Trends of Trade Disputes During the WTO Regime

Patterns and trends of trade disputes reveal vital information about the users of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Despite WTO has detailed guidelines regarding how the multilateral trade should be practiced by the Member Countries, the DSU is the ultimate Agreement that promises fair justice against unfair trade practices. Analyses of trade disputes show that the developed countries use the Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) more than the developing or the newly industrialized countries. The rate of participation of the least-developed countries (LDC) in the dispute settlement process is particularly very low. The direction of disputes shows that the disputes are mostly targeted to the developed countries. All categories of countries- i.e. developed, developing, newly industrialized and transitional economies- lodged disputes against the developed countries more frequently compared to the disputes they lodged against other categories of countries. This indicates that developed countries are targeted in the trade disputes. However, the rate of winning disputes for the developed countries is also higher than those of the other categories. This indicates that despite the developed countries are targeted in the disputes, they manage to survive quite successfully.

Evaluation and Damage Detection of Highway Bridges with Distinct Vulnerabilities

Bridge failures over the past few decades have shown conventional bridge monitoring is insufficient to effectively evaluate the safety of this important piece of infrastructure. Therefore, new methods for bridge monitoring and special considerations in bridge design are needed to ensure the health of these structures as they continue to age and prevent the possibility of catastrophic collapses. The objective of this research is to explore new means for detecting damage in bridge members during normal operations that are both accurate and affordable at the same time. However, to make any damage detection method effective and efficient, the behavior of intact and damaged bridges needs to be investigated, preferably using simple analytical models. Therefore, to achieve the objective of this research, a two-fold investigation was performed. One was to study the bridge behavior subjected to various damage scenarios and identify possible failure mechanisms. Achieving this objective leads to a method for bridge evaluation after damage and determines its level of vulnerability to such damage; in other words, it defines the redundancy and reliability of the structure. The other was to develop an effective non-destructive method for damage detection based on the bridge behavior after the damage. vii Two types of bridges were selected and studied for this purpose, twin steel box girder bridges (TSBG) that are classified as fracture critical and prefabricated bridge systems containing cast-in-place joints. These bridges are designed with distinct vulnerabilities that make them susceptible to certain types of damages. The results of the current study confirmed that concrete deck failure is the dominant failure mode of the TSBG bridge after the occurrence of a fracture in one of the girders. Therefore, an improved simple and unified yield line analysis method was developed to determine the bridge deck capacity. An extensive analytical evaluation and availability of a simple model for load-carrying capacity developed in this study facilitated a comprehensive and coherent reliability approach to assess the safety of TSBG bridges after the complete fracture of one steel girder. Although the results of this research cannot readily be generalized for all TSBG bridges without further evaluation, this study shows that simply supported twin steel box girder bridges could indeed be safe and potentially removed from the fracture critical list. Moreover, the TSBG bridge dynamic analysis after damage showed that bridge frequencies are sufficiently sensitive for identifying partial or full-depth girder fracture in the simple span bridges. However, these significant damages may cause very small changes in the natural frequencies of continuous span bridges. The results show a significant change in the vibration mode shapes after damage in both simple and continuous span bridges. The mode shapes are sensitive enough to detect damage at the inflicted locations, in most cases providing better resolution when compared to the frequency changes. Investigation on the performance of the full-depth precast-prestressed voided slab bridge shows the vulnerability of such bridge decks to damage at the deck longitudinal joints. Using the FE analysis and load testing results, a new damage detection method for viii structural health monitoring of bridges with precast deck panels was also introduced. This method, applicable to all bridges with modular precast deck units, can effectively identify locations and significance of potential deck joint damage based on the measured changes in bridge response and model updating. A damage detection software tool was also developed in this case that is patent pending

Revisiting Overconfidence In Investment Decision-Making: Further Evidence From The U.S. Market

nvestor overconfidence leads to excessive trading due to positive returns, causing inefficiencies in stock markets. Using a novel methodology, we build on the previous literature by investigating the existence of overconfidence by studying the causal relationship between return and trading volume covering the COVID-19 period. We implement a nonlinear approach to Granger causality based on multilayer feedforward neural networks on daily returns and trading volumes from 2016 to 2021, covering 1424 daily observations of the S&P 500 index. The results provide evidence of overconfidence among investors. Such behavior may be linked to the increase in the number of investors. However, there is a decline in the rate of returns during the study period, implying uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

Effect of executive compensation on firm performance

The paper finds evidence that the equity-based CEO pay is positively related to firm performance and risk-taking. Both stock price and operating performance as well as firm's riskiness increase in the pay-performance sensitivities (PPS) provided by CEO stock options and stock holdings. PPS can explain stock returns better as an additional factor to the Fama-French 3-factor model. When CEOs are compensated with higher PPS, firms experience higher return on asset (ROA). The higher PPS also leads to the higher risk-taking. While CEO incentive compensation has been perceived mixed on its effectiveness, this study provides support to the equity-based CEO compensation in reducing agency conflicts between CEOs and shareholders

Net Section Fracture Assessment of Welded Rectangular Hollow Structural Sections

Rectangular Hollow Sections (RHS) because of their high resistance to tension, as well as compression, are commonly used as a bracing member with slotted gusset plate connections in steel structures. Since in this type of connection only part of the section contributes in transferring the tensile load to the gusset plate, shear lag failure may occur in the connection. The AISC specification decreases the effective section net area by a factor to consider the effect of shear lag for a limited connection configuration. This study investigates the effective parameters on the shear lag phenomenon for rectangular hollow section members connected at corners using a single concentric gusset plate. The results of the numerical analysis show that the connection length and connection eccentricity are the only effective parameters in the shear lag, and the effect of gusset plate thickness is negligible because of the symmetric connection. The ultimate tensile capacity of the suggested connection in this study were compared to the typical RHS connection presented in the AISC and the similar double angle sections connected at both legs. The comparison indicates that tensile performance of the suggested connection in this study because of its lower connection eccentricity is much higher than the typical slotted connection and double angle connections. Therefore, a new equation is suggested based on the finite element analyses to modify the AISC equation for these connections

Effect of Twitter investor engagement on cryptocurrencies during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study aims to examine whether the prices and returns of two cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin and Ethereum, are affected by Twitter engagement following the COVID-19 pandemic. We use the autoregressive integrated moving average with explanatory variables model to integrate the effects of investor attention and engagement on Dogecoin and Ethereum returns using data from December 31, 2020, to May 12, 2021. The results provide evidence supporting the hypothesis of a strong effect of Twitter investor engagement on Dogecoin returns; however, no potential impact is identified for Ethereum. These findings add to the growing evidence regarding the effect of social media on the cryptocurrency market and have useful implications for investors and corporate investment managers concerning investment decisions and trading strategies