The Hydra Revisited: Expectations and Perceptions of the Impact of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement

On 01 July 2011, a free trade agreement was provisionally implemented between the EU and South Korea. At the time, there were clear expectations within the EU business community in Seoul about the likely impact of the deal, including an increase in EU exports, the dismantling of tariff and existing non-tariff barriers (NTBs), the possible emergence of new NTBs, the further development of mechanisms for discussion and problem-solving mechanisms, and a shift in Koreans’ perceptions of all imported EU goods as luxury items. Interviews conducted with expatriate executives, diplomats and trade officials in Seoul in 2015 revealed the extent to which these expectations have been fulfilled, and also highlighted the importance of broad economic and social trends in the strong performance of EU exports since 2011. These included the maturing of the Korean economy and the growing need for the high-end industrial goods, and the Koreans’ increasing purchasing power and the concomitant desire to engage in displays of wealth. In addition to contributing to the general academic debate on the impact of FTAs and adding specific colour to the case of the EU-Korea FTA, this research will play an important role in shaping responses to the shifting economic, social and cultural trends that will impact the future outcomes of this key trade deal between the EU and Korea. It will also inform the EC’s discussions with current and future free trade agreement partners and its analysis of the various factors influencing the actual and perceived success or failure of those deals

E. coli contamination of mountain springs used for drinking water and drilled well alternatives

Millions of people in developing communities drink water from springs on bedrock mountain slopes. Previous studies show E. coli causing many sampled springs on populated mountain slopes in southwest China to provide unsafe drinking water (Chitwood 2007a). Such studies are rare, but recently a reconnaissance study was initiated in a watershed in the Dominican Republic where more than 25,000 people, spread out across small communities and one town, rely on mountain springs. E. coli testing shows many of these springs to be unsafe. Water users live downslope and distant from the springs and receive spring water via pipelines. Likely, the E. coli originates from sparse livestock grazing up-slope from springs. Small wells drilled using portable rock coring machines and completed using novel continuous seals attached above the water intake zone are proposed to access safe drinking water drawn from permeable fractures tens of meters below ground, avoiding contamination near surface

Studying Kaon-pion S-wave scattering in K-matrix formalism

We generalize our previous work on \pi\pi scattering to K\pi scattering, and re-analyze the experiment data of K\pi scattering below 1.6 GeV. Without any free parameter, we explain K\pi I=3/2 S-wave phase shift very well by using t-channel rho and u-channel K^* meson exchange. With the t-channel and u-channel meson exchange fixed as the background term, we fit the K\pi I=1/2 S-wave data of the LASS experiment quite well by introducing one or two s-channel resonances. It is found that there is only one s-channel resonance between K\pi threshold and 1.6 GeV, i.e., K_0^*(1430) with a mass around 1438~1486 MeV and a width about 346 MeV, while the t-channel rho exchange gives a pole at (450-480i) MeV for the amplitude.Comment: REVTeX4 file, 11 pages and 3 figure

Measuring the Relative Strong Phase in D0→K∗+K−D^0 \to K^{*+} K^- and D0→K∗−K+D^0 \to K^{*-} K^+ Decays

In a recently suggested method for measuring the weak phase $\gamma$ in $B^\pm \to K^\pm (KK^*)_D$ decays, the relative strong phase $\delta_D$ in $D^0 \to K^{*+} K^-$ and $D^0 \to K^{*-} K^+$ decays (equivalently, in $D^0 \to K^{*+} K^-$ and \od \to K^{*+} K^-) plays a role. It is shown how a study of the Dalitz plot in $D^0 \to K^+ K^- \pi^0$ can yield information on this phase, and the size of the data sample which would give a useful measurement is estimated.Comment: 13 pages, latex, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. Appendix and some text on additional resonant contributions adde

Spreading Dynamics of Polymer Nanodroplets

The spreading of polymer droplets is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. To study the dynamics of both the precursor foot and the bulk droplet, large drops of ~200,000 monomers are simulated using a bead-spring model for polymers of chain length 10, 20, and 40 monomers per chain. We compare spreading on flat and atomistic surfaces, chain length effects, and different applications of the Langevin and dissipative particle dynamics thermostats. We find diffusive behavior for the precursor foot and good agreement with the molecular kinetic model of droplet spreading using both flat and atomistic surfaces. Despite the large system size and long simulation time relative to previous simulations, we find no evidence of hydrodynamic behavior in the spreading droplet.Comment: Physical Review E 11 pages 10 figure

Nonlinear elastic wave interaction in a sandstone bar: A summary of recent pulse-mode experiments

We have performed nonlinear pulse propagation experiments in a 3.8 cm diameter rod of Berea sandstone 1.8 m long at ambient conditions. Unlike earlier studies, we measured acceleration and not displacement. Moreover, we detected 2nd and 3rd harmonic growth at smaller strain amplitudes than were observed previously (10{sup {minus}7}). Harmonic growth at identical strain amplitudes has also been noted in resonance studies using the same rock type. Current measurements are underway with the rod in vacuum where the wave attenuation is less and the conditions can be carefully controlled. Ultimately, we wish to test the validity of current analytic and numerical models for nonlinear propagation in microcracked materials

The K^*_0(800) scalar resonance from Roy-Steiner representations of pi K scattering

We discuss the existence of the light scalar meson K^*_0(800) (also called kappa) in a rigorous way, by showing the presence of a pole in the pi K --> pi K amplitude on the second Riemann sheet. For this purpose, we study the domain of validity of two classes of Roy-Steiner representations in the complex energy plane. We prove that one of them is valid in a region sufficiently broad in the imaginary direction. From this representation, we compute the l=0 partial wave in the complex plane with neither additional approximation nor model dependence, relying only on experimental data. A scalar resonance with strangeness S=1 is found with the following mass and width: E_kappa = 658 \pm 13 MeV and Gamma_kappa = 557 \pm 24 MeV.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures. Domain of validity of a Roy-Steiner representation corrected and enlarged, and features of the K^*_0(800) pole discussed in more details. Conclusions unchange

Communication is key: a study of the development of communication key skills in China

Different countries offer alternative curricula around what might be designated language, literacy and/or communication. This paper focuses on the latter which has typically been associated with vocational education and often labelled a ‘key’ or ‘core’ skill that forms part of a wider set of life and employability skills. In recent years, as China has emerged as a global economy, education has been significant in its policy and development. This research explores staff and student responses to the introduction of a key skills communication course in three Chinese further education vocational colleges. The initiative was prompted by research in China which had suggested that communication is important not just for education (Ye and Li 2007) but also for employability, and that the ability to communicate effectively could be instrumental in individuals’ success and development (Tong and Zhong 2008). It explores what communication key skills might mean in a Chinese context and questions notions of transferability and of competence and performance in communication. It analyses how motivation could affect learner success and the relationship of pedagogy to curriculum and, finally, it considers how communication might be an element in the longer-term social and political development of critical literacies

Epstein-Barr virus: clinical and epidemiological revisits and genetic basis of oncogenesis

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is classified as a member in the order herpesvirales, family herpesviridae, subfamily gammaherpesvirinae and the genus lymphocytovirus. The virus is an exclusively human pathogen and thus also termed as human herpesvirus 4 (HHV4). It was the first oncogenic virus recognized and has been incriminated in the causation of tumors of both lymphatic and epithelial nature. It was reported in some previous studies that 95% of the population worldwide are serologically positive to the virus. Clinically, EBV primary infection is almost silent, persisting as a life-long asymptomatic latent infection in B cells although it may be responsible for a transient clinical syndrome called infectious mononucleosis. Following reactivation of the virus from latency due to immunocompromised status, EBV was found to be associated with several tumors. EBV linked to oncogenesis as detected in lymphoid tumors such as Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), Hodgkin's disease (HD), post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) and T-cell lymphomas (e.g. Peripheral T-cell lymphomas; PTCL and Anaplastic large cell lymphomas; ALCL). It is also linked to epithelial tumors such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), gastric carcinomas and oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL). In vitro, EBV many studies have demonstrated its ability to transform B cells into lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs). Despite these malignancies showing different clinical and epidemiological patterns when studied, genetic studies have suggested that these EBV- associated transformations were characterized generally by low level of virus gene expression with only the latent virus proteins (LVPs) upregulated in both tumors and LCLs. In this review, we summarize some clinical and epidemiological features of EBV- associated tumors. We also discuss how EBV latent genes may lead to oncogenesis in the different clinical malignancie