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In traditional trade models, whether based on technological differences or on relative factor endowments, merchandise composition and directions of trade are derived from closed-economy conditions. But nowadays one of the basic assumptions of traditional trade models, i.e. that production processes are integrated within just one country, is being increasingly violated as previously integrated productive activities are segmented and spread over an international network of production sites: as a result, an increasingly large share of trade flows is made up of intermediate and unfinished goods being transferred from one country to another in order to be processed. In this paper we submit that such new configuration of production processes has important effects on at least three dimensions of economic research. First, we show that international disintegration of production processes leads to a lessening of the power of comparative advantages when it comes to explaining both merchandise composition and directions of trade, while it is the concept of absolute advantage to become increasingly relevant; second, we show that empirical measures of revealed comparative advantages are inherently misleading if they do not account for differences in the stage-of-processing of traded goods; third, we estimate a simple model of aggregate demand accounting for international trade in intermediates: results of estimation lend support to our prior that participation of a country in the process of international fragmentation of production plays a specific and significant role in determining its year-over-year change in GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the influence of different calendering conditions on newsprint surface and absorption characteristics, strength, and compression uniformity. We used a combination of traditional and new measurement techniques to evaluate newsprint calendered using a hard-nip, a conventional soft-nip, and an extended soft-nip. This study points out and compares the advantages and disadvantages of the respective calendering techniques. In all cases, flocs carried the greater part of the load. The different calendering techniques yielded dissimilar compression patterns. At constant process parameters, flocs were flattened most in hard-nip calendering, which had a positive effect on smoothness, gloss, thickness uniformity, and ink hold out. However, it negatively affected tensile strength, gloss uniformity, and print mottle. Extended soft-nip calendering produced opposite effects, including a rougher surface, non-uniform thickness, and less print mottle. Application: A combination of traditional and new measurement techniques to analyze the effects of calendering on paper properties is introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibers from recycled copy paper were pretreated with two polymers, cationic poly-DADMAC followed by anionic CMC. Results were slightly different from the results of earlier work, which showed that the maximum strength was obtained when the amount of poly-DADMAC was just sufficient to saturate the fibers. In this study, higher tensile strength was obtained when poly-DADMAC addition exceeded the saturation level. It was hypothesized that the strength increase arises from the information of polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) in the bulk phase, followed by deposition of PECs onto the fibers. Pre-formed complexes were retained efficiently by the fibers, especially when their surfaces had been pretreated with poly-DADMAC to saturation. Surprisingly, such pretreatment increased the retention efficiency of all of the PEC mixtures tested. PEC deposition yielded an additional increase of about 13% in dry strength beyond what could be achieved by treatments not involving complexation. Application: Dual treatment with dry-strength polymers may boost the strength of paper made from recycled copy paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this column, John E. Dvorak provides insight into some of the best industrial hemp websites on the Internet. Areas covered in detail include news portals, hemp associations, new products and research sites. Reviews relating to specific topics such as hemp food, textiles, paper and other industrial uses will also be periodically touched upon. The ever-changing nature of the world wide web will be reflected in the many different types of websites reviewed. While the focus of this column is on North America, a concerted effort is being made to incorporate as many sites from as many countries as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author reflects on which high-value commodity could be put forward for the 100th Jubilee spot in the U.S. as of July 2012. He believes the link between an anniversary and the particular commodity associated with it could be proportional to the item's value, such as paper, cotton and leather celebrating the first five years. He is proposing oil, which has reached a price of around 100 U.S. dollars per barrel (bbl), to have that 100th Jubilee spot.