Part I Legal and Practical Challenges to Traditional Trade Finance, 3 Soft Clauses in Letters of Credit

Soft clauses in letters of credit make the issuing bank’s obligation conditional upon some event or certification that is in the control either of the applicant, or some agent, entity, or organisation in the applicant’s country. Such clauses make an apparently irrevocable letter of credit into what is, in essence, a conditional undertaking dependent on the applicant’s approval. Soft clauses are not always a vehicle for fraud—there may be genuine reasons for their inclusion—but they certainly make it easy for an applicant to ensure that the issuing bank does not pay the beneficiary. This chapter will consider the problems caused by the use of soft clauses, some possible solutions, and it will suggest alternatives, some of which look to the past (bills of exchange/time drafts), some to the present (open account and standby letters of credit), and some to the future (the advent of blockchain technology).

The impact of tube replacement timing during LCIG therapy on PEG-J associated adverse events: a retrospective multicenter observational study

Background Levodopa–carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) treatment, a unique drug delivery system for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD), is covered by health insurance in Japan since September 2016. Various LCIG procedure/device-associated adverse events (AEs) have been reported; however, reports on their treatment have been limited. This is the first multicenter study to clarify the frequency and timing of device-related AEs. Methods Between September 2016 and December 2018, 104 patients introduced to the LCIG treatment for advanced PD in 11 hospitals were included. The patients’ characteristics, AEs incidence, AEs time, and tube exchange time were investigated. Results The median follow-up period was 21.5 months. Minor AE cases were 29.4%, whereas major AE cases were 43.1%. Majority of major AEs (n = 55, 94.8%) were managed with endoscopic treatment, such as tube exchange. Few severe AEs required surgical treatment (n =3, 5.2%). The mean (range) exposure to percutaneous endoscopic gastrojejunostomy (PEG-J) was 14.7 (0–33) months. One year after the LCIG treatment introduction, 55 patients (54.0%) retained the original PEG-J tube. The mean PEG-J tube exchange time was 10.8 ± 7.0 months in all patients, 11.6 ± 4.7 and 10.5 ± 7.7 months in patients with scheduled exchange and who underwent exchange due to AEs, respectively. Conclusions Some device-related AEs occurred during the LCIG treatment; however, only few were serious, most of which could be treated with simple procedures or tube replacement with endoscopy. Therefore, the LCIG treatment is feasible and safe and is a unique treatment option for PD, requiring endoscopists’ understanding and cooperation.

Vehicle design – Influence on operational quality

The design of rail vehicles, in particular the boarding area and the interior, has a significant influence on the passenger exchange time. The vehicle design is overlaid with passenger-specific characteristics such as age, mobility restrictions and, in particular, baggage. Poorly designed vehicle layouts mean that some of the seats cannot be used and the degree of capacity utilization achievable and thus customer comfort are noticeably reduced. In particular, however, poorly designed vehicles significantly prolong passenger exchange times, which leads to frequent delays and thus to a decline in operating quality. Based on almost twenty years of intensive research in the field of passenger behaviour in passenger trains, the technical paper will show clear approaches to solutions, how a good design of rail vehicles can increase the degree of utilisation and at the same time the customer comfort, how the passenger exchange time and thus the dwell time can be significantly reduced and thus the operational quality can be significantly increased in addition to other important advantages

Rapid Truck Loading for Efficient Feedstock Logistics

A multi-bale handling unit offers an advantage for the efficient hauling of round bales. Two empty racks on trailers are left at a satellite storage location for loading while a truck tractor delivers two loaded racks to the biorefinery, thus uncoupling the loading and hauling operations and increasing the efficiency of both. The projected 10 min trailer exchange time equals the projected 10 min unload time at the biorefinery achieved by lifting off the two full racks and replacing them with two empties, a technology adapted from the container shipping industry. A concept is presented for a bale loader that latches onto the rack/trailer and loads bales into the bottom tier chambers. This machine will load 10 bales into the rack on the front trailer by attaching on to the front of the trailer and 10 bales into the rear trailer by attaching onto the rear. A telehandler removes bales from single-layer storage and places them in the bale loader to load the bottom tier compartments. The top tier compartments are loaded directly from the top. Expectations are that an experienced operator can average 9 loads in a 10 h workday, and load-out cost is estimated as 3.61 USD/Mg, assuming the average achieved load-out productivity over annual operation is 60% of optimum productivity (24 Mg/h) equal to 14.4 Mg/h. Cost increases to 4.81 USD/Mg when the productivity factor drops to 45%, and cost is 3.09 USD/Mg for a factor of 70%.

The impact of tube replacement timing during LCIG therapy on PEG-J associated adverse events: a retrospective multicenter observational study

Background Levodopa–carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) treatment, a new drug delivery system for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD), is covered by the health insurance in Japan since September 2016. Various LCIG procedure/device-associated adverse events (AEs) have been reported; however, reports on their treatment have been limited. This is the first multicenter study to clarify the frequency and timing of device-related AEs. Methods Between September 2016 and December 2018, 104 patients introduced to the LCIG treatment for advanced PD in 11 hospitals were included. The patients’ characteristics, AEs incidence, AEs time, and tube exchange time were investigated. Results The median follow-up period was 21.5 months. Minor AE cases were 29.4%, whereas major AE cases were 43.1%. Majority of major AEs (n = 55, 96.5%) were managed with endoscopic treatment, such as tube exchange. Few severe AEs required surgical treatment (n = 2, 3.5%). The mean (range) exposure to percutaneous endoscopic gastrojejunostomy (PEG-J) was 14.7 (0–33) months. One year after the LCIG treatment introduction, 55 patients (54.0%) retained the original PEG-J tube. The mean PEG-J tube exchange time was 10.8 ± 7.0 months in all patients, 11.6 ± 4.7 and 10.5 ± 7.7 months in patients with scheduled exchange and who underwent exchange due to AEs, respectively. Conclusions Some device-related AEs occurred during the LCIG treatment; however, only few were serious, most of which could be treated with simple procedures or tube replacement with endoscopy. Therefore, the LCIG treatment is feasible and safe and is a unique treatment option for PD, requiring endoscopists’ understanding and cooperation.

Ion exchange of sodium with hydrochloric acid in ZSM-5 zeolite

ZSM-5 zeolites are highly silicate materials that have significant application in catalytic processes in petrochemistry, especially due to their high selectivity. Most reactions in the petrochemical industry are acid-catalyzed. The acidic properties of zeolite depend on the number of acid centers, i.e. the presence of hydrogen ions, and therefore, in this paper the possibility of reducing the sodium content in the pores of high silicate zeolite ZSM-5 with the modulus (SiO2 / Al2O3 = 1000) will be investigated, by applying ion exchange with hydrochloric acid. Chemical analysis of samples before and after ion exchange, and application of instrumental methods of X-Ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy, and SEM analysis monitored the influence of the quantity of hydrogen ions on the chemical composition and the structure of ZSM-5 zeolite at different acid concentrations and at different exchange times. It has been shown that the application of ion exchange with hydrochloric acid can reduce the sodium content in zeolite. Even with the application of 5% HCl for 6 hours, the content of sodium in the zeolite is reduced by over 98%. A similar effect is achieved by applying more concentrated hydrochloric acid solutions for a shorter ion exchange time. By prolonging the ion exchange time, there are no significant changes in terms of the final ion exchange. On the other hand, the application of HCl solutions of higher concentrations leads to a slight decrease in the aluminum content in the zeolite, which may partially affect the structural stability of the zeolite. The results obtained by FT-IR and SEM analysis and X-Ray diffraction confirm the possibility of ion exchange with hydrochloric acid, without significant changes in the crystal structure of the zeolite.

EFFECTIVE BATON EXCHANGE IN THE 4X100 M RELAY RACE

Baton exchange effectiveness and speed are essential to performance in sprint relay races, often deciding team victory. An effective baton exchange requires athletes to complete it while at full speed, both by the incoming and the outgoing athlete. Our research aimed to determine the relationship between baton exchange time and the point in the exchange zone where the handoff is completed. The study was carried out among Polish national team sprinters (n=27), competing in the 4x100 m relays. We analyzed 168 men’s and 62 women’s baton exchanges across the annual training cycle. In a 30-meter track segment corresponding to the baton exchange zone, we measured the time the baton spent in this segment (exchange time, ET), using the Brower Timing Systems (TC-System, USA), and the exact point of the baton handoff in this zone (handoff point, HP). To show the relationship between ET and HP, we performed a linear regression analysis. We have found that the further the HP the shorter the ET. This dependence is more evident in women (r=-0.66, r2=0.44 for 1st and 3rd exchanges, and r=-0.72, r2=0.52 for 2nd exchange; both P<0.001) than in men (r=-0.45, r2=0.20 and r=-0.68, r2=0.46; both P<0.001, respectively). The results suggest that the further the baton exchange takes place in the exchange zone (longer HP distance) the more effective the exchange (shorter ET). However, the coefficient of determination ranging (r2=0.20-0.52) indicates that HP explains at most 50% of the ET, and other factors should be taken into account. Nonetheless, the measuring technique proposed by us can provide coaches with additional data on baton exchange effectiveness and athletes' speed abilities.

Simulation Experiment of Key Exchange Protocol in Mobile Devices With E-Commerce Application

In this article, the authors discuss their experiment of simulating a proposed key exchange protocol by implementing it in a sample e-commerce application on a mobile device. The article compares its performance with other protocols. The authors also implemented similar industry standard key exchange protocols among other similar protocols proposed by other researchers for comparison. The authors consider different parameters such as number of operations required for key exchange, key exchange time and battery usage. The authors also consider different network bandwidth and mobile devices in their experiment.

MESOPOROUS AEROGEL OF ARENGA PINNATA ENDOSPERM AND THEIR APPLICATION TO ADSORB VITAMIN E FROM PALM FATTY ACID DISTILLATE

Objective: The mesoporous aerogel (MA) has been produced from Arenga pinnata endosperm (APE) and was used to adsorb vitamin E from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD). Methods: The adsorption process was carried out through the alcogel stage, followed by drying under dry air and reduced pressure. In the present work response surface methodology based on Box-Benhken design experiment was used to investigate the effect of dry APE types (1–3), the concentration of APE (1–1.5%, wt./v) and solvent exchange time (12–36 h). Results: Based on the result, the optimum parameter to produce aerogel with low-density value are as follows: APE type of 1 with a concentration of 1.5% (wt./v) and 48 h solvent exchange time. The MA occurred from this parameters has diameter of 3.142–3.212 nm. The surface morphology of MA had changed from roughly hollowed to smooth and the amorf intensity decreased after vitamin E adsorption process. Conclusion: The APE aerogels could adsorb vitamin E because the pores of aerogels and the galactomannan as the main component contains the branches galactose, which have hydrophilic phase and mannose which have hydrophobic phase, therefore, hydrophobic vitamin E are easy adsorbed on aerogels.