What makes countries initiate WTO disputes on food-related measures?

This paper analyses relevant parameters for initiating a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute on foodrelated measures and thereby contributes to the question how open de facto the system is for different types of countries. The empirical analysis differs from existing assessments by focussing on agri-food related disputes, thereby allowing for a more in-depth analysis of specific country characteristics not considered in previous studies. The results show that some determinants such as legal capacity and monetary means are not statistically significant for agri-food dispute initiations. This is the case for own protectionist behavior and endured protectionism which lower and enlarge the probability to complain, respectively.WTO disputes, agri-food disputes, binomial distribution model of complaints, International Relations/Trade,

What makes countries initiate WTO disputes on food-related issues?

This paper analyses relevant determinants for the probability to initiate a dispute on policy measures under the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system. The empirical analysis differs from existing assessments by focusing on agri-food related disputes and provides a more in-depth analysis of specific country and sectoral characteristics not considered in previous studies. Contrary to recent analyses of overall trade disputes, the results show that some determinants such as legal capacity and monetary means are not statistically significant. Own protectionist behaviour, endured protectionism, and the duration of WTO membership, however, could be identified as relevant determinants with the expected direction of impact.WTO dispute, agri-food sector, binary choice model, International Relations/Trade,

What makes countries initiate WTO disputes on food-related issues?

This paper analyses relevant determinants for the probability to initiate a dispute on policy measures under the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system. The empirical analysis differs from existing assessments by focusing on agri-food related disputes and provides a more in-depth analysis of specific country and sectoral characteristics not considered in previous studies. Contrary to recent analyses of overall trade disputes, the results show that some determinants such as legal capacity and monetary means are not statistically significant. Own protectionist behaviour, endured protectionism, and the duration of WTO membership, however, could be identified as relevant determinants with the expected direction of impact.WTO dispute, agri-food sector, binary choice model, International Relations/Trade, C12, C13, F13,

Introducing Additional Low Emission Mobility Offers in a Well Connected Area: Challenges and Opportunities

European cities and regions strive for energy efficiency to meet the Europe 2020 goals on climate change and energy sustainability. At present, the transport sector is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions due to the dependence on fossil fuels. The switch to renewable energies together with improvements in energy efficiency often cause rebound effects (e.g. increased use as a result of the environmentally friendly image) and therefore only partially serves the objectives sought. Hence, making the current mobility behavior more sustainable is of major importance to tackle environmental challenges and secure a high standard of living in European cities and regions. Many cities already offer a well-developed and efficient transport network for public and individual transport. Previous efforts concentrated on a shift from car to public transport to improve transport performance within the city, avoid congestion and reduce air pollution. Taking into account progressive urbanization, it is obvious that public transport will reach its limits without major improvements (new lines, decreases in intervals) which are slow and very expensive and hence cannot be the sole solution. Together with the increasing individualization of society, more flexibility is needed. Therefore, an additional pool of mobility options targeting these user requirements and needs has to be provided. In the EU project “Smarter Together” CO2 savings are targeted by implementing projects in the fields of energy, renovation and mobility in Lyon, Munich and Vienna. An essential part of the project is the introduction of additional low emission mobility options in the Viennese project area in the northwest of the 11th Viennese district covering 1.5 km2. The area is well linked to public transport and the general transportation network. Our research focusses on the potential of mobility behavior changes in such a wellconnected area in terms of the individual and public transport network, and on opportunities provided by additional services (e.g. sharing offers) and challenges in the implementation of theses new services. To develop successfull new concepts, residents’ requirements and needs have to be taken into account. Hence, a survey was conducted to capture information on mobility behavior and available vehicles, attitudes of the residents towards certain transport modes and willingness to use active modes, e-mobility and sharing services. The survey, including roughly 1% of the area population (N=21,300; n=241), was conducted partially online and partially face-to-face to ensure participation among different groups. Based on the collected data, the potential for alternative low emission mobility options was captured in a multi-level survey analysis. The results disclosed challenges and opportunities related to current options concerning user friendliness and communication strategies of existing services along with crucial points for the implementation of additional options. One of the results showed that sharing services are hardly known to the residents. The participants revealed that e-bikes are not yet considered as an appropriate form of transportation since their features and advantages are not known. Offering car- or e-bike sharing services therefore does not only require a location with certain characteristics but also campaigns targeting the lack of knowledge. Active mobility has a good standing, particularly cycling. Many residents want to cycle more, but the surrounding structure does not encourage them, e.g. due to missing public bike parking at shopping facilities, transport stations and transportation hubs. Public transport is already heavily used, but could be stronger linked to other types of transportation. This should be achieved by implementing a “mobility point” offering locally bundled mobility options and information. The “mobility point” links different (multimodal) mobility services and acts as a major component of ICT solutions. This relatively new concept leaves ample room for additional low emission mobility options within the area leading to greater support, services and satisfaction to the travelers and users

Negotiations on a free trade agreement between India and the EU: ambitions, expectations, obstacles, and incentives

In summer 2022, the European Union (EU) and India resumed negotiations on a free trade agreement to strengthen their strategic partnership. In addition, both sides are negotiating an investment protection agreement and an agreement on the protection of geographical indications. In this way, the EU wants to diversify its relations with the Indo-Pacific states and underscore India's prominent position. Through cooperation with the EU, India aims to advance its economic and technological modernisation, which is indispensable if the country is to play a greater international role. Unlike the negotiations that failed in 2013, the current negotiations are paradoxically both sim­pler and more complicated. They are simpler because the EU and India are now more aligned on geopolitical issues than ever, especially with regard to China. But they are also more complicated because the success of the negotiations still depends on diffi­cult concessions on both sides. A repeat failure is not an option, how­ever, for either India or the EU in terms of the future of their strategic partnership. (Autorenreferat

Abundance Tracking by Long-Read Nanopore Sequencing of Complex Microbial Communities in Samples from 20 Different Biogas/Wastewater Plants

Anaerobic digestion (AD) has long been critical technology for green energy, but the majority of the microorganisms involved are unknown and are currently not cultivable, which makes abundance tracking difficult. Developments in nanopore long-read sequencing make it a promising approach for monitoring microbial communities via metagenomic sequencing. For reliable monitoring of AD via long reads, we established a robust protocol for obtaining less fragmented, high-quality DNA, while preserving bacteria and archaea composition, for a broad range of different biogas reactors. Samples from 20 different biogas/wastewater reactors were investigated, and a median of 20.5 Gb sequencing data per nanopore flow cell was retrieved for each reactor using the developed DNA isolation protocol. The nanopore sequencing data were compared against Illumina sequencing data while using different taxonomic indices for read classifications. The Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) index allowed sufficient characterisation of the abundance of bacteria and archaea in biogas reactors with a dramatic improvement (1.8- to 13-fold increase) in taxonomic classification compared to the RefSeq index. Both technologies performed similarly in taxonomic read classification with a slight advantage for Illumina in regard to the total proportion of classified reads. However, nanopore sequencing data revealed a higher genus richness after classification. Metagenomic read classification via nanopore provides a promising approach to monitor the abundance of taxa present in a microbial AD community as an alternative to 16S ribosomal RNA studies or Illumina Sequencing

Benchmarking Cities of 15 Minutes using Open Data and Tools within the MyFairShare Project

The "MyFairShare" project develops fair CO2 mobility budgets for individuals. Here, "fairness" mainly depends on the people's location as everyone should be capable to access all the destinations needed to perform everyday tasks. As such, a basic understanding about the accessibility within an area is needed, regarding all activities that must be performed. To achieve this, a software system for benchmarking areas has been developed. It is based on open source applications and uses data that - besides public transport data in GTFS format - is freely available throughout Europe

Semi-Automated Location Planning for Urban Bike-Sharing Systems

Bike-sharing has developed into an established part of many urban transportation systems. However, new bikesharing systems (BSS) are still built and existing ones are extended. Particularly for large BSS, location planning is complex since factors determining potential usage are manifold. We propose a semi-automatic approach for creating or extending real-world sized BSS during general planning. Our approach optimizes locations such that the number of trips is maximized for a given budget respecting construction as well as operation costs. The approach consists of four steps: (1) collecting and preprocessing required data, (2) estimating a demand model, (3) calculating optimized locations considering estimated redistribution costs, and (4) presenting the solution to the planner in a visualization and planning front end. The full approach was implemented and evaluated positively with BSS and planning experts

Insecticide Resistance Mechanisms in the Green Peach Aphid Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) II: Costs and Benefits

feeds upon a huge diversity of hosts, it has been exposed to a wide variety of plant allelochemicals, which probably have promoted a wide range of detoxification systems. on both hosts, but they increased the transcriptional levels of two genes. than susceptible genotypes on radish, the more unfavorable host. Susceptible genotypes should be able to tolerate the defended host by up-regulating some metabolic genes that are also responding to insecticides. Hence, our results suggest that the trade-off among resistance mechanisms might be quite complex, with a multiplicity of costs and benefits depending on the environment