THE Effects of Multilateral Trade Liberalization on the Extensive and the Intensive Margins of Trade

This paper examines empirically the effects of the WTO and RTA membership on the extensive and the intensive margins of trade. Using disaggregated data for a sample of 177 countries, the main findings of this paper are that WTO membership tends to increase the number of products traded between members (extensive margin), and tends to increase the average sales per product line (intensive margin). I further detect substantial heterogeneity when I examine these effects for various subsamples of the data (e.g. by the degree of product differentiation or the level of development of a country). This demonstrates that many of the aggregate effects estimated in the existing literature (e.g. Rose 2004) hide a substantial amount of variation in the WTO's effect on trade. Finally, accounting for multilateral resistance as in Anderson and van Wincoop (2003), I find that the WTO effect becomes insignificant, while the RTA membership boosts trade between members and between members and outsiders at least in the aggregate level.WTO, Regional Trade Agreements, Extensive margin, Intensive Margin, Poisson Regression

Dynamics of Proton Transfer in Mesoscopic Clusters

Proton transfer rates and mechanisms are studied in mesoscopic, liquid-state, molecular clusters. The proton transfer occurs in a proton-ion complex solvated by polar molecules comprising the cluster environment. The rates and mechanisms of the reaction are studied using both adiabatic and non-adiabatic molecular dynamics. For large molecular clusters, the proton-ion complex resides primarily on the surface of the cluster or one layer of solvent molecules inside the surface. The proton transfer occurs as the complex undergoes orientational fluctuations on the cluster surface or penetrates one solvent layer into the cluster leading to solvent configurations that favor the transfer. For smaller clusters the complex resides mostly on the surface of the cluster and proton transfer is observed only when the complex penetrates the cluster and solvent configurations that favor the proton transfer are achieved. Quantitative information on the cluster reaction rate constants is also presented.Comment: To appear in JCP (March). Postscript figures available on request ([email protected]

Modelling impacts of acid deposition and afforestation on catchment hydrochemistry

Imperial Users onl

The use of psychedelics in psychotherapy: A systematic review

openIn the recent years, the resurgence of interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances has initiated a profound transformation in the field of psychiatry. This thesis embarks on a comprehensive exploration into the role of psychedelics as powerful tools within psychotherapy, delving into their historical significance, their mechanisms on the brain and their contemporary relevance. The primary objective of this thesis is to conduct an indepth exploration into the potential promise of psychedelic drugs within the field of psychiatry, specifically investigating their potential use as aids to psychotherapy. A systematic literature review was conducted, to select the most relevant articles concerning the use of psychedelic drugs in psychotherapy. Of particular interest were clinical trials utilizing MDMA, Psilocybin, Ketamine, and LSD, given their extensive application in therapeutic settings. Results showed that, that combining these psychedelic drugs with different kinds of therapy, could offer an effective and safe alternative in treating many disorders, including various substance use disorders, PTSD and comorbid conditions, Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), Major Depressive Disorder (MMD) as well as depression and anxiety in life threatening diseases. In conclusion, this exploration highlights the therapeutic promise of psychedelic drugs in psychotherapy, showing their efficacy and safety in treating diverse mental health conditions. It is imperative to expand research in this area, to fully harness their possible potential as valuable aids in psychotherapeutic practices

Synthesis of Nanomaterials Via Anodic Aluminium Oxide Templates.

This thesis is concerned with the synthesis of ID nanomaterials via a template-assisted route. Porous anodic aluminium oxide templates prepared electrochemically have been utilised with two intrinsically different deposition techniques, sol-gel and high power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS), to obtain ID metal and metal oxide nano wires and nanotubes. The resultant morphologies and crystal structures were examined via SEM, XPS, XRD, TEM and EELS. A number of porous template alumina structures have been grown via the anodisation of pure and sputtered aluminium. The effects of surface pre-treatments, etching treatments and anodisation conditions on the resultant morphologies were investigated. It has been found that pore growth is largely dependent on the surface roughness of the substrate as well as the anodisation conditions. The anodisation duration is critical in promoting and allowing self-ordering. Obtained templates, varied in thickness from a few hundred nm to several tens of pm, with an average pore diameter of 70 nm, interpore distance of 100 nm and pore density of 4 x 1010 cm2 . The implementation of HPPMS led to the successful deposition of Ti inside the alumina template to depths of around 45-50 nm. It was found that templates with highly parallel pores on a rigid substrate such as Si, are more suited if this deposition method is to be used. Control of the pressure and substrate biasing is critical in avoiding ‘pinch-off and ‘bridging’ and leading to complete pore filling. The results have shown that HPPMS is a promising plasma technology for the synthesis of nanomaterials such as nanodots, nanopillars or nanowires, when used with porous alumina templates under appropriate conditions. The use of sol-gel deposition has led to the growth of a number of interesting materials and structures. Nanocrystalline CeO2 and Ce1-xZrxO2 and Ce1-xSmxO2 thin films and powders have been successfully obtained exhibiting novel micro- and nano-structures, likely to find useful applications in catalysis and gas sensing due to their redox properties and large surface to volume ratio. Furthermore, the treatment of porous alumina templates via a sol-gel/hydrothermal method led to the formation of Ce-doped γ-AI2O3 nanowires. Hence, a simple, direct and cost effective method for producing large scale AI2O3 (and doped AI2O3) nanowires is reported. Moreover, by annealing at temperatures above 600°C, nanowires of different crystallographic forms such as d-, 0- and a-AI2O3 can also be readily obtained. As the dopant Ce was successfully introduced through this method a wide range of doped-Al2O3 nanowires (by other rare earths such as Y, La, Gd, Sm), at various concentrations (e.g. 1, 3, 5 at. %) can be readily obtained

Job satisfaction among Greek secondary teachers and the role of school

It appears that during financial crisis, Greek school teachers are not influenced by external factors for their job satisfaction other than the significant influence of their school principals. Since satisfied teachers consist the most important factor for effective schools, the aim of the present study was to investigate within the context of secondary education, the level of job satisfaction concerning school principals’ performance, impact and managerial abilities. Variables such as “school premises”, “provision of logistics and teaching materials”, “job relationships”, “teachers’ personal development”, “school planning”, “administrative issues” and “principals’ praise, criticism and behaviour” were investigated through a quantitative method with 139 participants. The results revealed that gender did not affect their level of job satisfaction concerning the first three variables whereas age and marital status made significant difference in terms of their satisfaction concerning principals’ impact on teachers’ personal development. The variable of age affected their satisfaction regarding school principals’ contribution on administrative issues. Positive associations were found between the examined variables. Although most of the teachers felt satisfied being at school, they indicated that “partiality” was the weakest personal trait of many school principals and stated that “Fairness” was the best qualification a school principal should have

Effect of extrusion on the nutritional value of peas (Pisum sativum), chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) and faba beans (Vicia faba) and inclusion in feeds for European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata)

The current general economic and food crises have generated an unsettled future for food and feed production and prices in general. Increasing demand, prices and fluctuations in supply in world markets for fishmeal, fish oil, soybean meal, maize and wheat meal emphasize the need to reduce the dependence of the fish feed industry on these ingredients by increasing choices among a wider range of raw materials. Legume seed such as peas, chickpeas and faba beans are promising ingredients for aquafeeds due to their high protein compared to cereals but also for their energy content. The objective of the present study was to investigate the use of these legumes in both high and low inclusion level in diets for the two main species farmed in the Mediterranean countries namely, European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.). In Chapter 3 the effects of different processing conditions were examined on whole seed flours of tested ingredients with respect to both nutritional and antinutritional factors and physical characteristics of the experimental diet pellets including high and low levels of each legume. Extrusion of raw material resulted in a clear reduction in trypsin inhibitors (TI) with chickpeas showing a decrease of up to 90% and complete inactivation for wheat flour, while for peas and faba beans reduction was less than 50% in most cases. Extrusion processing was less effective in the reduction of phytic acid and total tannins, occasionally reaching 22% and 18% respectively. Oligosaccharides and total NSP were not drastically affected by processing, however faba bean NSP showed greater reduction. A redistribution of soluble and insoluble NSP fractions was noted for chickpea and pea flours after extrusion. Physical characteristics of the pellets were not negatively affected for any of the tested diets. In Experiment I the effects of total or partial wheat substitution by legumes were investigated on nutrient digestibility, gastrointestinal evacuation rate and serum glucose response of European seabass. Use of legumes in seabass and seabream diets resulted in an overall increase in gastrointestinal evacuation time and a delay in glucose load. Specifically, gastric evacuation time was greatly delayed when seabass was fed a diet with high levels (30%) of chickpeas, while foregut evacuation time was mostly delayed by the diet including a high level (30%) of faba beans. In addition, glucose levels in seabass serum were also affected by the type of carbohydrates ingested with wheat starch showing more rapid increase and decrease of glucose compared to fish fed pea and chickpea diets, while faba bean starch resulted in a lower glucose peak. In Experiment II growth, digestibility, hematological parameters, histological effects and fillet organoleptic characteristics and the interaction between starch inclusion level (8% and 16% or 17% and 35% of legumes respectively) and legume type were estimated when tested legumes replaced wheat in European seabass diets. Digestibility coefficients were satisfactory for all nutrients (>93%) while legume diets at a low level had beneficial effects on growth parameters when compared to the control diet, with chickpeas showing a significant improvement in SGR (P<0.05). High level legume diets did not result in any negative effect on growth. HSI was increased with increasing starch/legume inclusion in the feed and serum glucose also increased for fish fed high levels of faba beans and chickpeas. Carcass proximate composition was not affected by replacement of wheat in the diets, excluding the increase of fat content in fish fed chickpeas. Sensory analysis showed no differences between fish fed the control and high legume inclusion diets. Lastly in Experiment III growth, hematological parameters, histological effects and the interaction between starch inclusion level (low and high) and legume type were evaluated when tested legumes were included in gilthead seabream diets. Decreased, but not significantly so, growth was observed for all diets including legumes compared to the control. Poorer SGR were observed for pea and faba bean diets when these legumes were included at high levels. Liver glycogen increased with increasing starch level, but HSI did not differ significantly for any of the diet treatments. Histological examination of hindgut did not show pathological effects, such as enteritis, for in either species or for any of the diets. Increased absorptive vacuoles were found for control and pea diets (high level) only for seabass. The findings of this thesis showed that the two important species cultivated in Mediterranean countries responded differently to the same raw materials used at high levels in the diets. Overall legumes had a strong effect on gastrointestinal evacuation reducing the rate of feed or digesta passage. Peas, chickpeas and faba beans successfully replaced wheat in seabass diets resulting in improved growth coefficients. However, when the same legumes included in seabream diets growth performance was not improved compared to the wheat based diet