494 research outputs found
"Currency Manipulation" and World Trade
Central bank intervention in foreign exchange markets may, under some conditions, stimulate exports and retard imports. In the past few years, this issue has moved to center stage because of the foreign exchange policies of China. China has regularly intervened to prevent the RMB from appreciating relative to other currencies, and over the same period has developed large global and bilateral trade surpluses. Numerous public officials and commentators argue that China has engaged in impermissible "currency manipulation," and various proposals for stiff action against China have been advanced. This paper clarifies the theoretical relationship between exchange rate policy and international trade, and addresses the question of what content can be given to the concept of "currency manipulation" as a measure that may impair the commitments made in trade agreements. Our conclusions are at odds with much of what is currently being said by proponents of counter-measures against China. For example, it is often asserted that China's currency policies have real effects that are equivalent to an export subsidy. In fact, however, if prices are flexible the effect of exchange rate intervention parallels that of a uniform import tariff and export subsidy, which will have no real effect on trade, an implication of Lerner's symmetry theorem. With sticky prices, the real effects of exchange rate intervention and the translation of that intervention into trade-policy equivalents depend critically on how traded goods and services are priced. The real effects of China's policies are potentially quite complex, are not readily translated into trade-policy equivalents, and are dependent on the time frame over which they are evaluated (because prices are less "sticky" over a longer time frame).
International Trade and Domestic Regulation
Existing formal models of the relationship between trade policy and regulatory policy suggest the potential for a regulatory race to the bottom. WTO rules and disputes, however, center on complaints about excessively stringent regulations. This paper bridges the gap between the existing formal literature and the actual pattern of rules and disputes. Employing the terms-of-trade framework for the modeling of trade agreements, we show how "large" nations may have an incentive to impose discriminatory product standards against imported goods once border instruments are constrained, and how inefficiently stringent standards may emerge under certain circumstances even if regulatory discrimination is prohibited. We then assess the WTO legal framework in light of our results, arguing that it does a reasonably thorough job of policing regulatory discrimination, but that it does relatively little to address excessive nondiscriminatory regulations.
Complex-Temperature Singularities in the Ising Model. III. Honeycomb Lattice
We study complex-temperature properties of the uniform and staggered
susceptibilities and of the Ising model on the honeycomb
lattice. From an analysis of low-temperature series expansions, we find
evidence that and both have divergent singularities at the
point (where ), with exponents
. The critical amplitudes at this
singularity are calculated. Using exact results, we extract the behaviour of
the magnetisation and specific heat at complex-temperature
singularities. We find that, in addition to its zero at the physical critical
point, diverges at with exponent , vanishes
continuously at with exponent , and vanishes
discontinuously elsewhere along the boundary of the complex-temperature
ferromagnetic phase. diverges at with exponent
and at (where ) with exponent , and
diverges logarithmically at . We find that the exponent relation
is violated at ; the right-hand side is 4
rather than 2. The connections of these results with complex-temperature
properties of the Ising model on the triangular lattice are discussed.Comment: 22 pages, latex, figures appended after the end of the text as a
compressed, uuencoded postscript fil
Universality of finite-size corrections to the number of critical percolation clusters
Monte-Carlo simulations on a variety of 2d percolating systems at criticality
suggest that the excess number of clusters in finite systems over the bulk
value of nc is a universal quantity, dependent upon the system shape but
independent of the lattice and percolation type. Values of nc are found to high
accuracy, and for bond percolation confirm the theoretical predictions of
Temperley and Lieb, and Baxter, Temperley, and Ashley, which we have evaluated
explicitly in terms of simple algebraic numbers. Predictions for the
fluctuations are also verified for the first time.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figs., Latex, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Identification and Overexpression of a Knotted1-Like Transcription Factor in Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) for Lignocellulosic Feedstock Improvement
High biomass production and wide adaptation has made switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) an important candidate lignocellulosic bioenergy crop. One major limitation of this and other lignocellulosic feedstocks is the recalcitrance of complex carbohydrates to hydrolysis for conversion to biofuels. Lignin is the major contributor to recalcitrance as it limits the accessibility of cell wall carbohydrates to enzymatic breakdown into fermentable sugars. Therefore, genetic manipulation of the lignin biosynthesis pathway is one strategy to reduce recalcitrance. Here, we identified a switchgrass Knotted1 transcription factor, PvKN1, with the aim of genetically engineering switchgrass for reduced biomass recalcitrance for biofuel production. Gene expression of the endogenousPvKN1 gene was observed to be highest in young inflorescences and stems. Ectopic overexpression of PvKN1 in switchgrass altered growth, especially in early developmental stages. Transgenic lines had reduced expression of most lignin biosynthetic genes accompanied by a reduction in lignin content suggesting the involvement of PvKN1 in the broad regulation of the lignin biosynthesis pathway. Moreover, the reduced expression of the Gibberellin 20-oxidase (GA20ox) gene in tandem with the increased expression of Gibberellin 2-oxidase (GA2ox) genes in transgenic PvKN1 lines suggest that PvKN1 may exert regulatory effects via modulation of GA signaling. Furthermore, overexpression of PvKN1 altered the expression of cellulose and hemicellulose biosynthetic genes and increased sugar release efficiency in transgenic lines. Our results demonstrated that switchgrass PvKN1 is a putative ortholog of maize KN1 that is linked to plant lignification and cell wall and development traits as a major regulatory gene. Therefore, targeted overexpression of PvKN1 in bioenergy feedstocks may provide one feasible strategy for reducing biomass recalcitrance and simultaneously improving plant growth characteristics
Determination of the bond percolation threshold for the Kagome lattice
The hull-gradient method is used to determine the critical threshold for bond
percolation on the two-dimensional Kagome lattice (and its dual, the dice
lattice). For this system, the hull walk is represented as a self-avoiding
trail, or mirror-model trajectory, on the (3,4,6,4)-Archimedean tiling lattice.
The result pc = 0.524 405 3(3) (one standard deviation of error) is not
consistent with the previously conjectured values.Comment: 10 pages, TeX, Style file iopppt.tex, to be published in J. Phys. A.
in August, 199
Negotiating identities: ethnicity and social relations in a young offenders' institution
This article explores the situated nature of male prisoner identities in the late modern British context, using the contrasting theoretical frames of Sykes's (1958) indigenous model and Jacobs' (1979) importation model of prisoner subcultures and social relations. Drawing on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in an ethnically, religiously and nationally diverse young offenders institution, consideration is given to how prisoners manage and negotiate difference, exploring the contours of racialization and racism which can operate in ambiguous and contradictory ways. Sociological understandings of identity, ethnicity, racialization and racism are used to inform a more empirically grounded theoretical criminology
A 5-Enolpyruvylshikimate 3-Phosphate Synthase Functions as a Transcriptional Repressor in Populus.
Long-lived perennial plants, with distinctive habits of inter-annual growth, defense, and physiology, are of great economic and ecological importance. However, some biological mechanisms resulting from genome duplication and functional divergence of genes in these systems remain poorly studied. Here, we discovered an association between a poplar (Populus trichocarpa) 5-enolpyruvylshikimate 3-phosphate synthase gene (PtrEPSP) and lignin biosynthesis. Functional characterization of PtrEPSP revealed that this isoform possesses a helix-turn-helix motif in the N terminus and can function as a transcriptional repressor that regulates expression of genes in the phenylpropanoid pathway in addition to performing its canonical biosynthesis function in the shikimate pathway. We demonstrated that this isoform can localize in the nucleus and specifically binds to the promoter and represses the expression of a SLEEPER-like transcriptional regulator, which itself specifically binds to the promoter and represses the expression of PtrMYB021 (known as MYB46 in Arabidopsis thaliana), a master regulator of the phenylpropanoid pathway and lignin biosynthesis. Analyses of overexpression and RNAi lines targeting PtrEPSP confirmed the predicted changes in PtrMYB021 expression patterns. These results demonstrate that PtrEPSP in its regulatory form and PtrhAT form a transcriptional hierarchy regulating phenylpropanoid pathway and lignin biosynthesis in Populus
Earthquake research in China
A visit to China of an American seismological delegation, which took place October 5 to November 5, 1974, is covered in this report. The Americans were sponsored by the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China (CSCPRC), and the hosts in China were the Scientific and Technical Association and the State Seismological Bureau. The CSCPRC is sponsored jointly by the National Academy of Sciences, the Social Science Research Council, and the American Council of Learned Societies.
The visit had its origins in an invitation extended in January 1973 by Carl Kisslinger, as President of the Seismological Society of America, to the Chinese Academy of Sciences to send representatives to a Symposium on Earthquake Prediction Research. Although the Chinese declined to participate, this invitation was one step towards a reciprocal exchange of seismologists between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Several months after Kisslinger's letter the CSCPRC visited Peking. Their purpose was to arrange an exchange program with the Chinese Scientific and Technical Association. Prompted by Kisslinger, the committee's proposals for American delegations included seismology. Not only was this particular exchange accepted, but the Chinese in turn suggested that a Chinese seismology group visit the United States
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