Approaches to liberalizing services

Inly since completion of the Uruguay Round have developing countries in East AsOnly since completion of the Uruguay Round have developing countries in East Asia and the Western Hemisphere shown interest in liberalizing services. Ambitious effortsare now being made to incorporate services in liberalization objectives of both sub-regional and regional integration efforts, including in the Asia-Pacific region under APEC and in the Western Hemisphere under the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process. At the sub-regional level, member countries of both ASEAN (in East Asia) and MERCOSUR (in Latin America) have chosen to follow the liberalization model set forth in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and to open their services markets gradually and piecemeal. In the Western Hemisphere, Mexico has successfully promoted the NAFTA model of a more comprehensive liberalization of services markets - and several Latin American countries have adopted the same approach. Regionally, APEC has chosen a concerted voluntary approach to liberalizing services markets. Within the Western Hemisphere, participants are defining which approach they will use in the negotiations on services launched as part of the FTAA in April 1998. In all these efforts, a stated desire to promote more efficient services markets is often hindered by reluctance to open services markets rapidly or comprehensively because of historically entrenched protectionism in the sector and ignorance of the regulatory measures that impede trade in services. Presumably it would be easier to liberalize services at the sub-regional level, among countries at similar stages of development (although the liberalization's economic value there might be questioned). Liberalizing services at the broader regional level is a difficult and ambitious goal, given the diversity of countries involved in such efforts. Thus liberalization will probably move more slowly at the regional than at the sub-regional level - perhaps even more slowly than at the multilateral level. It is possible that the new round of multilateral talks on services scheduled to begin under the WTO in 2000 may well eclipse the recently begun regional efforts.Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Decentralization,Enterprise Development&Reform,ICT Policy and Strategies,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Trade and Services,Governance Indicators,ICT Policy and Strategies

Reported Trip Costs, Gross Revenues, and Net Returns for U.S. Atlantic Pelagic Longline Vessels

Logbook set and trip summary data (containing catch and cost information, respectively) collected by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) were analyzed for U.S. pelagic longline vessels that participated in Atlantic fisheries in 1996. These data were augmented with vessel information from the U.S. Coast Guard. Mean fish weights and ex-vessel prices from NMFS observers and licensed seafood dealers, respectively, were used to estimate gross revenues. Comparisons revealed that net returns varied substantially by vessel size and fishing behavior (i.e. sets per trip, fishing location, season, and swordfish targeting). While the calculated economic effects of proposed regulations will depend on the descriptive statistic chosen for analysis, which itself depends on the type of analysis being conducted, results show that considering heterogeneity within this fleet can have a significant effect on predicted economic consequences

The Double Slit Experiment With Polarizers

The double slit experiment provides a standard way of demonstrating how quantum mechanics works. We consider modifying the standard arrangement so that a photon beam incident upon the double slit encounters a polarizer in front of either one or both of the slits.Comment: 6 page

Gauge Model With Extended Field Transformations in Euclidean Space

An SO(4) gauge invariant model with extended field transformations is examined in four dimensional Euclidean space. The gauge field is $(A^\mu)^{\alpha\beta} = 1/2 t^{\mu\nu\lambda} (M^{\nu\lambda})^{\alpha\beta}$ where $M^{\nu\lambda}$ are the SO(4) generators in the fundamental representation. The SO(4) gauge indices also participate in the Euclidean space SO(4) transformations giving the extended field transformations. We provide the decomposition of the reducible field $t^{\mu\nu\lambda}$ in terms of fields irreducible under SO(4). The SO(4) gauge transformations for the irreducible fields mix fields of different spin. Reducible matter fields are introduced in the form of a Dirac field in the fundamental representation of the gauge group and its decomposition in terms of irreducible fields is also provided. The approach is shown to be applicable also to SO(5) gauge models in five dimensional Euclidean space.Comment: 31 pages, Plain LaTe

XatA, an AT-1 autotransporter important for the virulence of Xylella fastidiosa Temecula1.

Xylella fastidiosa Temecula1 is the causative agent of Pierce's disease of grapevine, which is spread by xylem-feeding insects. An important feature of the infection cycle is the ability of X. fastidiosa to colonize and interact with two distinct environments, the xylem of susceptible plants and the insect foregut. Here, we describe our characterization of XatA, the X. fastidiosa autotransporter protein encoded by PD0528. XatA, which is classified as an AT-1 (classical) autotransporter, has a C-terminal β-barrel domain and a passenger domain composed of six tandem repeats of approximately 50 amino acids. Localization studies indicate that XatA is present in both the outer membrane and membrane vesicles and its passenger domain can be found in the supernatant. Moreover, XatA is important for X. fastidiosa autoaggregation and biofilm formation based on mutational analysis and the discovery that Escherichia coli expressing XatA acquire these traits. The xatA mutant also shows a significant decrease in Pierce's disease symptoms when inoculated into grapevines. Finally, X. fastidiosa homologs to XatA, which can be divided into three distinct groups based on synteny, form a single, well-supported clade, suggesting that they arose from a common ancestor

The provision of distance education within the HE sector - some areas for concern

This paper presents a summary of the findings of a recent survey of the way in which UK higher education institutions (HEIs) are offering distance education (DE) courses, the types of courses being offered, and their modes of delivery. From analysis of the findings of this survey, it is apparent that the emphasis of HEIs is very much on the exploitation of available teaching technology in the delivery of DE courses. However, teaching at a distance is quite different from face-toface teaching, and the evidence suggests that many HEIs fail to implement any meaningful academic staff training for the new role of DE tutor. The authors consider the difficulties this presents to academic staff who are required to move from face-to-face teaching to online facilitating. The paper concludes with an examination of the current provision of staff development and training within UK HEIs and suggests the type of academic staff training required if DE courses are to become truly core activities