FTAs and Philippine Business: Evidence from Transport, Food, and Electronics Firms

Within East Asia, the outward-oriented Philippine economy is a latecomer to using free trade agreements (FTAs) as a trade policy instrument and has relied heavily on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for regional liberalization. While negotiating FTAs has consumed scarce time and other resources, limited attention has been hitherto given to evaluating the impact of FTAs-particularly the 15-year-old ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement-on business activity in the Philippines. Using a survey of 155 manufactured goods exporters from three sectors (transport equipment, processed foods, and electronics), this study deals with three questions: (i) Do firms use AFTA and why?; (ii) What impedes firms from using AFTA and other FTAs?; and (iii) What can be done to improve FTA use at firm level in the future? The study finds that utilization of AFTA is higher than expected from existing studies and is set to double in the future. Econometric analysis suggests that firm age, domestic ownership, awareness of FTAs, and membership in the transport sector increase the probability of using AFTA. Surprisingly, among nonusers, a lack of information is the biggest barrier to FTA use. Other impediments to use include the availability of export processing zone incentive schemes, low most-favored-nation rates (particularly in electronics), delays in origin administration, rent-seeking behavior, and nontariff measures in partner country markets. Interestingly, the majority of firms do not think that multiple rules of origin in overlapping Asian FTAs add significantly to business costs. However, there is room for improvement in the system of AFTA rules of origin (e.g., lower value content and introduction of self-certification mechanisms). The examination of institutional support reveals an excess demand for a range of support services (e.g., information, technology-based, and small or medium enterprise extension services) that will enable firms to use FTAs more effectively in the future. The paper concludes by making the case for better mainstreaming of FTAs into Philippine national trade policy and for improving support services to firms.philippines fta impact; philippines fta business; philippines economy ftas

Evaporative Heat Transfer Characteristics in a Vertical Channel with Obstructions

An experimental study of evaporative heat transfer in a vertical channel with obstructions was conducted. Tests that encompass a range of mass fluxes of 37-220 klbm/ft2-s (50-300 kg/m2-s), heat fluxes of 960-8000 Btu/ft2-h (3-25 kW/m2), and inlet qualities of 0.2-0.8 were performed with the working fluid R-134a. For both upward and downward flow, both convective and nucleate boiling were observed. At higher mass fluxes, both flow configurations yield the same heat transfer performance. As mass flux decreases, upward flow has higher heat transfer performance relative to downward flow. The upward flow configuration suppresses nucleate boiling when compared to the downward flow configuration. Upon inspection of the data, there appears to be a discontinuity in heat transfer performance which may be attributed to a flow transition. There are no correlations in the literature that accurately describe the experimental heat transfer data present here.Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Project 7

FTAs and Philippine Business : Evidence from Transport, Food, and Electronics Firms

Within East Asia, the outward-oriented Philippine economy is a latecomer to using free trade agreements (FTAs) as a trade policy instrument and has relied heavily on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for regional liberalization. While negotiating FTAs has consumed scarce time and other resources, limited attention has been hitherto given to evaluating the impact of FTAsparticularly the 15-year-old ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreementon business activity in the Philippines. Using a survey of 155 manufactured goods exporters from three sectors (transport equipment, processed foods, and electronics), this study deals with three questions : (i) Do firms use AFTA and why?; (ii) What impedes firms from using AFTA and other FTAs?; and (iii) What can be done to improve FTA use at firm level in the future? The study finds that utilization of AFTA is higher than expected from existing studies and is set to double in the future. Econometric analysis suggests that firm age, domestic ownership, awareness of FTAs, and membership in the transport sector increase the probability of using AFTA. Surprisingly, among nonusers, a lack of information is the biggest barrier to FTA use. Other impediments to use include the availability of export processing zone incentive schemes, low most-favored-nation rates (particularly in electronics), delays in origin administration, rent-seeking behavior, and nontariff measures in partner country markets. Interestingly, the majority of firms do not think that multiple rules of origin in overlapping Asian FTAs add significantly to business costs. However, there is room for improvement in the system of AFTA rules of origin (e.g., lower value content and introduction of self-certification mechanisms). The examination of institutional support reveals an excess demand for a range of support services (e.g., information, technology-based, and small or medium enterprise extension services) that will enable firms to use FTAs more effectively in the future. The paper concludes by making the case for better mainstreaming of FTAs into Philippine national trade policy and for improving support services to firms.FTA, The Philippines, Transport, Food, and Electronics Firms

Recent advances in understanding anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa is a complex psychiatric illness associated with food restriction and high mortality. Recent brain research in adolescents and adults with anorexia nervosa has used larger sample sizes compared with earlier studies and tasks that test specific brain circuits. Those studies have produced more robust results and advanced our knowledge of underlying biological mechanisms that may contribute to the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa. It is now recognized that malnutrition and dehydration lead to dynamic changes in brain structure across the brain, which normalize with weight restoration. Some structural alterations could be trait factors but require replication. Functional brain imaging and behavioral studies have implicated learning-related brain circuits that may contribute to food restriction in anorexia nervosa. Most notably, those circuits involve striatal, insular, and frontal cortical regions that drive learning from reward and punishment, as well as habit learning. Disturbances in those circuits may lead to a vicious cycle that hampers recovery. Other studies have started to explore the neurobiology of interoception or social interaction and whether the connectivity between brain regions is altered in anorexia nervosa. All together, these studies build upon earlier research that indicated neurotransmitter abnormalities in anorexia nervosa and help us develop models of a distinct neurobiology that underlies anorexia nervosa

Aircraft design and test planning with unpredictable dynamic derivative values

Modem aircraft are designed based largely on the results from wind tunnel tests and flight simulations conducted prior to the start of construction. Predicted aircraft characteristics from wind tunnel tests are used in several aspects of aircraft design and often determine critical design criteria. Utilizing these advanced aircraft design methods has proven to significantly reduce the overall aircraft design cost and flight testing efforts. Over the last 50 years major advancements have been achieved in flight predictions, and we depend more and more on the test results. In general, this dependency has proven to be warranted in many aspects. However, there are areas requiring further research before they are to be depended upon completely. One specific area demanding technological breakthrough is that of improving dynamic derivatives predictions at high angles· of attack. These derivatives are presently found through various model tests whose values vary so significantly from one another that it is next to impossible to predict dynamic derivative values with any accuracy. When comparing the predicted derivative values to actual flight test results, the predicted values were seen to vary up to 400% from the actual value. These inadequately predicted values are used to define the flight characteristics of the aircraft in regions including high angles of attack, stalls, spins, and spin recovery, and to define flight control laws. To further examine this issue an evaluation was conducted to determine how unpredictable dynamic derivative values on the US Navy F/A-18E/F could affect the aircraft\u27s spin characteristics. The derived results show the percentage that the actual derivative values may deviate from the predicted values without significantly altering the aircraft\u27s expected flying qualities. The data indicated that known variations in derivative values greatly aitered the time elapsed, the altitude lost, and the number of spins occurring before spin recovery. These results were used to determine an acceptable error band between the predicted derivative values and the actual values. While some derivatives displayed minor flight differences with large changes in values, other derivative changes showed extreme differences in spin conditions, including unexpected entry into an unrecoverable spin, within the maximum variation in predicted derivative values. The results conclude that the current methods of obtaining predicted dynamic derivative values generate errors that fail to offe r the adequate values required for aircraft design. To solve this problem more research must be conducted to look into better methodology for testing and predicting these derivative values

The Neurobiology of Eating Disorders.

Eating disorders are severe psychiatric illnesses with a typical age of onset in adolescence. Brain research in youth and young adults may help us identify specific neurobiology that contributes to onset and maintenance of those disorders. This article provides a state-of-the-art review of our current understanding of the neurobiology of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. This includes brain structure and function studies to understand food restriction, binge-eating or purging behaviors, cognitive and emotional factors, as well as interoception. Binge-eating disorder and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder are also discussed, but the literature is still very small

Inter-National Justice for Them or Global Justice for Us?: The U.S. as a Supranational Justice Donor

U.S. policy concerning international justice, particularly at the ICC, involves case-by-case support when such support is in U.S. national interests. This policy signals that the U.S. considers itself a supranational justice donor rather than a member of a global justice community committed to enforcing shared values. This approach to international criminal justice both inhibits global justice efforts and undermines the U.S. claim to global moral leadership. The next U.S. administration should assert full membership in the global justice community by joining the ICC and providing unequivocal support for all efforts to address serious international crimes

Choosing to Prosecute: Expressive Selection at the International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC), an institution in its infancy, has had occasion to make only a relatively small number of decisions about which defendants and which crimes to prosecute. But virtually every choice it has made has been attacked: the first defendant, Thomas Lubanga, was not senior enough and the crimes with which he was charged-war crimes involving the use of child soldiers-were not serious enough; the Court should have investigated British soldiers for war crimes committed in Iraq; the ICC should not be prosecuting only rebel perpetrators in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo; the Court\u27s focus on situations in Africa is inappropriate; the Court has focused insufficient attention on gender crimes; and so on. Much of the debate about such selection decisions centers on whether the ICC, and particularly its prosecutor, are improperly motivated by political considerations. Critics charge that selection decisions are inappropriately political, while the Court\u27s current prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, counters that his decisions are apolitical-that he is simply implementing the law enunciated in the ICC\u27s statute. Most recently, some authors have suggested that the prosecutor\u27s role is inevitably political and should be acknowledged as such. The participants in this debate rarely define what they mean by political, nor will this Article attempt such definition. Instead, this Article seeks to reframe the debate about the ICC\u27s selection decisions by shifting from the current focus on the boundaries between legal and political criteria to a constructive dialogue about the most appropriate goals and priorities for the Court. The ICC\u27s core selectivity problem is that the Court lacks sufficiently clear goals and priorities to justify its decisions. States created the ICC to adjudicate the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, but they gave it a budget that enables only a handful of prosecutions per year. Persons charged with implementing the Court\u27s broad mandate-its prosecutor and judges-must thus select a few cases from among thousands. Yet the international community has provided the Court virtually no guidance about what goals it should seek to achieve through the cases it selects, beyond the vague mandate to strive to end impunity for the most serious crimes

The International Criminal Court’s Gravity Jurisprudence at Ten

This Essay analyzes the Court’s early jurisprudence interpreting the gravity threshold for admissibility. It argues that the threshold, while useful in garnering support for ratification of the Rome Statute, now seems destined to play a minor role in determining the ICC’s reach. While there are multiple possible explanations for this development, an important doctrinal cause identified in the jurisprudence is that the gravity threshold for admissibility is in tension with the Rome Statute’s provisions regarding jurisdiction. At least with regard to the admissibility of cases, the judges have concluded that interpreting the gravity threshold to exclude certain types of defendants or crimes from the Court’s reach would amount to an impermissible revision of the Court’s jurisdiction. To avoid this outcome, the judges have developed a flexible multi-factor approach to the gravity threshold that enables them to justify admitting virtually any case within the Court’s jurisdiction. The Essay concludes by arguing that, in light of the tension between admissibility and jurisdiction, the judges are right to relegate the gravity threshold to a minor role in determining the cases the Court adjudicates. To the extent the judges seek to limit the ICC’s reach, they should do so by interpreting the Court’s jurisdictional provisions directly rather than through the back door of admissibility