Economic Partnership Agreements: Redesigning trade and development among EU and ACP Countries

The European Union is currently engaged in redesigning its trade relations with many of its partners in the Southern hemisphere. The present study assesses the economic implications of the negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements between the European Union and ACP’s regional groupings. These new trade arrangements, natural evolution of the Cotonou Agreements, represent an outstanding opportunity to favour the insertion of ACP countries into the world trade system and a genuine attempt to promote economic development and regional integration in developing world. Is this project bound to fail? Which are the prerequisites to make it work? Which lessons can be drawn from empirical evidences?EPA, Trade and development, Market access, Regional integration, Cotonou agreements, Kenya and Mauritius

Microscopic Cluster Model for Exotic Nuclei

For a better understanding of the dynamics of exotic nuclei it is of crucial importance to develop a practical microscopic theory easy to be applied to a wide range of masses. Theoretically the basic task consists in formulating an easy solvable theory able to reproduce structures and transitions of known nuclei which should be then used to calculate the sparely known properties of proton- or neutron-rich nuclei. In this paper we start by calculating energies and distributions of A\leq4 nuclei withing a unitary correlation model restricted to include only two-body correlations. The structure of complex nuclei is then calculated extending the model to include correlation effects of higher order.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. Final Version to be published in "Progress of Particle and Nuclear Physics (2007

Over-Imitation in the Kalahari Desert and the Origins of Human Cultural Cognition

Children grow up in environments saturated with tools and objects which they must learn to use. One of the most efficient ways in which children do this is by imitating. Recent work has shown that, in contrast to non-human primates, when young children learn by imitating they focus more on reproducing the specific actions used than the actual outcomes achieved. From about 18 months of age children will routinely copy arbitrary and unnecessary actions. This puzzling behaviour is called 'over-imitation'. By documenting similarities exhibited by children from a large, industrialised city and children from remote Bushman communities in southern Africa, we provide here the first indication that over-imitation is a universal human trait. We also show that over-imitation is unaffected by the age of the child, testing environment, or familiarity of the demonstrating adult. Furthermore we argue that, although seemingly maladaptive, over-imitation reflects an evolutionary adaptation fundamental to the development and transmission of human culture

Diachronic Development in Isolation: The Loss of V2 Phenomena in Cimbrian

This paper deals with the syntactic development of Cimbrian, a German dialect, which was spoken for centuries in some enclaves in northern Italy. In particular, we argue that the ‘dismantlement’ of the V2 phenomenon is connected with a change concerning the ‘nature’ of specific word order patterns: from ‘allowed’ V2 exceptions to ‘unmarked’ and frequent constructions, i.e., from hanging topic (freies Thema) in WH clause to ‘new’ left dislocation modalities, which finally bring to generalized V3 in the declarative clause

Cluster Transformation Coefficients for Structure and Dynamics Calculations in n-Particle Systems: Atoms, Nuclei, and Quarks

The structure and dynamics of an n-particle system are described with coupled nonlinear Heisenberg's commutator equations where the nonlinear terms are generated by the two-body interaction that excites the reference vacuum via particle-particle and particle-hole excitations. Nonperturbative solutions of the system are obtained with the use of dynamic linearization approximation and cluster transformation coefficients. The dynamic linearization approximation converts the commutator chain into an eigenvalue problem. The cluster coefficients factorize the matrix elements of the (n)-particles or particle-hole systems in terms of the matrix elements of the (n-1)-systems coupled to a particle-particle, particle-hole, and hole-hole boson. Group properties of the particle-particle, particle-hole, and hole-hole permutation groups simplify the calculation of these coefficients. The particle-particle vacuum-excitations generate superconductive diagrams in the dynamics of 3-quarks systems. Applications of the model to fermionic and bosonic systems are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, Wigner Proceedings for Conference Wigner Centenial Pecs, July 8-12, 200

A binary system of complementizers in Cimbrian relative clauses

The system of Cimbrian relative clauses manifests itself in a complex scenario: two different complementizers occur in this context: i) the ‘autochthonous’ (Germanic) bo, cognate of Southern German wo, and ii) the ‘allochthonous’ ke, borrowed from Italian (che), which is gradually spreading. In our paper we provide empirical evidence for a crucial specialization of both complementizers: the former shows up only in restrictive relative clauses, the latter in both restrictive and non-restrictive relatives, giving rise to a binary system. In our analysis we aim to explain the binary system of Cimbrian relative complementizers directly addressing the general discussion about relative clauses, showing once more the relevance of both linguistic contact and microvariation for the theory of grammar

Interactions of a neuronal cell line (PC12) with laminin, collagen IV, and fibronectin: identification of integrin-related glycoproteins involved in attachment and process outgrowth.

Neuronal responses to extracellular matrix (ECM) constituents are likely to play an important role in nervous system development and regeneration. We have studied the interactions of a neuron-like rat pheochromocytoma cell line, PC12, with ECM protein-coated substrates. Using a quantitative cell attachment assay, PC12 cells were shown to adhere readily to laminin (LN) or collagen IV (Col IV) but poorly to fibronectin (FN). The specificity of attachment to these ECM proteins was demonstrated using ligand-specific antibodies and synthetic peptides. To identify PC12 cell surface proteins that mediate interactions with LN, Col IV, and FN, two different antisera to putative ECM receptors purified from mammalian cells were tested for their effects on PC12 cell adhesion and neuritic process outgrowth. Antibodies to a 140-kD FN receptor heterodimer purified from Chinese hamster ovarian cells (anti-FNR; Brown, P. J., and R. L. Juliano, 1986, J. Cell Biol., 103:1595-1603) inhibited attachment to LN and FN but not to Col IV. Antibodies to an ECM receptor preparation purified from baby hamster kidney fibroblastic cells (anti-ECMR; Knudsen, K. A., P. E. Rao, C. H. Damsky, and C. A. Buck, 1981, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 78:6071-6075) inhibited attachment to LN, FN, and Col IV, but did not prevent attachment to other adhesive substrates. In addition to its effects on adhesion, the anti-ECMR serum inhibited both PC12 cell and sympathetic neuronal process outgrowth on LN substrates. Immunoprecipitation of surface-iodinated or [3H]glucosamine-labeled PC12 cells with either the anti-FNR or anti-ECMR serum identified three prominent cell surface glycoproteins of 120, 140, and 180 kD under nonreducing conditions. The 120-kD glycoprotein, which could be labeled with 32P-orthophosphate and appeared to be noncovalently associated with the 140- and 180-kD proteins, cross reacted with antibodies to the beta-subunit (band 3) of the avian integrin complex, itself a receptor or receptors for the ECM constituents LN, FN, and some collagens