The Provisions on Geographical Indications in the TRIPS Agreement

This article provides an overview of the provisions on geographical indications contained in the TRIPS Agreement and how they came about in the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which took place from 1986 to 1994 and resulted in the establishment of the World Trade Organization. The article underscores the difficulties involved in arriving at international standards in this area of intellectual property by putting the TRIPS provisions on geographical indications in their historical perspective of more than 120 years of international negotiations and by explaining their compromise character in the context of the single undertaking of the Uruguay Round and the continuing discussions at the international level, notably under the Doha Development Agenda.agriculture, geographical indications, intellectual property, WIPO, WTO, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade,

Intelligent tutoring agent for settlers of Catan

An Intelligent Tutoring Agent (ITA) for the board game Settlers of Catan (SoC) is introduced. It uses CLIPS knowledge bases, connected by JCLIPS to a JAVA implementation of SoC. It is founded on a new theoretical framework that describes the development of negotiation skills in children. Using this framework, the ITA helps children in developing negotiation skills through play, which makes it unique in its kind

Dynamic relaxation oscillations in a nonlinearly driven quartz crystal

We demonstrate thermo-mechanical relaxation oscillations in a strongly driven quartz crystal. Dynamic bifurcation leads to two stable oscillation states with a distinct electrical impedance. Slow Joule-heating, which shifts the susceptibility of the crystal, provides a feedback that leads to thermally-induced oscillations, in which the amplitude of the crystal is modulated by a relaxation cycle. The frequency of the relaxation cycle is roughly a million times lower than the resonance frequency of the crystal, and it can be adjusted by the detuning from the critical point for dynamic bifurcation. The experimental observations are reproduced by a simple model that takes into account the slow dynamics of the system.Comment: Main text: 8 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary information: 4 pages, 3 figure

Postural Control in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder

The development of static balance is a basic characteristic of normal motor development. Most developmental motor tests include a measure of static balance. Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) often fail this item. This study reviews the balance problems of children with DCD. The general conclusion is drawn that under normal conditions static balance control is not a problem for children with DCD. Only in difficult, unattended, or novel situations such children seem to suffer from increased postural sway. These findings raise the question of what happens when balance is lost. The present study addresses the strength of correlation between the electromyography (EMG) and force plate signals in one-leg stance over epochs of stable and unstable balance. Four groups of children were involved in the study: two age groups and a group of children with DCD and balance problems and their controls. The results show a clear involvement of tibialis anterior and peroneus muscles in the control of lateral balance in all conditions and groups. The group of children with DCD and balance problems,however, showed a weaker coupling between EMG and corrective force compared with control children, indicating non-optimal balance control. An evaluation of the existing data in terms of evidence of specific structural deficits associated with DCD provided converging evidence that suggests cerebellar involvement

The Interoperative

Infrastructure can be wielded as a means of promoting the common good or as an institutional weapon of exploitation. Regardless of how a particular infrastructure is represented, it is not always clear which role it plays at any given moment

A Comparison Of Some Simple Estimation Procedures For Gross Margin Cumulative Distribution Functions

The 1970*8 brought major changes to the risk environment in which . agricultural managers function. Increasing international trade, government regulation, market oriented commodity programs, inflation and high capital costs are some of the factors contributing to increasing risk in agriculture. In order to cope with this changing environment, farmers will need to improve their ability to assess risk and return from competing decisions