Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms

The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) programs were first authorized by Congress in the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended, to help workers and firms adjust to import competition and dislocation caused by trade liberalization. Although overall economic welfare can be increased by trade liberalization, TAA has long been justified on grounds that the government has an obligation to help the “losers” of policy-driven trade openings that may cause adjustment problems for firms and workers adversely affected by import competition. TAA programs that cover workers, firms, and farmers aim to “facilitate efforts by the domestic industry to make a positive adjustment to import competition and provide greater economic and social benefits than costs.” Congress continues to monitor TAA program performance and to periodically reauthorize and amend the governing legislation. This report discusses the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF) program, which is administered by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) of the Department of Commerce. The TAAF program assists eligible American companies that have been harmed by increasing imports; this harm is defined by lower domestic sales and employment because of increased imports of similar goods and services. Through the TAAF program, EDA provides technical assistance, on a cost-sharing basis, to help eligible businesses create and implement business recovery plans that may allow them to remain competitive in a dynamic international economy. The TAAF program provides technical assistance through a partnership with a national network of 11 EDA-funded Trade Adjustment Assistance Centers (TAACs)

Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms: Economic, Program, and Policy Issues

[Excerpt] Trade liberalization can enhance the economic welfare of all trade partners, but in adjusting to greater competition, many import-competing firms and workers face difficult problems. Since 1962, Congress has responded to these adjustment costs by authorizing trade adjustment assistance (TAA) programs for workers, firms, and farmers, and continues to monitor their performance and amend the governing legislation. This report discusses the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF) program, which provides technical assistance to trade-affected firms to help them develop strategies to remain competitive in a dynamic international economy. The 113th Congress may consider reauthorizing legislation for all TAA programs given they are set to expire on December 31, 2013

A normative approach to multi-agent systems for intelligent buildings

Building Management Systems (BMS) are widely adopted in modern buildings around the world in order to provide high-quality building services, and reduce the running cost of the building. However, most BMS are functionality-oriented and do not consider user personalization. The aim of this research is to capture and represent building management rules using organizational semiotics methods. We implement Semantic Analysis, which determines semantic units in building management and their relationship patterns of behaviour, and Norm Analysis, which extracts and specifies the norms that establish how and when these management actions occur. Finally, we propose a multi-agent framework for norm based building management. This framework contributes to the design domain of intelligent building management system by defining a set of behaviour patterns, and the norms that govern the real-time behaviour in a building

Post-Pancreatoduodenectomy Outcomes and Epidural Analgesia: A 5-Year Single Institution Experience

Introduction Optimal pain control post-pancreatoduodenectomy is a challenge. Epidural analgesia (EDA) is increasingly utilized despite inherent risks and unclear effects on outcomes. Methods All pancreatoduodenectomies (PD) performed from 1/2013-12/2017 were included. Clinical parameters were obtained from retrospective review of a prospective clinical database, the ACS NSQIP prospective institutional database and medical record review. Chi-Square/Fisher’s Exact and Independent-Samples t-Tests were used for univariable analyses; multivariable regression (MVR) was performed. Results 671 consecutive PD from a single institution were included (429 EDA, 242 non-EDA). On univariable analysis, EDA patients experienced significantly less wound disruption (0.2% vs. 2.1%), unplanned intubation (3.0% vs. 7.9%), pulmonary embolism (0.5% vs. 2.5%), mechanical-ventilation >48hrs (2.1% vs. 7.9%), septic shock (2.6% vs. 5.8%), and lower pain scores. On MVR accounting for baseline group differences (gender, hypertension, pre-operative transfusion, labs, approach, pancreatic duct size), EDA was associated with less superficial wound infections (OR 0.34; CI 0.14-0.83; P=0.017), unplanned intubations (OR 0.36; CI 0.14-0.88; P=0.024), mechanical ventilation >48 hrs (OR 0.22; CI 0.08-0.62; P=0.004), and septic shock (OR 0.39; CI 0.15-1.00; P=0.050). EDA improved pain scores post-PD days 1-3 (P<0.001). No differences were seen in cardiac or renal complications; pancreatic fistula (B+C) or delayed gastric emptying; 30/90-day mortality; length of stay, readmission, discharge destination, or unplanned reoperation. Conclusion Based on the largest single institution series published to date, our data support the use of EDA for optimization of pain control. More importantly, our data document that EDA significantly improved infectious and pulmonary complications

A dynamic simulation of low-carbon policy influences on endogenous electricity demand in an isolated island system

This paper considers the dynamics of electricity demand in response to changes arising from low-carbon policies and socio-economic developments. As part of an investigation into the evolution of such systems on small economically-developed islands, endogenous electricity demand and associated policies are studied for the Azorean island of São Miguel. A comprehensive System Dynamics (SD) model covering the period 2005 − 2050 is presented which captures both historical behaviours and real-world influences on the endogenous demand dynamics of an island-based electricity system. The impact of tourism, energy efficiency and electric vehicles (EV) expansion allied with associated policy options, are critically evaluated by the SD model using a series of scenarios. The model shows that energy efficiency measures exhibit the most significant long-term impact on electricity demand, while in contrast, policies to increase tourism have a much less direct impact and EV expansion has thought-provoking impacts on the long-term demand, although this is not as influential as energy efficiency measures

An Energy Driven Architecture for Wireless Sensor Networks

Most wireless sensor networks operate with very limited energy sources-their batteries, and hence their usefulness in real life applications is severely constrained. The challenging issues are how to optimize the use of their energy or to harvest their own energy in order to lengthen their lives for wider classes of application. Tackling these important issues requires a robust architecture that takes into account the energy consumption level of functional constituents and their interdependency. Without such architecture, it would be difficult to formulate and optimize the overall energy consumption of a wireless sensor network. Unlike most current researches that focus on a single energy constituent of WSNs independent from and regardless of other constituents, this paper presents an Energy Driven Architecture (EDA) as a new architecture and indicates a novel approach for minimising the total energy consumption of a WS

Using The "Return on Investment" Strategy to Sustain Logistic Supply Provider Toward Indonesia's Logistic Policy

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategies carried out by Supply Logistics in the supply chain using supply chain management analysis also to facilitate the logistics chain in Indonesia. SCM previous research did not have a studio that discussed supply chain by manager logistics strategies and what methods they used to maintain logistics inventory. The research methodologists carried out using qualitative adopted an exploratory data analysis (EDA) approach to qualitative research that defines and explains the issues obtained. Open coding was applied to find issues the most dominant and was used to classify the number of issues related to the data and visualized into word cloud obtained using NVIVO 12 Plus. Data were collected from Indonesia logistic supply chain sites. The findings of this article is ROI (Return on Investments) is a logistics strategy will support for reducing the investment costs by logistics provider company. Analysis of supply chain management can develop better emphasizes logistic chains in Indonesia.Dalam artikel ini memiliki tujuan untuk menganalisis strategi dalam tantangan penyaluran logistic yang merata. Dengan menggunakan analisis sistem Supply Chain Management (SCM) yang akan memetakan strategi apa yang dilakukan Indonesia dalam tantang penyaluran logistik. Studi SCM terdahulu telah banyak adanya, namun tidak berfokus pada penyaluran logistik dalam strateginya untuk menjaga keseimbangan rantai pasokan logistik. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif yang mengadopisi pendekatan Exploratory Data Ananlysis (EDA) untuk menjelaskan dan mendefinisikan temuan masalah. Open Coding dikukan untuk menemukan topik dan mengklasifikasikan yang dominan dan memvisualisasikannya menjadi word cloud dengan NVIVO 12 Plus. Data diperoleh dari website logistic supply chain Indonesia. Temuan dari artikel ini adalah Return on Investments (ROI) adalah strategi yang digunakan dalam strategi logistik yang akan membantu mengurangi dengan melakukan  investasi dari beberapa perusahaan penyaluran logistik. Analisis SCM dalam penyaluran logistik dapat mengembangan tekanan tantangan logistik di Indonesia

Diversity and SMEs : Existing Evidence and Policy Tensions : ERC White Paper No.3

The purpose of this White Paper is to present an overarching review of the evidence that currently exists with regard to diversity and SMEs. It outlines longstanding concerns that entrepreneurial activities and ambitions are restricted to a narrow range of social groups, with others, in particular some ethnic minority groups and women, characterised as having both lesser interest in enterprise and lower levels of resources necessary to participate. Attempts to increase participation rates of under-represented groups have resulted in only modest changes. This White Paper introduces the key evidence relating to ethnic minority and women-led enterprises, explaining the context of each group, and summarising research evidence relating to their relative access to finance, markets and management. Research and policy within the field of diversity and SMEs is characterised by a number of tensions, relating to perceived or real discrimination; whether to promote a volume of new businesses or focus on high growth potential firms; whether specialist business support is more effective or desirable than mainstream provision; and whether there is evidence of market failure in the support provided to diverse enterprises