Smuggling and import duties in Myanmar

This paper examines the effects of import duties on smuggling in Myanmar. Following Fisman and Wei (2004), the reporting discrepancies between Myanmar’s imports records and corresponding exports recorded by trading partners are regarded as indicative of smuggling. The paper studies whether reporting discrepancies differ across trading partners as well as across time. Our main findings are first, that the hike in import duties in June 2004 helped to widen the reporting discrepancies, which suggests smuggling for tax evasion purposes and second, that reporting discrepancies differ considerably across trading partners: land borders appear to be particularly attractive venues for smugglers.Myanmar, Imports, Tariff, Smuggling, Myanmar (Burma), Tax evasion, Border trade

Identifying angiotensin II effects on protein kinase B activation in insulin metabolic signaling [abstract]

Inappropriate activation of the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System has been linked to oxidative stress and insulin resistance. Whereas insulin binds to its receptor and triggers tyrosine phosphorylation of Insulin Receptor Substrate 1 (IRS-1) for downstream signaling through the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) cascade leading to glucose uptake, Ang II and aldosterone stimulate NADPH oxidase production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS are postulated to activate redox-sensitive serine kinases that inappropriately phosphorylate IRS-1 at serine moieties, subsequently decreasing Akt activation/phosphorylation which translates into impaired glucose uptake and decreased insulin sensitivity. The crucial insulin metabolic signaling event of Akt activation as it relates to Ang II alone was investigated. C2C12 mouse skeletal muscle cells were cultured in 60mm dishes (DMEM with 10% FBS, 1% penicillin/streptomycin) at 5% CO2 and 37 °C until ?80% confluent, then differentiated to myotubules (DMEM containing 2% horse serum, 1% penicillin/streptomycin, 0.1% amphotericin B) with characteristic morphological alignment, elongation, and fusion confirmed using light microscopy. Time course treatments with 100nM Ang II with or without 100nM insulin stimulation for 5 min before harvest followed. Western blot analysis using anti-rabbit antibodies to serine phosphorylated (Ser473) Akt or total Akt (1:1000) provided immunoblot bands that were quantified on the Quantity One software (Bio-Rad). Ang II and insulin, respectively, signal through Akt with fluctuations in the level of phosphorylated Akt observed within the tested time intervals. Although our preliminary data shows a trend favoring diminished Akt activation in the presence of Ang II, lack of statistical significance warrants further investigation

Online micro-spatial analysis based on GIS estimated building population : a case of Tsukuba City

Thesis (Ph. D. in Science)--University of Tsukuba, (A), no. 5354, 2010.3.25Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-127

Cleaved end-face quality of microstructured polymer optical fibres

The cutting of a microstructured polymer optical fibre to form an optical end-face is studied. The effect of the temperature and speed of the cutting blade on the end-face is qualitatively assessed and it is found that for fibres at temperatures in the range 70–90 C, a blade at a similar temperature moving at a speed of less than 0.5 mm/s produces a good quality end-face. The nature of the damage caused by the cutting process was examined and found to vary with fibre temperature, blade quality and cut depth. Thermo-mechanical analysis showed that the drawn material was significantly more visco-elastic than the annealed raw material in the 70-90 C temperature range. The behaviour of the surface damage with cut depth was found to be consistent with the behaviour of a visco-elastic material

Transition from subbarrier to deep subbarrier regimes in heavy-ion fusion reactions

We analyze the recent experimental data of heavy-ion fusion cross sections available up to deep subbarrier energies in order to discuss the threshold incident energy for a deep subbarrier fusion hindrance phenomenon. To this end, we employ a one-dimensional potential model with a Woods-Saxon internuclear potential. Fitting the experimental data in two different energy regions with different Woods-Saxon potentials, we define the threshold energy as an intersect of the two fusion excitation functions. We show that the threshold energies so extracted are in good agreement with the empirical systematics as well as with the values of the Krappe-Nix-Sierk (KNS) potential at the touching point. We also discuss the asymptotic energy shift of fusion cross sections with respect to the potential model calculations, and show that it decreases with decreasing energies in the deep subbarrier region although it takes a constant value at subbarrier energies.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure