Convergere con la Cina sulle regole applicabili agli investimenti diretti esteri : la risposta dell'U. E. alla migrazione di tecnologia nel quadro turbolento delle attuali relazioni commerciali internazionali

Lo spunto per l\u2019articolo \ue8 dato dalla ripresa, nel giugno 2019, e dall\u2019accelerazione del negoziato bilaterale fra Unione europea e la Repubblica popolare cinese per la conclusione del comprehensive agreement sugli investimenti. Sullo sfondo c\u2019\ue8 il piano decennale Made in China 2025, il c.d. going global, che ha come obiettivo quello di fare acquisire alla Cina la leadership tecnologica mondiale attraverso un programma mirato di investimenti esteri in settori strategici e di attrazione locale di investimenti ad alta tecnologia. Da questo punto di vista se, da un lato, la Cina rappresenta un mercato di enorme interesse per le imprese europee, dall\u2019altro la politica governativa e la normativa nazionale sugli investimenti diretti esteri impongono ai partner stranieri proprietari della tecnologia vincoli che si sostanziano in un esaurimento dei diritti di esclusiva oggetto dei contratti di licenza. Da qui il concetto di migrazione della tecnologia. Di conseguenza, nel 2018 sia l\u2019Unione europea, sia gli Stati Uniti, in due diverse procedure, hanno chiesto all\u2019Organo per la soluzione delle controversie del WTO di avviare le consultazioni con la Repubblica popolare cinese, lamentando la violazione di alcune disposizioni del GATT e dell\u2019Accordo TRIPs da parte di varie normative cinesi attinenti agli investimenti esteri e al trasferimento di tecnologia. Nel frattempo, tuttavia, la Cina ha modificato le regole discriminatorie nei confronti dei partner stranieri. Ci\uf2 ha portato gli Stati Uniti a chiedere al DSB la sospensione della procedura contenziosa fino al 31 dicembre 2019 e l\u2019Unione europea ad accelerare il negoziato per la conclusione dell\u2019accordo bilaterale. Sulla base di queste premesse colgo l\u2019occasione per tornare sul tema della cooperazione tecnica e della diffusione della tecnologia muovendo dagli artt. 7 e 8 TRIPs, anche in relazione ai nuovi accordi bilaterali di partenariato economico e/o di investimento. In prospettiva evolutiva tali disposizioni possono infatti giocare un ruolo importante nel rapporto fra paesi avanzati e a tutela degli interessi della collettivit\ue0. Concludo con il riferimento al fallimento, finora, degli sforzi per arrivare ad un accordo internazionale multilaterale sugli investimenti o in materia di concorrenza. Essendo dunque, quella del negoziato bilaterale, l\u2019unica via che si \ue8 trovata, auspico che essa sia percorsa dall\u2019Unione europea e porti in tempi rapidi alla conclusione dell\u2019Accordo sugli investimenti con la Repubblica popolare cinese in modo da garantire la reciprocit\ue0 e la parit\ue0 di trattamento con gli investitori locali.Starting point for the article is the resumption, in June 2019, and the acceleration of bilateral negotiations between the European Union and the People\u2019s Republic of China for the conclusion of the comprehensive agreement on investments. In the background is the ten-year plan Made in China 2025, the c.d. going global, whose goal is to give China the global technological leadership through a targeted program of foreign investments in strategic sectors and inward attraction of high-tech investments. Nevertheless if on the one side China is an attractive market for European investors, on the other side Chinese regulations on FDIs and on technological transfer resulted in being highly discriminatory in respect to foreign investors and licensor From this point of view, if, on the one hand, China represents an attractive market for European companies, on the other hand, government policies and local FDIs regulations impose various constraints on foreign technology owners which practically develop to the exhaustion of exclusive rights covered by the license agreement. Hence the concept of technology migration. Consequently, in 2018 both the European Union and the United States, in two different procedures, asked the WTO Dispute Settlement Body to start consultations with the People\u2019s Republic of China complaining about the violation of some provisions of the GATT and the TRIPs Agreement by various Chinese regulations concerning foreign investment and technology transfer. Meanwhile, however, China has revised the discriminatory rules against foreign partners. This led the United States to ask the DSB to suspend the procedure until December 31, 2019 and the European Union to accelerate the negotiation for the conclusion of the bilateral agreement. On the basis of these premises, I take the opportunity to return to the topics of technical cooperation and technology transfer focusing on articles 7 and 8 TRIPs, also in relation to new generation bilateral economic partnership and / or investment agreements. From an evolutionary perspective, these provisions could in fact play an important role in the future. I conclude referring to the failure, so far, to reach an international multilateral agreement neither on investment nor on competition. Being the bilateral negotiation the only practicable way that was found, I hope that it will be undertaken by the European Union and will lead to the conclusion of the Investment agreement with the People\u2019s Republic of China in order to guarantee reciprocity and a non-discriminatory treatment with local investors

Easy preparation of liposome@pda microspheres for fast and highly efficient removal of methylene blue from water

Mussel-inspired chemistry was usefully exploited here with the aim of developing a high-efficiency, environmentally friendly material for water remediation. A micro-structured material based on polydopamine (PDA) was obtained by using liposomes as templating agents and was used for the first time as an adsorbent material for the removal of methylene blue (MB) dye from aqueous solutions. Phospholipid liposomes were made by extrusion and coated with PDA by self-polymerization of dopamine under simple and mild conditions. The obtained Liposome@PDA microspheres were characterized by DLS and Zeta potential analysis, TEM microscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy. The effects of pH, temperature, MB concentration, amount of Liposome@PDA, and contact time on the adsorption process were investigated. Results showed that the highest adsorption capacity was obtained in weakly alkaline conditions (pH = 8.0) and that it could reach up to 395.4 mg g−1 at 298 K. In addition, adsorption kinetics showed that the adsorption behavior fits a pseudo-second-order kinetic model well. The equilibrium adsorption data, instead, were well described by Langmuir isotherm. Thermodynamic analysis demonstrated that the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous (∆G0 = −12.55 kJ mol−1, ∆H0 = 13.37 kJ mol−1 ) in the investigated experimental conditions. Finally, the applicability of Liposome@PDA microspheres to model wastewater and the excellent reusability after regeneration by removing MB were demonstrated

Novel 3D printable bio-based and biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) microspheres for selective laser sintering applications

Selective laser sintering (SLS) has become the most popular additive manufacturing process due to its high accuracy, productive efficiency, and surface quality. However, currently there are still very few commercially available polymeric materials suitable for this technique. This research work focused on the fabrication and characterization of bio-based and biodegradable microspheres obtained by oil-in-water emulsion solvent evaporation, starting from a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBH) biopolymer matrix. First, the fabrication parameters were optimized to improve the morphological, thermal, and flowability properties of the synthetized microspheres. Once the best production conditions were established, the PHBH microspheres were further used to study their effective 3D printability on an SLS 3D printer using geometries varying from simple shapes to architectures with more complex internal patterns. The results of this research revealed that PHBH has promising applicability for the SLS technique. This study undertook the first step toward broadening the range of polymeric materials for this additive manufacturing technology. These findings will contribute to a greater and wider dissemination of the SLS technique in the future, as well as they will bring this manufacturing process closer to applications, such as the biomedical sector, where the use of biodegradable and biocompatible materials can add value to the final application

Observation of periodic variable stars towards the galactic spiral arms by EROS II

We present the results of a massive variability search based on a photometric survey of a six square degree region along the Galactic plane at ($l = 305^\circ$, $b = -0.8^\circ$) and ($l = 330^\circ$, $b = -2.5^\circ$). This survey was performed in the framework of the EROS II (Exp\'erience de Recherche d'Objets Sombres) microlensing program. The variable stars were found among 1,913,576 stars that were monitored between April and June 1998 in two passbands, with an average of 60 measurements. A new period-search technique is proposed which makes use of a statistical variable that characterizes the overall regularity of the flux versus phase diagram. This method is well suited when the photometric data are unevenly distributed in time, as is our case. 1,362 objects whose luminosity varies were selected. Among them we identified 9 Cepheids, 19 RR Lyrae, 34 Miras, 176 eclipsing binaries and 266 Semi-Regular stars. Most of them are newly identified objects. The cross-identification with known catalogues has been performed. The mean distance of the RR Lyrae is estimated to be $\sim 4.9 \pm 0.3$ kpc undergoing an average absorption of $\sim 3.4 \pm 0.2$ magnitudes. This distance is in good agreement with the one of disc stars which contribute to the microlensing source star population.Our catalogue and light curves are available electronically from the CDS, Strasbourg and from our Web site http://eros.in2p3.fr.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, accepted in A&A (april 2002

Severity Index for Suspected Arbovirus (SISA) : machine learning for accurate prediction of hospitalization in subjects suspected of arboviral infection

Funding: This study was supported, in part, by the Department of Defense Global Emerging Infection Surveillance (https://health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Combat-Support/Armed-Forces-Health-Surveillance-Branch/Global-Emerging-Infections-Surveillance-and-Response) grant (P0220_13_OT) and the Department of Medicine of SUNY Upstate Medical University (http://www.upstate.edu/medicine/). D.F., M.H. and P.H. were supported by the Ben Kean Fellowship from the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygeine (https://www.astmh.org/awards-fellowships-medals/benjamin-h-keen-travel-fellowship-in-tropical-medi). S.J.R and A.M.S-I were supported by NSF DEB EEID 1518681, NSF DEB RAPID 1641145 (https://www.nsf.gov/), A.M.S-I was additionally supported by the Prometeo program of the National Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation of Ecuador (http://prometeo.educacionsuperior.gob.ec/).Background: Dengue, chikungunya, and Zika are arboviruses of major global health concern. Decisions regarding the clinical management of suspected arboviral infection are challenging in resource-limited settings, particularly when deciding on patient hospitalization. The objective of this study was to determine if hospitalization of individuals with suspected arboviral infections could be predicted using subject intake data. Methodology/Principal findings: Two prediction models were developed using data from a surveillance study in Machala, a city in southern coastal Ecuador with a high burden of arboviral infections. Data were obtained from subjects who presented at sentinel medical centers with suspected arboviral infection (November 2013 to September 2017). The first prediction model-called the Severity Index for Suspected Arbovirus (SISA)-used only demographic and symptom data. The second prediction model-called the Severity Index for Suspected Arbovirus with Laboratory (SISAL)-incorporated laboratory data. These models were selected by comparing the prediction ability of seven machine learning algorithms; the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve from the prediction of a test dataset was used to select the final algorithm for each model. After eliminating those with missing data, the SISA dataset had 534 subjects, and the SISAL dataset had 98 subjects. For SISA, the best prediction algorithm was the generalized boosting model, with an AUC of 0.91. For SISAL, the best prediction algorithm was the elastic net with an AUC of 0.94. A sensitivity analysis revealed that SISA and SISAL are not directly comparable to one another. Conclusions/Significance: Both SISA and SISAL were able to predict arbovirus hospitalization with a high degree of accuracy in our dataset. These algorithms will need to be tested and validated on new data from future patients. Machine learning is a powerful prediction tool and provides an excellent option for new management tools and clinical assessment of arboviral infection.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

MICHAEL GLÄSNER, Grenzen der Beschränkung von Patent- und Markenrechten zum Schutz der öffentlichen Gesundheit nach WTO-Recht. Unter besonderer Betrachtung des Zwangslizenzregimes nach dem TRIPS und der Vereinbarkeit von Plain-packaging-Vorschriften für Tabakwaren mit dem WTO-Recht, München, 2018.

Il tema delle licenze obbligatorie si intreccia con quello dei brevetti e con l'obiettivo dell'integrazione positiva che l'accordo SPS persegue. Il rapporto fra tutela della salute e ostacoli agli scambi viene esplorato in relazione alle emergenze sanitarie.Zwangslizenzen im Pharmabereich und Grenzen des Patentschutzes sind aktuelle Themen, die im internationalen Wirtschaftsrecht aus der Perspektive des Trips-Abkommens in Verbindung mit derjenigen von dem SPS Abkommen in Hinblick auf Ausnahmesituationen im Gesundheitsbereich von der Literatur erforscht werden

Il cibo che viaggia. Una riflessione sull'impatto delle normative locali in materia di sicurezza e qualità degli alimenti nello spazio giuridico globalizzato delle regole della OMC/WTO

L'articolo si occupa dei numerosi aspetti giuridici legati alla circolazione internazionale del cibo. Sono presi in esame i problemi relativi alla riduzione degli ostacoli agli scambi nel diritto del commercio internazionale e all'applicazione degli standard locali di sicurezza e qualit\ue0 del cibo sui prodotti importati. La domanda centrale \ue8 se le normative di uno Stato o dell'unione europea miranti alla tutela della salute, sicurezza e qualit\ue0 dei cibi si possano configurare come ostacolo al commercio internazionale e, nel qual caso, come si possa affrontare il conflitto. In tale ambito emerge con chiarezza il ruolo svolto dell'OMC/WTO. Un ulteriore problema, legato al primo, \ue8 costituito dall'avvicinamento degli standard, attraverso vecchi e nuovi modelli di cooperazione internazionale. Tutto questo rappresenta oggi una vera sfida globale per la comunit\ue0 degli individui.The essay looks at the numerous legal aspects linked to the movement of food, examining the problems inherent in eliminating obstacles to trade in international economic law and the application of local food health and hygiene standards to imported foodstuff. The core question is whether the standards applied by a State or, from the european point of view, the EU to safeguard food health, safety and quality can become an obtsacle to international trade. What really emerges in this context is the role played by the WTO. A further but connected issue is created by the harmanisation of standards through old and new models of international cooperation. All this represents today a global challenge for the international community and for civil society

L'approccio tedesco alla mediazione ambientale : un modello per l'Europa?

L'istituto della mediazione ambientale non \ue8 ancora diffuso in Italia ma si \ue8 affermato come un valido strumento n altri paesi soprattutto laddove progetti di sviluppo pubblici locali o nazionali entrano in conflitto con gli interessi della collettivit\ue0 stanziata sul territorio. Il contributo, il quale si inserisce all'interno di un pi\uf9 ampio progetto di ricerca, si sofferma sul diritto tedesco in materia e in particolare sulla legge del 2012 in materia di promozione della mediazione e accenna al contributo delle agenzie specializzate nella gestione dei conflitti ambientali

Gli aspetti della propriet\ue0 intellettuale attinenti al commercio

Il connubio tra propriet\ue0 intellettuale e politica commerciale ha avuto la formale consacrazione prima nella Dichiarazione ministeriale di Punta del Este del 20 settembre 1986 quindi con la firma degli atti conclusivi dell'Uruguay round, il 15 aprile 1994: di questi ultimi \ue8 parte integrante l'Accordo sui diritti di propriet\ue0 intellettuale attinenti al commercio (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights: TRIPs) La materia \ue8 comunque in movimento, come dimostrano la Dichiarazione di Doha del 14 novembre 2001 e gli atti successivi che su di essa si innestano. Il saggio muove dalla considerazione che l\u2019Accordo TRIPs non miri tanto a tutelare internazionalmente i diritti di propriet\ue0 intellettuale, quanto a ridurre distorsioni e impedimenti al commercio internazionale, derivanti non solo dal mancato riconoscimento dei diritti di propriet\ue0 intellettuale nei rapporti internazionali ma anche da una tutela eccessiva. Entro questo limite (e tenuto conto delle differenze tra sistemi giuridici nazionali, che non si propone affatto di superare) l'Accordo TRIPs predispone regole adeguate in materia di esistenza, contenuto ed esercizio dei diritti di propriet\ue0 immateriale, prevede strumenti di tutela appropriati e rende operanti procedure che permettano di pervenire rapidamente ed in maniera efficace alla soluzione multilaterale dele controversie