Current issues on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has successfully supported for the sub-Saharan countries to achieve trade-led economic development on one hand, it has been criticized for the limited method for selecting beneficiaries and its legal instability. After the AGOA was renewed for another ten years in 2015, African countries are facing the new challenges such as AGOA reciprocation and the out-of-cycle eligibility review. Based on the active discussions in the AGOA Forum in 2015 and 2016, this paper examines the future potential structures that are most appropriate for U.S.–African trade and investment relationship

Rethinking special and differential treatment in the WTO

Special and differential treatment (S&D) allows differentiated treatment for developing countries within the WTO system by justifying a deviation from the most-favoured-nation obligation. Since it was incorporated into the GATT (the predecessor of the WTO) in the 1960s, S&D has played a significant role in promoting the integration of developing countries into the multilateral trading system. However, S&D is undergoing complicated and entangled discussion at the current multilateral trade negotiations, the Doha Development Agenda. There are a number of reasons to make opposing arguments in developed and developing countries, among which this paper focuses on two elements: diversification of developing countries and instability of preferential schemes. In order to overcome these problems and in order to make S&D more effective and operational, this paper considers the following alternative approaches: differentiation among developing countries applying the common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR) principle by analogy and codification of a preferential scheme as a multilateral agreement in the manner of North-South RTAs with flexibility

Normative Influences of "Special and Differential Treatment" on North-South RTAs

Recently, there has been a surge in bilateral and regional trade arrangements betweendeveloped and developing countries, which are known as North-South RTAs. Under thecurrent legal system of the WTO, North-South RTAs are governed by Article XXIV of theGATT or Article V of the GATS, which means such RTAs must be reciprocal and must coversubstantially all the trade. On the other hand, there is another category of rules on RTAsbased on the so-called Enabling Clause, which, in exceptional circumstances, providesspecial and differential treatment (SDT) for RTAs among developing countries. This paperconsiders the applicability of the SDT concept to North-South RTAs by examining why ruleson RTAs and the concept of SDT were incorporated into the GATT/WTO legal framework soas to permit the derogation of most-favored-nation (MFN) obligations

Environmental provisions in Japanese regional trade agreements with developing countries

With the growing interest in environmental issues in the global community, recently concluded regional trade agreements (RTAs) have introduced environmental provisions. These RTAs will help achieve sustainable development at the intersection of trade liberalization and ever-increasing environmental concerns. However, environmental provisions are not incorporated into all RTAs. For example, Japanese RTAs often incorporate environmental issues only in the preamble or relevant articles. As the first step in examining the environmental provisions in RTAs, this paper focuses on the RTAs that Japan has concluded with developing countries. The main characteristic of environmental provisions in Japanese RTAs is that there are very few relevant provisions. All Japanese RTAs has neither environmental chapters nor side agreements. However, the attitude toward the environment in Japanese RTAs has gradually changed since the signing of the Japan-Chile EPA in 2007, in which a joint environmental statement was adopted. Although Japanese RTAs have environmental provisions, environmental problems originating from the RTAs may occur. One of the possible causes is a lack of environmental impact assessment. Japanese RTAs need to incorporate an environmental impact assessment system in order to identify environmental problems resulting from its RTAs, and to enable the country to take appropriate measures at the appropriate time

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Tuberculosis Infection among Hospital Workers in Hanoi, Viet Nam

BACKGROUND: Transmission of tuberculosis (TB) to health care workers (HCWs) is a global issue. Although effective infection control measures are expected to reduce nosocomial TB, HCWs' infection has not been assessed enough in TB high burden countries. We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of TB infection and its risk factors among HCWs in Hanoi, Viet Nam. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 300 HCWs including all staff members in a municipal TB referral hospital received an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA), QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube(TM), followed by one- and two-step tuberculin skin test (TST) and a questionnaire-based interview. Agreement between the tests was evaluated by kappa statistics. Risk factors for TB infection were analyzed using a logistic regression model. Among the participants aged from 20 to 58 years (median = 40), prevalence of TB infection estimated by IGRA, one- and two-step TST was 47.3%, 61.1% and 66.3% respectively. Although the levels of overall agreement between IGRA and TST were moderate, the degree of agreement was low in the group with BCG history (kappa = 0.29). Working in TB hospital was associated with twofold increase in odds of TB infection estimated by IGRA. Increased age, low educational level and the high body mass index also demonstrated high odds ratios of IGRA positivity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Prevalence of TB infection estimated by either IGRA or TST is high among HCWs in the hospital environment for TB care in Viet Nam and an infection control program should be reinforced. In communities with heterogeneous history of BCG vaccination, IGRA seems to estimate TB infection more accurately than any other criteria using TST

Quantitative Subcellular Proteome and Secretome Profiling of Influenza A Virus-Infected Human Primary Macrophages

Influenza A viruses are important pathogens that cause acute respiratory diseases and annual epidemics in humans. Macrophages recognize influenza A virus infection with their pattern recognition receptors, and are involved in the activation of proper innate immune response. Here, we have used high-throughput subcellular proteomics combined with bioinformatics to provide a global view of host cellular events that are activated in response to influenza A virus infection in human primary macrophages. We show that viral infection regulates the expression and/or subcellular localization of more than one thousand host proteins at early phases of infection. Our data reveals that there are dramatic changes in mitochondrial and nuclear proteomes in response to infection. We show that a rapid cytoplasmic leakage of lysosomal proteins, including cathepsins, followed by their secretion, contributes to inflammasome activation and apoptosis seen in the infected macrophages. Also, our results demonstrate that P2X7 receptor and src tyrosine kinase activity are essential for inflammasome activation during influenza A virus infection. Finally, we show that influenza A virus infection is associated with robust secretion of different danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) suggesting an important role for DAMPs in host response to influenza A virus infection. In conclusion, our high-throughput quantitative proteomics study provides important new insight into host-response against influenza A virus infection in human primary macrophages

Rupture and Rhythm: A Phenomenology of National Experiences

This article investigates how people make sense of ruptures in the flow of everyday life as they enter new experiential domains. Shifts in being-in-time create breaks in the natural attitude that offer the opportunity to register national—or, for example, religious, gender, or class—experiences. People interpret ruptures in perception and proprioception by drawing connections with domains in which similar or contrasting kinds of disruption are evident. Normalizing the transition, rhythm—as both cadence and overall flow—helps people adjust to new circumstances, align action, and smooth subsequent ruptures. Based on extensive qualitative fieldwork, I examine the specific case of how novice and experienced tea ceremony practitioners in Japan move into, interpret, and normalize action within tea spaces