International monetary policy trilemma-the tradeoff among exchange rate stability, monetary independence, and unrestricted capital mobility-is an important constraint for policy makers in an open economy. This paper investigates an aspect of the hypothesis that has received relatively less attention: whether a decrease in capital mobility through imposition of capital controls, while holding the degree of exchange rate stability constant, will enhance monetary independence. Using a panel dataset covering 88 countries for the 1995-2010 period and the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation, we find that: (1) capital controls help improve a country's monetary independence; (2) the effectiveness of capital controls depends on the types of assets and the direction of flows that are imposed; and (3) the choice of exchange rate regime has an important impact on the effectiveness of capital controls on monetary independence.

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of formulation excipients on the physical characteristics and aerosolization performance of insulin dry powders for inhalation. Insulin dry powders were prepared by a spray drying technique using excipients such as sugars (trehalose, lactose and dextran), mannitol and amino acids (L-leucine, glycine and threonine). High performance liquid chromatography and the mouse blood glucose method were used for determination of the insulin content. The powder properties were determined and compared by scanning electron microscopy, thermo-gravimetric analysis and size distribution analysis by a time-of-flight technique. The in-vitro aerosolization behaviour of the powders was assessed with an Aerolizer inhaler using a twin-stage impinger. Powder yield and moisture absorption were also determined. Results showed that there was no noticeable change in insulin content in any of the formulations by both assay methods. All powders were highly wrinkled, with median aerodynamic diameters of 2-4 microm, and consequently suitable for pulmonary administration. The tapped density was reduced dramatically when glycine was added. The powders containing mannitol, with or without L-leucine, were less sensitive to moisture. The highest respirable fraction of 67.3 +/- 1.3% was obtained with the formulation containing L-leucine, in contrast to formulations containing glycine and threonine, which had a respirable fraction of 11.2 +/- 3.9% and 23.5 +/- 2.5%, respectively. In addition, powders with good physical properties were achieved by the combination of insulin and trehalose. This study suggests that L-leucine could be used to enhance the aerosolization behaviour of the insulin dry powders for inhalation, and trehalose could potentially be used as an excipient in the formulations.

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The effects of ZrO2 additions to Al2O3 were investigated to improve the evaporation rate of Al2O3 for bulk AlN crystal growth. The evaporation rate of Al2O3 increased concomitantly with increasing ZrO2 concentration under a nitrogen gas stream at 2223 K. The ZrO2 was predominantly nitrided. The nitridation of ZrO2 kept the local oxygen partial pressure high at the pellet surface, which suppressed the nitridation of Al2O3. The nitridation of ZrO2 caused the outward diffusion of ZrO2 (Zr4+ and O2−) in the pellet, which was accelerated further by the presence of Al2O3–ZrO2 liquid phase in grain boundaries, leading to the prompt formation of ZrN porous layer on the pellet surface. The suppressed nitridation of Al2O3 and the formation of porous ZrN layer were the reasons for the enhanced evaporation of Al2O3, leading to enhanced bulk AlN growth.