Search results for: World Trade Organization.

Authors: Sarita D. Jackson

Abstract:

Agriculture remains a sensitive issue during multilateral trade negotiations within the World Trade Organization (WTO). Similar problems arise at the bilateral level, as in the case of trade talks between the United States and the Dominican Republic. The study explores the determinant of agricultural industry competitiveness in the 21^st century, particularly in the case of U.S. and Dominican agriculture in each other’s market. Complementing existing scholarship on industry competitiveness, the study argues that trade rules that are established under preferential access programs and trade agreements play a significant role in shaping an industry’s ability to compete. The final analysis is used to offer recommendations to the same sector in Cuba. Cuba currently relies heavily on U.S. food imports and is experiencing the gradual opening of trade with the United States.

Keywords: Agriculture, bargaining, competitiveness, Dominican Republic, DR-CAFTA, free trade agreement, institutions.

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Authors: Caroline S. Dutra, Tatiana C. Squeff

Abstract:

It is well known that the history between South Korea and Japan influences their international relations; thus, also encompassing their economic relations. In this sense, it is impossible to analyze the latter without understanding the development of the former, which is known for episodes of hostility, like on Japanese colonization, but also had moments of cultural and trade interexchange. Indeed, since 1965, with the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries, their trade relations have improved, especially after both nations have signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Thereafter, with the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, another chapter of their diplomatic and economic relations have been inaugurated. Hence, bearing in mind this history between both nations, this research intends to examine their relations through the analysis of the WTO panels they have engaged in between each other, which are, in chronological order, “DS323: Japan – Import Quotas on Dried Laver and Seasoned Laver”, “DS336: Japan - Countervailing Duties on Dynamic Random Access Memories from Korea”, “DS495: Korea - Import Band, and Testing and Certification Requirements for Radionuclides”, “DS553: Korea - Sunset Review of Anti-Dumping Duties on Stainless Steel Bars” and “DS571: Korea - Measures Affecting Trade in Commercial Vessels”. The objective of this case analysis is to point out what are the areas that are more conflictual between Japan and South Korea in regard to their economic relations so that it is possible to assert on their future (economic) relations and other possible outcomes. And in order to do so, bibliographic and documental research will be made, particularly those involving the WTO and the nations under consideration. Regarding the methods used, it is important to highlight that this is applied research in the field of international economic relations and international law, which follows a hypothetic-deductive model.

Keywords: International economic relations, Japan, South Korea, World Trade Organization.

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Authors: Doaa El-Shereef

Abstract:

The Canaanite civilization was one of the early great civilizations of the Near East, they influenced and been influenced from the civilizations of the ancient world especially the Egyptian and Mesopotamia civilizations. The development of the Canaanite trade started from the Chalcolithic Age to the Iron Age through the oldest trade route in the Middle East. This paper will focus on defining the Canaanites and from where did they come from and the meaning of the term Canaan and how the Ancient Manuscripts define the borders of the land of Canaan and this essay will describe the Canaanite trade route and their exported goods such as cedar wood, and pottery.

Keywords: Canaan, cedar, Djahy, pottery, Retjenu, trade.

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Authors: Wijittra Srisorn

Abstract:

This research studied about green logistics and the expected benefit that organization gotten when adapted to green logistics also the organization concerned about the important activity in green logistics to apply in implementation from study was found that the benefit of green logistics that organization was gotten by logistics management which was the increased efficiency process of management the product from producer to customer all of reduce production cost, increased value added save energy and prevented environment together From study was found that the organization had green logistics to apply in logistics activities in supply chain since downstream till upstream to prevent environment as follow 1). Purchasing process, trade facilitation enhance such as linking of information technology during business to business (B2B business). 2). Productions process improved by business logistics improvement 3). Warehouse management process such as recycled packaging, moving goods in to warehouse, transportation goods and inside receiving and delivery products plan.

Keywords: Green Logistics, Trade Facilitation, Business Logistics Improvement, Double handling.

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Authors: Z. Baimagambetova, Zh. Sairambaeva

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This article discusses the prospects of participation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Hague Conference on Private International Law on the unification of collision law in the international trade. The article analyzes some conventions on international trade. The appropriate conclusions based on the opinions of scientists and experts in this field have been made. First, all issues presented in the form of gaps or spaces in conventions should be the subject to direct negotiations in the course of the activities of Hague Conference, and have a comprehensive feature, be transparent and taken under simplified procedure. Secondly, one should not underestimate the value of conventions that do not become active due to various reasons and having a positive impact on the development and improvement of national legislation and practice in the field of private international law. Thirdly, Kazakhstan has to reconsider its attitude to Hague Conference, having become its full member and aiming at providing constructive and fruitful cooperation with both the organization itself and its member states.

Keywords: Hague Conference on Private International Law, Hague Conventions, unification, collision norms, international trade, international private law, integration.

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Authors: E. Selçuk, Z. Karaçor, P. Yardımcı

Abstract:

Trade liberalization and its effects on the economies of developing countries have been investigated by many different studies, and some of them have focused on its impact on the current account balance. Turkey, as being one of the countries, which has liberalized its foreign trade in the 1980s, also needs to be studied in terms of the impact of liberalization on current account deficits. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find out whether trade liberalization has affected Turkey’s trade and current account balances. In order to determine this, yearly data of Turkey from 1980 to 2013 is used. As liberalization dummy, the year 1989, which was set for Turkey, is selected. Structural break test and model estimation results show that trade liberalization has a negative impact on trade balance but do not have a significant impact on the current account balance.

Keywords: Budget deficit, current account, liberalization, Turkish economy.

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Authors: Ying Wang

Abstract:

Service trade is an important force of influencing economic development. A review on the related literatures is done firstly. Then through the construction of a Diamond Model, the main factors which influence the competitiveness of Chinese service trade are determined. With three competitiveness indexes served as the reference series respectively, the influencing factors served as the comparable series, three grey incidence models are then built up to conduct an empirical analysis on the main factors influencing the competitiveness of service trade after China entering WTO. The result indicates that urbanization level, open degree of service industry and foreign direct investment have larger impacts on Chinese service trade competitiveness, followed in turn by GDP in service industry and human capital, while commodity trade has the minimum impact. Further discussion provides train of thought for the upgrade of Chinese service trade competitiveness.

Keywords: Service Trade, Competitiveness, Diamond Model, Grey Incidence Model.

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Authors: Christina Tay

Abstract:

This paper investigates the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on bilateral trade in goods. Empirical analysis is performed on the United States and 34 partnering countries from 2000 to 2013. Our econometric model fits the data well, explaining 52% of the variation in trade flows for goods trade, 53.2% of the variation in trade flows for goods export and 48% of the variation in trade flows for goods import. For every 10% increase in fixed broadband Internet subscribers per 100 people increases, goods trade by 7.9% and for every 5% increase in fixed broadband Internet subscribers per 100 people, goods export increases by 11%. For every 1% increase in fixed telephone line penetration per 100 people, goods trade increases by 26.3%, goods export increases by 24.4% and goods import increases by 24.8%. For every 1% increase in mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions, goods trade decreases by 29.6% and goods export decreases by 27.1%, whilst for every 0.01% increase in mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions, goods import decreases by 34.3%. For every 1% increase in the percentage of population who used the Internet from any location in the last 12 months Internet, goods trade increases by 32.5%, goods export increases by 38.9%, goods import increases by 33%. All our trade determinants as well as our ICT variables have significances on goods exports for the US. We can also draw from our study that the US relies more rather heavily on ICT for its goods export compared to goods import.

Keywords: Bilateral trade, goods trade, information and communication technologies, Internet.

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Authors: Pınar Yardımcı

Abstract:

This paper tries to answer to the questions whether or not trade openness causes economic growth and trade policy changes are good for Turkey as a developing country in global economy before and after 1980. We employ Johansen co-integration and Granger causality tests with error correction modeling based on vector autoregressive. Using WDI data from the pre-1980 and the post-1980, we find that trade openness and economic growth are cointegrated in the second term only. Also the results suggest a lack of long-run causality between our two variables. These findings may imply that trade policy of Turkey should concentrate more on extra complementary economic reforms.

Keywords: Globalization, Trade Policy, Economic Growth, Openness, Co-integration, Turkey.

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Authors: Mosses E. Lufuke

Abstract:

This paper attempted to investigate whether there is Granger-causality running from trade to environment as evidenced in the changing climatic condition and land degradation. Using Tanzania as the reference, VAR-Granger-causality test was employed to rationalize the conundrum of causal-effect relationship between trade and environment. The changing climatic condition, as the proxy of both nitrous oxide emissions (in thousand metric tons of CO₂ equivalent) and land degradation measured by the size of arable land were tested against trade using both exports and imports variables. The result indicated that neither of the trade variables Granger-cause the variability on gas emissions and arable land size. This suggests the possibility that all trade concerns in relation to environment to have been internalized in domestic policies to offset any likely negative consequence.

Keywords: Trade, growth, impact, environment.

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Authors: Mikail Altan

Abstract:

International trust takes first place in the development of foreign trade in the country. They see an important role in ensuring that trust. Various payment methods that are developed in the banking system provide fast and reliable way to execution and promote foreign trade by financing the foreign trade. In this study, we investigate the influence of bank on foreign trade in Turkey. 26 years of data for 1990-2015 period have been used in this study. After correlation analysis, a simple regression model was established. Payment methods that are developed in the banking system make a positive contribution in Turkey’s foreign trade volume. In addition, the export of Turkey was affected positively more than import’s by these payment methods.

Keywords: Banks, export, foreign trade, import.

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Authors: M. Priscila Ramos, Omar O. Chisari, Juan Pablo Vila Martínez

Abstract:

Current literature about trade liberalization of environmental goods and services (EGS) raises doubts about the extent of the triple win-win situation for trade, development and the environment. However, much of this literature does not consider the possibility that this agreement carries technological transmissions, either through trade or foreign direct investment. This paper presents a computable general equilibrium model calibrated for Argentina, where there are alternative technologies (one dirty and one clean according to carbon emissions) to produce the same goods. In this context, the trade liberalization of EGS allows to increase GDP, trade, reduce unemployment and improve the households welfare. However, the capital mobility appears as the key assumption to jointly reach the environmental target, when the positive scale effect generated by the increase in trade is offset by the change in the composition of production (composition and technical effects by the use of the clean alternative technology) and of consumption (composition effect by substitution of relatively lesspolluting imported goods).

Keywords: CGE modeling, CO2 emissions, composition effect, scale effect, technique effect, trade liberalization of EGS.

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Authors: Kankesu Jayanthakumaran, Shao-Wei Lee

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This paper proposes the hypothesis that multilateralism and regionalism are complementary, and that regional income convergence is likely with a like minded and committed regionalism that often has links geographically and culturally. The association between international trade, income per capita, and regional income convergence in founder members of ASEAN and SAARC, is explored by applying the Lumsdaine, and Papell approach. The causal relationships between the above variables are also studied in respective trade blocs by using Granger causality tests. The conclusion is that global reforms have had a greater impact on increasing trade for both trade blocs and induced convergence only in ASEAN-5 countries. The experience of ASEAN countries shows a two-way causal relationship between the flow from trade to regional income convergence, and vice versa. There is no evidence in SAARC countries for income convergence and causality.

Keywords: ASEAN-5, SAARC-5, trade liberalisation, incomeconvergence, structural breaks and causality.

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Authors: Umut Gunduz, Mehtap Hisarciklilar, Tolga Kaya

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Studies revealing the positive relationship between trade and income are often criticized with the argument that “development should mean more than rising incomes". Taking this argument as a base and utilizing panel data, Davies and Quinlivan [1] have demonstrated that increases in trade are positively associated with future increases in social welfare as measured by the Human Development Index (HDI). The purpose of this study is twofold: Firstly, utilizing an income based country classification; it is aimed to investigate whether the positive association between foreign trade and HDI is valid within all country groups. Secondly, keeping the same categorization as a base; it is aimed to reveal whether the positive link between trade and HDI still exists when the income components of the index are excluded. Employing a panel data framework of 106 countries, this study reveals that the positive link between trade and human development is valid only for high and medium income countries. Moreover, the positive link between trade and human development diminishes in lower-medium income countries when only non-income components of the index are taken into consideration.

Keywords: HDI, foreign trade, development, panel data.

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Authors: Mosses E. Lufuke, Lorna M. Kamau

Abstract:

This paper attempted to assess whether the size of the regional economic bloc has an impact to the flow of trade to a particular country. Two different sized blocs (COMESA and EAC) and one country (Tanzania) have been used as the point of references. Using the results from of the analyses, the paper also was anticipated to establish whether it was rational for Tanzania to withdraw its membership from COMESA (the larger bloc) to join EAC (the small one). Gravity model has been used to estimate the relationship between the variables, from which the bilateral trade flows between Tanzania and the eighteen member countries of the two blocs (COMESA and EAC) was employed for the time between 2000 and 2013. In the model, the dummy variable for regional bloc (bloc) at which the Tanzania trade partner countries belong are also added to the model to understand which trade bloc exhibit higher trade flow with Tanzania. From the findings, it was noted that over the period of study (2000-2013) Tanzania acknowledged more than 257% of trade volume in EAC than in COMESA. Conclusive, it was noted that the flow of trade is explained by many other variables apart from the size of regional bloc; and that the size by itself offer insufficient evidence in causality relationship. The paper therefore remain neutral on such staggered switching decision since more analyses are required to establish the country’s trade flow, especially when if it had been in multiple membership of COMESA and EAC.

Keywords: Economic Bloc, Flow of Trade, Size of Bloc, Switching.

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Authors: Sadife Güngör, Sevilay Konya, Zeynep Karaçor

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Inflation and foreign trade are the most important economic indicator of a country. In this study, Turkey's economy with the policies adopted after 2000, given how performs an economic transformation. This transformation of the economy is discussed with inflation and foreign trade. In this context, attention is drawn to 2001 Strong Economy and Transition Program and 2006 Inflation Targeting Regime. The evaluation was performed of after the year 2000 inflation and foreign trade figures in Turkey economy. When we looked the progress, after 2000 in Turkey economy, we can say a new process was built up.

Keywords: Inflation, foreign trade, 2001 strong economy program, 2006 ınflation targeting regime.

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Authors: Pavla Ruzickova, Petr Teply

Abstract:

There are many debates now regarding undervalued and overvalued currencies currently traded on the world financial market. This paper contributes to these debates from a theoretical point of view. We present the three most commonly used methods of estimating the equilibrium real effective exchange rate (REER): macroeconomic balance approach, external sustainability approach and equilibrium real effective exchange rate approach in the reduced form. Moreover, we discuss key concepts of the calculation of the real exchange rate (RER) based on applied explanatory variables: nominal exchange rates, terms of trade and tradable and non-tradable goods. Last but not least, we discuss the three main driving forces behind real exchange rates movements which include terms of trade, relative productivity growth and the interest rate differential.

Keywords: real exchange rate, real effective exchange rate, foreign exchange, terms of trade

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Authors: Vu Thu Trang, Lam Xuan Thanh, Samira Sarter, Tomoko Shimamura, Hiroaki Takeuchi　

Abstract:

Antimicrobial activities of aminoreductone (AR), a product formed in the initial stage of Maillard reaction, were screened against pathogenic bacteria. A significant growth inhibition of AR against all 7 isolates (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC® 25923™, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC® 14028™, Bacillus cereus ATCC® 13061™, Bacillus subtilis ATCC® 11774™, Escherichia coli ATCC® 25922™, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC® 29212™, Listeria innocua ATCC® 33090™) were observed by the standard disc diffusion methods. The inhibition zone for each isolate by AR (2.5 mg) ranged from 15±0mm to 28.3±0.4mm in diameter. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of AR ranging from 20mM to 26mM was proven in the 7 isolates tested. AR also showed the similar effect of growth inhibition in comparison with antibiotics frequently used for the treatment of infections bacteria, such as amikacin, ciprofloxacin, meropennem and levofloxacin. The results indicated that foods containing AR are valuable sources of bioactive compounds towards pathogenic bacteria.

Keywords: Pathogenic bacteria, aminoreductone, Maillard reaction, antimicrobial activity.

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Authors: A. Ramachandran

Abstract:

Nowadays there is a growing environmental concern and the business communities have slowly started recognising environmental protection and sustainable utilization of natural resources into their marketing strategies. This paper discusses the various Ecolabeling and Certification Systems developed world over to regulate and introduce Fair Trade in Ornamental Fish Industry. Ecolabeling and green certification are considered as part of these strategies implemented partly out of compulsion from the National and International Regulatory Bodies and Environmental Movements. All the major markets of ornamental fishes like European Union, USA and Japan have started putting restrictions on the trade to impose ecolabeling as a non tariff barrier like the one imposed on seafood and aqua cultured products. A review was done on the available Ecolabeling and Green Certification Schemes available at local, national and international levels for fisheries including aquaculture and ornamental fish trade and to examine the success and constraints faced by these schemes during its implementation. The primary downside of certification is the multiplicity of ecolabels and cost incurred by applicants for certification, costs which may in turn be passed on to consumers. The studies reveal serious inadequacies in a number of ecolabels and cast doubt on their overall contribution to effective fisheries management and sustainability. The paper also discusses the inititive taken in India to develop guidelines for Green Certification of Fresh water ornamental fishes.

Keywords: Ecolabeling in fisheries, Fair trade, Green Certification, Sustainable Ornamental fish trade.

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Authors: Ana Bobirca, Paul-Gabriel Miclaus

Abstract:

International competitiveness receives much attention nowadays, but up to now its assessment has been heavily based on manufacturing industry statistics. This paper addresses the need for competitiveness indicators that cover the service sector and sets out a multilevel framework for measuring international services trade competitiveness. The approach undertaken here aims at comparatively examining the international competitiveness of the EU-25 (the twenty-five European Union member states before the 1st of January 2007), Romanian and Bulgarian services trade, as well as the last two countries- structure of specialization on the EU-25 services market. The primary changes in the international competitiveness of three major services sectors – transportation, travel and other services - are analyzed. This research attempts to determine the ability of the two recent European Union (EU) member states to contend with the challenges that might arise from the hard competition within the enlarged EU, in the field of services trade.

Keywords: Bulgaria, EU-25, international competitiveness, international services trade, Romania.

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Authors: Mara Gubaidullina, Aigerim Yelibayeva

Abstract:

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is one of the successful outcomes of China's foreign policy since the end of the Cold war. The expansion of multilateral ties all over the world by dint of pursuing institutional strategies as SCO, identify China as a more constructive power. SCO became a new model of cooperation that was formed on remains of collapsed Soviet system, and predetermined China's geopolitical role in the region. As the fast developing effective regional mechanism, SCO today has more of external impact on the international system and forms a new type of interaction for promoting China's grand strategy of 'peaceful rise'.

Keywords: Central Asia, China's grand strategy, Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

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Authors: Yao Wu

Abstract:

In the context of financial globalization, China has put forward the policy goal of high-quality development, and the digital economy, with its advantage of information resources, is driving China's export trade to achieve high-quality development. Due to the long-standing financing constraints of small and medium-sized export enterprises, how to expand the export scale of small and medium-sized enterprises has become a major threshold for the development of China's export trade. This paper firstly adopts the hierarchical analysis method to establish the evaluation system of high-quality development of China's export trade; secondly, the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2018 are selected for empirical analysis to establish the impact model of digital inclusive finance on the high-quality development of China's export trade; based on the analysis of the heterogeneous enterprise trade model, a mediating effect model is established to verify the mediating role of credit constraint in the development of high-quality export trade in China. Based on the above analysis, this paper concludes that inclusive digital finance, with its unique digital and inclusive nature, alleviates the credit constraint problem among SMEs, enhances the binary marginal effect of SMEs' exports, optimizes their export scale and structure, and promotes the high-quality development of regional and even national export trade. Finally, based on the findings of this paper, we propose insights and suggestions for inclusive digital finance to promote the high-quality development of export trade.

Keywords: Digital inclusive finance, high-quality development of export trade, fixed effects, binary marginal effects.

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Authors: Fernando Seabra, Giulia P. Flores, Karolina C. Gomes

Abstract:

Trade liberalizations measures, as import tariff cuts, are not a sufficient trigger for trade growth. Given that price margins are narrow, traders and cargo operators tend to opt out of markets where the process of goods clearance is slow and costly. Excess paperwork and slow customs dispatch not only lead to institutional breakdowns and corruption but also to increasing transaction cost and trade constraints. The objective of this paper is, therefore, two-fold: First, to evaluate the relationship between institutional and infrastructural performance indexes and trade growth in container throughput; and, second, to investigate the causes for differences in container demurrage and detention fees in Latin American countries (using other emerging countries as benchmarking). The analysis is focused on manufactured goods, typically transported by containers. Institutional and infrastructure bottlenecks and, therefore, the country logistics efficiency – measured by the Logistics Performance Index (LPI, World Bank-WB) – are compared with other indexes, such as the Doing Business index (WB) and the Corruption Perception Index (Transparency International). The main results based on the comparison between Latin American countries and the others emerging countries point out in that the growth in containers trade is directly related to LPI performance. It has also been found that the main hypothesis is valid as aspects that more specifically identify trade facilitation and corruption are significant drivers of logistics performance. The exam of port efficiency (demurrage and detention fees) has demonstrated that not necessarily higher level of efficiency is related to lower charges; however, reductions in fees have been more significant within non-Latin American emerging countries.

Keywords: Container throughput, logistics performance, corruption, Latin America.

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Authors: Sophia Hayes, Kenny L. Liang, Sahil Sharma, Austin Shema, Mahmoud Bader, Mohamed Elbarkouky

Abstract:

Despite being one of the most significant economic contributors of the country, Canada’s construction industry is lagging behind other sectors when it comes to labor productivity improvements. The construction industry is very collaborative as a general contractor, will hire trade contractors to perform most of a project’s work; meaning low productivity from one contractor can have a domino effect on the shared success of a project. To address this issue and encourage trade contractors to improve their productivity tracking methods, an investigative study was done on the productivity views and tracking methods of various trade contractors. Additionally, an in-depth review was done on four standard tracking methods used in the construction industry: cost codes, benchmarking, the job productivity measurement (JPM) standard, and WorkFace Planning (WFP). The four tracking methods were used as a baseline in comparing the trade contractors’ responses, determining gaps within their current tracking methods, and for making improvement recommendations. 15 interviews were conducted with different trades to analyze how contractors value productivity. The results of these analyses indicated that there seem to be gaps within the construction industry when it comes to an understanding of the purpose and value in productivity tracking. The trade contractors also shared their current productivity tracking systems; which were then compared to the four standard tracking methods used in the construction industry. Gaps were identified in their various tracking methods and using a framework; recommendations were made based on the type of trade on how to improve how they track productivity.

Keywords: Trade contractors’ productivity, productivity tracking, cost codes, benchmarking, job productivity measurement, JPM, workface planning WFP.

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Authors: Andres G. Victorio, Montita Rungswang

Abstract:

A free-trade agreement is found to increase Thailand-s agricultural imports from New Zealand, despite the short span of time for which the agreement has been operational. The finding is described by autoregressive estimates that correct for possible unit roots in the data. The agreement-s effect upon imports is also estimated while considering an error-correction model of imports against gross domestic product.

Keywords: Agricultural imports, free trade, unit roots, cointegration, error correction.

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Authors: Rudolf Egger

Abstract:

This paper explores the relationships between the basic learning processes of leading trade union workers and their methods for coping with the changes in the life-courses of societies today. It will discuss the fragile discourse on lifelong learning in trade unions and the “production of self-techniques” to get in touch with the new economic forms. On the basis of an empirical project, different processes of the socialization of leading trade union workers will be analysed to discover the consequences of the lifelong learning discourse. The results show what competences they need to develop for the “wider benefits of negotiations”. The main challenge remains to make visible how deeply intertwined trade union learning and education are with development in an ongoing dynamic economic process, rather than a quick-fix injection of skills and information. There is a complex relationship existing between the three ‘partners’, work, learning and society forming. The author suggests that contemporary trade unions could be trendsetters who make their own learning agendas by drawing less on formal education and more on informal and non-formal learning contexts. This is in parallel with growing political and scientific consciousness of the need to arrive at new educational/vocational policies and practices.

Keywords: Lifelong learning, Trade unions, Non-formal learning, Educational/vocational policies.

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Authors: J. K. Shrestha, A. Benta, R. B. Lopes, N. Lopes

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This paper presents a multi-objective model for addressing two main objectives in designing rural roads networks: minimization of user operation costs and maximization of population covered. As limited budgets often exist, a reasonable trade-off must be obtained in order to account for both cost and social benefits in this type of networks. For a real-world rural road network, the model is solved, where all non-dominated solutions were obtained. Afterwards, an analysis is made on the (possibly) most interesting solutions (the ones providing better trade-offs). This analysis, coupled with the knowledge of the real world scenario (typically provided by decision makers) provides a suitable method for the evaluation of road networks in rural areas of developing countries.

Keywords: Multi-objective, user operation cost, population covered, rural road network.

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Authors: E.Assareh, M.A. Behrang, R. Assareh, N. Hedayat

Abstract:

An integrated Artificial Neural Network- Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is presented for analyzing global electricity consumption. To aim this purpose, following steps are done: STEP 1: in the first step, PSO is applied in order to determine world-s oil, natural gas, coal and primary energy demand equations based on socio-economic indicators. World-s population, Gross domestic product (GDP), oil trade movement and natural gas trade movement are used as socio-economic indicators in this study. For each socio-economic indicator, a feed-forward back propagation artificial neural network is trained and projected for future time domain. STEP 2: in the second step, global electricity consumption is projected based on the oil, natural gas, coal and primary energy consumption using PSO. global electricity consumption is forecasted up to year 2040.

Keywords: Particle Swarm Optimization, Artificial NeuralNetworks, Fossil Fuels, Electricity, Forecasting.

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Authors: Anunya Thanasrisuebwong

Abstract:

This research paper aimed to find out how was the ethical climate in an organization and job performance satisfaction of employees affected employees’ engagement and commitment by using the case study of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited, Thailand. The population of this research was 4,383 Thai employees of PTTEP, Thailand. From a total of 420 questionnaires sent out, 345 respondents replied. The statistics utilized was mean score and Multiple Regression Analysis. The findings revealed that the respondents had opinion towards ethical climate of their organization, job performance satisfaction and organization engagement and commitment at a high level. The test of hypothesis disclosed the determinant attributes of job performance satisfaction that affected the respondents’ overall level of organization engagement and commitment. The set of these determinant attributes consisted of employees’ responsibilities for duties, organization’s policies and practice, relationship with organization’s commanders, work security and stability, job description, career path and relationship with colleagues. These variables were able to predict the employees’ organization engagement and commitment at 50.6 percent.

Keywords: Ethical Climate in Organization, Job Performance Satisfaction, Organization Engagement and Commitment.

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Authors: Samira Malekmohammadi Golsefid, Mehdi Ghazanfari, Somayeh Alizadeh

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The goal of this paper is to segment the countries based on the value of export from Iran during 14 years ending at 2005. To measure the dissimilarity among export baskets of different countries, we define Dissimilarity Export Basket (DEB) function and use this distance function in K-means algorithm. The DEB function is defined based on the concepts of the association rules and the value of export group-commodities. In this paper, clustering quality function and clusters intraclass inertia are defined to, respectively, calculate the optimum number of clusters and to compare the functionality of DEB versus Euclidean distance. We have also study the effects of importance weight in DEB function to improve clustering quality. Lastly when segmentation is completed, a designated RFM model is used to analyze the relative profitability of each cluster.

Keywords: Customers segmentation, Customer relationship management, Clustering, Data Mining

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