Philippine Foreign Investment Efforts: The Foreign Investments Act and the Local Governments Code

The Philippine Government\u27s efforts to attract foreign direct investments have been ineffectual, especially when compared with the efforts of its Southeast Asian neighbors. Foreign investment incentive legislation has been relatively ineffectual in attracting the investment the Philippines sought due to the ambiguous and arbitrary execution of its investment laws and policies. The Philippine Judiciary\u27s unsettled attitude toward foreign investment further enhanced the overall impression that the Philippines was not a safe or stable investment host country. The Philippines\u27 most recent legislative attempt to lure foreign investment is the Foreign Investments Act of 1991. The Foreign Investments Act goes much further than its predecessors in liberalizing access to the Philippine economy by promoting more transparent and efficient investment laws and regulations. However, the Foreign Investments Act is potentially marginalized by the Local Governments Code, which diffuses much of the central government\u27s powers to lure and to control foreign investment to local government units, most of whom have diverse development and investment priorities. Thus, the Foreign Investments Act alone is not likely to attract and keep the desired investment. To lure foreign investment, the Philippines should provide some form of efficient investor services that will account for the central and local governments\u27 priorities, differences and needs. This would promote productive and equitable foreign investment by building on the strengths of the Foreign Investments Act while preserving the integrity of local decisions mandated by the Local Governments Code

Foreword

The Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal was founded in 1990 as an innovative vehicle for the discussion of legal and interdisciplinary policy-oriented issues affecting both Asian and trans-Pacific affairs. The Journal is published twice yearly, and consists of three principal sections: Comments, which are student-written pieces; Articles, which are written by legal scholars, social scientists, policy makers and other professionals; and Translations, which contain student and professional translations of articles written by scholars from China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and other Pacific Rim nations. The Journal\u27s function is three-fold. First, the Journal will provide valuable writing and editing experience to University of Washington law students interested in Pacific Rim law and policy issues. Second, the Journal, as one of only two student-edited law journals in the United States devoted to the Pacific Basin, and the only journal featuring translations of East Asian legal scholarship, encourages the debate of issues vital to the Pacific Rim. Third, the Journal enhances the University of Washington School of Law\u27s national and international role as a center for East Asian legal studies

Concordance rate between copy number variants detected using either high- or medium-density single nucleotide polymorphism genotype panels and the potential of imputing copy number variants from flanking high density single nucleotide polymorphism haplotypes in cattle

peer-reviewedBackground The trading of individual animal genotype information often involves only the exchange of the called genotypes and not necessarily the additional information required to effectively call structural variants. The main aim here was to determine if it is possible to impute copy number variants (CNVs) using the flanking single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) haplotype structure in cattle. While this objective was achieved using high-density genotype panels (i.e., 713,162 SNPs), a secondary objective investigated the concordance of CNVs called with this high-density genotype panel compared to CNVs called from a medium-density panel (i.e., 45,677 SNPs in the present study). This is the first study to compare CNVs called from high-density and medium-density SNP genotypes from the same animals. High (and medium-density) genotypes were available on 991 Holstein-Friesian, 1015 Charolais, and 1394 Limousin bulls. The concordance between CNVs called from the medium-density and high-density genotypes were calculated separately for each animal. A subset of CNVs which were called from the high-density genotypes was selected for imputation. Imputation was carried out separately for each breed using a set of high-density SNPs flanking the midpoint of each CNV. A CNV was deemed to be imputed correctly when the called copy number matched the imputed copy number. Results For 97.0% of CNVs called from the high-density genotypes, the corresponding genomic position on the medium-density of the animal did not contain a called CNV. The average accuracy of imputation for CNV deletions was 0.281, with a standard deviation of 0.286. The average accuracy of imputation of the CNV normal state, i.e. the absence of a CNV, was 0.982 with a standard deviation of 0.022. Two CNV duplications were imputed in the Charolais, a single CNV duplication in the Limousins, and a single CNV duplication in the Holstein-Friesians; in all cases the CNV duplications were incorrectly imputed. Conclusion The vast majority of CNVs called from the high-density genotypes were not detected using the medium-density genotypes. Furthermore, CNVs cannot be accurately predicted from flanking SNP haplotypes, at least based on the imputation algorithms routinely used in cattle, and using the SNPs currently available on the high-density genotype panel

Precision Electroweak Data and the Mixed Radion-Higgs Sector of Warped Extra Dimensions

We derive the Lagrangian and Feynman rules up to bilinear scalar fields for the mixed Higgs-radion eigenstates interacting with Standard Model particles confined to a 3-brane in Randall-Sundrum warped geometry. We use the results to compute precision electroweak observables and compare theory predictions with experiment. We characterize the interesting regions of parameter space that simultaneously enable a very heavy Higgs mass and a very heavy radion mass, both masses being well above the putative Higgs boson mass limit in the Standard Model derived from the constraints of precision electroweak observables. For parameters consistent with the precision constraints the Higgs boson physical eigenstate is typically detectable, but its properties may be difficult to study at the Large Hadron Collider. In contrast, masses and couplings are allowed for the physical radion eigenstate that make it unobservable at the LHC. A Linear Collider will significantly improve our ability to study the Higgs eigenstate, and will typically allow detection of the radion eigenstate if it is within the machine's kinematical reach.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures; revisions: typo correction for Feynman rules and 1 reference adde

Comparative validation of the IPAQ and the 7-Day PAR among women diagnosed with breast cancer

BACKGROUND: The criterion-related validity and measurement bias of the long form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was compared to the 7-Day Physical Activity Recall (PAR). METHODS: Participants were women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and enrolled in the ongoing Women's Healthy Eating and Living Study. Women (N = 159, average age 57 years) wore an accelerometer for one week and then completed the IPAQ or the PAR. RESULTS: The validity correlation of the PAR was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than the IPAQ (0.73 vs. 0.33, respectively). The PAR and IPAQ overestimated total physical activity by 13% vs. 247%, respectively. The PAR had better sensitivity (p = 0.14) and specificity (p < .01) than the IPAQ (100% vs. 71% and 84% vs. 59%, respectively) in predicting attainment of the ACSM physical activity guideline. CONCLUSION: The PAR was superior to the IPAQ in terms of validity, measurement bias, and screening statistics

The expression of the mouse VpreB/λ5 locus in transformed cell lines and tumors of the B lineage differentiation pathway

The expression of RNA transcripts from two pre B lymphocyte related genes, VpreB and λ5, has been studied in a series of transformed cell lines which appear frozen at different states of B lineage differentiation, from early progenitors to surface Ig positive B cells. In the HAFTL-1 cell line, which arose from fetal liver by transformation with a retrovlrus containing the Hras oncogene, Northern analysis of poly A+ mRNA as well as in situ hybridization of RNA In single cells revealed that λ5 and VpreB are already expressed at the progenitor stage and increase in expression as the progenitors differentiate to precursor (preB) cells, or are turned off as the progenitors differentiate to myeloid cells. Continued rearrangements of Ig genes in pre B cell lines leading to Ig expression on the surface of NFS-5 pre B cells do not influence the continued expression of VpreB and λ5. Surface Ig-positive B lineage cell lines also express the pre B-related genes. Both Ly1+ as well as Ly1− pre B cells are VpreB and λ5positlve. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation of 70Z/3 pre B cells does not turn off λ5 expression. It therefore appears that, at least In transformed cell lines, the expression of VpreB and λ5, is not directly regulated by the expression of μH, κL, or λL chains, LPS reactivity, or the Ly1 surface antigen. Fusion of plasmacytoma cells with normal pre B cells to generate pre B hybridomas leads to down-regulation of VpreB/λ5 expression. These results suggest that different trans-acting factors in more mature cells might down-regulate the expression of VpreB/λ

Colloquium on Solid State Devices

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The lncRNA landscape of breast cancer reveals a role for DSCAM-AS1 in breast cancer progression.

Molecular classification of cancers into subtypes has resulted in an advance in our understanding of tumour biology and treatment response across multiple tumour types. However, to date, cancer profiling has largely focused on protein-coding genes, which comprise &lt;1% of the genome. Here we leverage a compendium of 58,648 long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) to subtype 947 breast cancer samples. We show that lncRNA-based profiling categorizes breast tumours by their known molecular subtypes in breast cancer. We identify a cohort of breast cancer-associated and oestrogen-regulated lncRNAs, and investigate the role of the top prioritized oestrogen receptor (ER)-regulated lncRNA, DSCAM-AS1. We demonstrate that DSCAM-AS1 mediates tumour progression and tamoxifen resistance and identify hnRNPL as an interacting protein involved in the mechanism of DSCAM-AS1 action. By highlighting the role of DSCAM-AS1 in breast cancer biology and treatment resistance, this study provides insight into the potential clinical implications of lncRNAs in breast cancer