How does the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) affect Central America?

Most Central American economies experienced slower growth in the 1980s than in the 1960s and 1970s, trailing far behind the Asian Tigers. Contributing to slow growth were severe external shocks, sizable macroeconomic disturbances, and widespread political instability. The challenges Central America faces now may be even greater, conclude the authors, because of Mexican liberalization, continuing instability of the real exchange rate, low savings rates, and, finally, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Improvements in per capita income are closely linked with exports to North America of labor-intensive manufactures. Earnings from the export of tropical agricultural products are important, but the Central American labor force is unlikely to earn higher wagers unless countries diversify more into manufacturing. The Asian Tigers began their economic miracles by shifting into such labor-intensive manufactures as apparel and footwear, which they could export to a vast high-wage market. But the US market for such exports is now more crowded and threatens to become more so, with exports from China and other very low-wage countries. With Asian competition hurting Central America's chances, it could be said that wages in Central America are set in Beijing, not in San Jose. The authors examine the critical drivers of Central America's future competitiveness: economic liberalization, uncertainty about the real exchange rate, distance from key markets, savings rates and NAFTA. Central American economies have low wage rates, and considerable advantage of location over Asia in selling in North American markets, especially Mexico. But real exchange rates in Central America are more unpredictable than those in Asian countries. Central America faces a chicken-and-egg problem. To stabilize its terms of trade, it must expand exports of manufactures. But instability in the terms of trade deters the investments that would lead to expanded exports of manufactures. By greatly increasong Mexico's attractiveness to foreign investors, NAFTA could be the straw that breaks the camel's back, as far as Central America is concerned. For this reason, the governments of Central America need to do all in their power to increase domestic savings and reduce investment risks. Exchange rate stabilization should be carried out obviously with appropriate macroeconomic policies -- but also by encouraging exports of labor-intensive manufactures with appropriate incentives, supporting infrastructure and educational investments. The key conclusion is that the future of Central America rests importantly on exports to Mexico, a market today which is pretty much untapped. Investments in transportation infrastructure that can facilitate this emerging trade are likely to have very large payoffs for the Central American economies.Trade Policy,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Economic Growth,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research

Development of an electrochemical maltose biosensor

In this work, electrochemical maltose biosensors based on mutants of the maltose binding protein (MBP) are developed. A ruthenium II complex (Ru II ), which is covalently attached to MBP, serves as an electrochemical reporter of MBP conformational changes. Biosensors were made through direct attachment of Ru II complex modified MBP to gold electrode surfaces. The responses of some individual mutants were evaluated using square wave voltammetry. A maltose-dependent change in Faradic current and capacitance was observed. It is therefore demonstrated that biosensors using generically this family of bacterial periplasmic binding proteins (bPBP) can be made lending themselves to facile biorecognition element preparation and low cost electrochemical transduction

Monte Carlo simulation of recrystallization

A Monte Carlo computer simulation technique, in which a continuum system is modeled employing a discrete lattice, has been applied to the problem of recrystallization. Primary recrystallization is modeled under conditions where the degree of stored energy is varied and nucleation occurs homogeneously (without regard for position in the microstructure). The nucleation rate is chosen as site saturated. Temporal evolution of the simulated microstructures is analyzed to provide the time dependence of the recrystallized volume fraction and grain sizes. The recrystallized volume fraction shows sigmoidal variations with time. The data are approximately fit by the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equation with the expected exponents, however significant deviations are observed for both small and large recrystallized volume fractions. Under constant rate nucleation conditions, the propensity for irregular grain shapes is decreased and the density of two sided grains increases

Torque control of switched reluctance motors

This paper presents the performance of an instantaneous torque control method. The simulation and experimental results illustrate the capability of Switched Reluctance Motors (SRM) being used in the motor drive industry. Based on experimental data, the advantages of this control method and its disadvantages in practical implementation were studied. The model used in the simulation is the linear magnetic model which has the 12/8 structure, the same structure as the experimental switched reluctance motor

Programa de tutorías orientado a disminuir los altos índices de repetición y deserción en los octavos años de Educación General Básica de la Sección Nocturna del Colegio Experimental Jacinto Collahuazo de Otavalo.

Diagnosticar las causas que ocasionan el bajo rendimiento académico de los estudiantes e Investigar los motivos por los cuales se producen altos índices de repetición y deserción, especialmente en los octavos años de Educación General Básica.Un problema que preocupa a la comunidad educativa del Colegio Experimental “Jacinto Collahuazo” de Otavalo es el bajo rendimiento académico de muchos estudiantes de la sección nocturna. En los dos últimos años lectivos el problema se ha agudizado especialmente en los octavos años de Educación General Básica donde se registran los más altos índices de alumnos que repiten o desertan. Este proyecto de intervención presenta un programa de tutorías a implementarse en estos cursos durante el presente año lectivo, mediante el cual profesores escogidos por cada área de estudio y el Departamento de Orientación, durante dos horas diarias reforzarán el desarrollo y la formación integral del alumno, en grupo y en forma personalizada, como apoyo a las acciones de las diferentes asignaturas, pero fundamentalmente a sus necesidades afectivas y al aprendizaje de técnicas de estudio; sin descuidar el necesario involucramiento de padres y profesores, como también del control permanente de las autoridades

Performance optimization in switched reluctance motor drives

In this paper, switched reluctance motors (SRM) are proposed as an alternative for electric power assisted steering (EPAS) applications. A prototype machine has been developed as very attractive design for a steering electric motor, both from a cost and size perspective. A fourphase 8/6 SRM drive is designed for a rack type EPAS which should provide a maximum force of 10 kN. Two-dimension finite element analysis is used to validate the design

Artificial cognitive control system based on the shared circuits model of sociocognitive capacities. A first approach

sharedcircuitmodels is presented in this work. The sharedcircuitsmodelapproach of sociocognitivecapacities recently proposed by Hurley in The sharedcircuitsmodel (SCM): how control, mirroring, and simulation can enable imitation, deliberation, and mindreading. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 31(1) (2008) 1–22 is enriched and improved in this work. A five-layer computational architecture for designing artificialcognitivecontrolsystems is proposed on the basis of a modified sharedcircuitsmodel for emulating sociocognitive experiences such as imitation, deliberation, and mindreading. In order to show the enormous potential of this approach, a simplified implementation is applied to a case study. An artificialcognitivecontrolsystem is applied for controlling force in a manufacturing process that demonstrates the suitability of the suggested approac

La educación superior en México

Con datos estadísticos que muestran el crecimiento de la educación superior, estas páginas ofrecen una visión general de la enseñanza de nivel terciario en México

Integrating Social Innovation into the Curriculum of Higher Education Institutions in Latin America: Insights from the Students4Change Project

In the last two decades, social innovation (SI) and social entrepreneurship (SE) have gained relevance and interest within the framework of academia at international level. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are key players in promoting innovation and social entrepreneurship initiatives that respond to multifaceted challenges. They support strategies on the basis of the strengthening of participation, collaboration, and cooperation with society and its local communities. However, the approach of Latin American universities to SI and SE has been very uneven in the way they have understood them, integrated them into academic programmes, and transferred knowledge to society. On the basis of the experience of the Students4Change project, we sought to understand the role of Latin American HEIs in promoting social innovations by analysing the experiences of 10 participating universities to formalise a pedagogical programme on SI and SE in their institutions. The results suggest that there is still a need to formalise an academic syllabus that is specifically designed to promote social innovations and to train universities in this endeavour. This paper contributes to the identification of the main levers of change, strengths, and challenges that Latin American universities face to institutionalise SI and SE in their contexts.This research was co-funded by the Erasmus Plus Program of the European Union under Key Action 2 with the following reference number: 2 574133-EPP-1-2016-1-MX-EPPKA2-CBHE-J