Quantifying the fiscal effects of trade reform

Using a tax model of an open economy, the authors provide a simple but rigorous method for estimating the fiscal impact of trade reform. Both the direction and the magnitude of the fiscal consequences of trade reform depend on the elasticities of substitution and transformation between foreign and domestic goods, so they provide empirical estimates of those elasticities. They also discuss the implications of their analysis for public revenue. In general, they find that it matters what the values of the two elasticities are relative to each other. If only one of the elasticities is low (close to zero), revenue will drop unequivocally as a result of tariff reform, reaching close to the maximum drop whether or not the other elasticity is high. For imports to grow and tariff collection to compensate for the tax cut, the import elasticity has to be high. Because of the balance of trade constraint, however, imports cannot substitute for domestic goods unless supply is able to switch toward exports. Hence, the export transformation elasticity has to be high as well. As substitution possibilities between foreign and domestic goods increase, a tariff reform can theoretically be self-financing. But if the elasticities are less than"large", tax revenue will fall with tariff reduction and further fiscal adjustments will be necessary. The authors provide empirical estimates of the possible range of values for the elasticities of about 60 countries, using various approaches. The elasticties range from 0 to only 3 in most cases - nowhere near the point at which tariff reform can be self-financing.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Trade Policy,Achieving Shared Growth

Finite size effects on calorimetric cooperativity of two-state proteins

Finite size effects on the calorimetric cooperatity of the folding-unfolding transition in two-state proteins are considered using the Go lattice models with and without side chains. We show that for models without side chains a dimensionless measure of calorimetric cooperativity kappa2 defined as the ratio of the van't Hoff to calorimetric enthalpy does not depend on the number of amino acids N. The average value of kappa2 is about 3/4 which is lower than the experimental value kappa2=1. For models with side chains kappa2 approaches unity as kappa2 \sim N^mu, where exponent mu=0.17. Above the critical chain length Nc =135 these models can mimic the truly all-or-non folding-unfolding transition.Comment: 3 eps figures. To appear in the special issue of Physica

Objective classification of different head and neck positions and their influence on the radiographic pharyngeal diameter in sport horses

BACKGROUND: Various head and neck positions in sport horses are significant as they can interfere with upper airway flow mechanics during exercise. Until now, research has focused on subjectively described head and neck positions. The objective of this study was to develop an objective, reproducible method for quantifying head and neck positions accurately. RESULTS: Determining the angle between the ridge of the nose and the horizontal plane (ground angle) together with the angle between the ridge of nose and the line connecting the neck and the withers (withers angle) has provided values that allow precise identification of three preselected head and neck positions for performing sport horses. The pharyngeal diameter, determined on lateral radiographs of 35 horses, differed significantly between the established flexed position and the remaining two head and neck positions (extended and neutral). There was a significant correlation between the pharyngeal diameter and the ground angle (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient −0.769, p < 0.01) as well as between the pharyngeal diameter and the withers angle (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient 0.774, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The combination of the ground angle and the withers angle is a suitable tool for evaluating and distinguishing frequently used head and neck positions in sport horses. The ground angle and the withers angle show significant correlation with the measured pharyngeal diameter in resting horses. Hence, these angles provide an appropriate method for assessing the degree of head and neck flexion. Further research is required to examine the influence of increasing head and neck flexion and the related pharyngeal diameter on upper airway function in exercising horses

Field emission-driven microdischarges

For over half a century, it has been known that the onset of field emission can lead to anomalous breakdown for electrode gaps spaced \u3c10 μm apart. In adddition, field emission can serve as a substantial source of primary electrons in a microdischarge operating well below the breakdown threshold at atmospheric pressure. To better understand the role of field emission in a microdischarge, we have developed kinetic simulations and fluid models. Theoretical results from both our simulations and models have shown that the anomalous breakdown at the microscale is due to ion-enhanced field emission. In addition, they predict an entirely new prebreakdown regime – the field emission-driven microdischarge – in which field-emitted electrons interact with the surrounding gas to produce ions and excited metastables. Experiments conducted in our lab agree well with the predictions of our simulations and fluid model for parallel plate electrode spacings ranging from 4.8 to 14 μm

Performance of CMS ECAL Preshower in 2007 test beam

The Preshower detector is part of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter, located in the endcap regions, in front of the lead tungstate crystals. It consist of two orthogonal planes of silicon strip sensors interleaved with two planes of lead absorbers. A combined beam test of close-to-final prototypes of the Hadron calorimeter, the crystal calorimeter and the Preshower detector was performed in the summer of 2007. Calibrations were made using electron and pion data. The combined crystal and Preshower energy resolution was studied using electrons. Good signal/noise performance was obtained in both sets of measurement

Pharyngeal diameter in various head and neck positions during exercise in sport horses

Background In equine athletes, dynamic stenotic disorders of the upper airways are often the cause for abnormal respiratory noises and/or poor performance. There are hypotheses, that head and neck flexion may influence the morphology and function of the upper airway and thus could even induce or deteriorate disorders of the upper respiratory tract. Especially the pharynx, without osseous or cartilaginous support is prone to changes in pressure and airflow during exercise. The objective of this study was to develop a method for measuring the pharyngeal diameter in horses during exercise, in order to analyse whether a change of head-neck position may have an impact on the pharyngeal diameter. Results Under the assumption that the width of the epiglottis remains constant in healthy horses, the newly developed method for calculating the pharyngeal diameter in horses during exercise is unsusceptible against changes of the viewing-angle and distance between the endoscope and the structures, which are to be assessed. The quotient of the width of the epiglottis and the perpendicular from a fixed point on the dorsal pharynx to the epiglottis could be used to determine the pharyngeal diameter. The percentage change of this quotient (pharynx-epiglottis-ratio; PE-ratio) in the unrestrained head-neck position against the reference position was significantly larger than that of any other combination of the head-neck positions investigated. A relation between the percentage change in PE-ratio and the degree of head and neck flexion could not be confirmed. Conclusions It could be shown, that the pharyngeal diameter is reduced through the contact position implemented by the rider in comparison to the unrestrained head and neck position. An alteration of the pharyngeal diameter depending on the degree of head and neck flexion (represented by ground and withers angle) could not be confirmed

Is Malaysia ready for sustainable energy? Exploring the attitudes toward solar energy and energy behaviors in Malaysia

To meet the larger demand for electricity supply, Malaysia needs to achieve two main psychosocial conditions, among others—having the awareness of renewable energy and demonstrating energy-conserving behavior. To examine whether Malaysia has met these two conditions, we recruited 225 participants (n = 109 women, n = 113 men, n = 3 did not indicate) to complete a series of questionnaires. The results showed that the public was aware of the option of solar energy but was not ready to install solar photovoltaic panels after being told the cost incurred. Furthermore, the public did not show satisfying energy-conserving behaviors. To boost the installation of solar power, increasing the public’s energy knowledge and implementing policies to reduce the installation cost might be helpful. These findings highlighted Malaysia’s low readiness for solar power and shed some light on what needs to be done to be better prepared for solar power

Providing distributed certificate authority service in mobile ad hoc networks

In this paper, we propose an architecture for providing distributed Certificate Authority (CA) service in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET), based on threshold cryptography. We have two major contributions: 1) we make use of the cluster structure to provide CA service, and design a scheme for locating CA server nodes in MANET; 2) we provide a proactive secret share update protocol, which periodically updates CA secret shares with low system overhead. Compared with existing approaches, our CA architecture provides faster CA services to user nodes at reduced system overhead. © 2005 IEEE.published_or_final_versio