EC common agricultural policy and the world trade in feed grain: a multi-region nonspatial price equilibrium analysis

Since the adoption of the Common Agricultural Policy in 1962, the members of the European Economic Community have protected their common borders against the importation of certain agricultural commodities. Heavy variable levies and high guaranteed producer prices have triggered rise in market prices followed by a rise in grain production in EC countries. Therefore, the number one grain importing region of the 1960s has transformed into a major grain exporting region of the 1980s. These developments led to many objections from the grain exporting countries, followed by bilateral and multilateral negotiations, with little if any success;The general concern of this study is the impact of alternative less protective EC feed grain policies, on the prices and quantities traded by the major trading partners in the world feed grain market. The feed grain market is chosen primarily because the EC has turned into a net exporter of feed grains, only in the mid-1980s. Besides, the wheat market with the longest standing problem of surplus production has been extensively covered by other studies;This study analyzes several scenarios, each of which adopts one of the following policies: nominal or real threshold prices are kept constant, the policy prices are gradually reduced, producers are subsidized while the import market is kept free, and, finally, the protection rates in feed grain and soybean markets are harmonized. The estimation period covers the years 1968-1982, while the policy impacts are simulated until 1989;In conclusion, the policy changes studied here are not suggested to cause a significant development in the imports of the importing regions. On the export side, the most extreme of the policy changes analyzed in the study appears to increase U.S. exports only by five percent, while only one of the other exporting countries\u27 export increases by as much as 20 percent

AdamRTP: Adaptive multi-flow real-time multimedia transport protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Real-time multimedia applications are time sensitive and require extra resources from the network, e.g. large bandwidth and big memory. However, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) suffer from limited resources such as computational, storage, and bandwidth capabilities. Therefore, sending real-time multimedia applications over WSNs can be very challenging. For this reason, we propose an Adaptive Multi-flow Real-time Multimedia Transport Protocol (AdamRTP) that has the ability to ease the process of transmitting real-time multimedia over WSNs by splitting the multimedia source stream into smaller independent flows using an MDC-aware encoder, then sending each flow to the destination using joint/disjoint path. AdamRTP uses dynamic adaptation techniques, e.g. number of flows and rate adaptation. Simulations experiments demonstrate that AdamRTP enhances the Quality of Service (QoS) of transmission. Also, we showed that in an ideal WSN, using multi-flows consumes less power than using a single flow and extends the life-time of the network

GaN-based HEMTs for Cryogenic Low-Noise Applications

Radio-astronomy deals with signals and radiations of extremely weak intensity. Also, it requires robust and rugged technologies able to sustain and prevent the Radio Frequency Interferences (RFI). Complying with the required high sensitivity, Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) operating at cryogenic temperatures are key elements in radio astronomy instrumentation. Thus far, advanced semiconductor technologies but with limited power-handling capabilities have been traditionally employed as LNAs. Over the past decades, Gallium Nitride (GaN)-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were demonstrated at room temperature to offer a combination of both excellent low-noise operation and a superior high-power handling performance compared to other materials. In addition, a number of studies indicated a promising potential for the GaN technology to operate at cryogenic temperatures. However, the cryogenic noise performance of the GaN-HEMTs remained unexplored so far.This thesis investigates the potential of GaN–based HEMTs for low-noise operation at these cryogenic temperatures. Established characterization and modeling approaches were employed for this purpose. As a main result, this work reveals a first estimation of the noise performance of GaN-HEMTs at cryogenic temperatures of ~10 K which compares to other more advanced technologies in this field. This was achieved through the extraction of a model, based on experimental noise measurements, describing the microwave noise behavior at cryogenic temperatures at the device level. The model predicts the noise contribution of GaN-HEMTs at cryogenic temperatures with respect to the frequency of operation, the dissipated power, and the total periphery of the device. Hence, it constitutes the basis for the design of future GaN-based LNAs which fulfill the different requirements set by the demanding cryogenic applications.The extracted cryogenic noise model was used to identify and analyze the role of the different physical parameters of the device, over which a technological control might be possible in the future in order to improve the assessed noise performance of the cryogenic GaN-HEMTs. From that perspective, GaN-HEMTs featuring superconducting Niobium (Nb)-gates were demonstrated for the first time. The successful integration of superconducting Nb-gates into AlGaN/GaN HEMTs was demonstrated on different samples, showing a suppression of the gate resistance independently of the width and length of the gate below a critical temperature \u1d447\u1d450 < 9.2 K. The superconductivity of the gate leads to the cancellation of the associated noise contribution. Comparing the noise performance of the resulting devices to that of the conventional Gold (Au)-gated GaN-HEMTs, it was concluded that further management of the device’s self-heating is required to enable the full potential of the Nb-gate by maintaining its superconductivity while operating at optimum-noise bias conditions

Relationship Between Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction Among Employees

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between components of organizational commitment and job satisfaction among employee in private sector. Therefore this study could make important contribution to extant research in management and organizational behavior. In the beginning of this study, the purpose, research question, and the need for the study is given. Then, literature is discussed about organizational commitment and job satisfaction that focusing on the relationship between them. The study generated a 100 percent response rate from 125 respondents. The result from Multiple Regression Analysis showed that affective commitment have significant positive relationship with job satisfaction. However, continuance and normative commitment have no significant relations with job satisfaction. The overall model or the coefficient determination was quite high, R Square of 40.5

La mes du risque commercial déplacé par la méthode var, étude théorique et pratique: cas de la Banque Islamique du Bahreïn

La résistance des banques islamiques face à la crise financière de 2008 a illustré la nature spécifique de leur exposition aux risques ainsi que leur mode de gestion. Du fait des contraintes éthiques qu’elles s’imposent, leur exposition aux risques traditionnels est différente de celle des banques conventionnelles. Elles demeurent, néanmoins, exposées à des risques qui leur sont propres du fait de la particularité de leurs modes de fonctionnement.Propre aux banques islamiques, le risque commercial déplacé résulte de la gestion des comptes d’investissements participatifs. Les détenteurs de ces comptes comparent la rémunération qui leur est attribuée à celle des banques concurrentes et en cas de rémunération plus avantageuse, risquent de retirer leurs fonds provocant ainsi un énorme manque de liquidité pour leur banque.Mots Clés: Finance islamique, Gestion des risques, le risque commercial déplacé, Value atRis

EC Trade Liberalization and World Trade in Feed Grains: A Comparison and A Criticism

Agricultural policies in most countries are aimed at protecting agents involved in food production or consumption from a variety of undesirable outcomes, including: price and/or political instability, food shortages, declining agricultural income and the resulting rural-urban migration. The European Community (EC), formed in 1959, is best organized for the purpose of protecting agricultural producers and in recent years has been the target of criticism by the opponents of this protection

Composition de services web par appariement de signatures

Les services web ont longtemps été présentés comme la réponse, tant attendue, à l'interopérabilité souhaitée des systèmes distribués hétérogènes. Dans le passé, plusieurs technologies ont fait la promesse d'offrir cette interopérabilité: .NET, DCOM, J2EE, CORBA, etc. La promesse ne fut jamais tenue, tantôt parce que la technologie en question n'était pas extensible (adaptable à différentes échelles) (DCOM et CORBA), tantôt parce qu'elle était de propriété industrielle (DCOM, .NET, etc.). UDDI (Universal Discovery Description and Integration) publie tous les services web disponibles et facilite ainsi la requête des services offerts par les différentes entreprises. Néanmoins, la façon dont ces requêtes sont formulées laisse à désirer. En particulier, UDDI prend pour acquis que, pour chaque besoin commercial, il y aurait un service commercial. Cette réalité a rapidement convaincu les utilisateurs des services web de l'importance d'en faire la composition. Par conséquent, la composition des services web a connu beaucoup d'intérêt dans les dernières années. Les approches adoptées pour composer des services web sont différentes. Nous prônons une approche syntaxique. Nous pensons qu'une recherche par contexte et domaine d'industrie permettrait une découverte adéquate de services web satisfaisant les besoins du client. WSDL nous facilite la tâche, puisque les types de ses éléments sont des documents d'affaires donnant une bonne idée des services qu'ils offrent. Nous utilisons l'appariement des signatures des opérations pour chercher l'ensemble d'opérations fournissant les types dont on a besoin. La composition des services web devient une composition de fonctions qui, partant d'un ensemble de messages d'entrées, produisent un ensemble de messages de sorties. Dans cette recherche, nous présentons un algorithme qui se base sur différentes manières d'apparier les types et qui satisfait cette approche sémantique ainsi que les résultats trouvés. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Services Web, .NET, DCOM, J2EE, CORBA, Standard UDDI, WSDL, Appariement, Composition