[Cross-sectional study on the use of masks among occupational groups with high-risk positions for overseas import and pollution transmission].

Objective: To investigate the wearing of masks and the knowledge of masks among high-risk positions for overseas import and pollution transmission. Methods: From May 14 to 17, 2022, a convenient sampling method was used to conduct an online survey among 963 workers in high-risk positions for overseas import and pollution transmission in Beijing. The behaviors of individual use and wearing masks, the distribution and supervision of the unit, the knowledge of personal mask protection and the subjective feelings of wearing masks were analyzed. The χ(2) test and logistic regression model were used to analyze the influencing factors of the correct selection of masks. Results: The majority of the workers in high-risk positions for overseas import and pollution transmission were male (86.0%, 828/963), age concentration in 18-44 years old (68.2%, 657/963), and the majority of them had college or bachelor degrees (49.4%, 476/963). 79.4%(765/963) of the workers chose the right type of masks, female, 45-59 years old and high school education or above were the risk factors for correct selection of masks (P <0.05). Workers had good behaviors such as wearing/removing masks, but only 10.5% (101/963) could correctly rank the protective effect of different masks. 98.4% (948/963) of the workers believed that their work units had provided masks to their employees, and 99.1% (954/963) and 98.2%(946/963) of them had organized training and supervision on the use of masks, respectively. 47.4%(456/963) of the workers were uncomfortable while wearing masks. Conclusion: The overall selection and use of masks among occupational groups in high-risk positions for overseas import and pollution transmission in China need to be further standardized. It is necessary to strengthen supervision and inspection on the use of masks among occupational groups, and take improvement measures to improve the comfort of wearing masks.

Pass-through with volatile exchange rates and inflation targeting

As central banks struggle against high inflation in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in the Ukraine, it is essential to understand the open economy aspects of inflation determination. Using a Bayesian VAR with time-varying parameters and stochastic volatility, we analyze the behavior of pass-through across time and in relation to macroeconomic variables. Pass-through increases with the size of the volatility of the exchange rate and the level, variance and persistence of shocks to domestic prices, which is in line with theory. The persistence of exchange rate shocks is associated with higher pass-through only for observations with low inflation. Furthermore, the effect of inflation persistence on pass-through is much higher for exchange rate appreciations than for depreciations.

TRADE IN GOODS

As international trade became more sophisticated, the ‘traditional' trade in goods topics seemed to be entering an extinction phase and be substituted by other forms of trade regulation, such as technical barriers or sanitary measures. However, in recent years and for different reasons, many of them reclaimed their relevance. This chapter also discusses an essential tool for the operation of trade in goods, which is tariff classification, as well as an often overlooked but fundamental issue in trade in goods regulation, which are the rules of origin. Global value chain operations could not be conceived without rules of origin. Finally, the COVID 19 pandemic revealed how vulnerable international trade could be to import and export restrictions, such as quotas or licences, and how important trade facilitation could be to bolster trade and even to save lives. © Oxford University Press 2022. All rights reserved.

The timber industry in Russia under sanctions: Losses and opportunities

The article considers the prospects of the domestic timber industry in the con-text of sanctions restrictions. Based on the data on average annual trade flows for 2018—2020, the potential damage from trade restrictions is assessed. Particular attention is paid to the fifth package of EU sanctions, which contains the most severe restrictions on trade with Russia for a wide range of forest commodities. The potential loss of income for the Russian timber industry from the ban on exports to the EU is estimated at 3.5 billion dollars. The ban on imports from the EU countries may also be sensitive for the industry, but it should not be regarded as fatal. The possibilities of partial replacement of the deficit of products for a considerable list of goods are shown. At the same time, the violation of free trade in forest products because of sanctions becomes a new turn in the spiral of the global crisis, which began in the pandemic COVID-19. Consequently, the damage to countries imposing sanctions on Russia is also significant. The most affected will be the largest RF trading partners in Europe — Finland and Germany, as well as the Baltic States. A sharp increase in logging in the EU against the background of the energy crisis creates an additional opportunity for the Russian timber complex. The reciprocal nature of economic losses, as well as multiple examples of circumventing sanctions in other industries, suggest that the most likely scenario will be attempts to maintain trade relations while formally implementing the imposed restrictions. © 2023, Russian Presidental Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. All rights reserved.

Forecasting the Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on China's Cotton Exports by Modified Discrete Grey Model with Limited Data

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has created dramatic challenges for public health and textile export trade worldwide. Such abrupt changes are difficult to predict due to the inherently high complexity and nonlinearity, especially with limited data. This article proposes a novel modified discrete grey model with weakening buffer operators, called BODGM (1,1), for forecasting the impact of pandemic-induced uncertainty on the volatility of cotton exports in China under limited samples. First, the Mann-Kendall test examines how pandemic-induced uncertainty affects cotton exports, based on China's monthly cotton export data from June 2014 to August 2022. Second, buffer operators are employed to weaken the nonlinear trends and correct the tentative predictions of the discrete grey model. Then, the BODGM (1,1) model was validated by comparison with four alternative models. The results indicate that the BODGM (1,1) model was particularly promising for identifying mutational fluctuations in cotton exports and outperformed the GM (1,1), DGM (1,1), ARIMA and linear regression models in fitting and prediction accuracy under volatility and limited data. The BODGM (1,1) model forecast results for China showed that cotton export volume was expected to show signs of recovery over the next 12 months. The findings of this study may provide a basis for formulating trade policies to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on export resources and build their resilience to future pandemics.

Improving Global Supply Chain Risk Identification Using Rcf

This paper contains an introduction to industrial problems, solutions, and results conducted with the Korea Association of Machinery Industry. The client company commis-sioned the problem of upgrading the method of identifying global supply risky items. Accord-ingly, the factors affecting the supply and demand of imported items in the global supply chain were identified and the method of selecting risky items was studied and delivered. Through research and discussions with the client companies, it is confirmed that the most suitable fac-tors for identifying global supply risky items are 'import size', 'import dependence', and 'trend abnormality'. The meaning of each indicator is introduced, and risky items are selected us-ing export/import data until October 2022. Through this paper, it is expected that countries and companies will be able to identify global supply risky items in advance and prepare for risks in the new normal situation: the economic situation caused by infectious diseases such as the COVID-19 pandemic;and the export/import regulation due to geopolitical problems. The client company will include in his report, the method presented in this paper and the risky items selected by the method.

The timber industry in Russia under sanctions: Losses and opportunities

The article considers the prospects of the domestic timber industry in the context of sanctions restrictions. Based on the data on average annual trade flows for 2018-2020, the potential damage from trade restrictions is assessed. Particular attention is paid to the fifth package of EU sanctions, which contains the most severe restrictions on trade with Russia for a wide range of forest commodities. The potential loss of income for the Russian timber industry from the ban on exports to the EU is estimated at 3.5 billion dollars. The ban on imports from the EU countries may also be sensitive for the industry, but it should not be regarded as fatal. The possibilities of partial replacement of the deficit of products for a considerable list of goods are shown. At the same time, the violation of free trade in forest products because of sanctions becomes a new turn in the spiral of the global crisis, which began in the pandemic COVID-19. Consequently, the damage to countries imposing sanctions on Russia is also significant. The most affected will be the largest RF trading partners in Europe - Finland and Germany, as well as the Baltic States. A sharp increase in logging in the EU against the background of the energy crisis creates an additional opportunity for the Russian timber complex. The reciprocal nature of economic losses, as well as multiple examples of circumventing sanctions in other industries, suggest that the most likely scenario will be attempts to maintain trade relations while formally implementing the imposed restrictions.

Study on the Spatial Evolution of China's Pulp and Paper Product Import Trade and Its Influencing Factors

The purpose of this research is to study the changes in the market structure of China's pulp and paper product imports. In particular, the import trade environment and market layout of Chinese pulp and paper products have changed under the international context of the coronavirus pandemic and the Sino-US trade dispute and the domestic policy context of zero imports of Chinese waste paper. This study attempts to fill the gap regarding the influencing factors of market structure, while contributing new ideas on China's trade in pulp and paper products. Based on pulp and paper product import and export trade data from 2005 to 2021, a trade gravity model was used to explore the changes in the share of China's trade partners for pulp and paper product imports and their influencing factors. The results indicated that the outbreak of COVID-19 led to a significant increase in China's imports of packaging paper products, bringing about an increase in Indonesia's status as a partner in China's pulp and paper product trade. The US-China trade dispute had an impact on pulp and paper product trade between the two countries, with China's tax countermeasures causing the US to lose its status as a trading partner in China for pulp and paper product imports. The center of gravity for paper product imports has moved from the US and Japan to Indonesia and Russia. The restrictions on waste paper imports have shifted the focus of China's paper raw material imports, with the US no longer being the main importer of China's paper raw materials. Specifically, the main importers of wood pulp are Brazil and Chile, while the main importers of waste paper pulp are Thailand and Malaysia. In the future, China needs to continuously strengthen dialogue with the United States to resolve trade disputes and create a favorable environment for trade in pulp and paper products. At the same time, China's paper enterprises should strengthen the expansion of the Southeast Asian market and reduce dependence on the US market, and China should continue to improve the waste paper recycling system and improve the utilization rate of domestic waste paper.

Development of Trade and Financial-Economical Relationships between China and Russia: A Study Based on the Trade Gravity Model

This article empirically assessed new opportunities and provides a conceptual justification for promising areas of trade and financial and economic relations between China and Russia amidst ongoing global turbulence, the post-COVID situation, and sanctions pressure. The study utilized the trade gravity model, taking into account the latest trends in the development of the research subject and object, as well as current challenges and trends in the global economy. The study revealed similarities between the political systems, reforms, and policies of China and Russia, with centralized power structures overlapping and supporting each other at international forums such as the UNSC. The findings suggest that both countries plan to increase trade volume in the next two years, with China focusing more on trade and economic development, while Russia works to promote security and political stability. This study provides valuable insights into the economic relationship between Russia and China, its impact on the US and Europe, and highlights the need for effective policy interventions to address the challenges posed by this relationship. It offers significant theoretical and practical contributions, including the potential to unlock the potential of national economies, increase their competitiveness and help states enter a phase of advanced and sustainable development. This article provides several policy recommendations to ensure the long-term sustainability of the economic relationship between Russia and China and foster mutual understanding and trust between their peoples. These include promoting trade diversification, enhancing financial cooperation, addressing trade barriers, strengthening political and security coordination, mitigating negative impacts on other countries, promoting sustainable development, and fostering people-to-people exchanges. © 2023 by the authors.

Hidden causality between oil prices and exchange rates

This work investigates the interactions between oil prices and exchange rates of 6 typical oil importers (China, Japan, and India) and exporters (Canada, Russia, and Saudi Arabia) from 2006 to 2022. We employ a novel method to capture their causal interactions, namely pattern causality, and compare the results to that based on the volatility spillover method. The empirical analysis supports most existing findings that oil prices are bidirectional correlated with exchange rates. However, unlike previous studies that only investigate positive and negative causalities, we highlight dark causality as a more complex interaction. Moreover, dark causality suggests that successive increases (decreases) in oil prices tend to drive the exchange rates of oil exporters to act in an oscillatory manner rather than in a purely positive or opposite trend, and vice versa. Furthermore, we also reveal that dark causality shows dominance during crises, e.g., the global financial crisis, the European debt crisis, the epidemic of COVID-19, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Revealing three types of causalities between oil prices and exchange rates helps policymakers develop more diversified macroeconomic policies. Moreover, the newly identified dark causality can be a useful indicator for investors to risk management. © 2023

Impact of COVID-19 on Import and Export of Petroleum Products and Crude Oil in India

Imports and export have a significant contribution to increasing the effect of economies of scale and industrialization and lead to an increase in foreign exchange earnings. The oil and gas industry is a prime factor of development in the Indian economy. The natural gas and petroleum sector of India contributes one-seventh percent of the South Asian countries. Petroleum products can be considered ranked among the top five contributors of export trade in India. With the spread of COVID-19 at an exponential rate leading to shut down of industries, manufacturing, transportation, and offices, it has widely impacted the global supply chain. This research aims at studying the effect of COVID-19 on the export and import volumes of petroleum products and crude oil in India. Along with that, the research also covers the changes observed in the consumption and production of petroleum products and domestic and international exchange rate of crude oil before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Energy Diversification and Security in the EU: Comparative Assessment in Different EU Regions

Various methods and tools have been developed to quantify energy supply security;however, there is no ideal framework to measure energy security, as the concept is multifaceted and context dependent. Energy supply security has always been an extremely important issue for European Union (EU) countries due to high import dependency, and recent events linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have made it exceptionally important to reconsider this problem to identify the crucial issues and address contemporary policy needs. This study endeavours to systematise the primary energy security indicators in terms of policy relevance and develop an energy security assessment framework to examine energy import dependency and diversification for the EU in view of recent problems. This study introduces an energy import diversification and security index which enables measurement of a country's energy security level for comparison with other countries and identifies primary areas for improvement. The proposed framework is then applied to a case study of selected EU countries to examine regional differences and identify potential improvements. © 2023 by the authors.

World textile and apparel trade and production trends: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey

Textile and clothing exports from Egypt shot up by 36.4% in 2021. The rise represented a recovery after exports had declined by 13.4% in 2020—reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were increases in exports in 2021 to most of Egypt's major markets, including Algeria, Canada, China, the EU, India, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the UAE, the UK and the USA. Furthermore, strong growth was recorded in 2022 in sales of Egyptian textiles and clothing in the EU import market in the first half of the year and in the US import market in the first nine months of the year. Textile and clothing exports from Morocco rose by 25.9% in 2021 following a 17.3% fall in 2020. The rise in 2021 reflected increases in exports to almost all of Morocco's major markets, including the EU, Mauritania, Senegal, Tunisia, Turkey, the UK and the USA. Furthermore, in 2022 there was strong growth in sales of Moroccan clothing in the EU import market in the first half of the year and in the US import market in the first nine months of the year. Textile and clothing production in Morocco rose significantly in 2021 after declining in 2020. It was down in the first quarter of 2022 but was up sharply in the second quarter of 2022. Textile and clothing exports from Tunisia increased by 12.0% in 2021 following a 7.3% decline in 2020, and during January-July 2022 they were up by 20.8%. The increases in 2021 and during January-July 2022 reflected, primarily, trends in clothing exports while, geographically, they reflected trends in sales in the EU, UK and US markets. Production by Tunisian textile, clothing and fur manufacturers, meanwhile, rose by 10.8% in 2021 and during January-September 2022 it was up by 18.5%. Textile and clothing exports from Turkey rose by 26.1% in 2021 and during January-September 2022 they were up by 6.4%. The rise in 2021 reflected increases in exports to almost all of Turkey's major markets, including Belarus, Egypt, the EU, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, the UAE, the UK, Ukraine and the USA. Furthermore, in 2022 there was strong growth in sales of Turkish clothing in the EU import market in the first half of the year, although growth in sales in the US import market slowed to just 0.8% in the first nine months of the year. Clothing production in Turkey rose by 24.0% in 2021 and was up by 33.4% during January-September 2022. Textile production, meanwhile, increased by 20.5% in 2021 but during January-September 2022 it inched down by 0.1%. © Textiles Intelligence Limited 2022.

The waste ban in China: what happened next? Assessing the impact of new policies on the waste management sector in China.

The 2017 ban on the waste import and new policies for the waste management sector in mainland China had wide-spread impact. After decades of poor environmental and public health impacts from the sector, a study is needed which focuses on policies updates and waste management. This provides a direction for the survival of local waste management industries and consider similarities with the ban promulgated in China on the restriction of waste import from other countries. We review the waste management situation in China before national legislation prevented the import of waste, highlight the status of landfill mining in China, and review the dynamics of domestic policies before and after the promulgation of the ban in China. The impact of the COVID19 pandemic on the waste management system is starting to emerge, providing both challenges and opportunities for the sector in China. We see the impact of the ban on the range of imported waste and domestically generated materials. The ban results in price increases for domestic recycling that forces companies to introduce more formal recycling processes and to drive the consumption behaviours to more reasonable and environmentally friendly options. The driver in China is to reduce pollution in the environment and improve health, but a negative impact has been from increased landfill mining which has impeded the original aim of the waste ban and requires further technological development. The dynamic of domestic policies in China shows higher level of activity of updates and revisions or introduction of new policies from 2015 onwards and the concept of 'zero waste cities' brings new hope for improvement of the Chinese waste management system. The pandemic also suggests an important step to establish sustainable management systems despite evidence of increased "fly-tipping". The rebound of the waste ban may have stimulated in the short term negative impacts on local environments both in China and internationally.

Modeling Import Demand for Fishery Products in Japan: A Dynamic AIDS Approach

A dynamic AIDS model was employed to estimate the expenditure, own-price, and cross elasticity of five major import source countries for shrimp, salmon, albacore and tuna, crab, and cuttlefish in Japan. Our findings show that COVID-19 has had no significant impact on Japan's fishery imports in the short term. The expenditure elasticities of fishery imports in Japan are greater than 1 or close to 1, implying that consumers in Japan have a relatively high dependence on fishery imports. Specifically, the expenditure elasticities of shrimp and cuttlefish imports from Vietnam, albacore and tuna imports from Australia, and crab imports from Russia are close to 1, while their own-price elasticities are the least sensitive compared with other import source countries, suggesting a greater export potential in the Japanese market. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Marine Resource Economics is the property of University of Chicago and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Pathways to wheat self-sufficiency in Africa.

A growing urban population and dietary changes increased wheat import bills in Africa to 9% per year. Though wheat production in the continent has been increasing over the past decades, to varying degrees depending on regions, this has not been commensurate with the rapidly increasing demand for wheat. Analyses of wheat yield gaps show that there is ample opportunity to increase wheat production in Africa through improved genetics and agronomic practices. Doing so would reduce import dependency and increase wheat self-sufficiency at national level in many African countries. In view of the uncertainties revealed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather events, and world security issues, national policies in Africa should re-consider the value of self-sufficiency in production of staple food crops, specifically wheat. This is particularly so for areas where water-limited wheat yield gaps can be narrowed through intensification on existing cropland and judicious expansion of rainfed and irrigated wheat areas. Increasing the production of other sources of calories (and proteins) should also be considered to reduce dependency on wheat imports.

The cysS gene (ncgl0127) of Corynebacterium glutamicum is required for sulfur assimilation and affects oxidative stress-responsive cysteine import.

The OsnR protein functions as a transcriptional repressor of genes involved in redox-dependent stress responses. Here, we studied Corynebacterium glutamicum ORF ncgl0127 (referred to as cysS in this study), one of the target genes of OsnR, to reveal its role in osnR-mediated stress responses. The ΔcysS strain was found to be a cysteine auxotroph, and the transcription levels of the sulfur assimilatory genes and cysR, the master regulatory gene for sulfur assimilation, were low in this strain. Complementation of the strain with cysR transformed the strain into a cysteine prototroph. Cells challenged with oxidants or cysteine showed transcriptional stimulation of the cysS gene and decreased transcription of the ncgl2463 gene, which encodes a cysteine/cystine importer. The transcription of the ncgl2463 gene was increased in the ΔcysS strain and further stimulated by cysteine. Unlike the wild-type strain, ΔcysS cells grown with an excess amount of cysteine showed an oxidant- and alkylating agent-resistant phenotype, suggesting deregulated cysteine import. Collectively, our data suggest that the cysS gene plays a positive role in sulfur assimilation and a negative role in cysteine import, in particular in cells under oxidative stress.

An innovative tool for cost control under fragmented scenarios: The container freight index microinsurance.

With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, global container freights have increased dramatically since the second half of 2020, which has significantly hampered the booking activities of fragmented transportation space for small and medium-sized import and export enterprises (SMIEEs). To provide SMIEEs with an effective tool for controlling shipping costs, we propose the design principles of index microinsurance under fragmented scenarios and design the container freight index microinsurance (CFIM) based on a comprehensive analysis of the term, compensation and share structures. We further establish the pricing model for the CFIM and selection procedure for product optimization, and illustrate the framework with a case study based on the data of the China Containerized Freight Index Europe Service, which demonstrates the good performance of the designed product even under extreme market conditions. The design principles proposed can shed light on the innovation of index microinsurance product that meets fragmented needs and the newly designed CFIM, along with the pricing and optimization procedure, provides practitioners with useful tools for cost control.

The Impact of COVID-19 on EU-China Trade Flows

COVID-19 is expected to have contributed towards changing the geographical structure of world trade, including trade between individual EU countries and China. This article presents the results of an analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sino-EU trade flows. The research aims to ascertain whether European Union countries noted a strengthening of their competitive advantage in trade with China in any of the 21 HS sections by increasing the value of the normalized revealed comparative advantage index (NRCA). To identify and select the most significant NRCA observations, Chebyshev's inequality was used. The analysis was carried out for 2015 to 2020, with a particular emphasis on 2020, when the first effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were recorded. EU-China trade relations have been the subject of numerous studies, but their nature has not yet been fully elucidated. This article tries to fill that gap. The analysis of mutual trade, especially at such an important moment from the socio-economic perspective, can bring significant results. The analysis revealed that the pandemic did not result in any decline in EU-China trade. In fact, global trade rose in 2020, with most of the 27 EU countries recording increases in both imports and exports. There were also no significant changes in the structure of the distribution of comparative advantage. However, in contrast to the previously analyzed years (2015-2019), in 2020, the NRCA index shows a flatter distribution, suggesting that most EU countries with the highest comparative advantages actually observed reductions in them. © 2022 Sciendo. All rights reserved.

Circularity by stock in Sri Lanka: Economic necessity meets urban fabric renovation

Persistent fiscal and political mismanagement, together with the financial pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, have driven Sri Lanka into a social and economic crisis triggering a decrease in national foreign exchange reserves, an inability to purchase vital imports, and an unprecedented rise in internal inflation rates. Within the correspondingly distressed construction sector, the idea of ‘design circularity' gains natural impetus beyond eco-system protection and responsible consumption views, as a critical strategy for responding to the material and fiscal scarcity of the country's by-now relatively closed economy. This is also in light of the fact that the post-independence history of industrial policy in the island has produced an urban landscape characterised by large underused and increasingly derelict building stock with a significant potential - and need - to be programmatically reorganised, technically recycled, and spatially and culturally re-designed. This paper moves from the proposition that, for ‘circularity' to be of use at the scale required, its design application must expand beyond conventional interpretations of material recycling, to acknowledge the overall building fabric as a critical, transformative resource available to be renewed or reborn, with varying degrees of reforms as called by the existing opportunities, underlying programmatic needs, and/or industrial constraints. In facilitating this function, architectural design has an important role to play, as particular sets of design strategies must be employed to handle the inevitable complexities between structure and form, material and content, and product and process, against a reflective understanding of local building logic, challenges and potential. To that end, professional design can help foster design approaches to resolve the technical intricacies of building fabric transformations, to strategise actions concerning work procurement and economic planning, and to provide the leading agency in setting up future-industry configurations. How this approach could inform and affect broad market notions of design circularity for Sri Lanka is evaluated through the review of three projects that focus on different programmatic transformations (residential-to-residential, residential-to-recreational, and commercial-to-recreational), are set within different geographical locales (city, periphery and in-between), and situated in and around Kandy, Sri Lanka's second largest city. The projects illustrate possible tactics for intervening on the existing fabric whilst considering the benefits of each and articulating the structural challenges for the practices involved. Copyright © 2023 Pathiraja and Tombesi.