14,774 research outputs found
The Politics of Institutional Learning and Creation: Bank Crises and Supervision in East Central Europe
This article examines the political conditions shaping the creation of new institutional capabilities. It analyzes bank sector reforms in the 1990s in three leading postcommunist democracies – Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic. It shows how different political approaches to economic transformation can facilitate or hinder the ability of relevant public and private actors to experiment and learn their new roles. With its emphasis on insulating power and rapidly implementing self-enforcing economic incentives, the “depoliticization” approach creates few changes in bank behavior and, indeed impedes investment in new capabilities at the bank and supervisory levels. The “deliberative restructuring” approach fostered innovative, costeffective monitoring structures for recapitalization, a strong supervisory system, and a stable, expanding banking sector.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40112/3/wp726.pd
Test ideals in diagonal hypersurface rings II
Let , where is a field of
characteristic , does not divide and . We describe a
method for computing the test ideal for these diagonal hypersurface rings. This
method involves using a characterization of test ideals in Gorenstein rings as
well as developing a way to compute tight closures of certain ideals despite
the lack of a general algorithm. In addition, we compute examples of test
ideals in diagonal hypersurface rings of small characteristic (relative to )
including several that are not integrally closed. These examples provide a
negative answer to Smith's (2000, Comm. in Alg.) question of whether the test
id eal in general is always integrally closed.Comment: revised version, incorporating referee's comments, LaTeX, 10 page
The Politics of Institutional Learning and Creation: Bank Crises and Supervision in East Central Europe
This article examines the political conditions shaping the creation of new institutional capabilities. It analyzes bank sector reforms in the 1990s in three leading postcommunist democracies – Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic. It shows how different political approaches to economic transformation can facilitate or hinder the ability of relevant public and private actors to experiment and learn their new roles. With its emphasis on insulating power and rapidly implementing self-enforcing economic incentives, the “depoliticization” approach creates few changes in bank behavior and, indeed impedes investment in new capabilities at the bank and supervisory levels. The “deliberative restructuring” approach fostered innovative, costeffective monitoring structures for recapitalization, a strong supervisory system, and a stable, expanding banking sector.Institutional change, transition economies, bank crises, bank supervision, learn
Optimal payload rate limit algorithm for zero-G manipulators
An algorithm for continuously computing safe maximum relative velocities for two bodies joined by a manipulator is discussed. The maximum velocities are such that if the brakes are applied at that instant, the ensuing travel between the bodies will be less than or equal to a predetermined amount. An improvement in the way this limit is computed for space manipulators is shown. The new method is explained, test cases are posed, and the results of these tests are displayed and discussed
Electricity Prices, River Temperatures and Cooling Water Scarcity.
Thermal-based power stations rely on water for cooling purposes. These water sources may be subject to incidents of scarcity, environmental regulations and competing economic concerns. This paper analyses the effect of water scarcity and increased river temperatures on German electricity prices from 2002 to 2009. Having controlled for demand effects, the results indicate that the electricity price is significantly impacted by both a change in river temperatures and the relative abundance of river water. An implication is that future climate change will affect electricity prices not only through changes in demand, but also via increased water temperatures and scarcity.Thermal-based power; water scarcity.
Acoustic Supercoupling in a Zero-Compressibility Waveguide
Funneling acoustic waves through largely mismatched channels is of
fundamental importance to tailor and transmit sound for a variety of
applications. In electromagnetics, zero-permittivity metamaterials have been
used to enhance the coupling of energy in and out of ultranarrow channels,
based on a phenomenon known as supercoupling. These metamaterial channels can
support total transmission and complete phase uniformity, independent of the
channel length, despite being geometrically mismatched to their input and
output ports. In the field of acoustics, this phenomenon is challenging to
achieve, since it requires zero-density metamaterials, typically realized with
waveguides periodically loaded with membranes or resonators. Compared to
electromagnetics, the additional challenge is due to the fact that conventional
acoustic waveguides do not support a cut-off for the dominant mode of
propagation, and therefore zero-index can be achieved only based on a
collective resonance of the loading elements. Here we propose and
experimentally realize acoustic supercoupling in a dual regime, using a
compressibility-near-zero acoustic channel. Rather than engineering the channel
with subwavelength inclusions, we operate at the cut-off of a higher-order
acoustic mode, demonstrating the realization and efficient excitation of a
zero-compressibility waveguide with effective soft boundaries. We
experimentally verify strong transmission through a largely mismatched channel
and uniform phase distribution, independent of the channel length. Our results
open interesting pathways towards the realization of extreme acoustic
parameters, and their implementation in relevant applications, such as
ultrasound imaging, sonar technology, and sound transmission
Barriers to women in the UK construction industry
Purpose – This paper aims to identify the main barriers that lead to the under-representation of women in the UK construction industry. The study, funded by ConstructionSkills, seeks to explore the issues that women face and investigate the potential positive impact that continuous professional development (CPD) may have upon improving the retention and career progression of women.
Design/methodology/approach – The study uses an open-ended grounded theory (GT) approach, including 231 semi-structured questionnaires and nine focus groups with women from a range of professional occupations. All the findings were analysed using keyword analysis to identify the top two barriers that women face, alongside a series of cross-cutting key themes and issues.
Findings – The findings reveal that male-dominated organisational cultures and inflexible working practices are the main barriers to women in the UK construction industry, irrespective of job role or profession. This paper concludes by arguing for a sea-change in the expansion of CPD opportunities for women in managerial, confidence and communication based skills, with accompanying networking and support systems to facilitate the retention and advancement of women in the industry sector.
Research limitations/implications – Due to the research approach, the data are not generalisable. Therefore, researchers are advised to research and test the findings with a larger group. Researchers are also recommended to investigate the impact of expanded CPD opportunities for both men and women.
Originality/value – The paper puts forward a business case for the advancement of specific CPD training for women, to facilitate the expansion of equality and diversity in the workforce in the UK construction industry
High fidelity single-shot readout of a transmon qubit using a SLUG {\mu}wave amplifier
We report high-fidelity, quantum nondemolition, single-shot readout of a
superconducting transmon qubit using a DC-biased superconducting low-inductance
undulatory galvanometer(SLUG) amplifier. The SLUG improves the system
signal-to-noise ratio by 7 dB in a 20 MHz window compared with a bare HEMT
amplifier. An optimal cavity drive pulse is chosen using a genetic search
algorithm, leading to a maximum combined readout and preparation fidelity of
91.9% with a measurement time of Tmeas = 200ns. Using post-selection to remove
preparation errors caused by heating, we realize a combined preparation and
readout fidelity of 94.3%.Comment: 4 pages and 3 figure
Hybrid Atom--Photon Quantum Gate in a Superconducting Microwave Resonator
We propose a novel hybrid quantum gate between an atom and a microwave photon
in a superconducting coplanar waveguide cavity by exploiting the strong
resonant microwave coupling between adjacent Rydberg states. Using
experimentally achievable parameters gate fidelities are possible on
sub-s timescales for waveguide temperatures below 40 mK. This provides a
mechanism for generating entanglement between two disparate quantum systems and
represents an important step in the creation of a hybrid quantum interface
applicable for both quantum simulation and quantum information processing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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