Trade Finance and Payment Methods in International Trade

International transactions are riskier than domestic transactions for several reasons, including, but not limited to, geographical distance, longer shipping times, greater informational frictions, contract enforcement, and dispute resolution problems. Such risks stem, fundamentally, from a timing mismatch between payment and delivery in business transactions. Trade finance plays a critical role in bridging the gap, thereby overcoming greater risks inherent in international trade. It is thus even described as the lifeline of international trade, because more than 90% of international transactions involve some form of credit, insurance, or guarantee. Despite its importance in international trade, however, it was not until the great trade collapse in 2008–2009 that trade finance came to the attention of academic researchers. An emerging literature on trade finance has contributed to providing answers to questions such as: Who is responsible for financing transactions, and, hence, who would need liquidity support most to sustain international trade? This is particularly relevant in developing countries, where the lack of trade finance is often identified as the main hindrance to trade, and in times of financial crisis, when the overall drying up of trade finance could lead to a global collapse in trade.

Rigid-Plastic Analysis of Seismic Resistant T-Frame considering Moment-Shear Interaction

To select a seismic resistant system, in addition to strength and stiffness, ductility and energy dissipation are important to be considered. Structures have nonlinear behavior under the influence of moderate and strong earthquakes. One of the primary aims in designing seismic resistant structures is to prevent the formation of undesirable collapse mechanisms such as the collapse in only a few storeys of the structure that leads to low energy dissipation. In order to achieve a global collapse mechanism, modern seismic codes provide simple rules for design, which is called the hierarchy criteria. Although these simple criteria could prevent the formation of a soft storey mechanism, they could not lead to an optimal global collapse mechanism. In these mechanisms, the energy dissipation zones include all the yielding zones such as beams, while all other parts of the structure have remained in the elastic range. TRF (T-resisting frame) is an innovative lateral resistant system introduced for architectural reasons and to provide more energy dissipating capability. This system has several collapse mechanisms due to the moment, shear, or moment-shear behavior of its members. In this paper, within the framework of the theory of plastic mechanism control, the rigid-plastic analysis of the TRF system to achieve the desired collapse mechanism is used by considering the moment-shear interaction. According to these analyses, which are performed on a single storey frame, simple hierarchy criteria are developed to create the desired collapse mechanism. Also, these criteria prevent undesired collapse mechanisms in order to have more energy dissipation and more ductility. Finally, the validity of the proposed criteria has been verified by the pushover analysis.

Modeling of the Beam-To-Column Dowel Connection for a Single-Story RC Precast Building

As widely known, connections performance under seismic loads can significantly affect the structural response of RC precast buildings. Within the scientific community, an increasing number of studies has been carried out on this topic, in the light of the recent earthquake aftermaths all over Europe. Indeed, connections turned out to be the weakest part of the precast structures and their failure often provoked the global collapse of the whole building. The present study aims at assessing the seismic behavior of a single-story RC precast building in terms of global collapse implementing two different models of the beam-to-column connection, a simplified and a refined one. A lumped plasticity approach is used to simulate the structural nonlinear behavior at the column base. In order to assess the refined connection model, a preliminary scheme with an isolated single dowel is validated by comparing the pushover outcomes with experimental results from literature. Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses are performed on two models of a 3D single-story RC precast building, one implementing the simple beam-to-column connection model and the other one implementing the refined mode. The comparison clearly shows that the differences are negligible if the global collapse limit state is considered.

Forecasting During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Structural Analysis of Downside Risk

The global collapse in economic activity triggered by individual and policy-mandated responses to the spread of COVID-19 is unprecedented both in scale and origin. At the time of writing, U.S. GDP is expected by professional forecasters to contract a staggering 6 percent over the course of 2020 driven by its 32 percent collapse in the second quarter (measured at an annual rate).

The Rise of Fungi: Evidence on the Global Scale. Old Known Silences or Mysterious Threats to the Planet

Introduction: Fungi are organisms that present themselves in multicellular macroscopic and unicellular microscopic forms. They are eukaryotic, heterotrophic, reproduce asexually/sexually, cosmopolitan, achlorophyllates and are present in various climatic conditions and found in a variety of species and forms in nature. Aims: Present the emerging evolution of fungi, their underreporting, scale and parameters that show their potential as a heterotrophic organism, decomposer and pathogen. Methodology: In this review, we conducted a search emphasizing themes about fungi using the available databases and based on the scientific literature, we discussed a series of recent issues involving this wide realm and the constant controversies and expectations that guide the existence of fungi on the planet. Results: The results presented show an analysis of the action of these eukaryotic organisms and their interaction with other living beings, the constant changes in taxonomy, their pathogenic potential in plants and animals, issues related to the intrinsic resistance of some species to drugs and also the potential biotechnological for which these organisms demonstrate high plasticity. Conclusion: The expansion of fungal diseases to the fauna and flora of the planet; leads us to believe that, unless measures are taken to reinforce biosafety issues, it will be increasingly necessary to take care of the health conditions of the planet to avoid a global collapse caused by microscopic beings.

WILL FISH DISAPPEAR BY 2048?

In 2006, a tumult arose in the world of fisheries. A controversial paper titled “Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services” by Worm et al. (2006) was published in Science. The paper was sensational since it alluded to a prediction that global populations of marine fish (finfish and invertebrates) will be 100% collapsed by 2048. The paper was written by a group of marine ecologists and economists in which Boris Worm from Dalhousie University Canada led the authorship. After the paper was published, the issue of fish disappearance in 2048 became hot topics in the world’s mass media. In fact, the Worm et al. paper triggered the debates among researchers. Over time the debates heated up. Surprisingly, a reconciliation took place in 2009, marked by a collaboration between Worm’s team and his critics, writing another paper in Science. The present essay reaffirms the invalidity of the global collapse prediction in 2048 as revealed by many researchers. It is also shown that the Worm et al. paper did not state that all fish will disappear and through the joint paper in 2009, Worm and colleagues have indirectly rectified the prediction already.