Sensitive Sectors Research Articles

The substrate–barrier film interface in thin barrier film coating

Abstract For vacuum web coating for permeation barrier coatings in flexible packaging, the final functionality of the packaging media is extremely dependent on the whole chain of processing steps up to the final laminated packaging film. The most sensitive sector appears to be, on the one hand the hand-shake between substrate film pretreatment–substrate surface properties and the coating process with its characteristics on the other. The influence of different surface pretreatment processes (Corona activation, oxygen and ammonia plasma treatment) on active surface groups of BOPP (biaxial-orientated polypropylene) substrates is shown together with: (1) specifities of the thermal deposition (electron beam source); (2) the reactive deposition–microwave plasma process (plasma species, excitation characteristics, kinetic energies, obtained by in situ process monitoring); and (3) structural properties (chemical composition, adhesion and oxygen permeation) of the thin barrier films (Al 2 O 3 and SiO x ), in correlation with the achieved functional properties of the barrier coated films.

L'intégration des pays d'Europe centrale et orientale à l'Union européenne

The integration of PECO's in UE The Central Eastern European trade represents a little amount of total European trade : it is less than 1 % of French and German gnp. But in some sectors, the export of Eastern Europe can reach 10 %-20 % of total European import. Thanks to the trade liberalisation process, a significant trade reorientation has taken place, but barriers remain in the sensitive sectors, where the Central Eastern European countries (CEEC's) may have comparative advantages. Although positive (new markets do not compensate for the CMEA trade collapse), the disintegration cost of cmea is decreasing. The analysis of trade at a disaggregated level reveals the sectors where CEEC's have comparative advantages. By estimating the factor content of Eastern European exports, it can been shown that they embody more labour than imports from Western Europe.

Evaluation of public policies guiding aquatic resource(s) exploitation and uses in Nigeria

Nigeria, like most developing nations of the world, is facing an environmental as well as economic crisis. This paper identifies a new crisis in a very sensitive sector of the economy, the oil sector. In response to a number of influences, not least the growing concern over environmental consequences of aquatic resource exploitation and uses, including physical damage and pollution due to the exploration of oil and gas in many coastal or riverine areas, the government is gradually considering many policy options. The key concern involves discovering the technical relationships between oil and gas exploration, as well as the economic, social and institutional means of ensuring that oil and gas exploration continues with minimal environmental damage and pollution. The government seems to be at a crossroad regarding the uncertainty of some decisions taken in the past to combat environmental damage and pollution in the exploration of oil and gas. The survey data reported here provides some answers on how to better create a balance among several interest areas and groups in policy formation regarding environmental safety in the exploration of oil and gas in the riverine areas of Nigeria.

Trade Possibilities and Structure of Foreign Trade: The Case of Hungary and Poland

Reintegration of the Central and East European countries into the world economy factors prominently in the transition process. The success of such a challenge depends on domestic factors as well as the trade policy of the European Community toward the economies in transition. Some criticize the Europe Agreements for not being generous enough in the sensitive sectors. We analyze the export possibilities of Hungary and Poland in 1991 and 1992, taking into account their commodity composition of trade. Using a gravity model extended with a variable for the commodity composition of trade, it is shown that Poland and Hungary have not been able to convert their export possibilities into actual exports to the extent long-standing market economies could. However, we show that Hungary and Poland have better export possibilities that a number of West European countries and that Hungary has more export possibilities in the non-sensitive sector than Poland. Our results demonstrate that Europe Agreements appear to be less beneficial for Poland than for Hungary.

Consistent Output Series for the Antebellum and Postbellum Periods: Issues and Preliminary Results

Existing output series that cover both the antebellum and postbellum periods are inconsistent and unsuitable for comparing cyclical patterns across the nineteenth century. More consistent data show that output in cyclically sensitive sectors was no less, and probably more, volatile before the War Between the States than after it.

Paper 1. the mink methodology: background and baseline

A four step methodology has been developed for study of the regional impacts of climate change and the possible responses thereto. First the region's climate sensitive sectors and total economy are described (Task A, current baseline). Next a scenario of climate change is imposed on the current baseline (Task B, current baseline with climate change). A new baseline describing the climate sensitive sectors and total regional economy is projected for some time in the future (Task C, future baseline, year 2030) in the absence of climate change. Finally, the climate change scenario is reimposed on the future baseline (Task D, future baseline with climate change). Impacts of the climate change scenario on the current and future regional economies are determined by means of simulation models and other appropriate techniques. These techniques are also used to assess the impacts of an elevated CO2 concentration (450 ppm) and of various forms of adjustments and adaptations.

Cyclical Patterns in the Variance of Economic Activity

This article models the conditional mean and variance of real gross national product (GNP) and its components using asymmetric exponential generalized autoregressive conditional hetero-scedasticity, a model previously applied only to financial variables. The results imply that the variance of real GNP is higher following negative innovations than positive innovations and that this asymmetry arises in the cyclically sensitive sectors. Further evidence links this asymmetry to the phase of the business cycle: The conditional variance appears to be largest around business-cycle troughs. In addition, shocks to the conditional variance of GNP and its components typically persist for long periods. The evidence of asymmetry in conditional variance is robust to a variety of alternative specifications.

Cyclical Patterns in the Variance of Economic Activity

This article models the conditional mean and variance of real gross national product (GNP) and its components using asymmetric exponential generalized autoregressive conditional hetero-scedasticity, a model previously applied only to financial variables. The results imply that the variance of real GNP is higher following negative innovations than positive innovations and that this asymmetry arises in the cyclically sensitive sectors. Further evidence links this asymmetry to the phase of the business cycle: The conditional variance appears to be largest around business-cycle troughs. In addition, shocks to the conditional variance of GNP and its components typically persist for long periods. The evidence of asymmetry in conditional variance is robust to a variety of alternative specifications.

Japan and the challenge of Europe 1992

Part 1 Introduction - a Single European Market and Japan. Part 2 Post war trade relations between the community and Japan: mutual misunderstanding the widening trade gap Japan's low import propensity. Part 3 European dilemmas: the competitiveness of the community industry internal contradiction and institutional weakness. Part 4 Agenda for adjustment: Japan's structural reforms quantitative restrictions - discrimination automobiles - a sensitive sector the Nissan case - local content requirement the scewdriver regulation. Part 5 Toward 1992: Japanese investment in the community reciprocity - a very vague concept. Part 6 Conclusion - the tasks ahead.

Retailers and apparel imports: variables associated with relative proportions of imports carried

Purposes of this exploratory study were: (i) to determine retailers' views toward imported apparel, (ii) to gain insight into retailers' reasons for carrying imported apparel, and (iii) to examine variables associated with relative proportions of imported apparel carried in stock. Interviewers surveyed 191 retailers in the eastern U.S.A., using a structured telephone interview. Data analysis included chi‐square tests of association and frequency distributions. The proportion of stock retailers reported to be imported was cross‐tabulated with a number of variables. Results gave insight into retailers' reasons for carrying imported apparel, although a majority appeared to favour domestic apparel; results also indicated some of the problems associated with carrying foreign‐made goods. Results can be useful to manufacturers in their efforts to counter retailers' trend to carry increasing quantities of imported apparel and to educators preparing graduates for employment in this sensitive sector.

Routing schemes for road drainage: identification of sensitive sectors (In French) : Poilane, J P Bull Liaison Labs Ponts ChausseesN155, May–June 1988, P9–22

Routing schemes for road drainage: identification of sensitive sectors (In French) : Poilane, J P Bull Liaison Labs Ponts ChausseesN155, May–June 1988, P9–22

The impact of climatic variations on British economic growth, 1856?1913

The impact of climatic change on the output and productivity long swings of the agricultural sector and the aggregate economy is considered for the period 1850–1913. Various economic explanations for the observed swings are examined and are found to be inadequate. The agro-climatic relationship is found to be of critical importance in accounting for the swings of the agricultural sector and some of the aggregate variations. This relationship is not found to remain constant over time. There is evidence of reduced climatic impact and the non-weather sensitive sectors filtered out much of the impact of climatic change on the aggregate economy during 1890–1913.

Ties That Bind Partners in the Research Enterprise: University: Corporate Relations in Science and Technology T. W. Langfitt S. Hackney A. P. Fishman A. V. Glowasky

U.S. CHINA trade relations have been on a fast track since the two countries signed a historic trade agreement in November 1999. That accord culminated nearly 15 years of difficult negotiations and helped pave the way for U.S. congressional approval of permanent normal trade relations with Beijing in 2000. Last year, further agreements in such sensitive sectors as agriculture, retail, and insurance were hammered out, facilitating the deal of all deals: China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Notwithstanding this success at the bargaining table, the heavy lifting of U.S. trade negotiations will not do much to dent the outsized U.S. trade deficit with China, which topped $8o billion in 2001. While the negotiators were talking, the ground beneath U.S.-China commercial relations was shifting. Over the past decade, shallow links based on trade have been transformed into a more complex relationship shaped by rising U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) and sales by U.S. foreign affiliates in China. Mirroring the global norm, sales by these affiliates, rather than U.S. exports, have become the preferred way to deliver American products to the Chinese market. As a result, U.S. export figures-which do not count these affiliate sales-understate the true level of commercial engagement between the two countries. Meanwhile, more U.S. multinational corporations are using China as an export platform in the face of unrelenting global competition. An increasing percentage of the products these affiliates export from China is destined for the U.S. market. These goods count as Chinese exports to the United States-even though they are shipped by

Southern Black Elected Officials: Impact on Socioeconomic Change

Although this is an exploratory, descriptive analysis based on perceptual, not objective, data, several general conclusions are suggested. First of all, most black city officials claimed, and a sample of white observers agreed, that they have helped provide improved services for Blacks, especially streets, water and sewage, and recreation, and to a lesser extent, police protection and public employment. These basic services are considered to be some of the most pressing problems in most black areas. Yet black officials felt severely constrained in their ability to deal with politically sensitive private sector services like housing and employment. Of greatest importance, however, are the most symbolic kinds of benefits that these officials believed they had provided. These benefits included representing black interests and needs in the political process, encouraging other Blacks to run for elected office, modifying racial steretotypes, serving as role models, and educating Blacks on how to become more politically effective. In addition, many knowledgeable whites felt that black officials served to improve race relations in their communities and sensitized white officials to black problems. This ability to effect mainly symbolic, rather than substantive, changes reflects the limits of black politics when such officials are politically inexperienced, constrained by a white council and a predominantly white electorate, and feel ineffective in improving private sector services.

Cytoplast-protoplast fusion for interspecific chloroplast transfer in Nicotiana

Protoplasts of Nicotiana tabacum (SR1), carrying a maternally-inherited streptomycin resistance mutation, were enucleated by centrifugation through a Percoll gradient. The resulting cytoplasts containing resistant plastids, were fused with sensitive Nicotiana plumbaginifolia protoplasts. The SR1 cytoplasts, having no nuclei, were unable to form calli. All resistant clones recovered after fusion-induction were therefore supposed to be derived from interspecific cytoplast-protoplast fusion. N. plumbaginifolia plants regenerated in 17 out of the 75 resistant clones studied. Plants obtained from eight of these clones were resistant to streptomycin and inherited the resistance maternally, as expected when transferring SR1 plastids into the N. plumbaginifolia nuclear background. Plastid transfer in these plants has been confirmed by the EcoRI restriction pattern of the chloroplast DNA. In nine clones N. plumbaginifolia plants were sensitive although obtained from initially resistant clones. This phenomenon is explained by the maintenance of plastid heterogeneity on the selective streptomycin medium, and formation of plants from sensitive sectors on the non-selective regeneration medium. SR1 protoplasts, originally present as “contaminants” in the cytoplast preparation (2–7%) did not form colonies (or very rarely) after polyethylene glycol treatment. The nuclei from such protoplasts were recovered, however, in the interspecific somatic hybrids (56 clones), and in segregants having the SR1 nucleus but some cytoplasm from N. plumbaginifolia (2 clones). The majority (about 80%) of the recovered resistant clones therefore acquired the streptomycin resistance factor from the rare (2–7%) “contaminating” SR1 protoplasts. This is explained by the protoplasts being more stable during fusion induction.

Streptomycin resistant and sensitive somatic hybrids of Nicotiana tabacum + Nicotiana knightiana: correlation of resistance to N. tabacum plastids

Protoplasts of Nicotiana tabacum SRI (streptomycin resistant) and of Nicotiana knightiana (streptomycin sensitive) were fused using polyethylene glycol treatment. From three heterokaryons 500 clones were obtained. From the 43 which were further investigated, 6 resistant, 3 sensitive, and 34 chimeric (consisting of resistant and sensitive sectors) calli were found. From eight clones, a total of 39 plants were regenerated and identified as somatic hybrids. Chloroplast type (N. tabacum = NT or N. knightiana = NK) in the plants was determined on the basis of the species specific EcoRI restriction pattern of the chloroplast DNA. Regenerates contained NT (13 plants) or NK (15 plants) plastids but only the plants with the NT chloroplasts were resistant to streptomycin. This finding and our earlier data on uniparental inheritance points to the chloroplasts as the carriers of the streptomycin resistance factor.

Gold Mania—Capitalism's Fever Chart

The orgy of gold buying that pushed the price of gold up to well above $400 an ounce last autumn, and the subsequent hectic speculation that has kept the price fluctuating around that level, resembles the kind of mania that in the history of capitalism has often been the prelude to a major financial crisis. It would be a foolhardy and idle exercise to try to forecast the future course of the current speculative madness. What is important, rather, is to recognize that this drastic increase in the price of gold—now at a level more than ten times that of 1971—is a symptom, one might say a fever indicator, of the deep-seated troubles facing the capitalist world. At a minimum, the recent behavior of the price of gold clearly demonstrates how quickly panic can overtake and shake up financial markets as the more sensitive sectors of the bourgeoisie become increasingly aware of the shoals lying ahead for the leading capitalist nations and for the international monetary system.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Production of alkaloids and differentiation in a submerged culture ofClaviceps purpurea (Fr.) Tul

The submerged culture of the Claviceps purpurea strain studied was polymorphous. In the process of alkaloid synthesis, cytodifferentiation preceded biochemical differentiation. The onset of the alkaloid phase was characterized by: predominance of chlamydospores in the culture, the presence of vegetative cells with reduced or arrested proliferation, maximum acetylCoA carboxylase activity, the maximum amount of total fatty acids, an over-average cell pool tryptophan level and minimum tryptophan synthetase activity. Intracellular ricinoleic acid was an indicator of differentiation of the culture towards alkaloid formation and also of alkaloid synthesis. The cytodifferentiation period in the initial phases of fermentation, when the cell has several alternative possibilities of development, is regarded as the most sensitive sector of the regulatory mechanisms of alkaloid formation.

National Integration: A Panacea to Insecurity in Nigeria

Nigeria is currently confronted with myriads of challenges which is rapidly stagnating the development and progress of her core productive and sensitive sectors. One of the most piercing problems is that of insecurity; in fact, this problematic question has gone beyond disorganizing the domestic environment, it has succeeded in labelling Nigeria repulsively in the international community. However, till present, government efforts toward this challenge has not recorded substantial outcomes; it is within the premises of this condition that this paper considers a more propitiatory means of achieving sustainable national security in national integration. While the paper is conscious of the preceding efforts toward integration in the country, it still beholds untapped resources in it for sustainable security in Nigeria. Hence, the paper strongly advocates a New Crusade on National Integration (NCNI) which will immensely guarantee unity, peaceful co-existence and security in Nigeria.Key words: National Insecurity, National Integration, Peaceful co-existence, Nigeria