Countries have long used import tari↵s as an instrument to stimulate or protect downstream industries; however, in the GATT/WTO era, tari↵s have fallen greatly worldwide. Has the WTO succeeded in limiting the prevalence of this class of industrial policy, or are governments still attempting to move downstream via other policy instruments? For countries with large raw materials endowments, one a...

In this research we model and estimate the effects on productivity downstream from information technology (IT) investments made upstream. Specifically, we examine how one industry’s productivity is affected by the IT capital stock of its suppliers. These supplier-driven IT spillovers occur because, due to competition in the supplying industry, quality benefits from suppliers’ IT investments can...

increasing in concentration of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium and zinc cause considerable harmful effects on soil and environment. these elements are also hazardous to health of humans and wildlife. petrochemical plants and refineries pollution increase the amount of carcinogenic and tratogenic compounds in environment. the main goal of recent paper is the studying of soil...

optimistic. He found the theme of that statement — of what “will” happen in the future — to be troubling in that, in the 1920s, a radical change in technology, with similarities to biotechnology, was championed by luminaries such as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford: to replace hydrocarbons with carbohydrates. Despite broad support, including deans of MIT and Harvard, for the concept of manufactured...

The construction industry has higher accident rates than normal manufacturing. Very high accident rates were found amongst contractors in parts of the Norwegian offshore industry. The term contractor includes individual workers, small firms, and large construction companies with many employees. The contractor is exposed to process risks and diverse occupational risks while doing maintenance or ...

BACKGROUND Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are a common health problem throughout the world and a major cause of disability in the workplace. OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence rate of MSDs, assessment of ergonomics working conditions and identification of major risk factors associated with MSDs symptoms among employees of Iranian petrochemical industries between October 200...

Biological monitoring of exposure of workers to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in petrochemical industries was performed by the measurement of urinary excretion of 1-hydroxypyrene. In 121 of the 462 workers studied (both smokers and non-smokers) who had had no recent occupational exposure to PAHs a median 1-hydroxypyrene concentration of 0.21 micrograms/g creatinine was found. The uppe...