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We exploit the degree of discretion embedded in the World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Framework (DSF) to understand the decision-making process of international financial institutions. The unique, internal dataset we use covers the universe of debt sustainability analyses conducted between December 2006 and January 2015 for low-income countries. These data allow us to identify cases where the risk rating implied by the application of the DSF's mechanical rules was overridden to assign a different official rating. Our results show that both political interests and bureaucratic incentives influence the decision to intervene in the mechanical decision-making process. Countries that are politically aligned with the institutions' major shareholders are more likely to receive an improved rating; especially in election years and when the mechanical assessment is not clear-cut. These results suggest that the room for discretion international financial institutions have can be a channel for informal governance and a source of biased decision-making.

Much of the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) lending benefits private companies from rich countries and supports projects in middle-income countries. Large corporations such as Lidl or Movenpick have received its loans for highly profitable investments. This contrasts to some extent with the IFC's official mandate, which is to finance poverty-reducing projects for which private capital is not available on reasonable terms. Investigating a potential driver of this mismatch, we argue that some governments can influence the allocation of IFC loans to the benefit of private companies in their countries. Using new data for more than 3000 IFC projects over the 1995–2015 period we show that (joint) IFC Board membership of countries where borrowing companies are based and of countries where the projects are implemented increases the likelihood that these countries receive IFC loans. This has implications for the debate on leveraging private-sector investments for development.

The present work describes the development of a comprehensive two-dimensional heterogeneous model of a fixed-bed reactor for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. The chemical kinetics for cobalt-based catalysts is modeled on the basis of the LHHW approach. The intraparticle transport model takes into account the fact that the catalyst pores are filled with liquid hydrocarbons and water due to capillary condensation under realistic conditions. The validity of the reactor model is tested against the experimental data from laboratory and pilot plant fixed-bed reactors over a wide range of operating conditions. Detailed numerical simulations are performed to investigate the effect of major process parameters on the reactor performance.

IMF programs are often considered to carry a “stigma” that triggers adverse market reactions. We show that such a negative IMF effect disappears when accounting for endogenous selection into programs. To proxy for a country's access to financial markets, we use credit ratings and investor assessments for 100 countries from 1988 to 2013. Our instrumental variable strategy exploits the differential effect of changes in IMF liquidity on loan allocation. We find that the IMF can “cushion” against falling creditworthiness, despite contractionary adjustments related to its programs. This positive signaling effect is also visible in monthly event-based specifications using country-times-year fixed effects. A text analysis of rating statements indicates a positive signal to investors if countries under IMF programs commit to economic reforms.

Speculation has long surrounded the question of whether past exposure to ionizing radiation leaves a unique permanent signature in the genome. Intrachromosomal rearrangements or deletions are produced much more efficiently by densely ionizing radiation than by chemical mutagens, x-rays, or endogenous aging processes. Until recently, such stable intrachromosomal aberrations have been very hard to detect, but a new chromosome band painting technique has made their detection practical. We report the detection and quantification of stable intrachromosomal aberrations in lymphocytes of healthy former nuclear-weapons workers who were exposed to plutonium many years ago. Even many years after occupational exposure, more than half the blood cells of the healthy plutonium workers contain large (>6 Mb) intrachromosomal rearrangements. The yield of these aberrations was highly correlated with plutonium dose to the bone marrow. The control groups contained very few such intrachromosomal aberrations. Quantification of this large-scale chromosomal damage in human populations exposed many years earlier will lead to new insights into the mechanisms and risks of cytogenetic damage.

An alternative design of fuel assembly has been developed for the WWER-1000 reactor with the aim of assuring a geometrical stability of the core during operation. The fuel assembly provides enhanced safety and substantial improvement in the WWER-1000 fuel cycle economics.

The adhesion of a blend of liquid-crystalline polymer (LCP) with polypropylene (PP) to the surface of glass fibres has been investigated in the whole range of blend composition. It was found that the composition dependence of the adhesion strength is characterized by a sharp increase when the amount of LCP in the blend exceeds a definite limit corresponding to phase inversion. The results are explained by the formation near the interface of two adhesion layers: the first is composed of pure LCP and has a higher surface tension, whereas the second layer represents the blend of varying composition. At small amounts of LCP adhesion failure proceeds in the interphase between the LCP and the blend. After phase inversion, where the adhesion strongly increases, adhesion failure proceeds near the interface between the LCP and the glass.

Results of the analysis of dynamic body burdens of Pu in adult inhabitants of Chelyabinsk-65 (not occupationally exposed) and different areas of the Gomel region are presented for 1990–1991. The data are based on radiochemical analyses of Pu in human organs and tissues. Comparison with the published data on global Pu [4,5] and our data for human autopsies (Ufa, Russia) revealed that estimates of Pubody burdens in Chelyabinsk-65 residents were up to 30 times higher than global levels and depended on the period of residence in town. The Pu body contents of Gomel citizens 4–5 years after the Chernobyl accident are on average 3–4 times higher than the global levels. Activity of Pu-238 in various organs constitutes 4.7–26.0% (on the average 13.5 ± 5.0%) of the total alpha-activity of Pu-238 and Pu-239, 240. The expected number of cancers induced by incorporated plutonium is approximately the same for the two population groups despite their different sizes and does not differ from the global level by more than one order of magnitude.