Trade Facilitation: Promoting Trade as an Engine of Growth Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTS)

Three factors define the main difficulties faced by developing countries in the area of trade facilitation: (i) limited understanding and use by governments and business (especially SMEs) of trade facilitation and of ICT tools and techniques; (ii) developing countries' limited capacity for policy analysis and inadequate policy instruments for the implementation of trade facilitation, and (iii) inadequate policy coordination for negotiation on trade facilitation. These obstacles tend to reduce countries' development opportunities and to increase the costs of general economic development and social welfare.The United Nations, through its five regional commissions, is launching a project that seeks to disseminate the benefits of trade facilitation and the standards, tools and requirements for its successful implementation. The project will focus on trade facilitation promoted by: (a) enhanced knowledge and understanding of governments and business regarding trade facilitation and the role of ICT; (b) enhanced use of ICT by SMEs in trade facilitation, and (c) national capacity-building for trade facilitation negotiations.

An assessment of fiscal and regulatory barriers to deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in Belize

Belize is currently faced with several critical challenges associated with the production, distribution and use of energy. Despite an abundance of renewable energy resources, the country remains disproportionately dependent on imported fossil fuels, which exposes it to volatile and rising oil prices, limits economic development, and retards its ability to make the investments that are necessary for adapting to climate change, which pose a particularly acute threat to the small island states and low-lying coastal nations of the Caribbean. This transition from energy consumption and supply patterns that are based on imported fossil fuels and electricity towards a more sustainable energy economy that is based on environmentally benign, indigenous renewable energy technologies and more efficient use of energy requires concerted action as the country is already challenged by limited fiscal space which reduces its ability to provide some fiscal incentives, which have been proven to be effective tools for the promotion of sustainable energy markets in a number of countries. This report identifies the fiscal and regulatory barriers to implementation of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy technologies in Belize. Data and information were derived from stakeholder consultations conducted within the country. The major result of the assessment is that the transition of policies and plans into tangible action needs to be increased. In this regard, it is necessary to articulate sub-policies of the National Energy Policy to amend the Public Utilities Commission Act, to develop a grid interconnection policy, to establish minimum energy performance standards for buildings and equipment and to develop a public procurement policy. Finally, decisions on renewable energy and energy efficiency-related incentives from the Government formally requires decision-makers to solve what may be extremely complex optimization problems in order to obtain the lowest-cost provision of energy services to society, thereby weighing the cost of revenue losses with the benefits of fuel and infrastructure expansion savings. The establishment of a management system that is efficient, flexible, and transparent, which will facilitate the implementation of the strategic objectives and outputs in the time available, with the financial resources allocated is recommended. Support is required for additional institutional and capacity strengthening.

An assessment of fiscal and regulatory barriers to deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in Curaçao

The current energy systems within Curaçao depend primarily on high cost, imported fossil fuels, and typically constitute power sectors that are characterized by small, inefficient generation plants which result in high energy prices. As a consequence of its dependence on external fuel supplies, Curaçao is extremely vulnerable to international oil price shocks, which can impact on economic planning and foreign direct investment within their industrial sectors. The ability of the successive governments to source capital for economic stimulation and social investment is therefore significantly challenging. Additionally, there is over-dependence on two of the most climate-sensitive economic sectors, namely the tourism and fisheries sectors, but the vulnerabilities of the country to the effects of climate change make adaptation difficult and costly. It is within this context that this report focuses on identification of the fiscal and regulatory barriers to implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in Curaçao with a view of making recommendations for removal of these barriers. Consultations with key Government officials, the private sector as well as civil society were conducted to obtain information and data on the energy sector in the country. Desktop research was also conducted to supplement the information gathered from the consultations. The major result of the assessment is that Curaçao is at an early stage in the definition of its energy sector. Despite some infrastructural legacies of the pre-independence era, as well as a number of recent developments including the modernization and expansion of its windfarms and completion of a modern Electricity Policy, there are still a number of important institutional and policy gaps within the energy sector in Curaçao. The most significant deficiency is the absence of a ministry or Government agency with portfolio responsibility for the energy sector as a whole; this has: limited the degree to which the activities of energy sector stakeholders are coordinated and retarded the development and implementation of a comprehensive national energy policy. The absence of an energy policy, which provides the framework for energy planning, increases investor risk. Also, the lack of political continuity that has emanated from the frequent changes in Government administrations is a concern among stakeholders and has served to reduce investor confidence in particular, and market confidence in general.

Impacts of Reproductive Technologies on Beef Production in South America

The majority of beef cow herds in South America are constituted by Bos indicus females, which have particular reproductive features that contribute to reduced reproductive efficiency compared with that of B. taurus cohorts. Hence, several alternatives to enhance reproductive efficiency of B. indicus heifers and cows have been developed to address their inherent reproductive shortcomings. These research-based technologies are being described in detail within this chapter and have already made an impact on South American B. indicus-based production systems. These include the following: (a) hormonal protocols to induce puberty in nulliparous heifers or estrous cyclicity in postpartum cows to maximize their reproductive performance during the subsequent breeding season, (b) hormonal protocols to synchronize estrus and/or ovulation in B. indicus females to exploit their reproductive responses to artificial insemination, and (c) genetic and environmental factors that influence reproductive success in beef herds, including reproductive diseases and excitable temperament of B. indicus females, that have been investigated to support/promote the development of appropriate mitigation technologies.

Development of technologies and methods for monitoring the spatial variability of air temperature in greenhouse environment

Climatic factors directly influence growth and productivity of plants inside greenhouses, where temperature can be considered one of the major parameter in this context. Thus, the aim of this research was to develop a low cost device for thermal sensing and data acquisition, and use it in data collection and analysis of spatial variability of temperature inside a greenhouse with tropical climate. The developed equipment for thermal measurements showed a high degree of accuracy and fast responses in measurements, proving its efficiency. The data analysis interpretations were made from the elaborations of variograms and of tridimensional maps generated by a geostatistical software. The processed data analysis presented that a greenhouse without thermal control has spatial variations of air temperature, both in the sampled horizontals layers as in the three analyzed vertical columns, presenting variations of up to 3.6 ºC in certain times.

Comparison of Video Laryngoscopy Technologies

Indirect laryngoscopy allows practitioners to “see around the corner” of a patient’s airway during intubation. Inadequate airway management is a major contributor to patient injury, morbidity and mortality. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the video quality of commercially available video laryngoscopy systems. A team of four investigators at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Peter Kiewit Institute performed intubation simulations using a number of video laryngoscopy systems. Testing was done with a Laerdal Difficult Airway Manikin (Laerdal Medical Corp., Wappingers Falls, NY) in a setting that simulated difficult airways, adverse lighting conditions and various system configurations (e.g., maximizing screen contrast, minimizing screen brightness, maximizing screen color hue, etc.).

Working Experience and Librarians' Knowledge of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Nigerian University Libraries

This paper discuses the influence of librarians' years of working experience and sources of acquisition of ICTs' knowledge and skills. The study is based on 169 librarians working in thirteen university libraries in the universities of six states located in the South-South zone of Nigeria. The purpose of the paper is to find out if years of working experience has an effect on librarians' sources/means of acquisition of ICT knowledge and skills. The questionnaires used were answered by two categories of librarians. Those with longer years of experience – 16 years and above and those with fewer years of working experience. It was concluded that librarians with fewer years of working experience explore means of acquiring ICTs knowledge and skills more than librarians with more years of working experience. It was recommended that librarians with longer years of working experience develop more interest in sources through which they can acquire ICT knowledge and skills.