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External Impact (external + impact)
Selected AbstractsTwin deficits: squaring theory, evidence and common senseECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 48 2006Giancarlo Corsetti SUMMARY Budget deficits and current accounts OPENNESS AND FISCAL PERSISTENCE Simple accounting suggests that shocks to the government budget move the current account in the same direction, and this ,twin deficits' intuition leads many observers to call for fiscal consolidation in the US as a necessary measure to reduce the large external imbalance of this country. The response of other macroeconomic variables to budget developments, however, has important implications for ,twin deficits' and for this policy prescription. Focusing on the international transmission of fiscal policy shocks via terms of trade changes, we show that the likelihood and magnitude of twin deficits increases with the degree of openness of an economy, and decreases with the persistence of fiscal shocks. We take this insight to the data and investigate the transmission of fiscal shocks in a vector autoregression (VAR) model estimated for Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. We find that in less open countries the external impact of shocks to either government spending or budget deficits is limited, while private investment responds in line with our theoretical prediction. These results suggest that a fiscal retrenchment in the US may have a limited impact on its current external deficit. , Giancarlo Corsetti and Gernot J. Müller [source] The changing landscape of European liberty and security: the mid-term report of the CHALLENGE projectINTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 192 2008Didier Bigo The article offers a critical assessment of the liberties of citizens and others living in the EU and the way in which they are affected by the proliferation of discourses about insecurity, and government and transnational agencies practices of reassurance, protection and coercion enacted in the name of the safety of citizen or their collective security, in which information about their identity is exchanged through new techniques of surveillance and control. It analyses first the apparent radicalisationisation of specific forms of transnational political violence and its effects on liberal policies. Next it assesses the threat assessments produced through technologies of risk management and the development of new technologies of surveillance. Third it describes the changing forms taken by the logic of suspicion and practices of exception and derogation, especially in relation to established understandings of the rule of law, to the multidimensional and continuous reframing of the enemy. It then discusses the impact of this on the rights and freedoms of citizens and foreigners, and finally it assesses the relation between the internal and external impact of illiberal practices, especially in the context of transatlantic relations but also of an increasingly interconnected world order, and the place of the EU in this world. [source] Discrete thermodynamics of chemical equilibria and classical limit in thermodynamic simulationISRAEL JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY, Issue 3-4 2007Boris Zilbergleyt This article sets forth comprehensive basic concepts of the discrete thermodynamics of chemical equilibrium as balance between internal and external thermodynamic forces. Conditions of chemical equilibrium in the open chemical system are obtained in the form of a logistic map, containing only one new parameter that defines the chemical system's resistance to external impact and its deviation from thermodynamic equilibrium. Solutions to the basic map are bifurcation diagrams that have quite traditional shape but the diagram areas feature specific meanings for chemical systems and constitute the system's domain of states. The article is focused on two such areas: the area of "true" thermodynamic equilibrium and the area of open chemical equilibrium. The border between them represents the classical limit, a transition point between the classical and newly formulated equilibrium conditions. This limit also separates regions of the system ideality, typical for isolated classical systems, and non-ideality due to the limitations imposed on the open system from outside. Numerical examples illustrating the difference between results of classical and discrete thermodynamic simulation methods are presented. The article offers an analytical formula to find the classical limit, compares analytical results with these obtained by simulation, and shows the classical limit dependence upon the chemical reaction stoichiometry and robustness. [source] The relationship between changes in the cell wall, lipid peroxidation, proliferation, senescence and cell deathPHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM, Issue 1 2003Gerhard Spiteller Plants and mammals contain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in their membranes. PUFAs belong to the most oxygen sensitive molecules encountered in nature. It would seem that nature has selected this property of PUFAs for signalling purposes: PUFAs are stored in the surface of cells and organelles not in free form but conjugated to phospho- and galactolipids. Any change in membrane structure apparently activates membrane-bound phospholipases, which cleave the conjugates. The obtained free PUFAs are substrates for lipoxygenases (LOX). These transform PUFAs to lipidhydroperoxides (LOOHs). LOOHs are converted to a great variety of secondary products. These lipid-peroxidation (LPO) products and the resulting generated products thereof represent biological signals, which do not require a preceding activation of genes. They are produced as a non-specific response to a large variety of external or internal impacts, which therefore do not need interaction with specific receptors. When, due to an external impact, e.g. attack of a microorganism, or to a change in temperature, the amount of liberated free PUFAs exceeds a certain threshold, LOX commit suicide. Thus iron ions, located in the active centre of LOX, are liberated. Iron ions react with LOOHs in the close surroundings by generating alkoxy radicals (LO.). These induce a non-enzymatic LPO. A fraction of the LO. radicals generated from linoleic acid (LPO products derived from linoleic acid play a dominant role in signalling which was previously overlooked) is converted to 2,4-dienals which induce the programmed cell death (PCD) and the hypersensitive reaction (HR). While peroxyl radicals (LOO.) generated as intermediates in the course of an enzymatic LPO are transformed within the enzyme complex to corresponding anions (LOO,), and thus lose their reactivity, peroxyl radicals generated in non-enzymatic reactions are not deactivated. They not only react by abstraction of hydrogen atoms from activated X-H bonds of molecules in their close vicinity, but also by epoxidation of double bonds and oxidation of a variety of biological molecules, causing a dramatic change in molecular structure which finally leads to cell death. As long as reducing agents, like glutathione, or compounds with free phenolic groups are available, the amount of LOOHs is kept low. Cell death is induced in a defined way by apoptosis. But when the reducing agents have been consumed, PCD seems to switch to necrotic processes. Thus proliferation is induced by minor changes at the cell membrane, while slow changes at cell membranes are linked with apoptosis (e.g. response to attack of microorganisms or drought) and necrosis (severe wounding), depending only on the amount, but not on the type, of applied stimulus. [source] Adaptation and Organizational Connectedness in Corporate Radical Innovation Programs,THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2009Donna Kelley This research examines how established companies organize programs for fostering technology-based radical innovation. It addresses conflicts revealed in the innovation literature concerning the appropriate design of the strategic, structural, and process components of these programs. In developing innovation strategies, managers must balance the desire for strategic clarity with the need to allow for creativity and exploration. They must structure programs that ensure innovations benefit from the organization's resources while minimizing the numerous constraints that can impede these unconventional activities. Additionally, though they may favor management processes that provide accountability and effective resource allocation, managers must also ensure these do not restrict the flexibility required for successful innovation. The study is a longitudinal, comparative case analysis of interviews with managers involved in innovation programs in 12 industry-leading multinational corporations. Site visits at each company were followed by biannual interviews with key managers in each company. A total of 81 follow-up interviews were conducted over a three-year period. These interviews were aimed at identifying the changes and progress in the programs over time and internal and external impacts on the organization's innovation activity. The analysis reveals (1) distinct but evolving objectives that maintain a logical strategic connection, (2) adaptive structures that shift and transform but preserve relationships with the broader organization, and (3) flexible processes that are understandable beyond the innovation program and are modifiable, both for the context and in response to learning over time. This suggests that programs introducing high uncertainty and risk into mature corporate environments are highly flexible systems that maintain organizational connectedness as they evolve. For academics, this implies a need to understand the evolution of innovation programs as an adaptive learning process that, regardless of form and purpose, preserves its connection to the traditional organization. For practitioners, it highlights the importance of considering the process, strategic, and structural connections to the broader organization when designing innovation programs and suggests the need for feedback mechanisms to help adapt these elements over time. [source] | ||||||||||