El auge de China y la continuidad de la hegemonía de EEUU en Asia

En este ARI el autor afirma que la fortaleza de China como potencia emergente en Asia se ha sobrevalorado, mientras que el poder y la influencia general de EEUU en la zona no ha declinado. Este análisis se plantea como respuesta a la gran variedad de valoraciones y opiniones de los medios, especialistas y expertos que describen un orden asiático emergente encabezado por una China en auge y que relegan a EEUU –que ha mantenido durante largo tiempo el liderazgo en la zona– a un papel cada vez más secundario. En él se demuestra que estas valoraciones y comentarios tienden a sobrevalorar tanto la fuerza de la potencia emergente, China, como la debilidad de EEUU. Este planteamiento es similar al adoptado en otras ocasiones de la historia reciente y que condujo a valoraciones muy erróneas del desafío al liderazgo norteamericano en Asia que representaron la Unión Soviética a finales de la década de los 70 y el auge de Japón durante la década de los 80

America’s 2016 election debate on Asia policy and Asian reactions

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/The 2015-2016 presidential election campaign has had major effects on recent debates regarding U.S. Asia policy. Going into the campaign, the debates focused heavily on the efficacy of the Obama Administration's signature "Asia Rebalance" and as a corollary the perceived U.S. weaknesses in the face of growing challenges from China. As the campaign has progressed, the broad concern with the rebalance and China remains active but secondary. Two sets of issues now overshadow the earlier focus: international trade and the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) accord, and candidate Donald Trump's controversial proposals on allied burden-sharing, nuclear weapons proliferation and North Korea. Bipartisan criticism of the TPP poses serious obstacles to U.S. government approval of the pact. Candidate Trump's controversial proposals on alliances, nuclear proliferation and North Korea were singular, provoking widespread opposition including from senior Republicans in Congress and other candidates and therefore unlikely to be easily implemented even if he were elected. Uncertainty over U.S. approval of the TPP and surprise over Donald Trump's controversial proposals upset, to varying degrees, U.S. allies Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia, as well as Taiwan, India and other Asian partners. Commentators in Beijing welcomed circumstances that lowered China's profile in the U.S. election rhetoric; they saw clear advantages along with some possible disadvantages in recent uncertainty over the TPP and U.S. relations with Asian allies

Intercultural trust. An experiment in Austria and Japan

We show that the level of trust and reciprocity in an intercultural trust game experiment between Austrian and Japanese subjects differs from the results of an intracultural experiment run in the respective countries among compatriots. Austrian subjects show significantly higher levels of trust towards Japanese subjects than towards fellow countrymen. Japanese do not differentiate between Austrian or Japanese subjects. Japanese subjects are found to be less reciprocal than Austrian subjects. A post-experimental survey reveals differences in culture-specific dispositions between the two countries that can explain the country-specific differences

Has U.S. government angst over the China danger diminished?

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/Robert Sutter, Professor of Practice of International Affairs at George Washington University, explains that "The National Defense Authorization Act of 2020, while it had scattered provisions dealing with China, had little of the priority and substance given to China in the previous year.

A polypyrrole-based solid-contact Pb2+-selective PVC-membrane electrode with a nanomolar detection limit

Ion-selective electrodes (ISE) based on conventional plasticized PVC membranes with solid inner contact (SC) have so far had unsatisfactory lower detection limits. Here it is shown that electropolymerization of pyrrole in the presence of potassium hexacyanoferrate(II)/(III) on Pt results in adequate inner contact for SC-ISE. The nanomolar lower detection limit achieved with the Pb2+-selective PVC membranes investigated is comparable with values obtained with optimized internal solutions of liquid-contact IS

Paediatric HERMES: European accreditation of training centres in paediatric respiratory medicine

HERMES: European accreditation of training centres in paediatric respiratory medicine http://ow.ly/ZBmUg

Spawning and early development of captive yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares)

In this study we describe the courtship and spawning behaviors of captive yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), their spawning periodicity, the influence of physical and biological factors on spawning and hatching, and egg and early-larval development of this species at the Achotines Laboratory, Republic of Panama, during October 1996 through March 2000. Spawning occurred almost daily over extended periods and at water temperatures from 23.3° to 29.7°C. Water temperature appeared to be the main exogenous factor controlling the occurrence and timing of spawning. Courtship and spawning behaviors were ritualized and consistent among three groups of broodstock over 3.5 years. For any date, the time of day of spawning (range: 1330 to 2130 h) was predictable from mean daily water temperature, and 95% of hatching occurred the next day between 1500 and 1900 h. We estimated that females at first spawning averaged 1.6−2.0 years of age. Over short time periods (<1 month), spawning females increased their egg production from 30% to 234% in response to shortterm increases in daily food ration of 9% to 33%. Egg diameter, notochord length (NL) at hatching, NL at first feeding, and dry weights of these stages were estimated. Water temperature was significantly, inversely related to egg size, egg-stage duration, larval size at hatching, and yolksac larval duration