Poor Countries Research Articles

Guidelines for the development of a critical software under emergency.

Context:During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, an international and heterogeneous team of scientists collaborated on a social project to produce a mechanical ventilator for intensive care units (MVM). MVM has been conceived to be produced and used also in poor countries: it is open-source, no patents, cheap, and can be produced with materials that are easy to retrieve.Objective:The objective of this work is to extract from the experience of the MVM development and software certification a set of lessons learned and then guidelines that can help developers to produce safety–critical devices in similar emergency situations.Method:We conducted a case study. We had full access to source code, comments on code, change requests, test reports, every deliverable (60 in total) produced for the software certification (safety concepts, requirements specifications, architecture and design, testing activities, etc.), notes, whiteboard sketches, emails, etc. We validated both lessons learned and guidelines with experts.Findings:We contribute a set of validated lessons learned and a set of validated guidelines, together with a discussion of benefits and risks of each guideline.Conclusion:In this work we share our experience in certifying software for healthcare devices produced under emergency, i.e. with strict and pressing time constraints and with the difficulty of establishing a heterogeneous development team made of volunteers. We believe that the guidelines will help engineers during the development of critical software under emergency.

Dynamics of Pharmaceutical Drugs Serialization

The healthcare access is fundamental rights for every human being. It is Governments responsibility to provide good healthcare services and infrastructure to its citizen. Since last few decades, Government and healthcare industries are struggling to minimize the adverse events impacting people health due to fake medicine. The world health organization also predicted that 4 out of 10 medicines in developing and poor countries are either fake or potentially adulterated. Counterfeit drugs cost billions of dollars deficit to world economy and reduce research and development (R&D) funds allocation from organizations. Stopping counterfeit medicine into supply chain is main challenge for Government and regulatory authorities. The Government and regulatory authorities are now making stringent guidelines to prohibit criminals and counterfeiters to supply fake medicine in markets. Healthcare industry need stringent regulations and secure technologies provide sage and authentic drugs to patients. The FDA has published the 10 years roadmap to implement the drug traceability in United States. The Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA) has also mandated to print several barcodes and human readable data in product packaging hierarchy. The FDA is participating in pilot project with leading pharmaceutical drug manufacturer and wholesales to use blockchain technology in interoperable digital network for securing digital traceability data transfer between authorized trading partners.

Managing Hospital Employees' Burnout through Transformational Leadership: The Role of Resilience, Role Clarity, and Intrinsic Motivation.

Medical errors have been identified as one of the greatest evils in the field of healthcare, causing millions of patient deaths around the globe each year, especially in developing and poor countries. Globally, the social, economic, and personal impact of medical errors leads to a multi-trillion USD loss. Undoubtedly, medical errors are serious public health concerns in modern times, which could be mitigated by taking corrective measures. Different factors contribute to an increase in medical errors, including employees’ risk of burnout. Indeed, it was observed that hospital employees are more exposed to burnout situations compared to other fields. In this respect, managing hospital employees through transformational leadership (TL) may reduce the risk of burnout. However, surprisingly, studies on the relationship between TL and burnout are scarce in a healthcare system, indicating the existence of a critical knowledge gap. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by investigating the role of TL in reducing the risk of burnout among hospital employees. At the same time, this study also tests the mediating effects of resilience and role clarity with the conditional indirect effect of intrinsic motivation in the above-proposed relationship. To test different hypotheses, a hypothetical model was developed for which we collected the data from different hospital employees (n = 398). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was considered for statistical validation of hypotheses confirming that TL significantly reduces burnout. The results further indicated that resilience and role clarity mediate this relationship significantly. Lastly, the conditional indirect effect of intrinsic motivation was also confirmed. Our results provide meaningful insights to the hospital administrators to combat burnout, a critical reason for medical errors in hospitals. Further, by incorporating the TL framework, a hospital may reduce the risk of burnout (and, hence, medical errors); on the one hand, such a leadership style also provides cost benefits (reduced medical errors improve cost efficiency). Other different theoretical and practical contributions are discussed in detail.

Dream in a Suitcase: The Story of an Immigrant Life by Domnica Radulescu

Reviewed by: Dream in a Suitcase: The Story of an Immigrant Life by Domnica Radulescu Roxana Cazan Domnica Radulescu Dream in a Suitcase: The Story of an Immigrant Life New York. Austin Macauley. 2021. 331 pages. I REREAD Domnica Radulescu’s memoir, Dream in a Suitcase, after I returned from a weekend trip to Slovakia. There, in a train station in Bratislava where I was waiting for my ride home, children were playing on old mattresses that served as an improvised indoor playground. A spirited little girl whose face was blossoming with a wide smile reminded me of my own energetic three-year-old, waiting for me to meet him in Romania, where he was spending the summer at his grandparents’ house. But unlike my own child, who is a second-generation Romanian Iranian American born and living in Oklahoma, this little human was a Ukrainian refugee, living in a makeshift shelter in a train station in Bratislava. Overwhelmed by grief, I returned to Radulescu’s memoir because this book explores the trauma of exile as experienced by a young person. And what can be more satisfying a read than this memoir, when I have been feeling so dreadfully helpless in the face of the cruel and tyrannical war waged by Russia in Ukraine, only a short distance away from my parents’ house in Romania, which received scores of terrified refugees, most of whom were women and children? Radulescu’s memoir unfolds a stunning life story, masking the keen of grief behind a veneer of sarcasm and dry humor. Her own exile from Romania in the 1980s had been inspired by a terror not unlike the one we see devastating Ukraine today: a Soviet-inspired authoritarian communist regime that targeted women specifically in ways that removed their autonomy over their bodies and their lives. In fact, in an article written for the Boston Review, Ileana Nachescu writes that in the context of Russia’s cruel war in Ukraine, “regional solidarities of the postsocialist space are emerging again.” She offers some examples: “Pussy Riot recently tweeted a video of Kharkiv’s bombed center, recalling that the Center for Gender Studies was the place where they first read feminist books. Ukrainian refugees are finding shelter in Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland, the first two—the ones with the longest borders with Ukraine—considered the poorest countries in Europe.” And although it was written a year before the tragedy in eastern Europe, I understand Radulescu’s memoir as another act of solidarity with women and migrants across the postsocialist region. Radulescu’s book belongs to a lineage of grief-inspired memoirs that meld personal stories with a sharp social critique of racism, xenophobia, and inequity in the United States, such as From Borsch to Burgers, by Ruslana Westerlund; Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America, by Maria Hinojosa; The Ungrateful Refugee, by Dina Nayeri; or Beautiful Country, by Qian Julie Wang. In it, the reader accompanies the memoirist on a long and harrowing trip from Bucharest to Rome, then to Chicago, and finally to a small town in Virginia. This voyage parallels the writer’s psychological journey of becoming a woman in charge of her life and dreams. Radulescu left Romania as a teenager to reunite with her parents in hopes of seeking political asylum in the US. The horrors that inspired Radulescu’s family to escape communist Romania have been amply described by scholars such as Katherine Verdery, Gail Kligman, Dennis Deletant, Jill Massino, Irina Livezeanu, Maria Bucur, and many others. They include decades of terror and tyranny, isolation, acute poverty, inhumane conditions for children, for the poor, for the Roma minority, a strict surveillance of women’s reproduction, the mistrust of intellectuals, corruption, and state patriarchy, to mention a few. Away from everything she knows, Radulescu is accompanied only by one small suitcase containing a handful of clothes and the manuscript of a story collection she manages to smuggle out of communist Romania, risking her life. The suitcase represents a vehicle of escape into a world where Radulescu can reclaim agency over her body and her mind. In the United States, she graduates...

An assessment of the impact of public debts on development in Nigeria (2003-2020)

This study assessed the impact of public debt on development of Nigeria. It specifically investigatedthe relationship between human development index, per capital income, growth rate and public debt inNigeria from 2003 to 2020. This study adopted quantitative research design. Relevant data regarding thevariable’s under-study were extracted from the Debt Management Office (DMO-2020) and UNESCOInstitute of Statistics (2020) while regression model was used to analyze the data. The study revealedamong other things that; there is presence of co-integration (long-run relationship) among the variablesin the model. The t-statistics of -2.297997 with 0.0388 p-value implies negative and significant relationshipexists between foreign debt and human development index, t-statistics of 2.557340 with 0.0239p-values implies positive and significant relationship exists between foreign debt and per capital incomeand also t-statistics of -0.658730 with p-value of 0.5216 implies negative and insignificant relationshipexistence between foreign debt and growth rate. The overall result of the f-statistics of 4.109504 withProb.(F-statistic) of0.029617 shows that all the explanatory variables jointly have significant impact onforeign debt both in the short and long run. The study concluded that there is significant relationshipbetween public debt and development in Nigeria, depending on the variable of interest. Likewise, thestudy recommended among other things that government should ensure efficiency and effectiveness inthe public debt management due to the negative and significant influence of human development indexon development both in the long run and short run, also the negative and insignificant influence offoreign debt on development in Nigeria which is a pure indication of poor public debt management inthe country. Also, the component governments in Nigeria should reduce it public borrowing as it has asignificant inverse effect on the development of the country in the long run.Key words: Public debt, Per capital income, Human Development Index, Growth rate and Development.

COVID-19 orphans-Global patterns associated with the hidden pandemic.

Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant mortality across the globe, many children have been orphaned due to the loss of their parents. Using the framework of an ecological analysis, we used estimates of total maternal/paternal orphans using an online COVID-19 orphanhood calculator to estimate the total orphans per COVID-19 death for 139 countries. Descriptive statistics were used to determine global patterns behind this risk of children being orphaned. Linear regression models were fitted to determine factors associated with this risk, and the association with vaccination coverage was calculated. We found that there is tremendous global variation in the risk that COVID-19 deaths will lead to orphaned children, and that this risk is higher in countries below median GDP per capita (1·56 orphans per deaths) compared to countries above (0·09 orphans per death). Poverty prevalence (B = 2·32, p<0·01), GDP per capita (B = -0·23, p<0·05), and a greater proportion of people with NCDs being reproductive aged (B = 1·46, p<0·0001) were associated with this risk. There was a negative correlation between 2nd dose vaccination coverage and orphans per death (p<0·05). The risk of children being orphaned per COVID-19 death, alongside fertility rate, is due to there being a greater share of COVID-19 deaths among younger persons. This is more likely in poorer countries and those where the age distribution for non-communicable diseases that elevate COVID-19 mortality risk are more uniform. Due to vaccine coverage inequity, more children will suffer the loss of their parents in poorer countries.

Towards a reconstructed society: Hope for a better today and tomorrow in a world of unstable economic systems and increasing poverty, with a focus on Zambia

The social value of this article is a demonstration of the impact of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative on Zambia and how, in response, faith-based organisations had attempted to influence public economic policy for the betterment of 80% of Zambians who lived under the ‘poverty datum line’ and spent one U.S. dollar a day per capita by 2002, when compared to almost a decade earlier, and who experienced a reduction in life expectancy from 54 years in the late 1980s to 37 years in 2002. The knowledge gap which this article sought to narrow is a lack of adequate reflections on the role of faith-based organisations in addressing economic instability and increasing poverty among majority citizens. The methods used were mainly qualitative in nature, which examined both primary and secondary sources of data. The findings were that the situation of adverse social dislocation of the majority was unlikely to be any better in and beyond 2002. Experience showed that in the year 2005, the socio-economic situation of the majority was still pathetic.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article sought to highlight the specific role which faith-based organisations played in the orientation of the state towards a ‘reconstructed society’ in Zambia. The paper challenged the view that socio-economic development matters are a preserve of development experts and politicians only. Instead, the paper argued that the path towards economic stability and prosperity called for the involvement of all stakeholders, including faith-based organisations.

Risk Factors Associated with Very Low Birth Weight: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW) is due to multiple gestations and reproductive-assisted techniques. Neonatal complications mainly arise in infants with VLBW and Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW). The main objective was to study the risk factors associated with VLBW and to conduct a meta-analysis. Methods: A meta-analysis was done to present the most recent risk variables for VLBW. Electronic databases were searched for information on the suggested topic. Using STATA version 14, the relevant data was extracted, and statistical analysis was conducted. Results: A total number of 112 studies have been conducted on the topic of VLBW worldwide from 2000 to 2020. Information from many parts of the world was evaluated in which GDP or per capita income, age, and education were followed in prominent regions of the world. As GDP and education level improved, the nutritional status also improved. Fifteen studies have been identified, with five meeting the inclusion criteria for the metanalysis of VLBW &lt;1500g in developing countries. Illiteracy, poverty, mother occupation, hypocalcemia, and hypoglycemia were the common risk factors of VLBW (&lt;0.05). Conclusion: It was identified that per-capita GDP is inversely proportional to VLBW throughout the world. VLBW in America was found to be significant when compared with central Europe (&lt;0.005), similarly with Southern Europe (&lt;0.03), Northern Europe (&lt;0.00001), Asia (&lt;0.0001), and Africa (&lt;0.0001). Unlike per capita GDP, VLBW was insignificantly related to maternal age in all regions except Africa, where VLBW was significantly associated with maternal age (p&lt;0.0001). In developing countries, illiteracy, poverty, mother occupation, hypocalcemia, and hypoglycemia are the common risk factors for VLBW (&lt;0.05) as the complications related to VLBW are at a high-risk rate, so it is recommended that VLBW babies require special care at the time of birth, especially in poor economic countries.

Cholera prevention and management in Yemen

Cholera is an acute, watery diarrheal disease. It can cause people to vomit and diarrhea, dehydration and even death, it is caused by vibrio cholerae. Cholera is very severe in south America and some underdeveloped poor countries, it can be translated by water, food, mosquito, and it can be transmitted through contact with infected people. A country with a low level of education is more vulnerable to cholera because the people don’t have an awareness that they must keep their food clean and take some defensive measures when contacting patients. The main means of preventing cholera is to improve water quality and hygiene, which, despite improvements in hygiene and clinical treatment of cholera, still causes about 100,000 deaths a year. In conclusion, even if humans have mastered many ways to control cholera, cholera will still cause a lot of death in a few underdeveloped countries.

The elusive triple win: addressing temporary labour migration dilemmas through fair representation

Abstract Temporary Labour Migration Programmes (TLMPs) are controversial because they are caught in a dilemma between global and domestic justice. From a global justice perspective, TLMPs expand opportunities for workers in poor countries to access labour markets of rich countries and they improve the situation of origin countries through remittances. From a domestic justice perspective, TLMPs violate principles of domestic equality because they always afford migrant workers more restricted rights than those enjoyed by citizens and long-term residents of the host country. Although this dilemma cannot be fully resolved, we argue that TLMPs can be morally justified and recommended if they are characterised by ‘fair representation’ in policy design and implementation and also meet certain democratic legitimacy conditions. TLMPs can be justified if they provide triple benefits for destination and origin countries as well as for migrants themselves, yet the relevant benefits can only be achieved cooperatively through transnational governance in which each of the three groups of actors is fairly represented. This conclusion is supported by our interpretation of the democratic principle of including all affected interests. Under such conditions, some rights of temporary migrant workers in host countries can be regarded as a legitimate outcome of negotiations, while others need to be fixed in advance under a democratic principle of equal protection of all subjected to the laws. Democratic legitimacy also requires that migrants enjoy protection and participation rights as citizens of their countries of origin as well as local citizenship in their countries of residence.

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL DISASTERS: A THREAT TO SUSTAINABLE FOOD PRODUCTION AND FOOD SECURITY OF PAKISTAN

Since the last few decades, climate change had hardly hit the poor economy-holding countries, Pakistan is among these which is very prone to climate disasters due to its geography. This study is analyzing the climate change in Pakistan by reviewing the negative impacts in terms of disasters on the economy and livelihoods. Geographical location, socioeconomic factors and continuous episodic climatic fluctuations around the globe have made Pakistan much vulnerable climate disasters like droughts, floods, extreme events, etc. Therefore, this study is concluding by highlighting the susceptibility to food security and the economy of Pakistan considering the negative impacts of disasters undergoing due to climate change. It moved towards the past to have an overview where and when Pakistan was hardly hit by severe hazards and what losses it brought to economy and livelihoods in the last few decades. Further, this paper is expressing the local scale vulnerability to diverse disasters by analyzing natural or human-intervened factors. Furthermore, it expresses about the incidence of poorest towards climate disasters considering the geographic, climatic and socioeconomic factors of each region. Finally, it suggests that the countries like Pakistan are in dire need to quickly address the negative impacts of climate changes regionally and locally to overcome the losses by giving mitigation and adaptation approaches instead of wasting resources towards recovering.

The impact of vegetables and durum wheat value chains to alleviate unemployment and migration in selected woredas of oromia regional state, ethiopia.

Poor countries, like Ethiopia, at this time are highly attached with different problems like poverty, unemployment, backward culture, famine, illiteracy, and high population growth rate. The study was to contribute creating evidence from the government and NGOs intervention experience for further supporting durum wheat and vegetable value chains players in strengthening, expanding and in creating jobs for vulnerable youth in the target areas. With the specific objectives of this research was identify elements of the intervention that shall be further promoted, adjusted or discontinued, identify a range of market-driven non-farm business and income generation opportunities for youth groups and cooperatives, within the durum wheat and vegetable value chains and across interconnecting markets and identify the COVID-19-related impact on youth and women in the target value chains. Sample size includes vegetable traders 123, for wheat trader 261 and for wheat and vegetable producers 384. Cross-tabulation, charts, figures, percentages, and graphs used along with narrative accounts to present the findings. Qualitative data collected via KII narrated and interpreted to supplement data obtained through questionnaire. Wheat processing private companies in the study areas has been creating job opportunities for a number of unemployed youths. The majority of the durum wheat producers 90 (35.86%) and 62 (35.06%) in the study areas were supplied their product to whole seller and local collectors. Both wheat and vegetable target producers were asked about the possible impact of the current pandemic Covid-19 on their farm production. Creating strong linkages among different actors and/ sectors in the value chain for developments of both durum wheat and vegetable value chain developments and through creating job for youth and stemming irregular migration is crucial recommended.

BURN PATIENTS IN REGIONAL PUBLIC HOSPITAL : PROFILE AND TREATMENTS OPTIONS IN REGIONAL PUBLIC HOSPITAL DR. DJASAMEN SARAGIH, PEMATANG SIANTAR FROM PERIOD 2017 - 2019

ABSTRACT&#x0D; Background : Burns are one of the types of trauma which high morbidity and mortality. Burns make skin tissue damaged by various causes such as flame, scald or hot water, electricity, chemicals, and radiation, which still often occur today. Burns are a common health problem in developing and poor countries. The epidemiology of burns that occurs in Indonesia is still quite rarely reported.&#x0D; Purpose and Objectives : This study is to report burns at dr. Djasamen Saragih Regional Public Hospital, is a type B regional hospital in North Sumatra, Indonesia.&#x0D; Methods : This is descriptive analysis with cross-sectional by using medical records of burn patients treated from January 2017 to December 2019. The data are presented in tabular and graphic form.&#x0D; Results : There were 68 samples in this study. The highest incidence of burns was found in the adult age group as many as 46 cases (67,6%) and dominated by men of 45 persons (66,2%), with the most cases being caused by burns due to scalding injury 39 cases (57,4%). The majority of incidents in this study suffered from second-degree burns, recorded 61 cases (89,7%). Excisional debridement is the most common surgery performed therapy in as many as 42 cases (62%) in this study.&#x0D; Conclusions : From this study, it was shown that the high-risk groups in cases of burns were adults and men. The number of events that cause high morbidity and mortality can be prevented by increasing knowledge of burns, and implementing preventive measures, especially in low socio-economic communities. &#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords : Burns, age, sex, etiology, degree, treatments

A cloud-based deep learning model in heterogeneous data integration system for lung cancer detection in medical industry 4.0

Currently, lung cancer has become one of the most common and deadliest types of cancer. Due to its severity, many countries are now encouraging their at-risk citizens to test and treat lung cancer early. Lung cancer has been worse for poor regions or countries, whose citizens are more susceptible to lung cancer, as the local medical resources and healthcare provider level are inadequate. In recent years, this situation can be significantly improved by leveraging the existing datasets about lung cancer in developed countries. However, due to the poor synchronization of data collection methods, the collected data is heterogeneous, and can't be readily used. Artificial intelligence (AI), big data, cloud computing, and the internet of things accelerate the 4th revolution in the medical industry, and we called it medical industry 4.0. In the medical industry 4.0, lung cancer can be early detected by using a very intelligent approach. In this paper, using AI and cloud platform techniques in the medical industry 4.0, we propose an intelligent detection system including data integration, detection, historical cases comparison, similar cases inquiry, and retrieval for lung cancer. In this system, doctors can integrate the heterogeneous data at hand, and source a large amount of integrated data as a reference when treating the patient. A cloud-based deep learning model is integrated into this system, and then a content-based image retrieval system for similarity comparison is used. Finally, some public datasets are used to train and test this system, and results prove its performance is better than that of some baseline approaches. Then the similar case finding is evaluated with cosine similarity and all similarities reach over 0.93. The heterogeneous data integration system creates a good effect in helping doctors and patients access better diagnosis and treatment for lung cancer.

Mixed Context Based Teaching: A Student Centric Pedagogy to Teach Physical Science in High School Classroom

The purpose of this study is to investgate mixed content based teaching using a student centric pedagogy to teach physical science in high school classroom. Mixed Context Based Teaching (MCBT) was developed as an alternative pedagogy. MCBT in Grade 10 classrooms was investigated in the Nkomazi municipal region of South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. Despite a lack of resources at the school, MCBT was found to increase Chemistry teaching learning outcomes. In this study MCBT was used to teach chemistry content of physical science. The developed pedagogy uses a controlled dialogic method combined with context and analogy to teach. Present study used a mixed method of data analysis. Pre-testing and post-testing was used in this quasi-experimental investigation. In this study, quantitative data was collected and used for finding the answer for the research questions even though we used an exploratory sequential mixed-method research design. There were two distinct groups. A control group and an experimental group were created. A control group consisted 31 students and an experimental group had 50 students. Pre-test and pot-test data were collected from control group as well from experimental group. It also included four in-service teachers as co-researchers. They assisted in the administration of pre-tests and post-tests, as well as observing the class delivery process. Teachers who took part in the study returned to their schools and incorporated MCBT in their classes. The lead researcher watched the participating teachers’ lessons using a refined teaching observation procedure. After working on MCBT deployment in classrooms, these teachers provided a collection of qualitative data. An analysis of quantitative data using z-stats, showed statistically significant differences in the performances between control and experimental groups. The study found that a hybrid context-based pedagogy was beneficial in enhancing Chemistry teaching and learning results in rural schools with limited resources. Any technology-based teaching technique could be costly, however MCBT has no financial costs other than the training of participating teachers. The observations of this study opens an opportunity to adopt an improved teaching-learning method for underdeveloped and developing countries’ rural poor country sides, where finances are a barrier to enhancing Chemistry teaching-learning outcomes.

Wage arbitrage through skilled emigration: Evidence from the Pacific Islands

AbstractSkilled workers in poor countries earn wages a fraction of that of their counterparts in rich nations. Here, we estimate the opportunities for wage arbitrage from emigration of workers from the Pacific Islands into Australia and New Zealand. Our calculations, based on wages earned by graduate accountants, computer science graduates and cooks with Certificate III qualifications, reveal wage premiums of a factor of up to 10 from emigration. Likewise, the cost of training to Australian standards within the Pacific Islands is as little as a third of that in Australia meaning that the total factor of economic arbitrage is 30.

Diagnostic value of serum ADA level in extra pulmonary tuberculosis cases in a tertiary care hospital, Bihar

Travelling through time, space and history if there is one disease which always comes to our mind is tuberculosis (TB). Still on many occasions it remains undiagnosed and hence not treated appropriately. In many instances patient is not able to give proper sputum sample or in a way it should be. On the top of it in resource poor countries availability of health care professionals is an issue to examine the sputum. Furthermore, when extra pulmonary TB is the case invasive diagnostic procedures such as biopsy becomes important which is a challenging thing to perform in many of our setups in our state. So, the aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of ADA in extra pulmonary TB. Methods: It is an analytical study in which serum ADA values in EPTB cases were compared with controls.100 patients matched for age and sex were included. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 27. Results: Our data analysis showed mean ADA levels in EPTB patients was 43.6 which was significantly higher than control group(p value &lt;0.001).

Optimal carbon policies in a dynamic heterogeneous world

We derive the optimal contributions to global climate policy when countries differ with respect to income level and pollution intensity. Countries’ growth rates are determined endogenously, and abatement efficiency is improved by technical progress. We show that country heterogeneity has a crucial impact on optimal policy contributions: more developed countries have to make a larger effort while less developed countries are allowed to graduate under a less stringent environmental regime. The optimal allocation of pollution permits depends on international trade. In the absence of international permit trade, more developed countries should receive more permits than the less developed countries, but permit prices are higher in the rich countries and eventually countries converge in income. With international permit trade, more developed countries receive less permits than the less developed. When global distribution of physical capital is uneven and the aggregate pollution ceiling is low, poor countries receive all the permits.

Home Country Image and Nonmarket Political Strategy Effects on Foreign Lcation Choice of EMNEs

While the literature has generated impressive insights on why emerging market multinationals enterprises (EMNEs) select certain foreign locations over others, we still lack an understanding of how the home country institutional image creates barriers to EMNEs’ foreign location choices and the mechanisms through which EMNEs overcome this effect. In this study, we investigate how the home country institutional image affects EMNEs’ foreign location choices and how EMNEs can use home country nonmarket political strategy to overcome the effect. We argue that EMNEs struggle with poor home country institutional images that are carried over in host countries and create barriers when EMNEs enter into developed or more institutionally distant markets from their home country. Specifically, we suggest that EMNEs are more likely to choose institutionally similar countries as their foreign direct investment (FDI) targets to help them offset the additional liability they carry. While nonmarket political strategy can serve as a response to such disadvantages, it will not completely nullify the home country institutional image effect. This strategy can provide proximity to nonmarket elements and help EMNEs overcome the barriers created by poor home country institutional image on foreign location choice. We test and find support for our theoretical framework using a longitudinal dataset from 2002 to 2017 of outward FDI (OFDI) by Brazilian firms.

Strategies for Achieving High Performance in R&amp;D for Neglected Diseases: A Configurational Approach

Public laboratories pursue scientific and technological advances where private actors lack knowledge, funds, and incentives to invest. Focusing on “neglected diseases”—those which primarily affect people in poor countries—we study how funding sources and research team characteristics affect the R&D performance within a major public lab. We employ a configurational approach to analyze 195 research projects conducted in a public lab in Brazil, a country in which neglected diseases make up the majority of the disease burden. Our findings reveal three configurations to high performance and a set of pivotal choices in project funding capable of leveraging the performance of research projects. From these findings we devise strategies for achieving high performance in research on neglected diseases. We offer a midrange theory of R&D performance in the context of public labs which has implications for the design and maintenance of national innovation systems. Our results also inform literatures on the organization of science and funding for public health, and provide actionable insights for managers and policy makers.