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Studies in International Trade: Essays on the Gravity Model and the Trade Facilitation Agreement
No full textThis dissertation consists of three major chapters. The first chapter is dedicated to testing a novel gravity model of international trade, while the last two chapters explore crosscountry commitment and implementation behavior within the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.\u3eChapter 1:I test a novel theoretical gravity model of international trade on firm-level export data from Colombia in 2018. The model assumes a power law relationship between trade flows and distance, with the distance elasticity resulting from two dynamic processes: firm-export growth captured in a Pareto distribution; and the growth of the distance over which those exports are sold. Although the model has been shown to work well in French data, its usefulness for interpreting data from other countries remains unexplored. I find evidence that the model fails in Colombia because some large firms contradict its assumptions by exhibiting shorter export distances compared to smaller firms in the sample. I hypothesize that these large firms are branches of foreign multinational corporations (MNCs). MNCs’ headquarters constraint the export growth of its affiliates as well as the markets they reach. While I cannot prove firms’ MNC affiliation, I use export sophistication as an imperfect metric to reflect MNC presence. When MNC affiliates are excluded from the sample, firm export distance rises faster with firm size, leading to improved predictions of the distance elasticity of trade in Colombia by the model. These findings have implications not only for the tested model but also for other theories that explain gravity in international trade through firm-level behavior.Chapter 2:We use a new database of commitments made during the process of ratifying the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) to study variation in countries’ commitment behavior. The TFA is a novel World Trade Organization agreement because it allows developing countries to select commitments from a menu of best practices in trade facilitation, rather than to consent, or not, to a comprehensive package of negotiated commitments. The operation of this à la carte approach to concluding trade agreements is worthy of study in its own right, but the commitment data also offer a high-level description of progress in an international effort to improve border management procedures around the globe. Our study uses data on TFA commitments to describe progress across subcomponents of the agreement. A regression model shows that the number of Type A trade facilitation commitments that a country made in the TFA ratification process depends on its level of development, population size, ability to control corruption, and foreign aid received to support trade facilitation. We use multi-dimensional scaling techniques to study differences in the content of national commitment bundles. This approach demonstrates that variation in the content of countries’ commitments is closely tied to the number of commitments made.Chapter 3:This chapter examines the implementation progress of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) from 2019 to 2023. The TFA, which is the latest World Trade Organization agreement, came into force in 2017. In its novelty, it allows developing countries to set their own implementation schedule and adjust it if needed
A Large-Scale Uav Audio Dataset and Audio-Based UAV Classification Using CNN
No full textThe growing popularity and increased accessibility of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have raised concerns about potential threats they may pose. In response, researchers have devoted significant eorts to developing UAV detection and classification systems, utilizing diverse methodologies such as computer vision, radar, radio frequency, and audiobased approaches. However, the availability of publicly accessible UAV audio datasets remains limited. Consequently, this research endeavor was undertaken to address this gap by undertaking the collection of a comprehensive UAV audio dataset, alongside the development of a precise and ecient audio-based UAV classification system.This research project is structured into three distinct phases, each serving a unique purpose in data collection and training the proposed UAV classifier. These phases encompass data collection, dataset evaluation, the implementation of a proposed convolutional neural network, training procedures, as well as an in-depth analysis and evaluation of the obtained results. To assess the eectiveness of the model, several evaluation metrics are employed, including training accuracy, loss rate, the confusion matrix, and ROC curves.The findings from this study conclusively demonstrate that the proposed CNN classifier exhibits nearly flawless performance in accurately classifying UAVs across 22 distinct categories
Rewiring Police Officer Training Networks to Reduce Forecasted Use of Force
No full textPolice use of force has become a topic of significant concern, particularly given the disparate impact on communities of color. Research has shown that police officer involved shootings, misconduct and excessive use of force complaints exhibit network effects, where officers are at greater risk of being involved in these incidents when they socialize with officers who have a history of use of force and misconduct. Given that use of force and misconduct behavior appear to be transmissible across police networks, we are attempting to address if police networks can be altered to reduce use of force and misconduct events in a limited scope.In this work, we analyze a novel dataset from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on officer field training, subsequent use of force, and the role of network effects from field training officers. We construct a network survival model for analyzing time-to-event of use of force incidents involving new police trainees. The model includes network effects of the diffusion of risk from field training officers (FTOs) to trainees. We then introduce a network rewiring algorithm to maximize the expected time to use of force events upon completion of field training. We study several versions of the algorithm, including constraints that encourage demographic diversity of FTOs. The results show that FTO use of force history is the best predictor of trainee\u27s time to use of force in the survival model and rewiring the network can increase the expected time (in days) of a recruit\u27s first use of force incident by 8%. We then discuss the potential benefits and challenges associated with implementing such an algorithm in practice
Evaluation of Six Slicing Cucumber Cultivars in Southwest Michigan in 2023
Get PDFA slicing cucumber cultivar trial was planted at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center (42.081985, -86.354087, Benton Harbor, Michigan). Clifton (CL), Seedway (SW), Seminis (SM), and Syngenta (SY) seed companies donated five slicing cucumber cultivars for plastic-mulch bedded hand harvest. The trial quality was OK, with a dry start that created an uneven stand, and some deer browse
A Moderated Mediation Model to Predict the Development of Resistance to Peer Influence in Adolescence: Evidence from an Adoption Study
No full textAdolescents are highly sensitive to peer influence and thus at higher risk of acquiring problematic behaviors through peer interactions. However, adolescents vary in the extent to which they are influenced by their peers. Resistance to peer influence (RPI), the tendency to refuse undesired peer norms and peer pressure, is one of the crucial explanations for this variation. Prior to designing effective interventive plans to improve RPI, it is important to elucidate the pathways of how RPI develops in childhood and adolescence. Therefore, the present study leverages an adopted-at-birth design and proposes a moderated mediation model to examine whether: 1) child phenotypic impulsivity mediates the association between birth parent impulsivity and adolescent RPI; 2) child phenotypic self-esteem mediates the association between birth parent self-esteem and adolescent RPI; 3) adoptive parent responsiveness buffers the impulsivity pathway; and 4) adoptive parent responsiveness strengthens the self-esteem pathway. The sample consists of 538 family triads, with adopted child, birth parents, and adoptive parents, drawn from a sample of 561 families recruited from 45 adoption agencies in the United States. Birth parents’ impulsivity and self-esteem were measured to index heritable factors for phenotypic impulsivity and self-esteem. Adoptive parents’ responsiveness was measured via home observations. Impulsivity and self-esteem of adopted adolescent were reported by their adoptive parents, whereas RPI was assessed via self-report. Covariates included adolescent sex, age, and the openness to adoption between birth parents and adoptive parents. Results of structural equation models revealed that none of the proposed mediating or moderating pathways reached statistically significant levels. Overall, girls reported higher RPI than boys. For future studies, researchers may want to consider more accurate proxies of genetic factors for impulsivity and self-esteem, and repeated measures designs
CASTING A NEW CONVERSATION: RECOGNIZING INFORMATION LITERACY AS A DISCIPLINE
No full textThis presentation introduces ILIAD (Information literacy is a discipline), the elements of an academic discipline, before spotlighting panelist perspectives on the future of information literacy education and research
Measuring Gas Discharge in Contact Electrification
Get PDFContact electrification in a gas medium is usually followed by partial surface charge dissipation caused by dielectric breakdown of the gas triggered during separation of the surfaces. It is widely assumed that such discharge obeys the classical Paschen’s law, which describes the general dependence of the breakdown voltage on the product of gas pressure and gap distance. However, quantification of this relationship in contact electrification involving insulators is impeded by challenges in nondestructive in situ measurement of the gap voltage. The present work implements an electrode-free strategy for capturing discrete discharge events by monitoring the gap voltage via Coulomb force, providing experimental evidence of Paschen curves governing nitrogen breakdown in silicone-acrylic and copper-nylon contact electrification. It offers an alternative approach for characterizing either the ionization energies of gases or the secondary-electron-emission properties of surfaces without the requirement of a power supply, which can potentially benefit applications ranging from the design of insulative materials to the development of triboelectric sensors and generators
Student Engagement in an Online Stem Camp: Where have You People Been all My Life?
No full textThis thesis investigates an online STEM camp called Techie Times and observes its ability to engage rural and urban students in Indiana after the initial COVID-19 outbreak. Students from both locales are found to engage with the camp but only from a few counties across Indiana. Techie Times observed high skills and performance engagement and moderate participation and emotional engagement. The guardians of students appreciated the online camp’s structure, ease of access, and hands-on activities, but thought that the students needed more opportunities to interact with each other and present ideas
Recombinant BPRAG1 Protein-Based Serodiagnostic Assays for Detection of Baylisascaris Larva Migrans in Birds and Non-Human Primates
No full textBaylisascaris procyonis is an intestinal roundworm commonly found in raccoons and can accidentally infect more than 160 animal species. In these accidental hosts,Baylisascaris larval stages migrate through body tissues resulting in a zoonotic disease known as larva migrans that can result in permanent neurological damage or death. Currently, there are no suitable antemortem serological tests for the diagnosis of Baylisascaris larva migrans in birds and non-human primates. The objective of this study was to establish reliable serodiagnostic tests to detect Baylisascaris larva migrans in birds and non-human primates. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and western blot (WB) based serodiagnostic assays were standardized using the recombinant B. procyonis RAG1 antigen (rBpRAG1) currently being used in the serodiagnosis of Baylisascaris infection in humans. To overcome the challenge of using different species-specific secondary antibodies, protein A/G was utilized in place of secondary antibody for non-human primates’ ELISA and WB assay and an anti-bird secondary antibody was utilized to optimize the serodiagnostic assays for birds. Cockatiels (group I, n=5) exposed to B. procyonis larval antigens through hyperimmunization with larval ES proteins exhibited 100% seroconversion, while cockatiels (group IIa, n=9, 1400 eggs and group IIb, n=9, 2200 eggs) that were orally infected with two different doses ofB. procyonis eggs demonstrated variable levels of antibody response and seroconversion rates (56%-67%) on the rBpRAG1 ELISA. Sera of 138 non-human primates submitted from different zoological parks across the United States were tested on rBpRAG1 ELISA and WB. Approximately 24% of the samples were non-reactive in both the ELISA and western blot assays and were considered as true negatives. Among those that were considered suspect reactors or positives on ELISA, the results were not congruent on WB. Approximately 21% of the samples reacted with both rBpRAG1 and co-purified bacterial proteins, and 14% of the samples only reacted with the co-purified proteins. Since ELISA alone can incur false positives due to reactivity with co-purified proteins, it is recommended to use rBpRAG1 ELISA in conjunction with WB for diagnosis of Baylisascarislarva migrans in non-human primates
Mixed-Methods Analysis of Social-Engineering Incidents
No full textThe following study is a research thesis on the subject matter of Social Engineering (SE) or Social Engineering Information Security Incidents (SEISI). The research evaluates the common features that can be used to cover a social engineering scenario from the perspectives of all stakeholders, at the individual and organizational level in terms of social engineering Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP). The research utilizes extensive secondary literary sources for understanding the topic of Social Engineering, highlights the issue of inconsistencies in the existing frameworks on social engineering and, addresses the research gap of availability of reliable dataset on past social engineering incidents by information gathered on the common themes of data reported on these. The study annotates salient features which have been identified in several studies in the past to develop a comprehensive dataset of various social engineering attacks which could be used by both computational and social scientists. The resulting codebook or the features of a social engineering are coded and defined based on Pretext Design Maps as well as industry standards and frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK, MITRE CVE, NIST, etc. Lastly, Psychological Theories of Persuasion like Dr. Cialdini’s principles of persuasion, Elaboration Likelihood Model, and Scherer’s Typology of Affective Emotional States guidesthe psychological TTPs of social engineering evaluated in this study