Financial Development and International Trade: Regional and Sectoral Analysis

Financial development has been argued as a potential source of comparative advantage and its relationships with trade has been theoretically developed. This theory posits that countries that are well financially developed should experience greater volumes of international trade. We empirically investigate the effects of financial development on trade of both agricultural and manufactured products. The results show a positive impact of financial development on bilateral trade flows for the manufacturing sector, which enjoys a greater impact than the agricultural sector. The impacts differ across regions. In most cases, developing countries (Asia, Latin America, MENA and SSA) experience greater impacts of financial development on exports in both agriculture and manufacturing sectors than do advanced countries.agricultural sector, comparative advantage, financial development, international trade, manufacturing sector, International Development, International Relations/Trade,

An Assessment of the Global Soybean Industry: An Application of Stochastic Equilibrium Displacement Model

This study uses stochastic equilibrium displacement model (SEDM) to investigate the impact on the soybean and its joint products (soymeal and soyoil) sectors of different countries and regions from transportation cost reduction in Brazil incorporating assumptions of decrease in the U.S. loan deficiency payment.International Trade, Loan Deficiency Payment, Soybean, Soybean Joint Products, Stochastic Equilibrium Displacement Model, Transportation Costs, International Relations/Trade,

Political Affiliation and Exit Intentions of U.S. Dairy Farms

The United States dairy industry is heavily dependent on foreign labor. Current and newly proposed U.S. immigration policies have been appointed to disrupt the agricultural labor availability, especially that of hired foreign labor. A national survey of dairy farmers across herd sizes and regions of the U.S. was conducted for the year 2009 and the results were used to evaluate the extent to which hired foreign labor dependence will affect the exit intentions in dairy farming. The political affiliation of dairy farmers was based on the 2008 election map and their locations. Our findings indicate that the expected probability of exit from dairy farming increased as the use of hired foreign labor intensified. Results also suggest that states with Republican political affiliation has a greater probability of exiting dairy operations with more stricter immigration laws.immigration, political affiliation, foreign labor, exit intention, dairy industry., Farm Management, Financial Economics, Labor and Human Capital,

The Impacts of Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreaks on the Brazilian Meat Market

This study uses unrestricted vector autoregression method and historical decomposition with directed acyclic graphs to quantity the impacts of the foot and mouth disease outbreak on the Brazilian meat market for different levels of the industry (export, wholesale and farm). The imposition of an import ban by Russia on Brazilian meat exports is also analyzed. Results show that beef, pork, and chicken export prices all decreased after the FMD outbreak. More importantly, our findings indicate that all prices ended up recovering after the removal of the import ban by Russia in December 2007. As for the price margins in both beef and pork meat supply chains, the export-to-farm and export-to-wholesale margins were found to be very close to each other. On the other hand, the chicken price margin at the export level relative to the farm and wholesale levels had opposing directions trend movements. Finally, the historical decomposition of analysis of the export beef price revealed that the removal of the Russian ban on Brazilian meat imports had a very drastic positive influence on the beef industry supply chain in general.foot and mouth disease, Brazilian meat market, vector autoregression model, historical decomposition, directed acyclic graphs., Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries,

Fermionic quantum gas at finite temperature within a Lorentz violating background

In this work we consider a fermionic quantum gas within a Lorentz-Violating background at finite temperature. We derive the effective action within Path Integral formalism considering the interaction of external electromagnetic field and Lorentz violating background fields with quantum fermions. To introduce the temperature effects, we employ the Matsubara formalism. Comments about the corresponding phenomenology are also made.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

Analyzing the Impact of Changes in Trade and Domestic Policies: The Case of the Soybean Complex

This study analyzes the impacts of domestic and trade policy changes on the soybean complex using a Stochastic Equilibrium Displacement Model (SEDM). Three different policies, Loan Deficiency Payments (LDP), transportation costs and export taxes are considered in the analysis. The results indicate that Brazil benefits from a reduction in transportation costs and becomes more competitive in the global soybean market. Brazilian exports of soybeans increase due to relatively lower export prices. However, Brazil gains little improvement in the export competitiveness of the soybean joint products, soybean meal and oil. A lower U.S. LDP rate results in the loss of competitiveness for the United States in the world soybean market. Furthermore, the results show that an Argentine export tax reduction increases soybean exports from Argentina, but it reduces the global supply of soybean meal and soybean oil.International Trade, Loan Deficiency Payment, Soybean, Soybean Joint Products, Stochastic Equilibrium Displacement Model, Transportation Costs, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade,

Permeability coefficients and vapor pressure determination for fragrance materials

Objective This study aims to correlate new experimental data relevant to the description of the combined evaporation/permeation process of a perfume applied onto the skin. Methods The vapor pressure data was measured by thermogravimetric analysis (TG‐DTA). The Antoine constants and the Clarke & Glew parameters were determined for the same set of fragrance molecules to describe its low vapor pressures at new temperature ranges. The permeability coefficient of a set of 14 fragrance molecules in ethanolic solution was determined by Franz diffusion cell experiments, using porcine skin. The samples were analyzed by gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC/FID) and high‐performance liquid chromatography with UV visible detector (HPLC/UV). A QSAR model was proposed to correlate the experimental data. Results The Antoine constants were determined and presented low standard deviations. The Clarke & Glew physically significant parameters were obtained along with its statistical analysis. The fitting is good since the magnitude order is in accordance with the literature, associated with the low correlation between the estimated parameters and low standard deviations. The presented correlation, based on a mixture using only ethanol as solvent, showed better results than previous QSAR models with a standard relative deviation (σr) of 0.190, a standard error (SE) of 0.397, and a determination coefficient (R2) of 0.7786. Conclusion The dataset is still small compared to larger and more general QSAR models; however, it is much more specific as to the type of solvent and class of materials studied. This work represents an advance for the modeling of the perfume diffusion process since it specifies important properties that until then had been treated in a more general way.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Laser floating zone growth: Overview, singular materials, broad applications, and future perspectives

The Laser Floating Zone (LFZ) technique, also known as Laser-Heated Pedestal Growth (LHPG), has been developed throughout the last several decades as a simple, fast, and crucible-free method for growing high-crystalline-quality materials, particularly when compared to the more conventional Verneuil, Bridgman-Stockbarger, and Czochralski methods. Multiple worldwide efforts have, over the years, enabled the growth of highly oriented polycrystalline and single-crystal high-melting materials. This work attempted to critically review the most representative advancements in LFZ apparatus and experimental parameters that enable the growth of high-quality polycrystalline materials and single crystals, along with the most commonly produced materials and their relevant physical properties. Emphasis will be given to materials for photonics and optics, as well as for electrical applications, particularly superconducting and thermoelectric materials, and to the growth of metastable phases. Concomitantly, an analysis was carried out on how LFZ may contribute to further understanding equilibrium vs. non-equilibrium phase selectivity, as well as its potential to achieve or contribute to future developments in the growth of crystals for emerging applications

Chitosan crosslinked with genipin as support matrix for application in food process: Support characterization and β-d-galactosidase immobilization

AbstractIn order to develop safer processes for the food industry, we prepared a chitosan support with the naturally occurring crosslinking reagent, genipin, for enzyme. As application model, it was tested for the immobilization of β-d-galactosidase from Aspergillus oryzae. Chitosan particles were obtained by precipitation followed by adsorption of the enzyme and crosslinking with genipin. The particles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The immobilization of the enzyme by crosslinking with genipin provided biocatalysts with satisfactory activity retention and thermal stability, comparable with the ones obtained with the traditional methodology of immobilization using glutaraldehyde. β-d-Galactosidase–chitosan–genipin particles were applied to galactooligosaccharides synthesis, evaluating the initial lactose concentration, pH and temperature, and yields of 30% were achieved. Moreover, excellent operational stability was obtained, since the immobilized enzyme maintained 100% of its initial activity after 25 batches of lactose hydrolysis. Thus, the food grade chitosan–genipin particles seem to be a good alternative for application in food process