Measures of Prices and Price Competitiveness in International Trade in Manufactured Goods

The purpose of this paper is to present, and to explain the construction of, a set of price indexes relating to international trade in manufactured goods. These include: 1. Indexes of export prices for the U.S., Germany, and Japan, based on their weights, and indexes of competitors' prices for each of those countries based on the sane set of weights; 2. Indexes of domestic prices for the U. S., Germany, and Japan based on export weights; 3. Indexes for developed country exports of manufactures based on weights of developed country exports of manufactures to developing countries and of total developed country exports of manufactures, and indexes for exports of the U.S., Germany, and Japan on the sane sets of weights. The indexes for developed country exports make use of a method for estimating missing prices that takes account not only of contemporaneous price changes in the same country within the sane community groups, but also of price changes for the particular commodity in other countries. Comparisons are made between movements of domestic and export prices and between price indexes based on weights of early and late base years. In addition, an attempt is made to correct the price indexes for changes in the quality of some manufactured goods not usually taken account of in measures of export or import prices.

Upper layer hydrographic conditions at the Yucatan Strait during May, 1972

Average hydrographic conditions above 800m, including temperature, salinity, velocity, and volume transport, across the Yucatan Strait, during May, 1972, are presented. Direct current measurements at the surface are used as an absolute reference level for the geostrophic computations...

Evolution of sea-surface temperature in the tropical Atlantic Ocean during FGGE, 1979: II. Oceanographic fields and heat balance of the mixed layer

Surface meteorological and surface and subsurface oceanographic data collected during 1979 are used to describe sea-surface temperature, mixed layer depth, zonal current component and net oceanic heat gain fields and to estimate the terms in a heat balance relation for the mixed layer. The terms are evaluated monthly on a 6° of latitude by 10° of longitude grid which covers the equatorial Atlantic from 9S to 9N. The first balance tested is between changes in mixed layer temperature and surface energy fluxes. These fluxes can account for more than 75% of the variance in the original time series of the quadrangles along 6S. Variance reductions are less, along 0° (order of 50%) and 6N (less than 25%). The addition of zonal advection improves some of the predictions but not significantly. Low variance reductions along 6N, west of 20W are attributed to the uncertainties in the estimates of observed temperature change and surface fluxes. The small variance reductions east of 20W, at 6N and along 0° may be related to the neglect of coastal and equatorial upwelling and meridional advection. A simple model is proposed which assumes an annual cycle for the intensity of mixing across the base of the mixed layer, most intense during summer, least intense during winter. Variance reductions at 0°, 5W increase from 20% to 60% with the inclusion of mixing. Meridional advection may also account for a portion of the observed variability in mixed layer temperature

New observations of the intermediate depth circulation in the tropical Atlantic

The intermediate depth (around 1000 m) circulation in the interior tropical Atlantic has been described as several narrow flow bands. Due to a lack of data, these currents have previously been poorly resolved in space and time. Recent observations, obtained during the mid-1997 Seward Johnson cruise and from PALACE floats which cover the period Summer 1997 to Spring 2000, allow a more detailed description of the intermediate depth circulation in the tropical Atlantic. The PALACE trajectories display several well defined currents between the equator and 4N at 800 to 1100 m. Two regimes separated by the eastern edge of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge seem to exist at these latitudes. Velocities in the eastern regime are lower than in the western regime and at some latitudes, the zonal flow in the two regimes is going in opposite directions. Farther south, between 4S and 2S, westward velocities of the central South Equatorial Current dominate the circulation. The flow north of 4N and south of 4S is governed by up to several month-long periods of eastward or westward flow, with only weak preferences for either direction. The southern region is characterized by the (meandering) transition between the central South Equatorial Current and the South Equatorial Countercurrent. It has been proposed earlier that these two currents do not extend eastward beyond about 10W, and that the intermediate water follows a cyclonic path east of 10W between about 5S and 25S. This could be interpreted as an intermediate expression of the Angola Gyre. Such a circulation is not found in the present data set. It is also noted that no significant cross-equatorial flow is found in the PALACE data

Evolution of the near-surface thermal structure in the western Indian Ocean during FGGE, 1979

The evolution of mixed layer temperature (taken as sea-surface temperature, SST) in the western Indian Ocean north of 20S and west of 80E during the First GARP Global Experiment (FGGE), 1979 is described and modelled. The FGGE-year development in time and space of SST is compared to the appropriate climatology. FGGE events occurred in phase with climatology, but some amplitude anomalies were observed. Heat budget computations for the surface mixed layer indicate that over 25% of the region studied energy fluxes through the sea surface can account for 80% of the observed SST variance. South of the equator, 80% of the variance is accounted for in 36% of the area and north, only 11%. Exceptions are noted along the western boundary, in the central and eastern Arabian Sea, and in a band south of the equator between 6S and 12S, east of 60E. The addition of entrainment through the base of the mixed layer improves the heat budget estimates over most of the region, in particular, along the Arabian coast. Near the northern part of the coast of east Africa, however, inclusion of the effect of horizontal advection gives more improvement. The breakdown of the heat budget computations in the central and eastern Arabian Sea and in the band south of the equator is attributed to a small signal in SST variance and few data in the regions

Analysis of survival predictors in a prospective cohort of patients undergoing transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma in a single Canadian centre

AbstractBackgroundDespite advances in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a great proportion of patients are eligible only for palliative therapy for reasons of advanced-stage disease or poor hepatic reserve. The use of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in the palliation of non-resectable HCC has shown a survival benefit in European and Asian populations. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of TACE by analysing overall 5-year survival, interval changes of tumour size and serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels in a prospective North American cohort.MethodsFrom September 2005 to December 2010, 46 candidates for TACE were enrolled in the study. Collectively, they underwent 102 TACE treatments. Data on tumour response, serum AFP and survival were prospectively collected.ResultsIn compensated cirrhotic patients, serial treatment with TACE had a stabilizing effect on tumour size and reduced serum AFP levels during the first 12 months. Overall survival rates at 1, 2 and 3 years were 69%, 58% and 20%, respectively. Younger individuals and patients with a lower body mass index, affected by early-stage HCC with involvement of a single lobe, had better survival in univariate analysis. After adjustment for risk factors, early tumour stage (T1 and T2 vs. T3 and T4) at diagnosis was the only statistically significant predictor for survival.ConclusionsIn compensated cirrhotic patients, TACE is an effective palliative intervention and HCC stage at diagnosis seems to be the most important predictor of longterm outcomes

A transatlantic section at 14.5N: Meridional volume and heat fluxes

Two high-resolution hydrographic sections occupied during February, March 1989 in the western and eastern basins of the North Atlantic at 14.5N are combined to study the water mass structure and meridional mass and heat transports. Absolute velocities were determined using these data and an earlier section at 8N in a linear inverse analysis. Mass balance for several layers representing the main water masses in the region and a zero net divergence for the sum of geostrophic and Ekman transport between the two sections are assumed. Using the annual mean of Ekman transports (13.6 Sv, 14.5N), (15.2 Sv, 8N) based on the climatology by Isemer and Hasse (1985) the annual average fluxes for the sections at 8N and 14.5N have been calculated. For the annual mean the strength of the meridional overturning cell at 14.5N amounts to 15.9 Sv with an associated heat transport of 1.22 PW. A similar value can be obtained at 8N where the annual mean heat transport reaches 1.18 PW and the overturning cell measures 15 Sv. The total northward heat transport is strongly dominated by the wind-driven Ekman heat transport. 'In-situ' values of heat transport using the actual wind-driven transports for the respective months yield even higher estimates. Heat transport at 14.5N rises to 1.37 +/- 0.42 PW (February) and the maximum is now at the 8N section, 1.69 +/- 0.52 PW (May). Comparisons of our results with another tropical section at 11N occupied concurrently demonstrate the large variability in heat transport related to changes in the wind field. Due to extremely weak winds in the eastern Atlantic and a resulting low Ekman transport, the 'in-situ' value of heat transport through this section ranged between 0.30 +/- 0.18 PW and 0.59 +/- 0.18 PW depending on the value chosen for the Ekman transport. The lower of the two heat transport estimates results from calculations with the actual observed winds and the other using a monthly climatological mean. That even the computations with the climatological monthly mean give such a low heat transport points to additional changes in the baroclinic structures between 11N and 14.5N

Tailoring epitaxial growth and magnetism in La1-xSrxMnO3 / SrTiO3 heterostructures via temperature-driven defect engineering

Among the class of strongly-correlated oxides, La1-xSrxMnO3 $-$ a half metallic ferromagnet with a Curie temperature above room temperature $-$ has sparked a huge interest as a functional building block for memory storage and spintronic applications. In this respect, defect engineering has been in the focus of a long-standing quest for fabricating LSMO thin films with highest quality in terms of both structural and magnetic properties. Here, we discuss the correlation between structural defects, such as oxygen vacancies and impurity islands, and magnetism in La0.74Sr0.26MnO3/SrTiO3 (LSMO/STO) epitaxial heterostructures by systematic control of the growth temperature and post-deposition annealing conditions. Upon increasing the growth temperature within the 500 $-$ 700 $^{\circ}$C range, the epitaxial LSMO films experience a progressive improvement in oxygen stoichiometry, leading to enhanced magnetic characteristics. Concurrently, however, the use of a high growth temperature triggers the diffusion of impurities from the bulk of STO, which cause the creation of off-stoichiometric, dendritic-like SrMoOx islands at the film/substrate interface. As a valuable workaround, post-deposition annealing of the LSMO films grown at a relatively-low temperature of about 500 $^{\circ}$C permits to obtain high-quality epitaxy, atomically-flat surface as well as a sharp magnetic transition above room temperature and robust ferromagnetism. Furthermore, under such optimized fabrication conditions possible scenarios for the formation of the magnetic dead layer as a function of LSMO film thickness are discussed. Our findings offer effective routes to finely tailor the complex interplay between structural and magnetic properties of LSMO thin films via temperature-controlled defect engineering