The evolution of the Polish government bond market

Poland’s marketable government debt has grown from essentially zero in the early 1990s to USD 180 bn by 2019, with a wide range of maturities and security types. The aim of the article is to describe the long-term trends in the Polish sovereign local currency debt. Changes in its composition, maturity profile and ownership  structure are analysed. The Ministry of Finance’s databases on bond transactions and secondary market activity are used. Since early 2000s the market has become less fragmented and the ownership structure has shifted considerably in reaction to global and national factors. Debt management strategy has stabilized the market and reduced frictions. Countries developing their local currency bond markets should be encouraged to avoid market fragmentation and concentrate on selected benchmark issues. Creating a functioning local currency bond market is essential in avoiding the so called “original sin”, but must be part of a broader institutional push.</p

Integrated energy design: education and training in cross-disciplinary teams implementing energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD)

In Europe, energy and climate policies started to take shape from the 1990s onwards culminating with the ambitious 20-20-20 climate goals and the Low-Carbon Europe roadmap 2050. The European Commission empower the importance of achieving the objective of the recast Directive on energy performance of buildings (EPBD) that new buildings built from 2021 onwards will have to be nearly zero-energy buildings. The general belief is that the energy performance optimization of buildings requires an integrated design approach and cross-disciplinary teamwork to optimize the building's energy use and quality of indoor environment while satisfying the occupants' needs.In this context, there is a substantial need for professionals such as architects and engineers specifically trained and educated in integrated design approach and trained to work in cross-disciplinary teams. To be able to push forward the development, it is essential that educational institutions foster professionals with such knowledge, skills and competences. An initiative toward this direction is the EU-project of IDES-EDU: "Master and Post-Graduate education and training in multi-disciplinary teams".The paper describes the necessity of more integrated and cross-disciplinary approaches to building design through state-of-the-art of the building sector and educational initiatives in the participating countries in the project, and through theory of design processes. The paper also communicates the results of newly developed cross-disciplinary education established by fifteen different educational institutions in Europe. Finally, the paper explains and discusses the challenges encountered during development and implementation of the education across different professions and countries. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

IDES-EDU – new interdisciplinary education program for Integral design of built environment

Buildings fulfilling all requirements related to energy, economy and environment are necessary to be designed by interdisciplinary teams with efficient transfer of information and good knowledge base. IDES EDU is a project co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe program in which 15 European universities make a concerted effort to develop and implement balanced master and postgraduate courses on Sustainable Energy Design providing skills and knowledge that exceed the requirements of the EPBD. The resulting courses focus on different aspects of sustainable building design from the perspective of architecture, building construction and building technologies.European Commission - Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation - IIE - Inteligent Energy Europ

The impact of quantitative easing on emerging markets: Literature review

The article presents the results of the review of the empirical literature regarding the impact of quantitative easing (QE) on emerging markets (EMs). The subject is of interest to policymakers and researchers due to the increasingly larger role of EMs in the world economy and the large-scale capital flows occurring after 2009. The review is conducted in a systematic manner and takes into consideration different methodological choices, samples and measurement issues. The paper puts the summarized results in the context of transmission channels identified in the literature. There are few distinct methodological approaches present in the literature. While there is a consensus regarding the direction of the impact of QE on EMs, its size and durability have not yet been assessed with sufficient precision. In addition, there are clear gaps in the empirical findings, not least related to relative underrepresentation of the CEE region (in particular, Poland)

Quantitative easing: New normal or emergency measure?

This article explores the economic justification of the use of unconventional monetary policy instruments such as asset purchase programmes (known as quantitative easing, QE) with the aim of assessing the nature of QE in the context of future monetary policy in Poland. Since 2008, numerous asset purchase programmes have been launched by central banks in major developed economies to raise economic growth and inflation in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis. These programmes can be seen either as part of broader, longer trends (demographic, socioeconomic) or as an emergency measure (i.e. a response to unique circumstances). The former hypothesis calls on central banks to treat unconventional monetary policy instruments as a necessary part of their toolbox, while the latter implies that QE is unlikely to be used again in the future. Drawing from a wide set of macroeconomic data and a proprietary literature review, I describe the macroeconomic context for unconventional monetary policy, present arguments for both paradigms and their implications. I conclude that recent developments favor the former hypothesis and that this debate will most likely be settled within several years and can be informed by business cycle developments in major developed economies

Magnet Server and Control System Database Infrastructure for the European XFEL

The linear accelerator of the European XFEL will use more than 1400 individually powered electromagnets for beam guidance and focusing. Front-end servers establish the low-level interface to several types of power supplies, and a middle layer server provides control over physical parameters like field or deflection angle in consideration of the hysteresis curve of the magnet. A relational database system with stringent consistency checks is used to store configuration data. The paper focuses on the functionality and architecture of the middle layer server and gives an overview of the database infrastructure

Are Structural Changes in Polish Rural Areas Fostering Leisure-Time Physical Activity?

Background: In this study, we analyze the determinants of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) of farmers and non-farmers living in rural areas. Methods: We use statistical analysis to describe urban and rural populations, as well as econometric techniques (Heckman regressions and propensity score matching) to assess the role of rural lifestyle in physical activity. Results: World Health Organization (WHO) pro-health PA (physical activity) recommendations are not met by 66% of farmers and 49% of other dwellers in rural areas. Approximately two thirds of them are completely inactive. Farmers enjoy vigorous PA (VPA), cycling and recreational walking less than their non-farming counterparts and are 46% less likely to be active than them; however the difference disappears when they take up an activity. The amount of PA is negatively correlated with age, but tends to increase for older people compared to those in middle age. Women are 6%–7% less active than men, yet the odds of being active at all are higher for women than for men. Household size is negatively correlated with LTPA. Conclusion: Considering the structural changes, rural area dwellers, especially farmers, require public intervention aimed at increasing their awareness of the advantages of LTPA

Further Improvements in Power Supply Controller Transient Recorders for Post-Mortem Analysis of BPM Orbit Dumps at PETRA-III

PETRA-III is a 3rd generation synchrotron light source dedicated to users with 14 beamlines beginning operations in 2010. The storage ring was modified in 2014 for an additional 12 beamlines in two extensions. It is operated with several filling modes with a total current of 100 mA at electron beam energy of 6 GeV. The horizontal beam emittance is 1.30 nmrad with 1% coupling. During a user run the Machine Protection System (MPS) may trigger an unscheduled beam dump due to high deviations in orbits if transients in the magnet power supply (PS) currents are detected which are above permissible limits. PS controllers provide transient recorder data, showing differences between current set-point and readout values in a time span of several seconds around the moment of a beam loss. We describe automatic management system handling a large number of PSs, performing automatic transient recorder data readout, storing and is available for offline analysis. We discuss hardware implementation of transient recorders and its configuration software, a Java GUI application used to investigate the transient behavior of different PSs, which might have been responsible for emittance growth, orbit fluctuations, or the beam dumps seen in a post-mortem analysis