Exploring the Philippines' evolving grand strategy in the face of China's maritime expansion: From the Aquino administration to the Marcos administration

This article explores the Philippines' evolving and changing grand strategies in confronting China's maritime expansion in the South China Sea. From 2010 to 2016, under the Aquino administration, the Philippines challenged China's extensive claim over the disputed waters by adopting a hard-balancing approach. In 2016, the succeeding Duterte administration pursued an appeasement policy; in 2018, it shifted to a limited hard balancing policy because of (a) continuing Chinese coercive actions against Armed Forces of the Philippines units in Philippines-occupied land features in the South China Sea and (b) China's failure to deliver on its promised public investments in the country's infrastructure building programme. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr initially adhered to his predecessor's strategy of limited hard-balancing. Seeing no change in China's stance on the maritime issue, he resorted to a hard-balancing policy. He has vigorously supported the steady modernisation of the Philippine military and strengthened the country's defence ties with the United States and other like-minded security partners while maintaining cordial diplomatic and economic relations with China. This article argues that the Philippines' evolving grand strategy has the following elements: (a) Admitting that China's maritime expansion is the quintessential threat to Philippine national security; (b) pursuing a policy of maintaining the status quo in the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea; (c) acknowledging the urgency to shift the focus of the Philippine military from internal security to territorial defence; and (d) fostering its alliance with the United States and its security partnerships with other American allies and partners

The Duterte administration's foreign policy: unravelling the Aquino administration's balancing agenda on an emergent China

From 2010 to 2016, then-President Benigno Aquino balanced China's expansive maritime claim in the South China Sea. President Aquino challenged China by shifting the AFP's focus from domestic security to territorial defence, bolstering closer Philippine-US security relations, acquiring American military equipment, seeking from Washington an explicit security guarantee under the 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT), and promoting a strategic partnership with Japan. However, the Duterte administration is unravelling its predecessor's balancing agenda by distancing itself from the United States and gravitating closer to China, despite the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) July 12 2016 award to the Philippines. President Duterte's foreign policy is directed at reviving the equi-balancing policy on China, in contrast to then-President Aquino's balancing strategy. This is best exemplified by his efforts to harness China for several major infrastructure and investments projects in the Philippines and to resort to bilateral negotiations with Beijing. The present article argues that instead of relying on the US, President Duterte is fostering closer security partnership with Japan to equi-balance an emergent China

Caught between appeasement and limited hard balancing: the Philippines' changing relations with the eagle and the dragon

After five years of pursuing a policy of appeasement towards China, the Philippines is incrementally and reluctantly shifting to "limited hard balancing." The goal is to constrain China's revisionist agenda in the South China Sea. This strategy entails building up the Philippine military's territorial defence capabilities, maintaining its alliance with the U.S., and forging security partnerships with other middle power like South Korean, Japan, and Australia. During his six-year term, the late President Benigno Aquino III stood up to China's expansive claim in the South China Sea. When Rodrigo Roa Duterte assumed the presidency in June 2016, he unravelled his predecessor's balancing policy towards China. Nonetheless, recent developments such as the People's Liberation Army Navy's hostile moves against the Armed Forces of the Philippines units on Philippine-occupied islands in the South China Sea and the delays in the promised Chinese public investments in the country prompted the Duterte Administration to review the appeasement approach and to mull over on a limited hard balancing policy. In conclusion, this article contends that the Duterte Administration is at the crossroads, figuring out if it will continue its appeasement stance or adopt a limited hard balancing policy towards China

the role of financial, human and social capital on the entrepreneurial decision of returned migrants in municipalities of the State of Mexico

es un trabajo sobre como los distintos capitales que poseen los migrantes, los motivan para emprender algunos negociosThis paper aims to investigate the importance of the financial, human and social capital of returned migrants on the entrepreneurship decision of these returnees. For this end we use data from a survey applied to returned migrants living in urban and rural municipalities of the State of Mexico, which were analyzed using descriptive statistics and estimating a regression model.Conacy

Studying the long time dynamics of fermentation models: production of dry and sweet wine

In this talk we will consider two classical mathematical models of wine fermentation. The first model will describe the wine-making process that is used to produce dry wine. The second model will be obtained by introducing a term in the equation of the dynamics of the yeast. Thanks to this change it will be possible to inhibit the fermentation of the sugar and as a consequence a sweet wine will be obtained. We will first prove the existence, uniqueness, positiveness and boundedness of solutions for both models. Then we will pass to analyze the long-time dynamics. For the second model we will also provide estimates for the concentration of ethanol, nitrogen and sugar at the end of the process. Moreover, several numerical simulations will be provided to support the theoretical results

Dynamics of fermentation models for the production of dry and sweet wine

In thisworkweconsidertwoclassicalmathematicalmodelsofwine fermentation.Thefirstmodeldescribesthewine-makingprocessthatisused to producedrywine.Thesecondmodelisobtainedbyintroducingatermin the equationofthedynamicsoftheyeast.Thankstothischangeitwillbe possibletoinhibitthefermentationofthesugarandasaconsequenceasweet wine willbeobtained.Wefirstprovetheexistence,uniqueness,positiveness and boundednessofsolutionsforbothmodels.Thenwepasstoanalysethe the long-timedynamics.Forthesecondmodelwealsoprovideestimatesfor the concentrationofethanol,nitrogenandsugarattheendoftheprocess. Moreover,severalnumericalsimulationsareprovidedtosupportthetheoretical results

Mitral Valve Subacute Endocarditis Caused by Abiotrophia Defectiva: A Case Report

Abiotrophia defectiva is a rare agent of endocarditis and subacute presentation may delay the diagnosis. We present the case of a 41-year-old male who was admitted to the hospital for further investigation regarding a consumptive syndrome with microcytic anaemia. Past medical history included new-onset mitral insuffciency followed by an ischaemic stroke due to small vessel disease. Thoraco-abdominal computed tomography revealed a splenic infarction. In the presence of two ischaemic events associated with mitral valve disease of unknown aetiology, we considered the possibility of subacute endocarditis. Blood cultures were positive for Abiotrophia defectiva, and transoesophageal echocardiography confirmed the diagnosis. As a subacute presentation of endocarditis, the paucity of symptoms caused a five-month delay in diagnosis. New-onset valvular disease and a stroke in an otherwise healthy young patient should always prompt proper investigation. This case highlights several complications caused by septic emboli of undiagnosed and untreated endocarditis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Arduino-controlled Reflectance Transformation Imaging to the study of cultural heritage objects

Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal (Grant Nos. UIDB/04349/2020 and UID/FIS/04559/2019)- Private funds. V.C. acknowledges the support from UID/Multi/04349/2019. J.C. acknowledges NOVA.ID.FCT.This article examines the development of a low-cost and portable set-up controlled by an Arduino board to perform Reflectance Transformation Imaging technique, from the information derived from 45 digital photographs of an object acquired using a stationary camera. The set-up consists of 45 high-intensity light emitting diodes (LEDs) distributed over a hemispherical dome of 70 cm in diameter and a digital camera on the top of the dome. The LEDs are controlled by an Arduino board, and the user can individually control the LEDs state (ON or OFF) and duration of illumination. An old manuscript written with iron-gall ink and a set of 1 Euro coins mint in 2002 were photographed with the set-up. The interactive re-lighting and the mathematical enhancement of the object's surface revealed corrosion, loss of material, scratches and other details, which were not perceived in standard images. These unique features, which can be extracted using edge detection processing, have immediate application in different fields such as cultural heritage or forensic studies, where they can be used as fingerprints to identify unique objects, allowing also recognizing the use of tools to alter the surface of coins to increase the price in the market.publishersversionpublishe

Selenium Biofortification and the Problem of its Safety

Selenium is an essential mineral element to humans and animals because it is an important component of selenoproteins that are important for functioning of the metabolism. Because of poor soil conditions in various regions of the world, the enrichment of edible plants with selenium via the biofortification strategy has been implemented. However, selenium in the context of plant mineral nutrition appears twofold due to its biofortifying character at low concentrations and toxicity at high concentrations. In this sense, understanding of the functional mechanisms in which selenium is involved is important, ranging from its absorption and assimilation in organic compounds to its beneficial or harmful effects, considering its role in food security and human health. Therefore, this chapter addresses the key aspects related to selenium in the soil-plant-man environment and the narrow limit between biofortification and toxicity, as well as the main scientific findings on this mineral element in the biochemical, physiology and plant nutrition contexts