8,756 research outputs found
Non-Tariff Measures and Indian Textiles and Clothing Exports
This paper provides some important indicators of non-tariff measures in Indian textiles and clothing exports. The paper identifies major trading partners and HS codes to study the impact of Non Taiff Measures (NTMs) on Indian exports. First, using count measures i.e. frequency and coverage ratios, suggests that more than 60% of export value is affected by the NTMs in USA, EU-25 and Canada at various points in time. Second, it calculates Ad-Valorem Equivalents using price differential methods which are imposed in the SMART model under the partial equilibrium framework to know the trade impact of NTMs. A total trade loss of about billion 2.34 US thats 9.8% of base trade. Also this paper develops the framework for the primary research in the field of Non-Tariff Measures.non-tariff barriers, Ad-Valorem Equivalents of Non-Tariff Measures
Impact of ASEAN-India FTA on IndiaĂ¢ââââ¢s Plantation Commodities : A Simulation Analysis
The present study attempts a quantitative assessment of the impact of recently signed ASEAN-India FTA (AIFTA) for selected plantation commodities (coffee, tea and pepper) in India. We use partial equilibrium modeling approach (SMART model and gravity model) to simulate the likely import increase of the plantation commodities under the proposed tariff reduction schedule of the AIFTA. Overall, the results suggest that the AIFTA will cause significant increase in Indias import of plantation commodities. The increase in imports is mostly driven by trade creation rather than trade diversion. From the economic efficiency point of view, trade creation improves welfare as the new imports replace the high-cost domestic production. The analysis shows that the proposed tariff reduction may lead to significant tariff revenue loss to the government. However, the gain in consumer surplus (due to the fall in domestic price and the consequent reduction in dead-weight loss) outweighs the loss in tariff revenue leading to net welfare gain. By and large, the simulations based on the SMART and gravity models provide similar results on the magnitude of total increase in imports. The surge of new imports may have adverse impact for the livelihood of the Indian farmers engaged in the production of these commodities. Farmers will have to realign the structure of production according to the changing price signals and hence it is critical to provide adjustment assistance to the affected farmers.SMART Model, Gravity Model, Simulation Analysis
NEUROPROTECTIVE ROLE OF ASCORBIC ACID: ANTIOXIDANT AND NON-ANTIOXIDANT FUNCTIONS
Ascorbic acid (AA) or Vitamin C is an important antioxidant which participates in numerous cellular functions. Although in human plasma its concentration is in micromolars but it reaches millimolar concentrations in most of the human tissues. The high ascorbate cellular concentrations are generated and maintained by a specific sodium-dependent Vitamin C transporter type 2 (SVCT2, member of Slc23 family). Metabolic processes recycle Vitamin C from its oxidized forms (ascorbate) inside the cells. AA concentration is highest in the neurons of the central nervous system (CNS) of mammals, and deletion of its transporter affects mice brain and overall survival. In the CNS, intracellular ascorbate serves several functions including antioxidant protection, peptide amidation, myelin formation, synaptic potentiation, and protection against glutamate toxicity. SVCT2 maintains neuronal ascorbate content in CNS which has relevance for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease. As ascorbate supplements decrease infarct size in ischemia-reperfusion injury and protect neurons from oxidative damage, it is a vital dietary antioxidant. The aim of this review is to assess the role of the SVCT2 in regulating neuronal ascorbate homeostasis in CNS and the extent to which ascorbate affects brain function as an antioxidant
Possible use of self-calibration to reduce systematic uncertainties in determining distance-redshift relation via gravitational radiation from merging binaries
By observing mergers of compact objects, future gravity wave experiments
would measure the luminosity distance to a large number of sources to a high
precision but not their redshifts. Given the directional sensitivity of an
experiment, a fraction of such sources (gold plated -- GP) can be identified
optically as single objects in the direction of the source. We show that if an
approximate distance-redshift relation is known then it is possible to
statistically resolve those sources that have multiple galaxies in the beam. We
study the feasibility of using gold plated sources to iteratively resolve the
unresolved sources, obtain the self-calibrated best possible distance-redshift
relation and provide an analytical expression for the accuracy achievable. We
derive lower limit on the total number of sources that is needed to achieve
this accuracy through self-calibration. We show that this limit depends
exponentially on the beam width and give estimates for various experimental
parameters representative of future gravitational wave experiments DECIGO and
BBO.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in PR
Calcium-binding proteins immunoreactivity in the human subcortical and cortical visual structures
The distribution of neurons and fibers immunoreactive (ir) to the three calcium-binding proteins parvalbumin (PV), calbindin D-28k (CB), and calretinin (CR) was studied in the human lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), lateral inferior pulvinar, and optic radiation, and related to that in the visual cortex. In the LGN, PV, CR, and CB immunoreactivity was present in all laminae, slightly stronger in the magnocellular than in the parvocellular laminae for CB and CR. PV-ir puncta, representing transversally cut axons, and CR-ir fibers were revealed within the laminae and interlaminar zones, and just beyond the outer border of lamina 6 in the geniculate capsule. In the optic radiation both PV- and CR-immunoreactive neurons, puncta, and fibers were present. CB immunoreactivity was revealed in neurons of all laminae of the lateral geniculate nucleus, including S lamina and interlaminar zones. There were hardly any CB-ir puncta or fibers in the laminae, interlaminar zones, geniculate capsule, or optic radiation. In the lateral inferior pulvinar, immunoreactive neurons for the three calcium-binding proteins were present in smaller number than in the LGN, as well as PV-ir puncta and CR-ir fibers within the nucleus and in the pulvinar capsule. In the white matter underlying area 17, fibers intermingled with a few scattered neurons were stained for both PV and CR, but very rarely for CB. These fibers stopped at the limit between areas 17 and 18. Area 17 showed a dense plexus of PV-ir puncta and neurons in the thalamo-receptive layer IV and CR-ir puncta and neurons both in the superficial layers I-II, IIIC, and in layer VA. Cajal-Retzius CR-ir neurons were present in layer I. CB-ir puncta were almost confined to layer I-III and CB-ir neurons to layer II. Finally the superior colliculus exhibited mostly populations of PV and CR pyramidal-like immunoreactive neurons, mainly in the intermediate tier. These data suggest that in the visual thalamus most calcium-binding protein immunoreactive neurons project to the visual cortex, while in the superior colliculus a smaller immunoreactive population represent projection neuron
SourcererCC: Scaling Code Clone Detection to Big Code
Despite a decade of active research, there is a marked lack in clone
detectors that scale to very large repositories of source code, in particular
for detecting near-miss clones where significant editing activities may take
place in the cloned code. We present SourcererCC, a token-based clone detector
that targets three clone types, and exploits an index to achieve scalability to
large inter-project repositories using a standard workstation. SourcererCC uses
an optimized inverted-index to quickly query the potential clones of a given
code block. Filtering heuristics based on token ordering are used to
significantly reduce the size of the index, the number of code-block
comparisons needed to detect the clones, as well as the number of required
token-comparisons needed to judge a potential clone.
We evaluate the scalability, execution time, recall and precision of
SourcererCC, and compare it to four publicly available and state-of-the-art
tools. To measure recall, we use two recent benchmarks, (1) a large benchmark
of real clones, BigCloneBench, and (2) a Mutation/Injection-based framework of
thousands of fine-grained artificial clones. We find SourcererCC has both high
recall and precision, and is able to scale to a large inter-project repository
(250MLOC) using a standard workstation.Comment: Accepted for publication at ICSE'16 (preprint, unrevised
Constraints on the Growth and Spin of the Supermassive Black Hole in M32 From High Cadence Visible Light Observations
We present 1-second cadence observations of M32 (NGC221) with the CHIMERA
instrument at the Hale 200-inch telescope of the Palomar Observatory. Using
field stars as a baseline for relative photometry, we are able to construct a
light curve of the nucleus in the g-prime and r-prime band with 1sigma=36
milli-mag photometric stability. We derive a temporal power spectrum for the
nucleus and find no evidence for a time-variable signal above the noise as
would be expected if the nuclear black hole were accreting gas. Thus, we are
unable to constrain the spin of the black hole although future work will use
this powerful instrument to target more actively accreting black holes. Given
the black hole mass of (2.5+/-0.5)*10^6 Msun inferred from stellar kinematics,
the absence of a contribution from a nuclear time-variable signal places an
upper limit on the accretion rate which is 4.6*10^{-8} of the Eddington rate, a
factor of two more stringent than past upper limits from HST. The low mass of
the black hole despite the high stellar density suggests that the gas liberated
by stellar interactions was primarily at early cosmic times when the low-mass
black hole had a small Eddington luminosity. This is at least partly driven by
a top-heavy stellar initial mass function at early cosmic times which is an
efficient producer of stellar mass black holes. The implication is that
supermassive black holes likely arise from seeds formed through the coalescence
of 3-100 Msun mass black holes that then accrete gas produced through stellar
interaction processes.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journal, comments
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