Many studies consider the potential for preferential trade agreements (PTAs) to have differing effects on trade. Kohl (2014) and Baier et al. (2019) show that some PTA’s promote trade while the majority of PTAs have no significant effect. Some even lower trade. Why do these differing cases arise? One possibility is that the effects of trade agreements depend on specific provisions – provisions that differ across agreements. Another possibility is the potential for PTAs to impact trade differently depending on the presence of certain bilateral characteristics between trading nations such as physical distance or metaphorical types of distance such as culture or language. In my dissertation, “Heterogeneous Effects of Trade Agreements on Trade,” we explore these two avenues separately.In the first chapter we consider if differences in the prevalence of corruption between members of a PTA make trade agreements more or less effective at boosting trade. Such differences could create more uncertainty that limits the potential for trade even if a trade agreement lowers barriers, implying that such agreements will not boost trade. On the other hand, trade agreements could be most effective in such disparate countries. Not only might trade agreements remove barriers used by corrupt officials to extort firms, but a trade agreement could reduce the uncertainty of operating in a different business environment by establishing rules and regulations. Results in this paper are allowed to differ across several dimensions, including extensive versus intensive margin, whether the exporter or importer is more corrupt, and between South-South and South-North trade. Using a gravity model of trade spanning a panel of countries from 1996 to 2017, we find that PTAs increase trade more along the intensive margin when importing countries are more corrupt but boost trade more along the extensive margin when exporting countries are more corrupt. Results are stronger for trade between South-South (S-S) countries than between North-South (N-S) countries. Chapter two examines how specific provisions within trade agreements – particularly, provisions regarding environmental standards – affect trade between members and non-members. While there is a rising trend to incorporate different types of environmental provisions in preferential trade agreements (PTAs), few studies took explicit steps to assess the trade consequences of environmental provisions in PTAs. This paper employs a gravity model over the period from 1984 to 2016 and uses a new detailed dataset on a broad range of environmental provisions in PTAs to fill the gap in the literature by looking at possible trade diversion effects from trade agreements with deep environmental clauses. We follow Mattoo et al. (2017) and construct an index that captures importers’ average depth of trade agreements with the rest of the world where depth is taken as the extent that environmental provisions are covered. The inclusion of this depth variable allows us to see if any trade diversion effect arises from trade agreements with deep environmental provisions. We specifically focus on exporters with low environmental standards, as those are the countries that are likely to “host” trade in environmentally unsustainable goods. We also differentiate between different types of environmental policies and concentrate on trade in “dirty” products. Our results suggest that environmental provisions in PTAs are an effective tool of promoting environmentally sustainable trade in the world, as these types of policies tend to reduce “dirty” trade even with non-member nations. Finally, the third chapter considers the heterogeneous design of PTA’s more broadly, looking at the trade effects of different policy areas within trade agreements, while differentiating their impact on trade in new product varieties of goods versus trade in existing products. We specifically focus on 18 “core” provisions that Hofmann et al. (2019) mark as most economically relevant policies. We further distinguish three types of policies within the “core” group of provisions, namely: i) provisions that directly liberalize trade through either reduction in tariffs or simplification of standards, ii) policies that enable signatory nations to compete on equal grounds, and iii) provisions that specify the rules of investment. Previous studies that consider the effects of trade agreements on the margins of trade have either focused on the effects of different types of PTAs, rather than specific policies, or used limited data and outdated methodologies. We are contributing to the literature by assessing the impact of different groups of policies on the margins of international trade using a highly disaggregated dataset covering a large number of countries and years. We also employ Factor Analysis to check robustness of our findings using regular count indices. Our results indicate that provisions that tend to reduce barriers to trade through either simplification of standards or reduction in monetary charges tend to increase trade in existing varieties of goods, while the effect of investment provisions is either insignificant or might actually lower trade.

There was a record-breaking gain of seats that was based on preference votes in the 2010 election to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The aim of my diploma thesis is to determine whether the reason for the above was a more active and effective utilization of the voters' preference votes, or it was a result of the different rules for the preferential voting. The clarification of the reasons is based on the analyses of the quantity of used preference votes from the voters' side, their active participation, and the ability to accumulate votes for several selected candidates. The thesis compares the results of the last election and elections in 2002 and 2006 and explores the differences that had happened in the course of these three elections. The thesis is also focused on models of voting behavior. It monitors which characteristics represent the voters who give the preference votes, and on the contrary, which candidates' characteristics are important for these voters and which are irrelevant.

This thesis focuses on the less studied electoral systems, which are called ordinal. These methods allow the voters to order the candidates according to their preferences. The work provides a historical insight into this issue with regard to economics and political science theories, based on the concept of the Condorcet winner. Condorcet winner is the person who defeats all other candidates in pairwise elections and by theorists of the electoral system is the ability to choose the Condorcet winner essential. The work examines three electoral methods - alternative and suplementary vote and Borda rule. These electoral systems are analyzed in terms of effects to system of political parties, political actors and the electorate, with the emphasis on the utilization rate of preferential votes. These aspects are examined on the basis of the actual election results obtained from the website of the electoral commissions and independent institutions. Based on these data, a mathematical model that compares the effects of electoral systems is then created. The conclusion summarizes the results of the analysis and the author expresses further recommendations to address these electoral methods, not only professionally and scientifically, but also as real alternatives for real election.

RPA (replication protein A) is an essential factor for DNA DSB (double-strand break) repair and cell cycle checkpoint activation. The 32 kDa subunit of RPA undergoes hyperphosphorylation in response to cellular genotoxic insults. However, the potential involvement of hyperphosphorylated RPA in DSB repair and check-point activation remains unclear. Using co-immunoprecipitation assays, we showed that cellular interaction of RPA with two DSB repair factors, Rad51 and Rad52, was predominantly mediated by the hyperphosphorylated species of RPA in cells after UV and camptothecin treatment. Moreover, Rad51 and Rad52 displayed higher affinity for the hyperphosphorylated RPA than native RPA in an in vitro binding assay. Checkpoint kinase ATR (ataxia telangiectasia mutated and Rad3-related) also interacted more efficiently with the hyperphosphorylated RPA than with native RPA following DNA damage. Consistently, immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated that the hyperphosphorylated RPA was able to co-localize with Rad52 and ATR to form significant nuclear foci in cells. Our results suggest that hyperphosphorylated RPA is preferentially localized to DSB repair and the DNA damage checkpoint complexes in response to DNA damage.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / As a signatory to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) agreement, a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with the United States, South Africa derives several benefits. PTAs grant access to certain products from developing countries and, while the tariffs are sometimes not completely removed, the tariffs charged are far less than those imposed on countries that are not included in the trade agreement. There is strong evidence that PTAs increase trade and investment between member countries. South African exports of goods and services to the US under AGOA have increased by 104% since 2000. While PTAs seem to benefit developing countries at the aggregate level, not much is known about the winners and losers from preferential trade liberalisation at the level of the firm. This study assessed the PTA benefits of AGOA at the firm level within the South African poultry sector. / 2023

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第20714号 / 工博第4411号 / 新制||工||1685(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科合成・生物化学専攻 / (主査)教授 杉野目 道紀, 教授 村上 正浩, 教授 松田 建児 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DGAM

Cancer is a disease caused by uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. Cancer is often related to a need for palliative care. Palliative care is an approach and treatment provided to improve quality of life for patients with life threatening illness, such as cancer. Dying patients at the end of their life may lose their autonomy towards themselves especially related to their desires and preference. Patients’ preference towards place of death may be influenced by many factors. Patients with cancer require support from their family members as well as health care professionals, especially nurses, they are the one who frequently keep in touch with patients. Therefore, through the support given, patients’ might be able to express their desires.  The purpose of this study was to describe factors associated with preferential place of death for cancer patients receiving palliative care. This study also described how patients’ autonomy affect patients’ decision making related to preferential place of death and how nurses provide support in patients decision making with regards of preferential place of death.  A literature review of 17 scientific articles that met the inclusion criteria was carried out. The articles were collected using two electronic database searches: PubMed and CINAHL. Moreover, four of articles were identified through manual search.  Majority of cancer patients preferred their home as their place of death. Demographic factors such as, gender, age, marital status, economic status, country of birth and place of residence were found to be the most influential factors regarding the preference of home as place of death. The wishes related to place of death of both patients and family caregivers were expected to be recorded in the first meeting. Nurses in providing support for patients with cancer should have to empower patients express their desires.  In conclusion, this literature review showed that promoting autonomy and decision making are challenging for nurses. Nurses can help patients express their preferences or desires by providing decision making support. There are many factors that contribute to the decision of location of death. Therefore, it is important for nurses to empower patients’ autonomy and to respect their values in order to provide support for patients with cancer in making decision related to place of death

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Most results on pattern containment deal more directly with pattern avoidance, or the enumeration and characterization of strings which avoid a given set of patterns. Little research has been conducted regarding the word size required for a word to contain all patterns of a given set of patterns. The set of patterns for which containment is sought in this thesis is the set of preferential arrangements of a given length. The term preferential arrangement denotes strings of characters in which repeated characters are allowed, but not necessary. Cardinalities for sets of all preferential arrangements of given lengths and alphabet sizes are found, as well as cardinalities for sets where reversals fall into the same equivalence class and for sets in higher dimensions. The minimum word length and the word length necessary for a strict superpattern to contain all preferential arrangements for alphabet sizes two and three are also detailed.