Since the beginning of the millennium, Southeast Asia has become one of the fastest growing regions in the world. After recovery from the slowdown caused by the Asian financial crisis, most of them achieved significant growth and Asian miracle was created. Thanks to the liberalization of trade, export supporting policies, cheap labour and foreign investment, many of the southeast Asian countries entered the middle income countries group, which the World Bank defines with the Gross National Income per capita in the range from 1 045 USD to 12 760 USD. However, some countries in Southeast Asia are experiencing economic slowdown now and some of them fell into so called middle income trap. It is an economic phenomenon, which describes the situation when the country is no longer able to use its comparative advantages in the form of labour intensive production and its economic growth stagnates. Such economies find themselves on the edge between poor countries with cheap labour and advanced economies with high income. The main goal of the diploma thesis is to examine the topic of middle-income trap on chosen economies of Southeast Asia - Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. The thesis is focused on the evaluation of their economic situation, the depth of the middle income trap and possible solutions for each of these countries.

The thesis is focused on issue of the middle income trap and its application on Chinese market. Thesis is divided into three parts. The first chapter deals with concept of "middle income trap" and defines its causes. The second chapter analyses current situation of Chinese economy, also selected problems and trends in economy whitch are related to middle income trap. The goal of the last part is to answer questions whether China is in the middle income trap or manage to escape.

Orientador: Mauro Galetti / Resumo: As palmeiras são consideradas um recurso chave para os mamíferos terrestres tropicais. Entretanto, como as hiper-diversas guildas de frugívoros das florestas tropicais exploram recursos de palmeiras e coexistem, ainda é pouco compreendido. Neste trabalho, avaliamos como três espécies de mamíferos frugívoros terrestres, o queixada (Tayassu pecari), seu parente próximo, o cateto (Pecari tajacu) e a cutia (Dasyprocta azarae) interagem entre si e com os frutos de três espécies de palmeiras em uma floresta tropical da Mata Atlântica do Brasil. Utilizamos armadilhas fotográficas e modelos de ocupação para examinar as interações competitivas entre eles. Ao contrário de nossas expectativas, não encontramos evidências de exclusão competitiva entre esses frugívoros. Os queixadas exploraram principalmente as áreas de grande abundância da palmeira hiper-dominante Euterpe edulis, enquanto as cutias concentraram seu forrageamento em áreas com grande abundância de Syagrus oleracea e, em menor escala, Syagrus romamzoffiana. Os queixadas também responderam positivamente a Syagrus oleracea, mas apenas na ausência de cutias. Os catetos preferiram áreas de alta abundância de Syagrus romamzoffiana onde as outras duas espécies apresentaram baixa detecção ou estavam ausentes. Estes resultados sugerem que, apesar de ocuparem habitats semelhantes, estarem ativos durante as mesmas horas e compartilharem recursos de palmeiras semelhantes, as estratégias comportamentais dessas espécies permitem que elas... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Palm fruits are considered a key resource for tropical terrestrial forest-dwelling mammals. Yet, how hyper-diverse assemblies of frugivores in tropical forests exploit palm resources and coexist despite high diet overlap remains poorly understood. Here, we evaluate how three species of terrestrial frugivorous mammals, the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), their close relative the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) and the agouti (Dasyprocta azarae), interact with each other, and with the fruits of three palm species in a tropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil. We used cameras-traps and occupancy models to examine competitive interactions amongst them. Contrary to our expectations, we found no evidence of competitive exclusion amongst these frugivores. White-lipped peccaries primarily exploited areas of large abundance of the hyper-dominant palm Euterpe edulis, whilst agoutis concentrated their foraging on areas with large abundances of Syagrus oleracea and, to a lesser extent, Syagrus romamzoffiana. White-lipped peccaries also responded positively to Syagrus oleracea, but only when agoutis were absent. Collared peccaries preferred areas of high abundance of Syagrus romamzoffiana where the other two species showed low detection or were absent. These results suggest that despite occupying similar habitats, being active during the same hours and sharing similar palm resources in an isolated forest fragment, behavioural strategies of these species allow them to coexist. / Mestre

L’expérience GBAR repose sur la production d’ions antihydrogène positifs dans le but de mesurer l’accélération gravitationnelle à laquelle est soumise l’antimatière au repos. Le projet ANTION, sous-projet de GBAR, a pour but la production de ces ions d’antimatière. Il vise également à mesurer la section efficace de production d’antihydrogène dans les collisions d’antiprotons sur des atomes de positronium, ainsi que les sections efficaces correspondantes avec la matière, de production d’hydrogène et de l’ion hydrogène négatif. Ces expériences reposent sur la formation d’un nuage très dense de positronium, et nécessitent donc une grande quantité de positons qui seront implantés sur un matériau convertisseur de positons en positronium. Cette thèse décrit la construction d’un piège à “buffer gas” à trois étages, destiné à piéger et accumuler des positons pour le projet ANTION. L’association d’un piège de Penning avec une source basée sur un Linac constitue un montage expérimental unique. Le piège a été construit et optimisé, et est maintenant pleinement opérationnel. Les protocoles de piégeage ont été étudiés et les effets du gaz tampon et du gaz de refroidissement sur le taux de piégeage et la durée de vie des positons ont été quantifiés. Afin de faciliter la mesure de la section efficace de production de l’hydrogène, une simulation avec GEANT4 a été mise au point. Elle décrit l’évolution temporelle et spatiale des atomes d’ortho-positronium dans la cavité où aura lieu la production d’hydrogène. On estime que 2.7 atomes d’hydrogène sont produits pour des proton de 6 keV d’énergie incidente, en utilisant les sections efficaces calculées avec le modèle “Coulomb-Born Approximation”, et 1.6 atomes d’hydrogène pour des protons de 10 keV, si l’on utilise la méthode “two-center convergent close-coupling”. Les simulations permettent également d’estimer le bruit de fond associé aux positons et à l’annihilation du para-positronium. Cette étude amène à proposer une modification permettant d’augmenter le nombre d’atomes de positronium dans la cavité. En parallèle, une étude a porté sur l’efficacité de modération de positons d’une couche épitaxiale de carbure de silicium 4H-SiC. Une efficacité de modération de 65% a été mesurée pour des positons implantés avec une énergie de l’ordre du kilo- électronvolt. Ce résultat intéresse les expériences de physique utilisant des positons lents, car il permet d’améliorer la luminosité de faisceaux de positons; dans le cas de GBAR cela permettrait d’augmenter l’efficacité de piégeage des positons. / The GBAR experiment relies on the production of antihydrogen positive ions to achieve its goal of measuring the gravitational acceleration of antimatter at rest. The ANTION project, included in the GBAR enterprise, is responsible for the production of these antimatter ions. Moreover, it also aims to measure the cross section of antihydrogen production throughout the collision of antiprotons and positronium atoms, as well as the matter cross sections of hydrogen and the hydrogen negative ion. These experiments imply the formation of a very dense positronium cloud, thus a large amount of positrons will be implanted on a positron/positronium converter material. This thesis reports the construction of a three stage buffer gas trap with the goal of trapping and accumulating positrons for the ANTION project. The combination of the Penning-type trap with a LINAC source constitutes a unique experimental setup. The trap was commissioned and optimized and is now fully operational. Trapping protocols were studied and the effect of the buffer and cooling gases on the positron trapping rate and lifetime was assessed. In order to assist the cross section measurement of hydrogen, a GEANT4 simulation was developed. It evaluates the time and spatial evolution of the ortho-positronium atoms in a cavity, where hydrogen production will take place. It was estimated that 2.7 hydrogen atoms are produced for proton impact energy of ∼ 6 keV, according to the cross sections computed with the Coulomb-Born Approximation model, and 1.6 hydrogen atoms for a proton impact energy of ∼ 10 keV, according to the two-center convergent close-coupling method. The simulations also allow the estimation of the background associated with the positron and para-positronium decay. In addition, a suggestion is proposed to increase the number of positronium atoms in the cavity. In parallel, the positron moderation efficiency of a commercially available 4H-SiC epitaxial layer was studied. A 65% moderation efficiency was observed for kiloelectronvolt implanted positrons. This result can be of interest to slow positron physics experiments by improving the brightness of positron beams, and in particular to GBAR as it can potentially increase the efficiency of positron trapping.

The middle-income trap (MIT) theory has gained popularity amongst policy makers looking to avoid the trap since it first arose in 2005. Multiple studies discuss the possible existence of the trap, what it is caused by and what possible solutions it might have. We use the empirical definition of the trap presented by Aiyar et al. (2018) to test for the middle-income trap in order to analyze the effect that international trade, defined by import and export, may have on the MIT. The Arellano-Bond estimator and random-effects probit model are used on data from the Penn World Data Table 9.1 to carry out this investigation. Based on our dataset we generate results slowdowns that give evidence to the MIT and find that import has a negative effect on a country’s risk of landing in an MIT whereas export has a positive effect on the risk.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第22659号 / 工博第4743号 / 新制||工||1741(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科電子工学専攻 / (主査)教授 山田 啓文, 教授 川上 養一, 准教授 杉山 和彦 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

With the ever-increasing human population, more people reside in urban areas than ever before; this is having marked effects on the landscape and in turn, wildlife. This study uses automatically triggered wildlife cameras to assess the distribution of three carnivore species (coyotes, Canis latrans; red foxes, Vulpes vulpes; and gray foxes, Urocyon cinereoargenteus) around the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts in relation to a gradient of human development. Cameras were placed at 141 locations within the 320-km2 study area over the course of three field seasons (3,052 trap nights). Relative abundances for fourteen other species and site characteristics (e.g., elevation, forest cover type, distance to urban edge) for each camera location were determined to develop a generalized linear model for the distribution of each species across the study area. Coyote distribution was most affected by the relative abundances of their prey species and not by landscape characteristics or sympatric carnivore species. Coyotes are the top predator in the area and therefore their distribution is correlated with the relative abundances of their prey species, unlike other parts of their range where they are controlled by larger carnivores. Red and gray foxes both had negative relationships with the relative abundance of coyotes as coyotes have been shown to adversely impact fox distributions and access to resources. Both red and gray foxes were also negatively or uncorrelated with increased levels of urbanization, which is both supported and refuted by published literature and is likely system specific.

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are potentially low-cost, solution-processable semiconductors which are endowed, through their nanoscale dimensions, with strong absorption, band gap tunability, high dielectric constants and enhanced stability. CQDs are contenders as a standalone PV technology as well as a potential back layer for augmenting established photovoltaic (PV) technologies, such as Si. However, owing to their small size (ca. few nanometers), CQDs are prone to surface trap states that inhibit charge transport and threaten their otherwise wonderful optoelectronic properties. Surface traps have also, indirectly, impeded scalable and industry-compatible fabrication of these solar cells, as all of the reports, to date, have relied on spin-coating with sophisticated and tedious ligand exchange schemes, some of which need to be performed in low humidity environments. In this thesis, we posit that an in-depth understanding of the process-structure-property-performance relationship in CQDs can usher in fresh insights into the nature and origin of surface traps, lead to novel ways to mitigate them, and finally help achieve scalable fabrication. To this end, we probe the CQD surfaces and their interactions with process solvents, linkers, and ambient environment employing a suite of spectroscopic techniques. These fundamental insights help us develop facile chemical and physical protocols to mitigate surface traps such as solvent engineering, remote molecular doping, and oxygen doping, directly leading to better-performing solar cells. Our efforts finally culminate in the realization of >10% efficient, air-stable CQD solar cells scalably fabricated in an ambient environment of high, uncontrolled R.H. (50-65%). As-prepared solar cells fabricated in high humidity ambient conditions are found to underperform, however, an oxygen-doping recipe is devised to mitigate the moisture-induced surface traps and recover device performances. Importantly, these solar cells are fabricated at coating speeds of >15 m min-1 with roll-to-roll compatible techniques such as blade and bar coating requiring 1/25th the CQD material consumed by the standard spin-coated devices, overcoming the two major challenges of manufacturability and scalability faced by CQD PV.

In alcoholic hepatitis (AH), high neutrophil counts correlate with inflammation and poor clinical outcomes. Here, we sought to elucidate the neutrophil-mediated pathogenesis of AH. We revealed that in vivo neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation was significantly increased in AH patients and that alcohol alone is sufficient to induce NET formation in neutrophils; thereby, neutrophils increase liver damage through increased NET formation. Moreover, we identify that alcohol-induced NET formation is vital to NETosis and that high-density neutrophils (HDNs) become low-density neutrophils (LDNs) after NET formation in response to alcohol. Through transcriptome profile analysis, we found that genes related to neutrophil activation and immune responses are significantly upregulated in AH HDNs but significantly downregulated in AH LDNs compared to HDNs from healthy subjects. These data suggest that AH HDNs and LDNs have opposing phenotypes: HDNs are activated and more prone to release NETs, while LDNs are functionally incompetent. Consequently, the increase in activated HDNs and defective LDNs are likely associated with an increase in liver damage through NET formation and enhanced susceptibility to infection in AH patients, respectively. Therefore, we evaluated the therapeutic benefits of preventing NET formation in HDNs using peptidyl arginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) inhibition and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment as well as neutrophil depletion in mice. We observed that in vivo neutrophil depletion and G-CSF treatment prevent NET formation in the liver, thereby significantly reducing liver damage in alcohol-fed mice. Our work identifies the neutrophil/NET-mediated mechanisms of AH pathogenesis and provides insights into therapeutic interventions for AH.

Boron cluster compounds are substances clearly synthetic, which don't exist outdoors. This group covers boranes, heteroboranes and their derivatives. They are synthesized and examined mostly for their extraordinary structural and bonding properties. Their study also brought many remarkable findings and even allowed practical use of these compounds in science and technology. This thesis is focused on the application of mass spectrometry for the identification of boranes and heteroboranes and on the study of their fragmentation mechanisms using tandem mass spectrometry on spherical ion trap.