Effects of trade barriers on development and growth

A basic definition of trade barriers could be ‘all factors that influence the amount of goods and services shipped across international borders’ (Feenstra and Taylor, 2017a). This definition is quite neutral, and it needs to be understood that the word ‘barrier’ has a negative connotation, which means that a trade barrier would be any instrument that limits or restrict trade between countries, as opposed to free trade. It is generally accepted that free trade is good for productivity and economic growth, but it is also true that most countries apply some sort of trade restriction, for different reasons

In Situ Microscopy Analysis Reveals Local Innate Immune Response Developed around Brucella Infected Cells in Resistant and Susceptible Mice

Brucella are facultative intracellular bacteria that chronically infect humans and animals causing brucellosis. Brucella are able to invade and replicate in a broad range of cell lines in vitro, however the cells supporting bacterial growth in vivo are largely unknown. In order to identify these, we used a Brucella melitensis strain stably expressing mCherry fluorescent protein to determine the phenotype of infected cells in spleen and liver, two major sites of B. melitensis growth in mice. In both tissues, the majority of primary infected cells expressed the F4/80 myeloid marker. The peak of infection correlated with granuloma development. These structures were mainly composed of CD11b+ F4/80+ MHC-II+ cells expressing iNOS/NOS2 enzyme. A fraction of these cells also expressed CD11c marker and appeared similar to inflammatory dendritic cells (DCs). Analysis of genetically deficient mice revealed that differentiation of iNOS+ inflammatory DC, granuloma formation and control of bacterial growth were deeply affected by the absence of MyD88, IL-12p35 and IFN-γ molecules. During chronic phase of infection in susceptible mice, we identified a particular subset of DC expressing both CD11c and CD205, serving as a reservoir for the bacteria. Taken together, our results describe the cellular nature of immune effectors involved during Brucella infection and reveal a previously unappreciated role for DC subsets, both as effectors and reservoir cells, in the pathogenesis of brucellosis

Low-pressure, water-assisted anatexis of basic dykes in a contact metamorphic aureole, Fuerteventura (Canary Islands): oxygen isotope evidence for a meteoric fluid origin

Migmatites produced by low-pressure anatexis of basic dykes are found in a contact metamorphic aureole around a pyroxenite-gabbro intrusion (PX2), on Fuerteventura. Dykes outside and inside the aureole record interaction with meteoric water, with low or negative delta O-18 whole-rock values (+0.2 to -3.4 parts per thousand), decreasing towards the contact. Recrystallised plagioclase, diopside, biotite and oxides, from within the aureole, show a similar evolution with lowest delta O-18 values (-2.8, -4.2, - 4.4 and -7.6 parts per thousand, respectively) in the migmatite zone, close to the intrusion. Relict clinopyroxene phenocrysts preserved in all dykes, retain typically magmatic delta O-18 values up to the anatectic zone, where the values are lower and more heterogeneous. Low delta O-18 values, decreasing towards the intrusion, can be ascribed to the advection of meteoric water during magma emplacement, with increasing fluid/rock ratios (higher dyke intensities towards the intrusion acting as fluid-pathways) and higher temperatures promoting increasing exchange during recrystallisation

Economic development, human capital and technical change: the question of machinery revisited

Capital accumulation, Machinery, Labor process, Unskillful labor, Human capital, O10, O30, J21, J61, J24,

Mantle source heterogeneity in subduction zones: constraints from elemental and isotope (Sr, Nd, and Pb) data on Vulcano Island, Aeolian Archipelago, Italy

Vulcano is part of the Aeolian volcanic arc in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea. Its products were emplaced through multiple episodes of edifice building and collapse since about 120 ka B.P. to present. A major discontinuity in the activity occurred after about 28 ka, while the focus of volcanism moved from SE to NW. The older products are basalts to shoshonites, and have lower K2O than the younger ones, shoshonites to rhyolites. Between these two groups, Lentia latites-rhyolites, Spiaggia Lunga basalts, and Quadrara shoshonite-trachytes, erupted along the western side of Vulcano Island. The Spiaggia Lunga basalts (i) are the most primitive magmas erupted at Vulcano after 28 ka (ii) mark the change between older and younger phases, and (iii) overlap geochemically with a monzogabbroic intrusion of similar age. This work focuses on the Spiaggia Lunga products, discussed within a large dataset of geochemical and radiogenic isotope analyses on the entire Vulcano sequence. Older products have more primitive geochemical and isotope characteristics, and lower incompatible element contents, than younger ones. The Spiaggia Lunga basalts exhibit intermediate geochemical characteristics between the older and the younger groups, and can likely be regarded as a third magmatic phase, which represents a distinct mantle reservoir active during the magmatic history of Vulcano. Significant variations of Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope ratios, and isotopic disequilibrium between phenocrysts and groundmass, are present among the Vulcano products. This variability suggests crustal assimilation in shallow-level magma chambers, which also accounts for the formation of evolved products by combined assimilation and fractional crystallization, particularly in the younger series. Considering only the mafic products, incompatible element patterns with high LILE/HFSE and enriched signatures of Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope ratios, indicate enriched mantle sources. Besides, chemical and isotope variability among older, younger, and Spiaggia Lunga mafic rocks, suggests an origin from geochemically diverse primary melts, derived from distinct mantle reservoirs. Their parent magmas, based on geochemical and isotope patterns, were from both MORB- and OIB-type mantle sources, subject to variable degrees of metasomatism by subducted sediments