Antidumping Petition: To File or Not To File

Given the “normal value†of a product as common knowledge in an import-competing market, the profitability of a home firm in filing an antidumping (AD) petition against its foreign rival is shown to depend on the marginal cost differential between the home and foreign firms. When the marginal cost differential is “significantly large,†the home firm's ability to put the foreign firm at the risk of an AD violation is limited. But when the marginal cost differential is “significantly small,†the home firm is able to increase its output and lower the price of the product below its normal value, putting the foreign firm in the situation of an illegal dumping. One interesting implication is that, relative to the case without an AD law, the home firm has a stronger incentive to undertake cost-reducing activities (e.g., R&D investment or the adoption of a more efficient technology) under the law.antidumping laws, antidumping duties, dumping margins

Butylidenephthalide antagonizes cromakalim-induced systolic pressure reduction in conscious normotensive rats

Merged planning photographs of [284] southern pavilion rubble fill removed to reveal ditch fill and natural; facing west; linked as external references to excavation plan 'Thwing_4-2_excavation_plan.dwg

Stratified Random Sampling from Streaming and Stored Data

Stratified random sampling (SRS) is a widely used sampling technique for approximate query processing. We consider SRS on continuously arriving data streams, and make the following contributions. We present a lower bound that shows that any streaming algorithm for SRS must have (in the worst case) a variance that is Ω(r ) factor away from the optimal, where r is the number of strata. We present S-VOILA, a streaming algorithm for SRS that is locally variance-optimal. Results from experiments on real and synthetic data show that S-VOILA results in a variance that is typically close to an optimal offline algorithm, which was given the entire input beforehand. We also present a variance-optimal offline algorithm VOILA for stratified random sampling. VOILA is a strict generalization of the well-known Neyman allocation, which is optimal only under the assumption that each stratum is abundant, i.e. has a large number of data points to choose from. Experiments show that VOILA can have significantly smaller variance (1.4x to 50x) than Neyman allocation on real-world data

Biochanin A, a Phytoestrogenic Isoflavone with Selective Inhibition of Phosphodiesterase 4, Suppresses Ovalbumin-Induced Airway Hyperresponsiveness

The present study investigated the potential of biochanin A, a phytoestrogenic isoflavone of red clover (Triflolium pratense), for use in treating asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Biochanin A (100 μmol/kg, orally (p.o.)) significantly attenuated airway resistance (RL), enhanced pause (Penh), and increased lung dynamic compliance (Cdyn) values induced by methacholine (MCh) in sensitized and challenged mice. It also significantly suppressed an increase in the number of total inflammatory cells, neutrophils, and eosinophils, and levels of cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-5, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of the mice. However, it did not influence interferon (IFN)-γ levels. Biochanin A (100 μmol/kg, p.o.) also significantly suppressed the total and ovalbumin (OVA)-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels in the serum and BALF, and enhanced the total IgG2a level in the serum of these mice. The PDE4H/PDE4L value of biochanin A was calculated as >35. Biochanin A did not influence xylazine/ketamine-induced anesthesia. Biochanin A (10~30 μM) significantly reduced cumulative OVA (10~100 μg/mL)-induced contractions in the isolated guinea pig trachealis, suggesting that it inhibits degranulation of mast cells. In conclusion, red clover containing biochanin A has the potential for treating allergic asthma and COPD