Encoding Spatial Experience in Garhwali Popular Music Cassettes

Connections between particular sounds and geographically conceived places/spaces seems to be a recurrent part of many repertoires in different parts of the Himalaya. A number of examples exist in which ritual repertoires are linked to pilgrimage pathways, to specific spiritual sites or to an ordering of space in relation to geomorphic realities. In the North Indian region of Garhwal, these connections are most directly made within wedding processions in which particular repertoire items are mapped against particular landscapes and pathways. In other repertoire items, specific motivic devices are used in more subtle ways to enhance the spatial experience of performers and listeners. In popular music idioms, connections between sounds and geomorphically imagined spaces are achieved in ways that borrow from traditional repertoire but also expand the symbolic use of sound through studio enhancement. In conjunction with more obvious regional identifiers such as language, rituals, deities and costumes, sounds help construct a shared regional identity amongst listeners that is associated with the physical reality of mountains. This paper examines a selection of popular music songs from Garhwali cassettes from the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s and notes a number of consistent uses of particular sounds that prompt a spatial experience associated with a mountainous landscape

The Effect of Access Regulation on Broadbnd Deployment

This paper quetions whether or not mandatory unbundling delayed DSL deployment by BellSouth. By exploiting a law change in Kentucky and variation in access prices across markets, I find that deregulation in Kentucky triggered deployment, but no evidence that access prices affected deployment pace. An upper bound on the welfare loss due to late deployment in rural markets is $21 million. The findings are consistent with a positive effect of deregulation on the profitability of upgrades, but can also result from a strategic delay which is part of the bargaining between the firm and the regulator.Access regulation; Broadband; Hazard model; Technology adoption

The dynamics of spillover effects during the european sovereign debt turmoil : [draft: october 29, 2012]

In this paper we develop empirical measures for the strength of spillover effects. Modifying and extending the framework by Diebold and Yilmaz (2011), we quantify spillovers between sovereign credit markets and banks in the euro area. Spillovers are estimated recursively from a vector autoregressive model of daily CDS spread changes, with exogenous common factors. We account for interdependencies between sovereign and bank CDS spreads and we derive generalised impulse response functions. Specifically, we assess the systemic effect of an unexpected shock to the creditworthiness of a particular sovereign or country-specific bank index to other sovereign or bank CDSs between October 2009 and July 2012. Channels of transmission from or to sovereigns and banks are aggregated as a Contagion index (CI). This index is disentangled into four components, the average potential spillover: i) amongst sovereigns, ii) amongst banks, iii) from sovereigns to banks, and iv) vice-versa. We highlight the impact of policy-related events along the different components of the contagion index. The systemic contribution of each sovereign or banking group is quantified as the net spillover weight in the total net-spillover measure. Finally, the captured time-varying interdependence between banks and sovereigns emphasises the evolution of their strong nexus

Investigation of surface tension phenomena using the KC-135 aircraft

The microgravity environment of the KC-135 aircraft was utilized in three experiments designed to determine the following: (1) the feasibility of measuring critical wetting temperatures; (2) the effectiveness of surface tension as a means of keeping the cushioning heat transfer liquid in the furnace during ampoule translation; and (3) whether a non-wetting fluid would separate from the ampoule wall under low gravity conditions. This trio of investigations concerning surface phenomena demonstrates the effectiveness of the KC-135 as a microgravity research environment for small-scale, hand-held experiments

Rethinking the Informal Economy: Linkages with the Formal Economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment

This paper explores the relationship of the informal economy to the formal economy and the formal regulatory environment. It begins with a discussion of the concept of the informal economy and its size, composition, and segmentation. It then discusses the linkages between the informal economy and the formal economy and the formal regulatory environment. The conclusion suggests why and how more equitable linkages between the informal economy and the formal economy should be promoted through an appropriate inclusive policy and regulatory environment.informal sector, informal economy, informal enterprises, informal workers, formal economy, formal regulatory environment, linkages, formalization

Rethinking the Informal Economy: Linkages with the Formal Economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment

informal sector, legality, gender, regulation, policy

INCREASING OUR EFFECTIVENESS AS PUBLIC POLICY EDUCATORS

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,