The financial and then the economic crisis of the late 2000s dramatically undermine existing global forms of power. For the first time in modern history a nonWestern country (China) became the first ...industrial power in the world and the largest global exporter. The U.S. still has by far the largest economy, the magnitude of military power compared with that of potential adversaries is much greater, its level of political influence in the international system is unprecedented. However, indicators show that China's military spending will surpass the United States', its economic power will surpass the United States (at the beginning of the next decade), while the political influence of the U.S. will remain strong, but not nearly as strong as today. All this clearly indicates that the world is entering into some kind of a multipolar international system. The changes on a global scale are of increasing importance for domestic policy makers as well, having in mind multi-vector foreign policy of our country, which involves intense economic and political relations with the EU, Russia, the United States and China.
Multivariate curve resolution — alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) has been applied to data collected from UV/Vis spectrophotometric analysis of the autoxidation process of pyrogallol in weakly ...alkaline aqueous solutions. The MCR-ALS analysis was able to explain the autoxidation kinetics of pyrogallol at pH 7.4 and 8.0, allowing deduction of the pure spectra and concentration changes of different species present throughout the entire process. The autoxidation process at pH 7.4 was found to follow a first-order reaction model, with formation of purpurogallin as the sole and terminal product. Changing the pH to 8.0 not only accelerated autoxidation of pyrogallol to purpurogallin but also introduced a further autoxidation of purpurogallin. At pH 8.0 the process fits a model of two consecutive first-order reactions. The first step is formation of purpurogallin, which reacts in a further autoxidation to form a yellow colored substance, most probably purpurogallin polymer.
The paper discusses whether "enlargement fatigue," slowing down the European Union integration process of 6 Candidate Countries (C6), can be explained by the poor economic and trade performance of ...those economies, especially in trading with the EU. We comprehensively analyzed the merchandise trade of those economies with the EU in 2007-2018 using numerous quantitative techniques and applying a very high level of data disaggregation. First, the value of similarity indicators between the C6's export and EU import structures and indices of intra-industry trade was calculated. Then we controlled for additional factors: the changes in C6's exports (imports) to the EU through shares of goods at higher levels of processing, as well as their export (import) specialization. The conclusion is that the weak trade performances of C6 are not the cause of enlargement fatigue, as these economies saw moderate structural improvements in their trade with the EU.
Detailed GC and GC/MS analyses of essential-oil samples obtained by hydrodistillation of Morus alba L. and M. nigra L. leaves (four samples) allowed the identification of 131 constituents ...representing 95.1 – 96.4% of the total GC peak areas. The most abundant compounds classes were alkanes, diterpenoids, carotenoid-derived compounds and fatty acid-related constituents with trans-phytol (7.9 – 71.2%), (E,E)-geranyl linalool (0.2 – 8.0%), (Z)-bovolide (8.1%) and n-chain alkanes (in total, 17.5 – 52.4%) as the major constituents of the analyzed samples. In general, there were only quantitative differences noted between M. nigra essential oils from fresh and dry leaves. The most discernable changes included a variation in the content of the major constituents (e.g. the relative amount of trans-phytol and the total amount of alkanes decreased by 5.8% and ≈ 2%, respectively, while that of (E,E)-geranyl linalool increased by 7.8%). On the other hand, the composition of M. alba essential oil was much more significantly affected by the drying process. The highest quantitative differences were noted for trans-phytol, geranyl acetone, and all isomers of 4,6,8-megastigmatrien-3-one. Also, a rare plant metabolite, (Z)-bovolide, characteristic of leaf senescence, was only identified (8.1%) in the essential oil of M. alba dried leaves.
This book aims to provide information about Fourier transform to those needing to use infrared spectroscopy, by explaining the fundamental aspects of the Fourier transform, and techniques for ...analyzing infrared data obtained for a wide number of materials. It summarizes the theory, instrumentation, methodology, techniques and application of FTIR spectroscopy, and improves the performance and quality of FTIR spectrophotometers.
New analytical strategies and techniques are necessary to meet requirements of modern technologies and new materials. In this sense, this book provides a thorough review of current analytical ...approaches, industrial practices, and strategies in Fourier transform application.
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