Capital flow volatility is a concern for macroeconomic and financial stability. Nonetheless, literature is scarce in this topic. Our paper sheds light on this issue in two dimensions. First, using quarterly data for 65 countries over the period 1970Q1-2016Q1, we construct three measures of volatility, for total capital flows and key instruments. Second, we perform panel regressions to understand the determinants of volatility. The measures show that the volatility of all instruments is prone to bouts, rising sharply during global shocks like the taper tantrum episode. Capital flow volatility thus remains a challenge for policy makers. The regression results suggest that push factors can be more important than pull factors in explaining volatility, illustrating that the characteristics of volatility can be different from those of the flows levels.

Within the framework of the JRP06 European project ‘Increasing Cancer Treatment Efficacy Using 3D Brachytherapy’, a prototype of a graphite standard calorimeter for the measurement of the absorbed dose rate to water, , for 192Ir sources used in high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy has been developed at the Italian National Institute of Ionizing Radiation Metrology (ENEA-INMRI). The calorimeter was tested at the Sant'Andrea Hospital in Rome, where measurements were performed in the quasi-adiabatic mode of operation using an 192Ir MicroSelectron® HDR V2 source. The measurements showed a reproducibility of about 1%, while the combined standard uncertainty on the value at the distance of 1 cm from the source was estimated as 1.4%, lower than the uncertainty of determined from the reference air-kerma rate.

This paper should not be reported as representing the views of the European Central Bank (ECB). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the ECB.

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A new passive radon-thoron discriminative measurement system has been developed for monitoring radon and thoron individually. It consists of a 'couple' of passive integrating devices with a CR39 nuclear track detector (NTD). The experimental prototype is based on the application of a new concept of NTD instrument developed at ENEA, named Alpha-PREM, acronym of piston radon exposure meter, which allows controlling the detector exposure with a patented sampling technique (Int. Eu. Pat. and US Pat.). The 'twin diffusion chambers system' was based on two A-PREM devices consisting of the standard device, named NTD-Rn, and a modified version, named NTD-Rn/Tn, which was set up to improve thoron sampling efficiency of the diffusion chamber, without changing the geometry and the start/stop function of the NTD-Rn device. Coupling devices fitted on each device allowed getting a system, which works as a double-chamber structure when deployed at the monitoring position. In this paper both technical and physical aspects are considered.