and the experimental measurement between these two peritectic systems demonstrated that the solid phases whose solubility range are larger should have a larger growth velocity vtip of secondary branch in the same growth conditions. In addition, the growth-dependent microhardness of the intermetallic compound phases were investigated, which also shows that the microhardness of intermetallic compound phases are also dependent on the growth velocity, thus the solubility range of themselves. It is commonly assumed that the microhardness of the solidified phase is nearly constant in steady state directional solidification. However, the microhardness of the IMCs at the tips of secondary branches gradually decrease during directional solidification, which is consistent with the gradual reduction in vtip. In addition, the variation of the microhardness is more obvious in IMC with larger solubility range.

DES Y1 results: Splitting growth and geometry to test ΛCDM

We analyze Dark Energy Survey (DES) data to constrain a cosmological model where a subset of parameters -- focusing on $\Omega_m$ -- are split into versions associated with structure growth (e.g. $\Omega_m^{\rm grow}$) and expansion history (e.g. $\Omega_m^{\rm geo}$). Once the parameters have been specified for the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model, which includes general relativity as a theory of gravity, it uniquely predicts the evolution of both geometry (distances) and the growth of structure over cosmic time. Any inconsistency between measurements of geometry and growth could therefore indicate a breakdown of that model. Our growth-geometry split approach therefore serves as both a (largely) model-independent test for beyond-$\Lambda$CDM physics, and as a means to characterize how DES observables provide cosmological information. We analyze the same multi-probe DES data as arXiv:1811.02375 : DES Year 1 (Y1) galaxy clustering and weak lensing, which are sensitive to both growth and geometry, as well as Y1 BAO and Y3 supernovae, which probe geometry. We additionally include external geometric information from BOSS DR12 BAO and a compressed Planck 2015 likelihood, and external growth information from BOSS DR12 RSD. We find no significant disagreement with $\Omega_m^{\rm grow}=\Omega_m^{\rm geo}$. When DES and external data are analyzed separately, degeneracies with neutrino mass and intrinsic alignments limit our ability to measure $\Omega_m^{\rm grow}$, but combining DES with external data allows us to constrain both growth and geometric quantities. We also consider a parameterization where we split both $\Omega_m$ and $w$, but find that even our most constraining data combination is unable to separately constrain $\Omega_m^{\rm grow}$ and $w^{\rm grow}$. Relative to $\Lambda$CDM, splitting growth and geometry weakens bounds on $\sigma_8$ but does not alter constraints on $h$.

Corrosion of nickel and nickel–phosphorous-coated AISI 430 in dry (Ar–3%H2) and humid hydrogen (Ar–3%H2–3%H2O) atmosphere

The corrosion behavior of uncoated, nickel (Ni) and nickel–phosphorous (Ni–P)-coated AISI 430 alloy was investigated in Ar–3%H2 and Ar–3%H2–3%H2O atmosphere at 800 °C for 100 h. Microstructure, chemical composition, and reaction products were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction techniques. The corrosion extent of Ni–P-coated AISI 430 is higher than Ni-coated AISI 430. Oxidation promotes corrosion in the uncoated and coated alloy. The oxidation rate of Ni-coated alloy is the lowest in Ar–3%H2 but Ni–P-coated alloy in Ar–3%H2–3%H2O for initial 20 h. The oxidation rate of the Ni–P-coated sample is ~14 times higher in 20–100 h in Ar–3%H2–3%H2O. External growth of Cr2O3 is observed for Ni-coated alloy in Ar–3%H2 and for Ni–P-coated alloy in both the atmospheres. Inward growth of Cr2O3 by AISI 430 alloy consumption attributes to the lowest oxidation rate and the corrosion extent of Ni-coated sample in Ar–3%H2–3%H2O.

An alternative approach to produce versatile retinal organoids with accelerated ganglion cell development

Genetically complex ocular neuropathies, such as glaucoma, are a major cause of visual impairment worldwide. There is a growing need to generate suitable human representative in vitro and in vivo models, as there is no effective treatment available once damage has occured. Retinal organoids are increasingly being used for experimental gene therapy, stem cell replacement therapy and small molecule therapy. There are multiple protocols for the development of retinal organoids available, however, one potential drawback of the current methods is that the organoids can take between 6 weeks and 12 months on average to develop and mature, depending on the specific cell type wanted. Here, we describe and characterise a protocol focused on the generation of retinal ganglion cells within an accelerated four week timeframe without any external small molecules or growth factors. Subsequent long term cultures yield fully differentiated organoids displaying all major retinal cell types. RPE, Horizontal, Amacrine and Photoreceptors cells were generated using external factors to maintain lamination.