Competition and Market Dynamics on the Russian Deposits Market

In the early transition era in Russia entry barriers for commercial banks were about absent. It resulted in the mushrooming of hundreds of small, poorly-endowed and inexperienced banks. In this paper we address the question whether the claimed benefits of low entry barriers - competition and market dynamics - have resulted. We use a sample of commercial saving banks for the 1994-97 period. We conclude that there were important mobility barriers and that the removal of entry barriers did not lead to intensified competition

Entrainment response of bed sediment to time-varying flows

Unsteady flows are ubiquitous in nature. In order to understand the behavior of sediment when subjected to unsteady flows, a set of experiments was performed in a rectangular duct with a mobile bed. A computer-operated vale governed the velocity of the water in the duct, and the flow velocity, wall shear stress, and vertical distribution of suspended sediment were simultaneously measured. Beds composed of 120 um and 580 um diameter sand were investigated. Both quasi-steady flows and pulse flows were investigated. Both quasi-steady flows and pulse flows were simulated in the duct. For the pulse flows the water was accelerated at a constant rate to a peak velocity and then decelerated at a constant rate to zero velocity. Phase lags were observed between the bed shear stress and the upward flux (entertainment) of sand from the bed. The phase lags were larger for tests with fine sand than for tests with coarse sand. Differences were attributed to differences in the bed roughness and flow Reynolds numbers. Relations based on flow acceleration and sediment size were developed for predicting the entertainment phase lag. Large phase lags can have a considerable impact on the amount of sediment transported by boat wakes, and other unsteady flows

Entrainment response of bed sediment to time-varying flows

Unsteady flows are ubiquitous in nature. In order to understand the behavior of sediment when subjected to unsteady flows, a set of experiments was performed in a rectangular duct with a mobile bed. A computer-operated vale governed the velocity of the water in the duct, and the flow velocity, wall shear stress, and vertical distribution of suspended sediment were simultaneously measured. Beds composed of 120 um and 580 um diameter sand were investigated. Both quasi-steady flows and pulse flows were investigated. Both quasi-steady flows and pulse flows were simulated in the duct. For the pulse flows the water was accelerated at a constant rate to a peak velocity and then decelerated at a constant rate to zero velocity. Phase lags were observed between the bed shear stress and the upward flux (entertainment) of sand from the bed. The phase lags were larger for tests with fine sand than for tests with coarse sand. Differences were attributed to differences in the bed roughness and flow Reynolds numbers. Relations based on flow acceleration and sediment size were developed for predicting the entertainment phase lag. Large phase lags can have a considerable impact on the amount of sediment transported by boat wakes, and other unsteady flows

Catharanthus mosaic virus: A potyvirus from a gymnosperm, Welwitschia mirabilis

A virus from a symptomatic plant of the gymnosperm Welwitschia mirabilis Hook. growing as an ornamental plant in a domestic garden in Western Australia was inoculated to a plant of Nicotiana benthamiana where it established a systemic infection. The complete genome sequence of 9636 nucleotides was determined using high-throughput and Sanger sequencing technologies. The genome sequence shared greatest identity (83% nucleotides and 91% amino acids) with available partial sequences of catharanthus mosaic virus, indicating that the new isolate belonged to that taxon. Analysis of the phylogeny of the complete virus sequence placed it in a monotypic group in the genus Potyvirus. This is the first record of a virus from W. mirabilis, the first complete genome sequence of catharanthus mosaic virus determined, and the first record from Australia. This finding illustrates the risk to natural and managed systems posed by the international trade in live plants and propagules, which enables viruses to establish in new regions and infect new hosts

Classroom action research on formative assessment in a context-based chemistry course

Teaching and Teacher Learning (ICLON

Influence of Seasonal Variations of Temperature and Light on the Growth Rate of Cultures and Natural Populations of Intertidal Diatoms

Cultures of four benthic diatom species (Navicula salinarum, Amphiprora cf, paludosa, N. arenaria, Gyrosigma spenceni) were kept at the surface of a mudflat in order to measure division rates. During incubations in the period of December to June the mean temperature was the predominant factor regulating cell division rate. Immersion of the mudflat with very turbid tidal water was an important factor only at a low-level mudflat station during winter and early spring. Strong temperature fluctuations during incubations, with periods of frost in winter and periods of insolation during hot summer weather, did not interrupt growth of the cultures. Hence high temperatures and high irradiance values are unlikely to be the direct cause of the summer minimum in population density that is frequently observed in the estuary. After the winter minimum the increase in population density was measured at three levels of the mudflat. At the high-level station the density increased in January at still very low temperatures, whereas at the mid- and low-level stations this increase started in March. This observation indicates that the emersion time of the mudflat and hence its exposure to full daylight is an important factor in the development of the spring bloom. The density of the diatom populations in the 0.5 cm top layer of the sediment increased only at a very low rate (with maximum rates of ca. 0.1 doublings d-l). Low photosynthetic rates of natural diatom populations in the sediment core are the cause of these low doubling rates of natural populations on the mudflat. Dispersal of diatom cells into the sediment is probably responsible for the decreased photosynthetic rates and, consequently, for the low doubling rates of sediment-inhabiting diatoms