Regulating Services Trade Agreements - A Comparative Analysis of Regulatory Disciplines Included in EU and US Free Trade Agreements

Developed countries, led by the EU and the US, have consistently called for ‘deeper integration’ over the course of the past three decades i.e., the convergence of ‘behind-the-border’ or domestic polices and rules such as services, competition, public procurement, intellectual property (“IP”) and so forth. Following the collapse of the Doha Development Round, the EU and the US have pursued this push for deeper integration by entering into deep and comprehensive free trade agreements (“DCFTAs”) that are comprehensive insofar as they are not limited to tariffs but extend to regulatory trade barriers. More recently, the EU and the US launched negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (“TTIP”) and a Trade in Services Agreement (“TISA”), which put tackling barriers resulting from divergences in domestic regulation in the area of services at the very top of the agenda. Should these agreements come to pass, they may well set the template for the rules of international trade and define the core features of domestic services market regulation. This article examines the regulatory disciplines in the area of services included in existing EU and US DCFTAs from a comparative perspective in order to delineate possible similarities and divergences and assess the extent to which these DCFTAs can shed some light into the possible outcome and limitations of future trade negotiations in services. It also discusses the potential impact of such negotiations on developing countries and, more generally, on the multilateral process.

Competition between memory-keeping and memory-erasing decoherence channels

We study the competing effects of simultaneous Markovian and non-Markovian decoherence mechanisms acting on a single spin. We show the existence of a threshold in the relative strength of such mechanisms above which the spin dynamics becomes fully Markovian, as revealed by the use of several non-Markovianity measures. We identify a measure-dependent nested structure of such thresholds, hinting at a causality relationship among the various non-Markovianity witnesses used in our analysis. Our considerations are then used to argue the unavoidably non-Markovian evolution of a single-electron quantum dot exposed to both intrinsic and Markovian technical noise, the latter of arbitrary strength. 

Platform Competition as Network Contestability

Recent research in industrial organisation has investigated the essential place that middlemen have in the networks that make up our global economy. In this paper we attempt to understand how such middlemen compete with each other through a game theoretic analysis using novel techniques from decision-making under ambiguity.
We model a purposely abstract and reduced model of one middleman who provides a two-sided platform, mediating surplus-creating interactions between two users. The middleman evaluates uncertain outcomes under positional ambiguity, taking into account the possibility of the emergence of an alternative middleman offering intermediary services to the two users.
Surprisingly, we find many situations in which the middleman will purposely extract maximal gains from her position. Only if there is relatively low probability of devastating loss of business under competition, the middleman will adopt a more competitive attitude and extract less from her position.

Data analysis applied to the evaluation of a technological nature teaching model as a regional development tool

This paper presents the creation and development of technological schools directly linked to the business community and to higher public education. Establishing themselves as the key interface between the two sectors they make a signigicant contribution by having a greater competitive edge when faced with increasing competition in the tradional markets. The development of new business strategies supported by references of excellence, quality and competitiveness also provides a good link between the estalishment of partnerships aiming at the qualification of education boards at a medium level between the technological school and higher education with a technological foundation. We present a case study as an example depicting the success of Escola Tecnológica de Vale de Cambra.

Tintopia internationalization analysis

This project reflects the need to internationalize the Tintopia brand of Navarro López Company, in order to continue fulfilling one of its main pillars, internationalize the company, in order to increase sales and have further diversification of risk. The purpose is to find the best Latin American market for Tinto de Verano. In order to do this, a qualitative analysis of variables for 10 countries in Latin America was performed, yielding the result that the two best options for exporting Tintopia are Peru and Mexico. After a detailed analysis of both countries, Peru has more favorable conditions, especially less competition and higher potential sales.

Direct binding of peptides to MHC class I molecules on living cells. Analysis at the single cell level.

To directly assess the binding of exogenous peptides to cell surface-associated MHC class I molecules at the single cell level, we examined the possibility of combining the use of biotinylated peptide derivatives with an immunofluorescence detection system based on flow cytometry. Various biotinylated derivatives of the adenovirus 5 early region 1A peptide 234-243, an antigenic peptide recognized by CTL in the context of H-2Db, were first screened in functional assays for their ability to bind efficiently to Db molecules on living cells. Suitable peptide derivatives were then tested for their ability to generate positive fluorescence signals upon addition of phycoerythrin-labeled streptavidin to peptide derivative-bearing cells. Strong fluorescent staining of Db-expressing cells was achieved after incubation with a peptide derivative containing a biotin group at the C-terminus. Competition experiments using the unmodified parental peptide as well as unrelated peptides known to bind to Kd, Kb, or Db, respectively, established that binding of the biotinylated peptide to living cells was Db-specific. By using Con A blasts derived from different H-2 congenic mouse strains, it could be shown that the biotinylated peptide bound only to Db among > 20 class I alleles tested. Moreover, binding of the biotinylated peptide to cells expressing the Dbm13 and Dbm14 mutant molecules was drastically reduced compared to Db. Binding of the biotinylated peptide to freshly isolated Db+ cells was readily detectable, allowing direct assessment of the relative amount of peptide bound to distinct lymphocyte subpopulations by three-color flow cytometry. While minor differences between peripheral T and B cells could be documented, thymocytes were found to differ widely in their peptide binding activity. In all cases, these differences correlated positively with the differential expression of Db at the cell surface. Finally, kinetic studies at different temperatures strongly suggested that the biotinylated peptide first associated with Db molecules available constitutively at the cell surface and then with newly arrived Db molecules.

Teaching media literacy skills about commercials: a comparative analysis of media literacy instruction /

In this study, methods of media literacy instruction including analytic activities, production activities, and a combination of analytic and production activities were compared to determine their influence on grade 8 students' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours towards commercials. The findings showed that media literacy instruction does improve media literacy skills. Specifically, activities that included an analytic component or an analytic and production component were significantly better than activities that included a production component. Participants that completed analytic or analytic and production activities were able to discern media-related terms, target audience, selling techniques, social values, and stereotypes in commercials better than participants that completed only production activities. The research findings also showed obstacles when teaching media literacy. When engaged in analytic activities, the difficulties included locating suitable resources, addressing the competition from commercials, encouraging written reflection, recognizing social values, and discussing racial stereotypes. When engaged in production activities, the difficulties were positioning recording stations, managing group work, organizing ideas, filming the footage, computer issues, and scheduling time. Strategies to overcome these obstacles are described.

Search engine advertising in web retailing : an efficiency analysis

This study examines the efficiency of search engine advertising strategies employed by firms. The research setting is the online retailing industry, which is characterized by extensive use of Web technologies and high competition for market share and profitability. For Internet retailers, search engines are increasingly serving as an information gateway for many decision-making tasks. In particular, Search engine advertising (SEA) has opened a new marketing channel for retailers to attract new customers and improve their performance. In addition to natural (organic) search marketing strategies, search engine advertisers compete for top advertisement slots provided by search brokers such as Google and Yahoo! through keyword auctions. The rationale being that greater visibility on a search engine during a keyword search will capture customers' interest in a business and its product or service offerings. Search engines account for most online activities today. Compared with the slow growth of traditional marketing channels, online search volumes continue to grow at a steady rate. According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, spending on search engine marketing by North American firms in 2008 was estimated at $13.5 billion. Despite the significant role SEA plays in Web retailing, scholarly research on the topic is limited. Prior studies in SEA have focused on search engine auction mechanism design. In contrast, research on the business value of SEA has been limited by the lack of empirical data on search advertising practices. Recent advances in search and retail technologies have created datarich environments that enable new research opportunities at the interface of marketing and information technology. This research uses extensive data from Web retailing and Google-based search advertising and evaluates Web retailers' use of resources, search advertising techniques, and other relevant factors that contribute to business performance across different metrics. The methods used include Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), data mining, and multivariate statistics. This research contributes to empirical research by analyzing several Web retail firms in different industry sectors and product categories. One of the key findings is that the dynamics of sponsored search advertising vary between multi-channel and Web-only retailers. While the key performance metrics for multi-channel retailers include measures such as online sales, conversion rate (CR), c1ick-through-rate (CTR), and impressions, the key performance metrics for Web-only retailers focus on organic and sponsored ad ranks. These results provide a useful contribution to our organizational level understanding of search engine advertising strategies, both for multi-channel and Web-only retailers. These results also contribute to current knowledge in technology-driven marketing strategies and provide managers with a better understanding of sponsored search advertising and its impact on various performance metrics in Web retailing.

Keyword Competition and Determinants of Ad Position in Sponsored Search Advertising

Given the significant growth of the Internet in recent years, marketers have been striving for new techniques and strategies to prosper in the online world. Statistically, search engines have been the most dominant channels of Internet marketing in recent years. However, the mechanics of advertising in such a market place has created a challenging environment for marketers to position their ads among their competitors. This study uses a unique cross-sectional dataset of the top 500 Internet retailers in North America and hierarchical multiple regression analysis to empirically investigate the effect of keyword competition on the relationship between ad position and its determinants in the sponsored search market. To this end, the study utilizes the literature in consumer search behavior, keyword auction mechanism design, and search advertising performance as the theoretical foundation. This study is the first of its kind to examine the sponsored search market characteristics in a cross-sectional setting where the level of keyword competition is explicitly captured in terms of the number of Internet retailers competing for similar keywords. Internet retailing provides an appropriate setting for this study given the high-stake battle for market share and intense competition for keywords in the sponsored search market place. The findings of this study indicate that bid values and ad relevancy metrics as well as their interaction affect the position of ads on the search engine result pages (SERPs). These results confirm some of the findings from previous studies that examined sponsored search advertising performance at a keyword level. Furthermore, the study finds that the position of ads for web-only retailers is dependent on bid values and ad relevancy metrics, whereas, multi-channel retailers are more reliant on their bid values. This difference between web-only and multi-channel retailers is also observed in the moderating effect of keyword competition on the relationships between ad position and its key determinants. Specifically, this study finds that keyword competition has significant moderating effects only for multi-channel retailers.

Essays on numerically efficient inference in nonlinear and non-Gaussian state space models, and commodity market analysis.

The first two articles build procedures to simulate vector of univariate states and estimate parameters in nonlinear and non Gaussian state space models. We propose state space speci fications that offer more flexibility in modeling dynamic relationship with latent variables. Our procedures are extension of the HESSIAN method of McCausland[2012]. Thus, they use approximation of the posterior density of the vector of states that allow to : simulate directly from the state vector posterior distribution, to simulate the states vector in one bloc and jointly with the vector of parameters, and to not allow data augmentation. These properties allow to build posterior simulators with very high relative numerical efficiency. Generic, they open a new path in nonlinear and non Gaussian state space analysis with limited contribution of the modeler. The third article is an essay in commodity market analysis. Private firms coexist with farmers' cooperatives in commodity markets in subsaharan african countries. The private firms have the biggest market share while some theoretical models predict they disappearance once confronted to farmers cooperatives. Elsewhere, some empirical studies and observations link cooperative incidence in a region with interpersonal trust, and thus to farmers trust toward cooperatives. We propose a model that sustain these empirical facts. A model where the cooperative reputation is a leading factor determining the market equilibrium of a price competition between a cooperative and a private firm

Women Industrial Cooperatives- An Analysis of Its Structure, Performance and Growth in Kannur District

In the present study made an attempt to analyse the structure, performance and growth of women industrial cooperatives in kannur district, Kerala. The study encompasses all women industrial cooperatives registered at the district industries center, kannur and that currently exist. The women industrial cooperatives are classified into two ie; group with network and another group without network. In Kannur there are 54 units working as women industrial cooperatives. One of the main problems the women cooperatives face is the lack of working capital followed marketing problem. The competition between cooperatives and private traders is very high. The variables examined to analyse the performance of women industrial cooperatives in Kannur showed that there exists inter unit differences in almost all the variables. The financial structure structure shows that the short term liquidity of women cooperatives in Kannur favour more the units which have political networks; but the long term financial coverage is seen to be highly geared in this group, not because of a decline is net worth but due to highly proportionate increase in financial liabilities in the form of borrowings. The encouragement given by the government through financial stake and other incentives has been the major factor in the formation and growth of women cooperatives. As a result both productivity and efficiency improves in the cooperatives. In short the present study helped to capture the impact, role and dynamics of networking in general and socio political network in particular in relation to intra and inter unit differences on the structure, growth and performance of women industrial cooperatives societies in Kannur district

An Analysis of Work Related Stress Factor in Selected Industries in Kerala ,India

Occupational stress is becoming a major issue in both corporate and social agenda .In industrialized countries, there have been quite dramatic changes in the conditions at work, during the last decade ,caused by economic, social and technical development. As a consequence, the people today at work are exposed to high quantitative and qualitative demands as well as hard competition caused by global economy. A recent report says that ailments due to work related stress is likely to cost India’s exchequer around 72000 crores between 2009 and 2015. Though India is a fast developing country, it is yet to create facilities to mitigate the adverse effects of work stress, more over only little efforts have been made to assess the work related stress.In the absence of well defined standards to assess the work related stress in India, an attempt is made in this direction to develop the factors for the evaluation of work stress. Accordingly, with the help of existing literature and in consultation with the safety experts, seven factors for the evaluation of work stress is developed. An instrument ( Questionnaire) was developed using these seven factors for the evaluation of work stress .The validity , and unidimensionality of the questionnaire was ensured by confirmatory factor analysis. The reliability of the questionnaire was ensured before administration. While analyzing the relation ship between the variables, it is noted that no relationship exists between them, and hence the above factors are treated as independent factors/ variables for the purpose of research .Initially five profit making manufacturing industries, under public sector in the state of Kerala, were selected for the study. The influence of factors responsible for work stress is analyzed in these industries. These industries were classified in to two types, namely chemical and heavy engineering ,based on the product manufactured and work environment and the analysis is further carried out for these two categories.The variation of work stress with different age , designation and experience of the employees are analyzed by means of one-way ANOVA. Further three different type of modelling of work stress, namely factor modelling, structural equation modelling and multinomial logistic regression modelling was done to analyze the association of factors responsible for work stress. All these models are found equally good in predicting the work stress.The present study indicates that work stress exists among the employees in public sector industries in Kerala. Employees belonging to age group 40-45yrs and experience groups 15-20yrs had relatively higher work demand ,low job control, and low support at work. Low job control was noted among lower designation levels, particularly at the worker level in these industries. Hence the instrument developed using the seven factors namely demand, control, manager support, peer support, relationship, role and change can be effectively used for the evaluation of work stress in industries.

A Modeling Analysis of Changing Global Land Use as affected by Changing Demands for Wood Products

The 21st century has brought new challenges for forest management at a time when globalization in world trade is increasing and global climate change is becoming increasingly apparent. In addition to various goods and services like food, feed, timber or biofuels being provided to humans, forest ecosystems are a large store of terrestrial carbon and account for a major part of the carbon exchange between the atmosphere and the land surface. Depending on the stage of the ecosystems and/or management regimes, forests can be either sinks, or sources of carbon. At the global scale, rapid economic development and a growing world population have raised much concern over the use of natural resources, especially forest resources. The challenging question is how can the global demands for forest commodities be satisfied in an increasingly globalised economy, and where could they potentially be produced? For this purpose, wood demand estimates need to be integrated in a framework, which is able to adequately handle the competition for land between major land-use options such as residential land or agricultural land. This thesis is organised in accordance with the requirements to integrate the simulation of forest changes based on wood extraction in an existing framework for global land-use modelling called LandSHIFT. Accordingly, the following neuralgic points for research have been identified: (1) a review of existing global-scale economic forest sector models (2) simulation of global wood production under selected scenarios (3) simulation of global vegetation carbon yields and (4) the implementation of a land-use allocation procedure to simulate the impact of wood extraction on forest land-cover. Modelling the spatial dynamics of forests on the global scale requires two important inputs: (1) simulated long-term wood demand data to determine future roundwood harvests in each country and (2) the changes in the spatial distribution of woody biomass stocks to determine how much of the resource is available to satisfy the simulated wood demands. First, three global timber market models are reviewed and compared in order to select a suitable economic model to generate wood demand scenario data for the forest sector in LandSHIFT. The comparison indicates that the ‘Global Forest Products Model’ (GFPM) is most suitable for obtaining projections on future roundwood harvests for further study with the LandSHIFT forest sector. Accordingly, the GFPM is adapted and applied to simulate wood demands for the global forestry sector conditional on selected scenarios from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the Global Environmental Outlook until 2050. Secondly, the Lund-Potsdam-Jena (LPJ) dynamic global vegetation model is utilized to simulate the change in potential vegetation carbon stocks for the forested locations in LandSHIFT. The LPJ data is used in collaboration with spatially explicit forest inventory data on aboveground biomass to allocate the demands for raw forest products and identify locations of deforestation. Using the previous results as an input, a methodology to simulate the spatial dynamics of forests based on wood extraction is developed within the LandSHIFT framework. The land-use allocation procedure specified in the module translates the country level demands for forest products into woody biomass requirements for forest areas, and allocates these on a five arc minute grid. In a first version, the model assumes only actual conditions through the entire study period and does not explicitly address forest age structure. Although the module is in a very preliminary stage of development, it already captures the effects of important drivers of land-use change like cropland and urban expansion. As a first plausibility test, the module performance is tested under three forest management scenarios. The module succeeds in responding to changing inputs in an expected and consistent manner. The entire methodology is applied in an exemplary scenario analysis for India. A couple of future research priorities need to be addressed, particularly the incorporation of plantation establishments; issue of age structure dynamics; as well as the implementation of a new technology change factor in the GFPM which can allow the specification of substituting raw wood products (especially fuelwood) by other non-wood products.

Privatization in Colombia: a plant performance analysis

El artículo describe el programa de privatización en el sector real de la economía Colombiana durante los años noventa y ubica esta política en un contexto de desregulación de mercados y promoción de la inversión privada en la oferta de infraestructura publica y servicios públicos domiciliarios. El articulo evalúa el programa de privatización en los sectores manufacturero y de generación de energía eléctrica. Se hacen mediciones ex - post y análisis econométrico del desempeño de las firmas privatizadas. En el sector manufacturero la muestra analizada esta compuesta por 30 firmas manufactureras de gran tamaño, donde el Instituto de Fomento Industrial era socio fundador. Los principales resultados sugieren que estas firmas mantuvieron un comportamiento pro - cíclico relativo a su principal competidor privado y desestimaron planes drásticos de reestructuración operativa. Para el grupo de firmas de generación de energía el articulo estudia el impacto de la reforma regulatoria en el proceso de entrada al mercado, estructura de propiedad, competencia de mercado y eficiencia productiva. La medición de eficiencia productiva usa la técnica de Data Envelope Análisis para 33 plantas que representan el 85% de la capacidad instalada en la generación térmica de energía eléctrica. La muestra esta compuesta por plantas que estaban en funcionamiento antes de la reforma y las entrantes que comenzaron su operación comercial después de la reforma. Los resultados sugieren que los niveles de evidencia en la generación térmica a mejorado después de la reforma y que la política regulatoria ha tenido un efecto positivo en la eficiencia productiva.