Quantifying non-tariff measures in international agricultural trade: a tariff equivalent of technical barriers to trade on African horticultural exports to the European markets

Fresh food and agricultural products from sub- Saharan Africa meet few tariff barriers because of preferential market access granted to ACP countries through Lomé and Cotonou Act. However, non-tariff barriers are still serious impediments to trade. This paper focuses more specifically on technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) on horticultural exports from Kenya and Zambia to France, Germany, the Netherlands and United-Kingdom. Using an extension of price-wedge method that takes into account imperfect substitution (on demand side) and differences in factor endowments (on supply side), we provide a tariff-equivalent of a wide range of TBT. Preliminary results show that the tariff-equivalent of TBT is very high for Kenyan green beans exports (more than 56%) while it is low for Kenya’s exports of peas and avocados and Zambian exports of peas (less than 10%). However, there are no large differences between EU importing countries.Armington elasticity of substitution, price-wedge method, tariff-equivalent, International Relations/Trade,

Compliance with international food safety standards as an outcome of a Nash bargaining process: a case study on Kenyan small scale green beans farms

This study provides a stylized model on “Exit, voice and loyalty” as alternative strategic responses taken by Kenyan green beans farmers in the context of new and more stringent international food safety standards. On the analytical side, we use the Nash bargaining theory where the exporter and a representative grower bargain over the product quality level and the premium producer price. The comparative statics analysis shows that the producer bargaining power unlike the compliance costs has, ceteris paribus, a positive effect on the equilibrium quality level while these exogenous variables have ambiguous effects on producer price at equilibrium. Empirical results from logit model estimation with survey data at farm-level in Kenya show that households with highly educated members, access to credit and relatively large-size farms are more likely to participate in the certified supply chain. Off-farm income, live assets and distance of public services from the farm do not influence the compliance. In terms of policy implications, education and credit access could play an important role in the capacity-building of small-scale growers associations through public private partnership.bargaining, small-scale farm, voice, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, D18, O17, O33, Q13, Q17,

The impact of the unilateral EU commitment on the stability of international climate agreements

In this paper we analyze the negotiation strategy of the European Union regarding the formation of an international climate agreement for the post-2012 era. We use game theoretical stability concepts to explore incentives for key players in the climate policy game to join future climate agreements. We compare a minus 20 percent unilateral commitment strategy by the EU with a unilateral minus 30 percent emission reduction strategy for all Annex-B countries. Using a numerical integrated assessment climate-economy simulation model, we find that carbon leakage effects are negligible. Ther EU strategy to reduce emissions by 30% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2020 if other Annex-B countries follow does not induce participation of the USA with a similar 30% reduction commitement. However, the model shows that an appropriate initial allocation of emission allowances may stabilize a larger and more ambitious climate coalition than the Kyoto Protocol in its first commitment period.Climate change, Coalition theory, Integrated assessment model, Kyoto protocol

DETERMINISTIC INFORMATION PULL AND AGGREGATION IN A DESTINATION-ORIENTED DIRECTED ACYCLIC GRAPH (DODAG) TOPOLOGY

Techniques are presented herein that support a deterministic collection method in the form of a scheduled pull mechanism, whereby a collection point may compute a schedule and then distribute the same so that all of the collecting nodes and network nodes can optimally transmit, aggregate, and relay information to the collection point. Under aspects of the presented techniques, a distributed set may be organized as a Destination-Oriented Directed Acyclic Graph (DODAG) topology to the collection point. The above-described schedule may then be generated whereby the DODAG parents emit only after all of their children (and, recursively, all of their descendants) have emitted. Under such an approach, an application-aware parent can aggregate (or factorize) the data and consume minimal bandwidth. A second schedule may be generated just for missing data, accounting only for the sources where information was lost, so that retry operations comprise smaller schedules

A MESH TREE OPTIMIZER FOR WI-FI 8

Proposed herein is an artificial intelligence/machine learning (AIML) method to predict the goodput/throughout through a given mesh access point (MAP) for a wireless local area network (WLAN) that can be positioned at different possible spots in a mesh tree. The proposed method may communicate these predictions to MAPs and their clients, thus allowing the mesh tree to form (and reconfigure itself) into the most efficient structure. Further, the proposed method may allow clients to choose the MAP that will provide the best goodput/throughput for the mesh tree

Heat transfers in a double-skin roof ventilated by natural convection in summer time

International audienceThe double-skin roofs investigated in this paper are formed by adding a metallic screen on an existing sheet metal roof. The system enhances passive cooling of dwellings and can help diminishing power costs for air conditioning in summer or in tropical and arid countries. In this work, radiation, convection and conduction heat transfers are investigated. Depending on its surface properties, the screen reflects a large amount of oncoming solar radiation. Natural convection in the channel underneath drives off the residual heat. The bi-dimensional numerical simulation of the heat transfers through the double skin reveals the most important parameters for the system's efficiency. They are, by order of importance, the sheet metal surface emissivity, the screen internal and external surface emissivity, the insulation thickness and the inclination angle for a channel width over 6 cm. The influence of those parameters on Rayleigh and Nusselt numbers is also investigated. Temperature and air velocity profiles on several channel cross-sections are plotted and discussed

Phase-change materials to improve solar panel's performance

International audienceHigh operating temperatures induce a loss of efficiency in solar photovoltaic and thermal panels. This paper investigates the use of phase-change materials (PCM) to maintain the temperature of the panels close to ambient. The main focus of the study is the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of heat and mass transfers in a system composed of an impure phase change material situated in the back of a solar panel (SP). A variation of the enthalpy method allows simulating the thermo-physical change of the material properties. The buoyancy term in Navier-Stokes' momentum conservation equation is modified through an additional term which forces the velocity field to be non-existent when the PCM is solid. For validation purposes, isotherms and velocity fields are calculated and compared to those from an experimental set-up. Results show that adding a PCM on the back of a solar panel can maintain the panel's operating temperature under 40 °C for 80 minutes under a constant solar radiation of 1000 W/m2

MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES TO FACILITATE WI-FI NETWORK SELECTION AND PATH MANAGEMENT

Wi-Fi® 8 envisions machine learning (ML) -based techniques (among others) to provide better predictability to the Wi-Fi experience. Presented herein are techniques that can be utilized to compute and display such W-Fi experience prediction, which can enable users to know which spot in a given location (e.g., a bar, restaurant, food court, airport, etc.) may provide the best Wi-Fi coverage for their application needs