Uunderstanding the benefits of regional integration to trade : the application of a gravity model to the case of Central America

The paper identifies the impact of physical barriers to trade within Central America through the use of an augmented and partially constrained Gravity Model of Trade. Adjusting the Euclidian distance factor for Central America by real average transport times, the model quantifies the impact of poor connectivity and border frictions on the region's internal trade as well as its trade with external partners, such as the United States and Europe. In addition, the authors benchmark Central America's trade coefficients against those of a physically integrated region by running a parallel Gravity Model for the 15 core countries of the European Union. This allows for the estimation of potential intra-regional and external trade levels if Central America were to reduce border frictions and time of travel between countries and thus benefit from both the adjacency of each country's neighbors and the gravitational pull of the region's economies. The analysis is conducted for all of Central America's trade and is also disaggregated for three groups of products -- processed fruits and vegetables; steel and steel products; and grains -- by both volume and value. This differentiation tests the consistency of the results while providing insight into the differentiation in trading patterns and potential for these containerized, break-bulk, and bulk products. The results of the model include a potential doubling in intraregional exports if Central America could achieve the adjacency and time-distance factors of a truly integrated region. In addition, the region's combined exports to the European Union and the United States are projected to increase by more than a third compared with the current level, assuming European Union-level adjacency performance. Even more external trade benefits would accrue by reducing the economic penalty imposed by overland transport and border crossing inefficiencies.Economic Theory&Research,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Free Trade,Food&Beverage Industry,Trade Policy

Evolución de los resultados de la educación en Colombia (1997 - 2003)

El objetivo del documento es dar continuidad al trabajo presentado en l Boletín SISD 27 (2000) que sintetiza para la década de 1990 el papel que ha desempeñado la educación en la explicación de las variables de la fuerza de trabajo y el ingreso. Los cálculos son realizados a partir de la información de las encuestas de Calidad de Vida de 1997 y 2003. En adición a los cálculos presentados en el Boletín SISD 27, se presentan indicadores de equidad en el stock de escolaridad y acceso al sistema educativo de la fuerza de trabajo en Colombia. Se analizan las principales variables de la fuerza de trabajo colombiana en 1997 y 2003y su relación con la asistencia escolar, los años de educación alcanzados y los respectivos niveles educativos. Asimismo, se estudian la relación entre los ingresos laborales y la inversión en capital humano y, se desarrolla un modelo de retornos sociales de la educación en Bogotá para 2003.Educación, asistencia escolar, equidad, fuerza de trabajo, empleo, rentabilidad de la educación

Understanding the benefits of regional integration to trade : the application of a gravity model to the case of Central America

Darwin Marcelo Gordillo; Aiga Stokenberga; Jordan Schwart

Low cost lower limb exoskeleton for assisting gait rehabilitation: design and evaluation

his paper presents the design and implementation of a low cost, yet robust, three degrees of freedom (DoF) lower limb exoskeleton intended to assist patients in gait rehabilitation. The majority of patients with incomplete spinal cord injuries (SCI) are able to walk after a rehabilitation process. Among the broad options of physical rehabilitation therapies, there is a relatively recent interest in those assisted by robotic exoskeletons, due to features as high precision movements and automated repetitions. In this context, the subsystems of the exoskeleton prototype described throughout this paper are the following: i) a controlled area network (CAN) communications bus with SDO protocol; and, ii) a hierarchical control system consisting of two levels: a trajectory generator of the walk biomechanics implemented in a centralized controller (CC), and distributed controllers (DC) installed at each joint of the exoskeleton. The multiplication mechanical system uses reduction speed boxes based on cycloidal and planetary gears. Experimental results of the prototype operating, with and without carrying weight, show effectiveness of the whole control system for tracking a non-pathological gait biomechanics trajectory.© 2019 Association for Computing Machinery. This paper presents the design and implementation of a low cost, yet robust, three degrees of freedom (DoF) lower limb exoskeleton intended to assist patients in gait rehabilitation. The majority of patients with incomplete spinal cord injuries (SCI) are able to walk after a rehabilitation process. Among the broad options of physical rehabilitation therapies, there is a relatively recent interest in those assisted by robotic exoskeletons, due to features as high precision movements and automated repetitions. In this context, the subsystems of the exoskeleton prototype described throughout this paper are the following: i) a controlled area network (CAN) communications bus with SDO protocol; and, ii) a hierarchical control system consisting of two levels: a trajectory generator of the walk biomechanics implemented in a centralized controller (CC), and distributed controllers (DC) installed at each joint of the exoskeleton. The multiplication mechanical system uses reduction speed boxes based on cycloidal and planetary gears. Experimental results of the prototype operating, with and without carrying weight, show effectiveness of the whole control system for tracking a non-pathological gait biomechanics trajectory.Prag