The EU single market and customs policy: Impact on Estonian foreign trade

Foreign trade is an important mechanism for economic integration with other countries, and plays a significant role in economic growth. The possible impacts of EU membership on Estonian foreign trade have been discussed for years without reaching a clear conclusion. Although the current paper does not purport to offer definitive results, it does shed light on the matter by presenting the main arguments raised by the debate. Using economic theory as a framework for analysis, the paper first discusses the effects of EU membership on the volume and structure of trade, followed by an evaluation of the likely impact on Estonia’s trading partners. The majority of the studies surveyed here find that, overall, the trade-creation effect will dominate following EU membership, although trade diversion will occur in sensitive sectors of the economy. However, the magnitude of trade diversion is smaller, the more candidate countries join the EU in the first enlargement wave. The paper also reports that specialization in trade is expected to increase and considers the effect of maintaining trade restrictions on the exports of sensitive sectors to the EU

The Impact of Migration on Foreign Trade: A Developing Country Approach

While the causal relationship between migration and trade has not been studied thoroughly, estimation results of gravity model approach suggest that important aspects determining trade volumes can be missed if additional factors, including migration, are not considered. The current paper aims at testing the impact of migration on foreign trade in a relatively closed small economy. We use the data of Bolivia, for the years 1990–2003. We apply gravity model, adding a migration variable to the explanatory variables. We test the impact of both, immigration and emigration on exports and imports and also on intra-industry trade. We use panel estimation including data of 30 trade partners (selected according to higher trade intensity with Bolivia). We control for the economic size and geographical location of trade partners, and for changes in terms of trade. Previous studies show an increasing effect of immigration on both exports and imports elasticities. Some studies find larger exports elasticity compared to imports elasticity, some vice versa. We could not find any studies on emigration impact on trade. Our results show relatively similar impact of both immigration and emigration on foreign trade. Positive significant effect of immigration on exports and imports is confirmed also in Bolivia, even when the migration flows in Bolivia are not as high as in the case of most countries analyzed previously. We can conclude positive effect of migration flows also on intra-industry trade. In the following analysis, we intend to control for the impact of trade agreements and openness of trade partners. We will also try to broaden the sample of trade partners used in the current estimation and to test the hypotheses on other developing countries.migration; trade; gravity model; Bolivia

Eva Perón’s rise in Peronist Politics and Argentine culture during the 1950s and the 1960s

El artículo reconstruye la trayectoria seguida por la figura de Eva Perón durante la década larga que va de las primeras conmemoraciones de su muerte, organizadas bajo el impulso del Estado peronista, hasta la época de su consagración en capas más amplias de la cultura argentina, más allá de los contornos partidarios, en la segunda mitad los años sesenta. Se analiza, en primer término, cómo perduró y se transformó tras la expulsión del gobierno peronista del poder, el impulso inicial del funeral de Estado, cuando los homenajes pasaron a estar a cargo de actores peronistas no estatales, con finalidades y formatos diversos, y un sentido crecientemente desafiante del statu quo. En segundo lugar, se exploran las cualidades de Eva Perón enaltecidas por los diferentes emprendedores de conmemoraciones y por quienes se reivindicaron herederos de su legado, identificando las demandas y coyunturas diversas a las que se asoció su recuerdo. Al final se atiende al mercado editorial y periodístico como un contexto de producción y circulación de significados que permite entender por fuera de los confines del peronismo, la eclosión de una nueva figura revolucionaria de Eva Perón, en la Argentina de conflictiva modernización de los años sesenta.This article studies the pathway of Eva Perón’s figure in Argentine culture  during the period that goes from the early commemorations of her death, organized by the Peronist state initiative, to the time of larger impact in other spheres of Argentinian culture, by the second half of the 1960’s. In the first place, the article analyses the survival and the changes that those homages experienced since Peronist government downfall in 1955, when the tributes were carried out by different Peronist actors, and later when the purposes and shapes of the funerals became more diverse, with an increasingly defiant political significance. In the second place, the article analyzes the features of Eva Perón that were rescued in those rituals, with the aim of understanding the varied circumstances, demands and specific memories and actors to whom those appropriations were related. At the end, the article considers the publishing and press markets as one of the contexts of production and circulation of meanings about Eva Perón. The article states that those fields became a privileged space where a new revolutionary figure of Eva Perón emerged, inside the contentious modernization process, which took place during the Argentinian sixties

Manuel Ugarte entre el modernismo latinoamericano y el socialismo. Una convivencia difícil

El proceso de formación de un campo intelectual en Argentina durante la primera década del siglo XX, en el marco más amplio de eclosión de la modernidad en  América Latina, no estuvo exento de tensiones y desplazamientos. En la trayectoria político-intelectual de Manuel Ugarte, el cruce entre mundos no totalmente  coincidentes como el del modernismo latinoamericano, la generación literaria del ‘900 y el socialismo es ejemplo de ello. Este artículo plantea que en la incómoda relación mantenida por Ugarte con el Partido Socialista puede descubrirse la huella del conflicto entre dos lugares divergentes de enunciación y legitimación del discurso político. Por un lado, el del escritor moderno como portavoz de las masas. Por el otro, el de miembro de un partido que se instituye como la organización representativa, colectivamente, de los intereses de los trabajadores

The Impact of Migration on Foreign Trade: A Developing Country Approach

While the causal relationship between migration and trade has not been studied thoroughly, estimation results of gravity model approach suggest that important aspects determining trade volumes can be missed if additional factors, including migration, are not considered. The current paper aims at testing the impact of migration on foreign trade in a relatively closed small economy. We use the data of Bolivia, for the years 1990–2003. We apply gravity model, adding a migration variable to the explanatory variables. We test the impact of both, immigration and emigration on exports and imports and also on intra-industry trade. We use panel estimation including data of 30 trade partners (selected according to higher trade intensity with Bolivia). We control for the economic size and geographical location of trade partners, and for changes in terms of trade. Previous studies show an increasing effect of immigration on both exports and imports elasticities. Some studies find larger exports elasticity compared to imports elasticity, some vice versa. We could not find any studies on emigration impact on trade. Our results show relatively similar impact of both immigration and emigration on foreign trade. Positive significant effect of immigration on exports and imports is confirmed also in Bolivia, even when the migration flows in Bolivia are not as high as in the case of most countries analyzed previously. We can conclude positive effect of migration flows also on intra-industry trade. In the following analysis, we intend to control for the impact of trade agreements and openness of trade partners. We will also try to broaden the sample of trade partners used in the current estimation and to test the hypotheses on other developing countries

Mechanical and oral antibiotic bowel preparation versus no bowel preparation for elective colectomy (MOBILE) : a multicentre, randomised, parallel, single-blinded trial

Background Decreased surgical site infections (SSIs) and morbidity have been reported with mechanical and oral antibiotic bowel preparation (MOABP) compared with no bowel preparation (NBP) in colonic surgery. Several societies have recommended routine use of MOABP in patients undergoing colon resection on the basis of these data. Our aim was to investigate this recommendation in a prospective randomised context. Methods In this multicentre, parallel, single-blinded trial, patients undergoing colon resection were randomly assigned (1: 1) to either MOABP or NBP in four hospitals in Finland, using a web-based randomisation technique. Randomly varying block sizes (four, six, and eight) were used for randomisation, and stratification was done according to centre. The recruiters, treating physicians, operating surgeons, data collectors, and analysts were masked to the allocated treatment. Key exclusion criteria were need for emergency surgery; bowel obstruction; colonoscopy planned during surgery; allergy to polyethylene glycol, neomycin, or metronidazole; and age younger than 18 years or older than 95 years. Study nurses opened numbered opaque envelopes containing the patient allocated group, and instructed the patients according to the allocation group to either prepare the bowel, or not prepare the bowel. Patients allocated to MOABP prepared their bowel by drinking 2 L of polyethylene glycol and 1 L of clear fluid before 6 pm on the day before surgery and took 2 g of neomycin orally at 7 pm and 2 g of metronidazole orally at 11 pm the day before surgery. The primary outcome was SSI within 30 days after surgery, analysed in the modified intention-to-treat population (all patients who were randomly allocated to and underwent elective colon resection with an anastomosis) along with safety analyses. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials. gov, NCT02652637, and EudraCT, 2015-004559-38, and is closed to new participants. Findings Between March 17, 2016, and Aug 20, 2018, 738 patients were assessed for eligibility. Of the 417 patients who were randomised (209 to MOABP and 208 to NBP), 13 in the MOABP group and eight in the NBP were excluded before undergoing colonic resection; therefore, the modified intention-to-treat analysis included 396 patients (196 for MOABP and 200 for NBP). SSI was detected in 13 (7%) of 196 patients randomised to MOABP, and in 21 (11%) of 200 patients randomised to NBP (odds ratio 1 . 65, 95% CI 0 . 80-3 . 40; p= 0 . 17). Anastomotic dehiscence was reported in 7 (4%) of 196 patients in the MOABP group and in 8 (4%) of 200 in the NBP group, and reoperations were necessary in 16 (8%) of 196 compared with 13 (7%) of 200 patients. Two patients died in the NBP group and none in the MOABP group within 30 days. Interpretation MOABP does not reduce SSIs or the overall morbidity of colon surgery compared with NBP. We therefore propose that the current recommendations of using MOABP for colectomies to reduce SSIs or morbidity should be reconsidered. Copyright (c) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Identification of rumen microbial biomarkers linked to methane emission in Holstein dairy cows

Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions is relevant for reducing the environmental impact of ruminant production. In this study, the rumen microbiome from Holstein cows was characterized through a combination of 16S rRNA gene and shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Methane production (CH4) and dry matter intake (DMI) were individually measured over 4–6 weeks to calculate the CH4 yield (CH4y = CH4/DMI) per cow. We implemented a combination of clustering, multivariate and mixed model analyses to identify a set of operational taxonomic unit (OTU) jointly associated with CH4y and the structure of ruminal microbial communities. Three ruminotype clusters (R1, R2 and R3) were identified, and R2 was associated with higher CH4y. The taxonomic composition on R2 had lower abundance of Succinivibrionaceae and Methanosphaera, and higher abundance of Ruminococcaceae, Christensenellaceae and Lachnospiraceae. Metagenomic data confirmed the lower abundance of Succinivibrionaceae and Methanosphaera in R2 and identified genera (Fibrobacter and unclassified Bacteroidales) not highlighted by metataxonomic analysis. In addition, the functional metagenomic analysis revealed that samples classified in cluster R2 were overrepresented by genes coding for KEGG modules associated with methanogenesis, including a significant relative abundance of the methyl‐coenzyme M reductase enzyme. Based on the cluster assignment, we applied a sparse partial least‐squares discriminant analysis at the taxonomic and functional levels. In addition, we implemented a sPLS regression model using the phenotypic variation of CH4y. By combining these two approaches, we identified 86 discriminant bacterial OTUs, notably including families linked to CH4 emission such as Succinivibrionaceae, Ruminococcaceae, Christensenellaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Rikenellaceae. These selected OTUs explained 24% of the CH4y phenotypic variance, whereas the host genome contribution was ~14%. In summary, we identified rumen microbial biomarkers associated with the methane production of dairy cows; these biomarkers could be used for targeted methane‐reduction selection programmes in the dairy cattle industry provided they are heritable.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reclutamiento de la merluza argentina, Merluccius hubbsi, del stock patagónico: una revisión de las principales características que afectan el potencial reproductivo y la supervivencia durante las primeras etapas de la vida

Understanding the causes that generate variability of recruitment in marine populations constitutes one of the greatest challenges in fishery science. Our predictive capacity to explain these variations is relatively low, due to the interaction of exogenous and endogenous factors, which vary across time and space within populations. In order to gain information on recruitment fluctuations of the Argentine hake (Merluccius hubbsi) from Patagonian stock, we reviewed the results obtained analyzing the reproductive ecology, trophic and energetic dynamics during different stages of development of this species, and its relationship with environmental variables. We observed that the reproductive potential is strongly influenced by characteristics of the parental stock, particularly females, in terms of their size, age and condition. This feature, called ‘maternal effect’, suggests that the spawning stock biomass, commonly used as an index of productivity in fishery assessment, is a poor predictor of recruitment. We also observed that survival during hake early life is affected by the spatial coincidence with the North Patagonian Frontal System, characterized by a high concentration of nutrients, high productivity, and food availability. Physical conditions and larval density in the nursery area affected the nutritional state and mortality of hake, mainly by competition for food or predation. It was observed that the transition of juveniles from pelagic to demersal habitat occurs over a longer period than previously recognized for this species, stressing the importance of using acoustic information to complement data from bottom trawls. This is one of the main topics to be further developed in order to estimate new recruitment indices for Argentine hake, along with other research items proposed to improve stock assessment.Comprender las causas que generan la variabilidad del reclutamiento en las poblaciones marinas constituye uno de los mayores desafíos de la ciencia pesquera. Nuestra capacidad predictiva para explicar estas variaciones es relativamente baja, debido a la interacción de factores exógenos y endógenos, que varían en el tiempo y el espacio dentro de las poblaciones. Con el fin de obtener información sobre las fluctuaciones en el reclutamiento de la merluza argentina (Merluccius hubbsi) del stock patagónico, revisamos los resultados obtenidos analizando la ecología reproductiva, la dinámica trófica y energética durante las diferentes etapas de desarrollo de esta especie y su relación con variables ambientales. Observamos que el potencial reproductivo está fuertemente influenciado por las características parentales, particularmente de las hembras, en cuanto a su tamaño, edad y condición. Esta característica, denominada “efecto materno”, sugiere que la biomasa de la población reproductora, comúnmente utilizada como índice de productividad en la evaluación de pesquerías, es un predictor deficiente del reclutamiento. También observamos que la supervivencia durante los primeros años de vida de la merluza se ve afectada por la coincidencia espacial con el Sistema Frontal Norpatagónico, caracterizado por una alta concentración de nutrientes, alta productividad y disponibilidad de alimento. Las condiciones físicas y la densidad larvaria en la zona de crianza afectaron el estado nutricional y la mortalidad de la merluza, principalmente por competencia por alimento o depredación. Se observó que la transición del hábitat pelágico al demersal en los juveniles se produce durante un período más extenso que el reconocido anteriormente para esta especie, lo que destaca la importancia de utilizar los registros acústicos para complementar la información de las redes de arrastre de fondo. Este es uno de los principales temas a desarrollar para estimar nuevos índices de reclutamiento de merluza argentina, junto con otras líneas de investigación propuestas para mejorar la evaluación del stock