Civil society in trade policy-making in Latin America: the case of the environmental movement

In recent years, and particularly perhaps since the ‘battle of Seattle’ in 1999, the issue of civil society participation in trade policy has attracted increasing policy and academic attention. Much of this attention has been drawn to the question of institutional access and channels of participation and representation within the WTO. The challenge is one that has faced other global institutions such as the World Bank and IMF for a number of years (O’Brien et al 2000). Improving the transparency of and access to decision-making in the context of up-scaling civil society participation is not exclusively a global challenge, however. There has been a great deal of activity at the regional level around trade negotiations and increasingly in Latin America with the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) following in the wake of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and Mercosur (Mercado Común del Sur). Few institutional reforms have been brought about without significant pressure from civil society, however. Some challenges are common to all movements attempting to participate and make their voice heard in the sensitive and traditionally closed arena of trade negotiations. But others are unique, and reflect distinct regional political histories, previous experiences of mobilisation and prevailing social and material realities. Given this, it becomes important to understand what can be learned from the experience of a globally significant region like Latin America about the possibilities and limitations of civil society participation in trade policy. By comparing the documented experiences of NAFTA with analysis of Mercosur and the evolving FTAA negotiations, in terms of the participation of the environmental movements, important insights may be gained about: who is participating in trade policy, how and with what effect and, equally importantly, who is not participating and what are the implications of this? The analysis will therefore attempt to identify key factors which shape these dynamics. These include; * key strategic issues within the movements and among groups themselves (diversity of strategies, politics of coalition-building, patterns of influence and engagement/non-engagement) * the organisation of institutional access (rights, representation, process, decision-making) * key economic and political regional dynamics which affect each of the above (differences between and within individual countries regarding key issues and attitudes towards participation) By comparing across different sets of trade negotiations and institutional arrangements it will be possible to identify what the key drivers and shapers of change appear to be. In other words, the extent to which these appear to derive from the nature of the institution or process itself, the strategies of the movement engaging with it, or more likely still, some combination of both these elements. The challenge is to account for diverse forms of engagement and non-engagement and, more importantly, to derive lessons from them about the possibility of constructing more effective, sustainable and transparent mechanisms of participation and representation in trade policy based on experiences to date in Latin America

Who eats four or more servings of fruit and vegetables per day? Multivariate classification tree analysis of data from the 1998 Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition in the Republic of Ireland

OBJECTIVE: To identify, using the novel application of multivariate classification trees, the socio-economic, sociodemographic and health-related lifestyle behaviour profile of adults who comply with the recommended 4 or more servings per day of fruit and vegetables. DESIGN: Cross-sectional 1998 Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition. SETTING: Community-dwelling adults aged 18 years and over on the Republic of Ireland electoral register. SUBJECTS: Six thousand five hundred and thirty-nine (response rate 62%) adults responded to a self-administered postal questionnaire, including a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: The most important determining factor of compliance with the fruit and vegetable dietary recommendations was gender. A complex constellation of sociodemographic and socio-economic factors emerged for males whereas the important predictors of 4 or more servings of fruit and vegetable consumption among females were strongly socio-economic in nature. A separate algorithm was run to investigate the importance of health-related lifestyle and other dietary factors on compliance with the fruit and vegetable recommendations. Following an initial split on compliance with dairy recommendations, a combination of non-dietary behaviours showed a consistent pattern of healthier options more likely to lead to compliance with fruit and vegetable recommendations. There did, however, appear to be a compensatory element between the variables, particularly around smoking, suggesting the non-existence of an exclusive lifestyle for health risk. CONCLUSIONS: Material and structural influences matter very much for females in respect to compliance with fruit and vegetable recommendations. For males, while these factors are important they appear to be mediated through other more socially contextual-type factors. Recognition of the role that each of these factors plays in influencing dietary habits of men and women has implications for the manner in which dietary strategies and policies are developed and implemented

Causes and damage to fruits and vegetables during shipment

Cover title.Includes bibliographical references

Navy Satellite Communication System - In Transition

In the space age, satellite systenf engineers and program managers are blessed by ever improving satellite and ground system tech- nology and performance, and are challenged by the changes in their systems required to take advantage of these improvements. An extended period of time is required to bring total satellite communications systems to maturity, or full operational capability. Consequently, as today*s systems are being deployed, the follow-on programs are moving through early development and offering improvements and tradeoffs requiring careful analysis and transition planning. The several Navy SATCOM programs in being and in development, present the full spectrum of challenge for system engineering, program management and long-range planning. Solutions are being developed to unique Navy transitional issues within the framework of the total Defense MILSATCOM Architecture, Significant gains in overall satellite communications capability for the near term through the 1990\u27s will result from the coordinated deployment and use of current assets, the development of more capable future systems, and an optimal transition to these systems. This paper reviews several Navy SATCOM transition issues currently being addressed as the Shuttle introduces a new dimension to space age communications

Exploring the essence of trust through the lived experiences of jazz educators

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to contribute to the body of knowledge on trust, educational leadership, and jazz by exploring the lived experiences of jazz educators with regard to the phenomenon of trust in the educational environment

Pixel classification by morphological granulometric features

Pixel classification systems rely on a certain set of features that are sufficient to classify a given pixel into a class defined within a database. Unlike brightness and spectral signature features commonly used in remote sensing applications, texture-based features cannot be defined for a single pixel and must be derived from an area or window surrounding that pixel. In this research, all features are derived from binary morphological granulometries. Once generated, these features comprise a database which can be used to classify images. A Gaussian Maximum Likelihood Classifier is trained with this data base for subsequent classification of both dependent and independent data. Several aspects of these texture-base features require investigation in order to determine their ability to distinguish image textures. Three important aspects are addressed in this study; the effects of maximum noise, the optimal size of the localized window, and the minimum number of optimal features required for accurate classification. A statistical approach has been taken to determine the classification accuracy with varying window size, varying number of features, and varying amounts of four types of maximum noise using granulometric features. Analysis of these investigations indicate four main results. First, classification accuracy in the absence of noise is extremely high. Second, for these textures at the spatial resolution of 75 dpi, classification accuracy decreases dramatically below a window size of 11x11 pixels. Third, the number of features needed for high classification accuracy can be reduced to a fairly small number on the order of 6 features. Finally, these features are generally robust in the presence of maximum noise if the type and amount of noise can be accurately estimated

An investigation of the septuagintal translation of ydʻ in selected Old Testament books

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/2010/thumbnail.jp

ERISA Retirement Plans in Individual Bankruptcy

When an employee covered by an ERISA retirement plan files a petition in bankruptcy, the court is presented with a number of complex issues regarding the relationship among ERISA, the Bankruptcy Code (Code), and the state law of creditors\u27 rights. Three issues have emerged in these cases, and the courts have divided on the proper resolution of each of these issues. First, is the debtor\u27s interest in an ERISA retirement plan property of the estate, and thus available for distribution to creditors? Second, if the debtor\u27s interest is property of the estate, and the debtor uses the state exemption scheme, is his interest nevertheless exempt in bankruptcy because it is exempt under Federal [nonbankruptcy] law? Third, if the debtor chooses the federal bankruptcy exemption scheme, is his interest in the retirement plan exempt under the section exempting his right to receive a payment under a retirement plan, to the extent reasonably necessary for the support of the debtor? Although this Article explores each of these issues in turn, it is not possible to develop a logical and consistent approach to the treatment of ERISA retirement plan benefits in bankruptcy without considering each issue in light of the other two, and in light of the rights of creditors in the nonbankruptcy context

Exceptionally Large Icebergs and Ice Islands in Eastern Canadian Waters: A Review of Sightings from 1900 to Present

A review of post-1900 sightings of ice islands and exceptionally large icebergs in eastern Canadian waters between Baffin Bay and the Grand Banks demonstrates that current estimates of the maximum expected iceberg lengths are below many of the reported values. Analysis of these sightings reveals that for the area south of 55 N the frequency of sightings and the maximum reported lengths were greater during the first half of this century than during the period 1950-90. However, recent sightings in 1991 demonstrate that exceptionally large icebergs should still be considered when designing fixed offshore structures for the Grand Banks or Labrador Shelf.Key words: icebergs, ice islands, Labrador Sea, Grand Banks, offshore oilUne recension des observations postérieures à 1900 concernant les îles de glace et les icebergs de taille exceptionnelle dans les eaux canadiennes orientales situées entre la baie de Baffin et les Grands Bancs de Terre-Neuve révèle que les estimations courantes des longueurs maximales d'icebergs escomptées se situent en dessous de bien des valeurs rapportées. Une analyse de ces observations montre que pour la zone au sud du 55° N, la fréquence des observations et les longueurs maximales rapportées étaient plus grandes durant la première moitié de ce siècle que durant la période allant de 1950 à 1990. De récentes observations faites en 1991 révèlent cependant que la conception des structures fixes en mer sur les Grands Bancs ou sur le plateau continental du Labrador devrait toujours tenir compte des icebergs de taille exceptionnelle.Mots clés : icebergs, îles de glace, mer du Labrador, Grands Bancs, pétrole exploité en me

The role of norms in American Catholic sociological writing

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityThe problem of this dissertation is to investigate the role of norms in the sociological writing of Roman Catholics in America as a case study in the general problem of ethics and the social sciences. The investigation attempts to understand the position of Catholic sociologists, criticize it, and from it draw implications for establishing a frame of reference for a coherent approach to the study of human society and its processes, which combines the empirical and the normative. The dissertation assumes that universally valid norms can be progressively known through a coherent approach to human experience. The problems of a science of man point repeatedly to the need and possibility of such an assumption. Three perspectives on norms are established, which provide the framework for the study: value-judgments about the subject matter of sociology, values as social facts to be studied, and the formal relationship between sociology and ethics. After setting forth these perspectives in a brief analysis of contemporary sociology, the Catholic development of sociology and the major issues involved in this development are analyzed. The implications of Catholic sociological work for the problem of the dissertation are set forth. The conclusion suggests an emerging point of view for a closer relationship between sociology and ethics. [TRUNCATED