The Impact of ASEAN-China FTA Early Harvest Program: the Case of the Philippines with Focus on Short-run Effects on the Agriculture Sector

This paper aims to provide some information on the implications for the Philippine agriculture sector of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement. In particular, the paper explores the possible impact of the agreement, with emphasis on the Early Harvest Program (EHP). It also provides a brief background on the state of the Philippine agriculture system, the liberalization initiatives undertaken, as well as some policy gaps and interventions done to address these. The paper also revisits a simulation exercise conducted on the possible short-run impact of an EHP to identify the vulnerable sectors.agriculture sector, China, agricultural liberalization, ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement, Early Harvest Program (EHP)

The Stokes-Einstein Relation at Moderate Schmidt Number

The Stokes-Einstein relation for the self-diffusion coefficient of a spherical particle suspended in an incompressible fluid is an asymptotic result in the limit of large Schmidt number, that is, when momentum diffuses much faster than the particle. When the Schmidt number is moderate, which happens in most particle methods for hydrodynamics, deviations from the Stokes-Einstein prediction are expected. We study these corrections computationally using a recently-developed minimally-resolved method for coupling particles to an incompressible fluctuating fluid in both two and three dimensions. We find that for moderate Schmidt numbers the diffusion coefficient is reduced relative to the Stokes-Einstein prediction by an amount inversely proportional to the Schmidt number in both two and three dimensions. We find, however, that the Einstein formula is obeyed at all Schmidt numbers, consistent with linear response theory. The numerical data is in good agreement with an approximate self-consistent theory, which can be used to estimate finite-Schmidt number corrections in a variety of methods. Our results indicate that the corrections to the Stokes-Einstein formula come primarily from the fact that the particle itself diffuses together with the momentum. Our study separates effects coming from corrections to no-slip hydrodynamics from those of finite separation of time scales, allowing for a better understanding of widely observed deviations from the Stokes-Einstein prediction in particle methods such as molecular dynamics.Comment: Submitte

Computational modeling of passive transport of functionalized nanoparticles

Functionalized nanoparticles (NPs) are complex objects present in a variety of systems ranging from synthetic grafted nanoparticles to viruses. The morphology and number of the decorating groups can vary widely between systems. Thus, the modeling of functionalized NPs typically considers simplified spherical objects as a first-order approximation. At the nanoscale label, complex hydrodynamic interactions are expected to emerge as the morphological features of the particles change, and they can be further amplified when the NPs are confined or near walls. Direct estimation of these variations can be inferred via diffusion coefficients of the NPs. However, the evaluation of the coefficients requires an improved representation of the NPs morphology to reproduce important features hidden by simplified spherical models. Here, we characterize the passive transport of free and confined functionalized nanoparticles using the Rigid Multi-Blob (RMB) method. The main advantage of RMB is its versatility to approximate the mobility of complex structures at the nanoscale with significant accuracy and reduced computational cost. In particular, we investigate the effect of functional groups' distribution, size, and morphology over nanoparticle translational and rotational diffusion. We identify that the presence of functional groups significantly affects the rotational diffusion of the nanoparticles; moreover, the morphology of the groups and number induce characteristic mobility reduction compared to non-functionalized nanoparticles. Confined NPs also evidenced important alterations in their diffusivity, with distinctive signatures in the off-diagonal contributions of the rotational diffusion. These results can be exploited in various applications, including biomedical, polymer nanocomposite fabrication, drug delivery, and imaging

Mixed hydrogen-deuterium plasmas on JET ILW

A study of mixed hydrogen-deuterium H-mode plasmas has been carried out in JET-ILW to strengthen the physics basis for extrapolations to JET D-T operation and to support the development of strategies for isotope ratio control in future experiments. Variations of input power, gas fuelling and isotopic mixture were performed in H-mode plasmas of the same magnetic field, plasma current and divertor configuration. The analysis of the energy confinement as a function of isotope mixture reveals that the biggest change is seen in plasmas with small fractions of H or D, in particular when including pure isotope plasmas. To interpret the results correctly, the dependence of the power threshold for access to type-I ELMing H-modes on the isotope mixture must be taken into account. For plasmas with effective mass between 1.2 and 1.8 the plasma thermal stored energy (Wth) scales as m 0.1 eff, which is weaker than that in the ITER physics basis, IPB98 scaling. At fixed stored energy, deuterium-rich plasmas feature higher density pedestals, while the temperature at the pedestal top is lower, showing that at the same gas fuelling rate and power level, the pedestal pressure remains constant with an exchange of density and temperature as the isotope ratio is varied. Isotope control was successfully tested in JET-ILW by changing the isotope ratio throughout a discharge, switching from D to H gas puffing. Several energy confinement times (300 ms) are needed to fully change the isotope ratio during a discharge.EUROfusion Consortium Grant Agreement No. 633 053RCUK Energy Programme (Grant Number EP/I501 045)H2020 Marie-Sklodowska Curie programme (Grant No. 708 257)Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant No. FJCI-201 422 139

Applications of computational geometry to the molecular simulation of interfaces

The identification of the interfacial molecules in fluid-fluid equilibrium is a long-standing problem in the area of simulation. We here propose a new point of view, making use of concepts taken from the field of computational geometry, where the definition of the "shape" of a set of point is a well-known problem. In particular, we employ the $\alpha$-shape construction which, applied to the positions of the molecules, selects a shape and identifies its boundary points, which we will take to define our interfacial molecules. A single parameter needs to be fixed (the "$\alpha$" of the $\alpha$-shape), and several proposals are examined, all leading to very similar choices. Results of this methodology are evaluated against previous proposals, and seen to be reasonable.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure

Metallic microswimmers driven up the wall by gravity

Experiments on autophoretic bimetallic nanorods propelling within a fuel of hydrogen peroxide show that tail-heavy swimmers preferentially orient upwards and ascend along inclined planes. We show that such gravitaxis is strongly facilitated by interactions with solid boundaries, allowing even ultraheavy microswimmers to climb nearly vertical surfaces. Theory and simulations show that the buoyancy or gravitational torque that tends to align the rods is reinforced by a fore-aft drag asymmetry induced by hydrodynamic interactions with the wall.MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation under Award DMR-1420073 NSF Grants DMS-RTG-1646339, DMS-1463962 and DMS-1620331. Tamkeen under the NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute grant CG002 “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) fellowship LCF/BQ/PI20/11760014 European Union’s Horizon 2020 under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 847648

Motile dislocations knead odd crystals into whorls

The competition between thermal fluctuations and potential forces governs the stability of matter in equilibrium, in particular the proliferation and annihilation of topological defects. However, driving matter out of equilibrium allows for a new class of forces that are neither attractive nor repulsive, but rather transverse. The possibility of activating transverse forces raises the question of how they affect basic principles of material self-organization and control. Here we show that transverse forces organize colloidal spinners into odd elastic crystals crisscrossed by motile dislocations. These motile topological defects organize into a polycrystal made of grains with tunable length scale and rotation rate. The self-kneading dynamics drive super-diffusive mass transport, which can be controlled over orders of magnitude by varying the spinning rate. Simulations of both a minimal model and fully resolved hydrodynamics establish the generic nature of this crystal whorl state. Using a continuum theory, we show that both odd and Hall stresses can destabilize odd elastic crystals, giving rise to a generic state of crystalline active matter. Adding rotations to a material’s constituents has far-reaching consequences for continuous control of structures and transport at all scales.The National Science Foundation (NSF) under award no. DMR-2011854. NSF DMR-1905974, NSF EFRI NewLAW 1741685 and the Packard Foundation. NSF grants DMR-1420073 (NYU-MRSEC) and DMR-2004469. ARN grant WTF and IdexLyon Tore. The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under grant no. 1746045. D.B. The Chicago-France FACCTS programme. ‘la Caixa’ Foundation (ID 100010434), fellowship LCF/BQ/PI20/11760014 and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 847648. NSF DMR-1828629 and US NSF grant no. DMR-201185

Pancreas agenesis mutations disrupt a lead enhancer controlling a developmental enhancer cluster.

Sequence variants in cis-acting enhancers are important for polygenic disease, but their role in Mendelian disease is poorly understood. Redundancy between enhancers that regulate the same gene is thought to mitigate the pathogenic impact of enhancer mutations. Recent findings, however, have shown that loss-of-function mutations in a single enhancer near PTF1A cause pancreas agenesis and neonatal diabetes. Using mouse and human genetic models, we show that this enhancer activates an entire PTF1A enhancer cluster in early pancreatic multipotent progenitors. This leading role, therefore, precludes functional redundancy. We further demonstrate that transient expression of PTF1A in multipotent progenitors sets in motion an epigenetic cascade that is required for duct and endocrine differentiation. These findings shed insights into the genome regulatory mechanisms that drive pancreas differentiation. Furthermore, they reveal an enhancer that acts as a regulatory master key and is thus vulnerable to pathogenic loss-of-function mutations

Cuantificación espectrofotométrica de compuestos fenólicos y actividad antioxidante en distintos berries nativos del Cono Sur de América

El objetivo de este trabajo consistió en determinar distintos tipos de fenoles en algunos berries nativos del Cono Sur y el arándano por métodos espectrofotométricos y su relación con la actividad antioxidante. Para esto se realizaron los análisis de fenoles totales, flavonas y flavonoles totales, proantocianidinas totales, antocianinas totales, ácidos fenólicos totales, taninos totales y la actividad antioxidante por los métodos de DPPH+ y ABTS•+, en extractos de Ugni molinae, Aristotelia chilensis, Berberis darwinii, Luma apiculata y Vaccinium corymbosum. El berry que obtuvo la mayor concentración de fenoles totales, antocianinas totales y proantocianidinas totales fue A. chilensis, además, fue el de mayor poder antioxidante. Mientras que V. corymbosum fue el de menor concentración de fenoles totales, flavonas y flavonoles totales, y taninos totales, con una actividad antioxidante muy por debajo a los berries nativos del Cono Sur. Los berries analizados presentan variaciones en el contenido de los distintos fenoles estudiados.The objective of this work was to identify different types of phenols in ethanol extracts of some berries native to the Southern Cone of South America and blueberry by spectrophotometric methods and their relationship to antioxidant activity. For this analysis of Total Phenols, Total Flavones and Flavonols, Total Proanthocyanidins, Total Anthocyanins, Total Phenolic Acids, Total Tannins and antioxidant activity by the method of DPPH+ and ABTS•+, in extracts of Ugni molinae, Aristotelia chilensis, Berberis darwinii, Luma apiculata and Vaccinium corymbosum. The berry that had the highest concentration of Total Phenols, Total Anthocyanins and Total Proanthocyanidins was A. chilensis, being also, the highest antioxidant power. While V. corymbosum was the lowest concentration of Total Phenols, Total Flavones and Flavonols, and Total Tannins, with antioxidant activity well below berries native to the Southern Cone. The berries have analyzed variations in the content of different phenols studied.Gerencia de Comunicación e Imagen InstitucionalFil: Lillo, Angela. Universidad de La Frontera. Laboratorio de Bioquímica de Suelo; ChileFil: Carvajal-Caiconte, Fernando. Universidad de La Frontera. Laboratorio de Bioquímica de Suelo; ChileFil: Núñez, D. Universidad de La Frontera. Laboratorio de Bioquímica de Suelo; Chile. Universidad de La Frontera. Laboratorio de Investigación en Biotecnología Animal; ChileFil: Balboa, N. Universidad de La Frontera. Laboratorio de Bioquímica de Suelo; ChileFil: Alvear Zamora, Marysol. Universidad de La Frontera. Laboratorio de Bioquímica de Suelo; Chil