Empirical essays on international trade.

The thesis comprises four essays on the effects of free trade agreements and regional economic cooperation on trade flows in Africa, comparison of the effects of migration on trade in Africa and Asia, and the causal effects of service trade on service income at the cross-country level.

What's in a name? Software, digital products, and the sale of goods

This article addresses how the advent of trade in computer software, and nowdigital products, has challenged the application of sales law and consumer law.It addresses the law of three jurisdictions: the United Kingdom (‘UK’),Australia and New Zealand. Often, applying the ‘goods’ criterion in theseregimes will be uncontroversial. Nevertheless, modern market conditions havecreated a need to move beyond the existing question of whether softwareconstitutes ‘goods’, and instead to ask how a range of different types of digitalproducts fit into sales law and consumer law regimes. Many legal systems havesettled the software-as-goods question. However, software is only one kind ofcommonly traded digital product. This article argues that other types of digitalproducts — including apps, firmware, digital music and electronic books —should be treated the same way as software by sales law and consumer lawregimes. Recent developments in UK consumer law are also analysed as aninnovative model for reform regarding party rights and obligations in the supplyof digital products.

Discrimination of origin of farmed trout by means of biometrical parameters, fillet chemical composition and flavour volatile compounds

To date it is well known that the quality of farmed trout is affected by diet composition, by feeding regime, by husbandry practices and by rearing conditions and environment. The trout processing industry and the large-scale retail trade, in consideration of the wide variability of trout quality and characteristics, have imposed, or will soon impose, quality criteria for the end product. Moreover, recent food scares and the malpractices of some food producers have increased public requests
for traceability. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the main chemical quality and the biometrical characteristics of rainbow trout produced in three different farms in Italy (two intensive farms, located one on mountain and one on plain, and an extensive farm in which fish fed only on naturally available nutrients) and to establish whether farmed trout
origins could be differentiated by these parameters. Trout farmed in the intensive mountain farm (IMF) showed the highest crude lipid content in the fillets and the fatty acids of their fillets were characterized by the highest percentage of MUFA. Trout farmed in the intensive plain farm (IPF) were characterized by low dressing percentage, and the lipid of their fillets
was rich in n-6 fatty acids. Trout stocked for the last year of their life in the extensive farm (EF) were leaner both in the carcass and in the fillets. The analysis of flavor volatile compounds showed some differences in the bouquet design, particularly differences in the amounts of n-3 and n-6 derivates volatile aldehydes and alcohols. All data significantly different
(P<0.05) were subjected to Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and 8 variables were chosen to create two discriminant equations generating a strong prediction model for classification of farmed trout respective to their origins.

Visions of Utopia

Since 1949, propaganda posters have been produced in China as a visual language to unite the masses. Posters and billboards portraying images of youth in minority costumes, traditional paper cuts and China’s abundant workforce engaged in modernisation were meant to unite the masses through ‘revolutionary realism with revolutionary romanticism’. These images offer interesting insight into Mao’s version ‘socialist utopia’. With the opening of China to foreign investment and trade in 1979, the vision of a ‘socialist utopia’ has changed once again. Propaganda posters are replaced with large-scale billboards featuring luxury cars, clothing and products from the West. In order to illustrate this change, artists from Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, Lisa Scharoun (Lecturer of Graphic Design) and Frances Tatarovic (Lecturer of Photography), have created a series of ‘advertisements’ that utilize similar themes of Maoist era propaganda posters with the infusion of the glossy characteristics of luxury fashion advertising. The images reference techniques and the visual language of contemporary western commercial fashion photography. Within the artworks, the past and present visual culture of China is juxtaposed to create a dialogue between the icons of the Maoist vision of a socialist utopia and the contemporary visual icons of fashion and luxury advertising.

Differentiating three conceptualisations of the relationship between positive development and psychopathology during the transition to adulthood

The transition to adulthood is characterised by both great potential for positive change and a relatively high incidence of problem outcomes. A multidimensional model of positive development during the transition to adulthood (at 19-20 years) has recently been proposed. However, an unresolved question regarding the nature of positive development during this time is how best to conceptualise its relationship to psychopathology. We drew on data from 1158 participants in the Australian Temperament Project, a large longitudinal community-based study that has followed young people's psychosocial adjustment from infancy to early adulthood. Using structural equation modelling, we compared three models reflecting different conceptualisations of the relationship between positive development and psychopathology. The results suggest that positive development and psychopathology are best modelled as separate but correlated constructs. Hence, development in one domain is likely to influence the other, although separate and specific developmental pathways are also likely to be operating.

Adolescent resilience : a concept analysis

There is need for greater clarity around the concept of resilience as it relates to the period of adolescence. Literature on resilience published between 1990 and 2000 and relevant to adolescents aged between 12- and 18-years of age was reviewed with the aim of examining the various uses of the term, and commenting on how specific ways of conceptualizing of resilience may help develop new research agendas in the field. By bringing together ideas on resilience from a variety of research and clinical perspectives, the purpose of the review is to explicate core elements of resilience in more precise ways, in the hope that greater conceptual clarity will lead to a range of tailored interventions that benefit young people.

Inflation and quality dispersion

One questionable aspect of price posting with directed search is the strong commitment by sellers to commit to the advertised terms of trade. In this paper I explore the welfare implications of assuming that sellers cannot commit and vary the quality of their output ex post according to realized demand. I show that such lack of commitment translates into lower participation by buyers, lower average quality, and a consumption-equivalent loss of 0.3% of annual GDP.

Mercy health mental health nurse practitioner project report

The Nurse Practitioner – Mental Health model investigates the options for providing a service to a group of clients who present at Werribee and Western Emergency Departments (ED) and currently receive either limited mental health service or have an undiagnosed mental illness. This group comprises at risk young adults who do not meet the criteria for ongoing treatment in public mental health services at present. At risk young adults are those who fit known demographic variables for risk and have a risk catalyst (eg relationship break up) and a situational response to this (self harm). Mercy Mental Health Program service survey indicates gaps in services to this group using current referral pathway with potentially 40-70% lost to follow-up and a significant increase in risk for suicide.

Applied econometrics and implications for energy economics research

Developments in applied econometrics, particularly with regard to unit root tests and cointegration tests, have motivated a rich empirical literature on energy economics over the last decade. This study reviews recent developments in time series econometrics applications in the energy economics literature. We first consider the literature on the integration properties of energy variables. We begin with a discussion of the implications of whether energy variables contain a unit root and proceed to examine how results differ according to the specific unit root or stationarity test employed. We then proceed to examine recent developments in the literature on cointegration, Granger causality and long-run estimates between (disaggregated) energy consumption and economic growth. We review both single country and panel studies and pay particular attention to studies which have expanded the literature through adding variables such as financial development and trade, in addition to energy consumption to the augmented production function, as well as studies which have extended the literature through examining disaggregated energy consumption by type. In each case we highlight best practice in the literature, point to limitations in the literature, including econometric modeling challenges, and suggest recommendations for future research. A key message of our survey is that the profession needs to guard against 'overload' of research in these areas as most applied studies are no longer adding anything more to what is already known. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.