Effects of Regional Trade Agreements Using a Static and Dynamic Gravity Equation

This paper evaluates the static effects of preferential agreements between several economic blocs and areas using a dynamic gravity equation. The main aim is to investigate whether regionalism has fostered intra or/and extra blocs international trade, taking into account the existence of heterogeneity over time and across countries and testing whether a dynamic model is preferred to the traditional static specification of the gravity model. This paper argues that the gravity model should be best estimated using Blundell and Bond’s (1998) system-GMM estimator. This procedure remedies some econometric problems such as regressor endogeneity, measurement error and weak instruments, and controls for timeinvariant country-specific effects such as distance or common language.Gravity equation, integration, international trade, regionalism

Effects of regional trade agreements using a static and dynamic gravity equation

This paper evaluates the static effects of preferential agreements between several economic blocs and areas using a dynamic gravity equation. The main aim is to investigate whether regionalism has fostered intra or/and extra blocs international trade, taking into account the existence of heterogeneity over time and across countries and testing whether a dynamic model is preferred to the traditional static specification of the gravity model. This paper argues that the gravity model should be best estimated using Blundell and Bond's (1998) system-GMM estimator. This procedure remedies some econometric problems such as regressor endogeneity, measurement error and weak instruments, and controls for timeinvariant country-specific effects such as distance or common language

The Time Is Now: A New Vision for Greater Regent Park

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110961/1/the_time_is_now-a_new_vision_for_greater_regent_parkfinalreduced.pd

Building Integrated Heliostats: Practicalities of UV Light Filtering and High Temperature Optics

Heliostats offer a means of improving solar access in densely populated cities. Ocular and skin health considerations recommend control of UV radiation from heliostats in the urban environment. Lessons from integration of polycarbonate filter systems for UV control with building integrated heliostats are discussed, including the impact of solar concentration ratios, thermal stresses, material properties and fatigue. Options for further increasing solar concentration ratios in building integrated heliostat systems are proposed

Enhancing the supply chain in organisations: the pivotal role of reverse logistics

Reverse Logistics (RL) is an innovation able to bring about immense benefits for organisations in a wide range of industries through enhancing the performance of supply chain procedures. Yet, evidence demonstrates that RL has remained unexploited mainly due to the lack of knowledge about its benefits, enablers, and major aspects of its adoption and implementation. In this context, promoting the adoption and diffusion of RL into the supply chain of organisations has been recommended frequently. This chapter provides a response to such need by (1) explaining the phenomenon and dispelling the confusions surrounding the RL concept, (2) clarifying the major drivers and barriers of RL and highlighting the role it can play in enhancing the performance of conventional supply chains; in addition, (3) the chapter intends to demystify the major aspects associated with implementing RL in organisations. The chapter also aims at familiarising potential readers with the major references available in the field. </jats:p

Building Integrated Heliostats

Heliostats offer a means of improving solar access in densely populated cities. Ocular and skin health considerations recommend control of UV radiation from heliostats in the urban environment. Lessons from integration of polycarbonate filter systems for UV control with building integrated heliostats are discussed, including the impact of solar concentration ratios, thermal stresses, material properties and fatigue. Options for further increasing solar concentration ratios in building integrated heliostat systems are proposed

Common genetic variants near the Brittle Cornea Syndrome locus ZNF469 influence the blinding disease risk factor central corneal thickness Publication

Copyright: © 2010 Lu et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Central corneal thickness (CCT), one of the most highly heritable human traits (h2 typically>0.9), is important for the diagnosis of glaucoma and a potential risk factor for glaucoma susceptibility. We conducted genome-wide association studies in five cohorts from Australia and the United Kingdom (total N = 5058). Three cohorts were based on individually genotyped twin collections, with the remaining two cohorts genotyped on pooled samples from singletons with extreme trait values. The pooled sample findings were validated by individual genotyping the pooled samples together with additional samples also within extreme quantiles. We describe methods for efficient combined analysis of the results from these different study designs. We have identified and replicated quantitative trait loci on chromosomes 13 and 16 for association with CCT. The locus on chromosome 13 (nearest gene FOXO1) had an overall meta-analysis p-value for all the individually genotyped samples of 4.6×10−10. The locus on chromosome 16 was associated with CCT with p = 8.95×10−11. The nearest gene to the associated chromosome 16 SNPs was ZNF469, a locus recently implicated in Brittle Cornea Syndrome (BCS), a very rare disorder characterized by abnormal thin corneas. Our findings suggest that in addition to rare variants in ZNF469 underlying CCT variation in BCS patients, more common variants near this gene may contribute to CCT variation in the general population

Reconstruction of primary vertices at the ATLAS experiment in Run 1 proton–proton collisions at the LHC

This paper presents the method and performance of primary vertex reconstruction in proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment during Run 1 of the LHC. The studies presented focus on data taken during 2012 at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=8 TeV. The performance has been measured as a function of the number of interactions per bunch crossing over a wide range, from one to seventy. The measurement of the position and size of the luminous region and its use as a constraint to improve the primary vertex resolution are discussed. A longitudinal vertex position resolution of about 30μm is achieved for events with high multiplicity of reconstructed tracks. The transverse position resolution is better than 20μm and is dominated by the precision on the size of the luminous region. An analytical model is proposed to describe the primary vertex reconstruction efficiency as a function of the number of interactions per bunch crossing and of the longitudinal size of the luminous region. Agreement between the data and the predictions of this model is better than 3% up to seventy interactions per bunch crossing