Trade Liberalization and Trade Performance of Environmental Goods: Evidence from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Members

In this article, we study the impact of trade liberalization, including reductions in both tariff and nontariff trade barriers, on environmental goods (EGs) exports. Using bilateral trade data from 20 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation members, we find that tariff reduction in an exporting country has a larger positive impact on its exports of EGs than tariff reduction in an importing country. Our results also show that a lower nontariff barrier in an importing country increases its imports of EGs. A considerable amount of heterogeneity also exists in subsample results based on countries’ income levels

Electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity in LiB1+x_{1+x}C1−x_{1-x}

By means of the first-principles density-functional theory calculation and Wannier interpolation, electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity are systematically explored for boron-doped LiBC (i.e. LiB$_{1+x}$C$_{1-x}$), with $x$ between 0.1 and 0.9. Hole doping introduced by boron atoms is treated through virtual-crystal approximation. For the investigated doping concentrations, our calculations show the optimal doping concentration corresponds to 0.8. By solving the anisotropic Eliashberg equations, we find that LiB$_{1.8}$C$_{0.2}$ is a two-gap superconductor, whose superconducting transition temperature, T$_c$, may exceed the experimentally observed value of MgB$_2$. Similar to MgB$_2$, the two-dimensional bond-stretching $E_{2g}$ phonon modes along $\Gamma$-$A$ line have the largest contribution to electron-phonon coupling. More importantly, we find that the first two acoustic phonon modes $B_1$ and $A_1$ around the midpoint of $K$-$\Gamma$ line play a vital role for the rise of T$_c$ in LiB$_{1.8}$C$_{0.2}$. The origin of strong couplings in $B_1$ and $A_1$ modes can be attributed to enhanced electron-phonon coupling matrix elements and softened phonons. It is revealed that all these phonon modes couple strongly with $\sigma$-bonding electronic states.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in EP

To Live or to Die: Prosurvival Activity of PPARγ in Cancers

The role of PPARγ in tumorigenesis is controversial. In this article, we review and analyze literature from the past decade that highlights the potential proneoplastic activity of PPARγ. We discuss the following five aspects of the nuclear hormone receptor and its agonists: (1) relative expression of PPARγ in human tumor versus normal tissues; (2) receptor-dependent proneoplastic effects; (3) impact of PPARγ and its agonists on tumors in animal models; (4) clinical trials of thiazolidinediones (TZDs) in human malignancies; (5) TZDs as chemopreventive agents in epidemiology studies. The focus is placed on the most relevant in vivo animal models and human data. In vitro cell line studies are included only when the effects are shown to be dependent on the PPARγ receptor

Huber Kalman Filter for Wi-Fi based Vehicle Driver\u27s Respiration Detection

The use of breath detection in vehicles can reduce the number of vehicular accidents caused by drivers in poor physical condition. Prior studies of contactless respiration detection mainly targeted a static person. However, there are emerging applications to sense a driver, with emphasis on contactless methods. For example, being able to detect a driver\u27s respiration while driving by using a vehicular Wi-Fi system can significantly enhance driving safety. The sensing system can be mounted on the back of the driver\u27s seat, and it can sense the tiny chest displacement of the driver via Wi-Fi signals. The body displacement and car vibrations could introduce significant noise in the sensed signal. The noise then needs to be filtered to obtain the driver\u27s respiration. In this work, the noise in the sensed signal is proposed to be reduced using a Huber Kalman filter to restore the original respiration curve. Through several experiments in terms of different drivers, different car models, multiple passengers, and abnormal breathing, we demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the Huber Kalman filter in driver\u27s respiration