This paper analyzes the impact of macroeconomic variables such as real exchange rate, exchange-rate volatility, and economic growth of the UK and Norway on Norway’s bilateral trade flow to the UK via ...maritime and other transport modes. The first two models considered trade volume (import and export) via only maritime transport, while the third and fourth models considered trade volume via modes other than maritime transport. The empirical validity of the Marshall-Lerner condition is tested to see whether a devaluation of the real exchange rate improves the trade balance in the long term. In addition to the long-term relationship among variables, short-term effects are also evaluated. The results show that the real income of Norway and its trading partner (the UK) is the main determinant of bilateral trade flow via maritime and other transport modes. Moreover, the results indicate that in the long run, the Marshall-Lerner condition is satisfied only for bilateral trade via modes other than maritime transport.
Since shipping connectivity reduces trade costs, which in turn improves trade, this paper aims to analyse the short- and long-run impacts of the liner shipping bilateral connectivity on South ...Africa’s trade flows. In addition to connectivity, measured by five separate components, we also consider the effects on trade of sailing distances, the direct (air) distance and the gross domestic product (GDP) of 142 trading partners. We apply the quasi-maximum likelihood method to estimate the parameters of a dynamic panel data model. The results show that GDP, the number of common direct connections and the level of competition have a positive and significant effect on trade flows, while the number of transshipments and the direct and sailing distances have a negative and significant impact, both in the short and long run. The estimated long-run effects are stronger than the short-run effects, suggesting that shippers take time to adjust their demand to changes in connectivity. The variable
maximum ship size
does not seem to have a positive bearing on trade, suggesting that countries may not need to try to accommodate ever larger ships to maintain their foreign trade competitiveness.
In this paper a two-stage game that involves three container terminals located in Karachi Port in Pakistan is discussed. In the first stage, the three terminals have to decide on whether to act as a ...singleton or to enter into a coalition with one or both of the other terminals. The decision at this stage should presumably be based on the predicted outcome for the second stage. The second stage is here modelled as a Bertrand game with one outside competitor, the coalition and the terminal in Karachi Port (if any) that has not joined the coalition. Furthermore, three partial and one grand coalition among the three terminals at Karachi Port are investigated. The concepts of “characteristic function” and “core” are used to analyse the stability of these coalitions and this revealed that one combination does not satisfy the superadditivity property of the characteristic function and can therefore be ruled out. The resulting payoffs (profits) of these coalitions are analysed on the basis of “core”. The best payoff for all players is in the case of a “grand coalition”. However, the real winner is the outsider (the terminal at the second port) which earns a better payoff without joining the coalition, and hence will play the role of the “orthogonal free-rider”.
This paper aims to analyse the potential effects on bilateral trade movements of the reconfiguration of maritime networks brought about by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The gravity model of ...international trade is applied to examine the hypothesized impact of maritime network reconfiguration on the bilateral trade between nine exporting countries (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia) and their 128 trading partners. The panel data on the five components of the Liner Shipping Bilateral Connectivity Index, the export value, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the nine exporting countries, the GDP of their trading partners and the maritime distance linking them to these 128 trading partners for each of the years from 2008 to 2016 are used in the analysis. The results show that the estimated coefficient for the number of transhipments is negative, revealing an inverse relationship between transhipments and bilateral exports, reconfirming that a redesign of the maritime supply chain network in response to the BRI could significantly improve bilateral export values. Furthermore, a reduction in the number of required transhipments, because of a reconfiguration of maritime networks with BRI trading partners, will improve the maritime network structure between countries located along the three strategic chokepoints: the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, and the Strait of Malacca. In general terms, the BRI-driven reconfiguration of maritime supply networks is linked to an improvement in the productivity of nine exporting countries. An innovative gravity-based econometric model, estimated on a large set of panel data, is introduced below, aiming at the modelling of the effect of BRI on supply chain network reconfiguration.
The aim of this study was to screen various solvent extracts of whole plant of Torilis leptophylla to display potent antioxidant activity in vitro and in vivo, total phenolic and flavonoid contents ...in order to find possible sources for future novel antioxidants in food and pharmaceutical formulations.
A detailed study was performed on the antioxidant activity of the methanol extract of whole plant of Torilis leptophylla (TLM) and its derived fractions {n-hexane (TLH), chloroform (TLC) ethyl acetate (TLE) n-butanol (TLB) and residual aqueous fraction (TLA)} by in vitro chemical analyses and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced hepatic injuries (lipid peroxidation and glutathione contents) in male Sprague-Dawley rat. The total yield, total phenolic (TPC) and total flavonoid contents (TFC) of all the fractions were also determined. TLM was also subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening test for various constituents.
The total phenolic contents (TPC) (121.9±3.1 mg GAE/g extract) of TLM while total flavonoid contents (TFC) of TLE (60.9 ±2.2 mg RTE/g extract) were found significantly higher as compared to other solvent fractions. Phytochemical screening of TLM revealed the presence of alkaloids, anthraquinones, cardiac glycosides, coumarins, flavonoids, saponins, phlobatannins, tannins and terpenoids. The EC50 values based on the DPPH (41.0±1 μg/ml), ABTS (10.0±0.9 μg/ml) and phosphomolybdate (10.7±2 μg/ml) for TLB, hydroxyl radicals (8.0±1 μg/ml) for TLC, superoxide radicals (57.0±0.3 μg/ml) for TLM and hydrogen peroxide radicals (68.0±2 μg/ml) for TLE were generally lower showing potential antioxidant properties. A significant but marginal positive correlation was found between TPC and EC50 values for DPPH, hydroxyl, phosphomolybdate and ABTS, whereas another weak and positive correlation was determined between TFC and EC50 values for superoxide anion and hydroxyl radicals. Results of in vivo experiment revealed that administration of CCl4 caused a significant increase in lipid peroxidation (TBARS) while decrease in GSH contents of liver. In contrast, TLM (200 mg/kg bw) and silymarin (50 mg/kg bw) co-treatment effectively prevented these alterations and maintained the antioxidant status.
Data from present results revealed that Torilis leptophylla act as an antioxidant agent due to its free radical scavenging and cytoprotective activity.
•The vessels calling at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) have to wait in a queue before receiving services at berths because of congestion.•We apply queuing methodology to analyze ...congestion at the MICT.•We determine the number of berths that minimize total cost, including waiting time cost and berth’s construction costs.•The results reveal that the number of berths at MICT is currently adequate.•In order to release congestion, port managers must take other actions.
The objective of this paper is to apply queuing methodology in order to analyze congestion at the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) in the Port of Manila, the Philippines. The vessels calling at the MICT have to wait in a queue before receiving services at berths because of congestion. For vessel operators and cargo owners this situation creates waiting time costs and delays in delivery of goods to final customers. One option to decrease waiting time is to expand capacity by increasing the number of berths. Construction of a new berth is a time consuming and costly procedure, which needs to be considered carefully before being implemented. To determine whether the data collected is suitable for queuing methodology, the distribution pattern of ship arrivals has been analyzed. The results reveal that the pattern of ship arrivals follows Poisson’s law of random distribution, which confirms the validity of the proposed queuing methodology. Applying queuing methodology, with the objective of minimizing total cost, including waiting time cost and berth’s construction costs, reveals that the number of berths at MICT is currently adequate. In order to release congestion, port managers must take other actions.
Invasive Candida infections in hospitalized and immunocompromised or critically ill patients have become an important cause of morbidity and mortality. There are increasing reports of multidrug ...resistance in several Candida species that cause Candidemia, including C. glabrata and C. auris, with limited numbers of antifungal agents available to treat patients with invasive Candida infections. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover new antifungal agents that work against multidrug‐resistant Candida species, particularly C. auris, which has been identified as an emerging global pathogen. In this article, we report a new class of antifungal agents, the Schiff bases of sulphonamides, that show activity against all Candida species tested, with an MIC range of 4–32 µg/ml. Compound 2b showed activity against C. glabrata and a panel of fluconazole‐resistant C. auris strains, with MICs of 4–16 µg/ml. The drug‐like nature of these Schiff bases offers opportunities to optimize these compounds with medicinal chemistry techniques to obtain more potent analogs that can be progressed toward pre‐clinical evaluation.
We report a new class of antifungal agents, the Schiff bases of sulphonamides, that show activity against all Candida species tested including multidrug‐resistant C. auris. The drug‐like nature of these Schiff bases offers opportunities to optimize these compounds with medicinal chemistry techniques to obtain more potent analogs that can be progressed toward pre‐clinical evaluation.
•Presence of persons in care and car ownership negatively impact public transport use.•Easy access to free parking at work discourages public transport use.•A frequency of under 20 min has a positive ...impact on public transport use.•Commuters from oldest age group use public transport more than middle aged ones.•Policy implications for public transport use in small cities and towns are elaborated.
The use of public transport is directly associated with a reduced environmental impact for satisfying daily mobility needs. Current research has focused on identifying the factors affecting the use of public transport, elements such as age, car ownership, travel distance, or parking availability having been associated with a direct impact on an individual’s transport mode choice. However, most of these studies focused on the travel behaviour of individuals living in large cities, where the population density is high, and public transport is usually more developed than in small cities and towns. The present study provides additional insights into the impact of eleven different factors on the use of public transport by employees living and working in networks of small cities and towns in Northern Europe. The study uses ordered logistic regression to analyse the data collected in 2019 through a regional travel survey conducted in Agder, Norway. The results reveal that the choice of public transport as a daily commute mode is significantly affected by car ownership, distance to work, parking availability, and ticket prices. Additionally, the results indicate that the odds of employees using public transport increase when the respondents do not have persons in care. On the other hand, factors such as low bus frequency and long walking distances to the home bus stop show a negative impact on the use of public transport. Based on these results, regional and local policy actions are proposed.
The objective of this article is to analyse the effect of the type of concession contracts on port user surplus and on profits of terminal operators (or port authorities) with the help of game ...theory. We have selected three ports in Pakistan to perform this analysis. These ports function as ‘landlords’ and have signed concession contracts with private container terminal operators. However, the features of the contracts at present are different for each terminal. We analyse four cases in this article. The first case is the present situation in which we treat competition between terminals as a Bertrand game in which each terminal non-cooperatively determines charges for container handling and pays fees to port authorities according to the contract. The Bertrand model seems to reproduce, to a satisfactory degree, the market shares and handling fees observed. Furthermore, in the second and third cases, a cost-benefit analysis is conducted by solving the Bertrand model. The results reveal that in the long run it is profitable for the Karachi Port to establish a same fixed fee contract with its private terminals. However, users are better off in a situation where a percentage fee concession contract would be adopted instead. The game theoretic framework is then extended to the analysis of the strategic decision faced by port authorities with respect to the trade-off between unit fees and annual rent in the last case. An optimal concession contract is obtained that is feasible for both parties in the sense that it contains high unit fees (variable cost) and low annual rent (fixed cost).
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