The Challenge of Reforming the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding

The May 2003 deadline for the completion of the negotiations on improvements and clarifications of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) under the Doha Mandate has not been met. However, Members agreed in July 2003 to extend the deadline for the review until the end of May 2004. This article briefly summarises the past six years of negotiations on the DSU review, the most contentious issues and the systemic difficulties of the negotiations. We conclude with prospects for the forthcoming negotiations until 2004.WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding DSU Review

Predictability in the cross-section of European bank stock returns

This paper investigates the impact of individual bank fundamental variables on stock market returns using data from a panel of 235 European banks from 1991 to 2005. The sample period marks a significant transition in the European banking sector, characterized by higher competition, lower profit margins in the traditional interest-related business and increasing non-interest income in terms of fees and commissions. In panel regressions, we relate bank stock returns to fundamental accounting information and use several corrections for the standard errors to control for heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation and spatial correlation. Our results indicate that several bank-specific variables exhibit a robust explanatory power across different model specifications. Most important, there is a positive impact of the ratio of loans to total assets, the ratio of non-interest income to total income, and the ratio of off-balance sheet items to total assets on subsequent bank stock returns. In contrast, the ratio of loan-loss-provisions to net interest revenue and the ratio of book value of equity to total assets load negatively on subsequent bank stock returns. Overall, the valuation of bank stocks incorporates both the traditional loan-related side of the banking business and the growing off-balance activities.Asset pricing, bank stock returns, bank-specific accounting ratios.

Design of a final approach spacing tool for TRACON air traffic control

This paper describes an automation tool that assists air traffic controllers in the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) Facilities in providing safe and efficient sequencing and spacing of arrival traffic. The automation tool, referred to as the Final Approach Spacing Tool (FAST), allows the controller to interactively choose various levels of automation and advisory information ranging from predicted time errors to speed and heading advisories for controlling time error. FAST also uses a timeline to display current scheduling and sequencing information for all aircraft in the TRACON airspace. FAST combines accurate predictive algorithms and state-of-the-art mouse and graphical interface technology to present advisory information to the controller. Furthermore, FAST exchanges various types of traffic information and communicates with automation tools being developed for the Air Route Traffic Control Center. Thus it is part of an integrated traffic management system for arrival traffic at major terminal areas

Critical market shares for investors and access seekers and competitive models in fibre networks

In this paper we consider and evaluate NGA architectures which meet the foreseeable future bandwidth demand and allow for highest bandwidth and quality for end-users and which no longer rely on copper cable elements. These are FTTH architectures only. From all available FTTH architectures we concentrate on the two most relevant architectures in Europe, Ethernet Point-to-Point and GPON. We assume the incumbent to be the investor in the NGA network infrastructure. If the NGA architecture is based on a Point-to-Point fibre plant we have modelled the competitors as using unbundled fibre loops as the wholesale access service. If the architecture is based on a Point-to-Multipoint fibre plant, we consider an active wholesale access (bitstream access) at the MPoP or at the core network node locations. Our basic modelling relies upon an engineering bottom-up cost modelling approach. We model the total cost of the services considered under efficient conditions, taking into account the cost of all network elements needed to produce these services in the specific architecture deployed. This approach is coherent with a Long Run Incremental Cost approach as applied in regulatory economics. Our modelling approach generates a broad set of results including the relative performance of the various network architectures, investment requirements and the degree of profitable coverage. In this paper, however, we focus on the results on the potential for competition and potential market structures in an NGA environment. --NGA architecture,cost modelling,FTTH,coverage,access models,unbundling

Wahrnehmung von Wirtsdüften durch Forstschädlinge : Vergleich zwischen einem Holzbrüter und einem Rindenbrüter

The blue pine wood borer (Phaenops cyanea) and the black pine sawyer beetle (Monochamus galloprovincialis) (Fig. 1) both are pests of the white pine (Pinus silvestris) and other Pinus species. Both insects have nearly the same demands regarding their breeding site. Larval development requires a fresh, unwilted inner bark. An infestation occurs on freshly cut trees or on trees suffering from stress (e.g. after dry seasons, loss of needles caused by feeding caterpillars or damage by forest fires). Phaenops cyanea detects susceptible pines by their volatile emissions (SCHÜTZ et al. 2004) and is able to infest the trees already at a low stress level. During feeding the larvae avoid the resin ducts of the tree and thus evade the oleoresin defence. The beetle is endemic in Europe and – under favourable climatic conditions – can cause substantial damage to pine forests. It is the most significant bark-breeding beetle of white pine in the lowlands of north-eastern Germany. Monochamus galloprovincialis is found in Europe and northern Africa. The larvae tend to a more copious feeding which makes them more susceptible to the oleoresin defence of the tree. Thus, M. galloprovincialis prefers trees that are weakened by a higher degree of stress. The economic damage caused by feeding of thebeetle is low. However, the beetle has gained a special attention of forest scientists because of its association with the nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus which is causing the pine wilt disease (PWD) in Pinus. The only outbreak of the PWD within Europe is limited to an area of 258.000 ha in Portugal. (MOTA et al. 1999).Die Forstschädlinge Phaenops cyanea (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) und Monochamus galloprovincialis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) befallen beide Kiefern (Pinus sylvestris), die geschwächt sind, z.B. durch Wasser-Stress. Die Larven von P. cyanea entwickeln sich in oder unter der Rinde, während Larven von M. galloprovincialis nach einem Fraß im Kambium des befallenen Baumes auch tief in das Holz eindringen. P. cyanea befällt bereits Bäume, die nur einem geringen Stress ausgesetzt waren, während M. galloprovincialis Bäume bevorzugt, die erheblich geschwächt oder bereits tot sind. Die vorliegende Studie soll anhand elektrophysiologischer Experimente untersuchen, welchen olfaktorischen Hinweisen die beiden Insekten bei ihrer Suche nach einem geeigneten Eiablageplatz folgen. Duftstoffe von Pinus sylvestris wurden auf Aktivkohle gesammelt und mit Gaschromatographie, Massenspektroskopie und Elektroantennographie untersucht (GC-MS/ EAD). Die stärksten Signale von P. cyanea traten im Retentionsindex-Bereich von 936 (α-Pinen) bis 1200 auf, wobei insbesondere bizyklische Terpene und Terpenoide wie α-Pinen, β-Pinen, 1,8-Cineol und trans- Verbenol detektiert wurden. M. galloprovincialis reagierte auf einen weiteren Bereich von Stoffen, ebenfalls beginnend mit α-Pinen, bis hin zu Stoffen mit einem Retentionsindex von ca. 1300. Es scheint eine spezifische Empfindlichkeit für monozyklische und azyklische Terpene und Terpenoide vorzuliegen, insbesondere für γ-Terpinen, Terpinolen, β-Myrcen und p-Cymen

ShakeMe: Key Generation From Shared Motion

Devices equipped with accelerometer sensors such as today's mobile devices can make use of motion to exchange information. A typical example for shared motion is shaking of two devices which are held together in one hand. Deriving a shared secret (key) from shared motion, e.g. for device pairing, is an obvious application for this. Only the keys need to be exchanged between the peers and neither the motion data nor the features extracted from it. This makes the pairing fast and easy. For this, each device generates an information signal (key) independently of each other and, in order to pair, they should be identical. The key is essentially derived by quantizing certain well discriminative features extracted from the accelerometer data after an implicit synchronization. In this paper, we aim at finding a small set of effective features which enable a significantly simpler quantization procedure than the prior art. Our tentative results with authentic accelerometer data show that this is possible with a competent accuracy ($76$%) and key strength (entropy approximately $15$ bits).Comment: The paper is accepted to the 13th IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Intelligence and Computing (PIComp-2015

Simulator evaluation of the final approach spacing tool

The design and simulator evaluation of an automation tool for assisting terminal radar approach controllers in sequencing and spacing traffic onto the final approach course is described. The automation tool, referred to as the Final Approach Spacing Tool (FAST), displays speed and heading advisories for arrivals as well as sequencing information on the controller's radar display. The main functional elements of FAST are a scheduler that schedules and sequences the traffic, a 4-D trajectory synthesizer that generates the advisories, and a graphical interface that displays the information to the controller. FAST was implemented on a high performance workstation. It can be operated as a stand-alone in the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) Facility or as an element of a system integrated with automation tools in the Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). FAST was evaluated by experienced TRACON controllers in a real-time air traffic control simulation. Simulation results show that FAST significantly reduced controller workload and demonstrated a potential for an increase in landing rate

Visual Storytelling in Career Counselling – An Ecological Approach

In this paper, we present the concept of the project «Visualized vocational aspirations: Potentials of photography for career counselling and vocational preparation», which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The research project is a cooperation between the «Zurich University of Teacher Education» («Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich») and the «Laufbahnzentrum» (Centre of Vocational Counselling) Zürich. Vocational education often is largely language-based, which could be a problem for the lower achieving students. Visual stimulation could be a means to support the learning process of this group of at risk learners