The Economic Consequences of Disappearing Government Debt

Economic Consequences, Disappearing Government Debt, Government Debt, macroeconomics

Non-classical properties of the e.m. near field of an atom in spontaneous light emission

We use Glauber's correlation function function as well as the Green functions formalism to investigate, in the case of a dipolar atomic transition, the causal behaviour of the spontaneously emitted electromagnetic field. We also examine the role played by the longitudinal electric field, which is not described in terms of photonic (transverse) degrees of freedom. We predict the existence of a genuinely quantum memory effect at the level of the near field surrounding the atom, which keeps track of the past excitation and emission by the atom

A fluid flow perspective on the diagenesis of Te Aute limestones

Pliocene cool-water, bioclastic Te Aute limestones in East Coast Basin, New Zealand, accumulated either in shelfal shoal areas or about structurally shallow growth fold structures in the tectonically active accretionary forearc prism. Up to five stages of carbonate cementation are recognised, based on cement sequence-stratigraphic concepts, that formed on the seafloor during exposure of the limestones before burial, during burial, uplift, and deformation. Two principal fluid types are identified--topography-driven meteoric fluids and compaction-driven fluids. We have developed conceptual and quantitative models that attempt to relate the physical characteristics of fluid flow to the cement paragenesis. In particular, we have simulated the effects of uplift of the axial ranges bordering East Coast Basin in terms of the degree of penetration of a meteoric wedge into the basin. The dynamics of meteoric flow changed dramatically during uplift over the last 2 m.y. such that the modelled extent of the meteoric wedge is at least 40 km across the basin, and the penetration depth 1500 m or more corresponding with measured freshwater intersections in some oil wells. Cement-fluid relationships include: (1) true marine cements that precipitated in areas remote from shallow freshwater lenses; (2) pre-compaction cements that formed in shallow freshwater lenses beneath limestone "islands"; (3) post-compaction cements derived from compaction-driven flow during burial; (4) early uplift-related fracture-fill cements formed during deformation of the accretionary prism and uplift of the axial ranges; and (5) late uplift-related cements associated with uplift into a shallow meteoric regime

The re-organisation of a school system : consultation and policy-making in a local education authority

The contribution of consultation among the policy-makers and with their clients to the development of educational policy for the City of Hull is assessed between 1977 and 1985. In the period under review Humberside moved from a gradualist approach to dealing with falling enrolments, which entailed the retention of transfer to secondary education at 13, to a radical re-appraisal of the school system as a whole and a decision to return to transfer at 11 and the establishment of sixth form colleges. The series of consultations which accompanied the development of that policy, within the context of central government advice, is examined, together with the parallel consultations with the Church of England and among the Roman Catholic community.The principal objectives of the study are to determine the influence of client consultation on the development of policy aims and on the determination of particular policy decisions, in addition to an appraisal of the participants' perceptions of the objectives and the outcomes of the consultations studied. The methodology employed involved a document and literature search, non-participant observation, interviews with a sample of participants, and a questionnaire survey.The series of consultative episodes is subjected to examination against models of local authority decision-making derived from the literature with the purpose of generating hypotheses about the consultative process and decision-making at local education authority level. From the cases reviewed it is concluded that the role of client consultation can be both strategic and tactical, but that it is principally constrained by the political leadership's assessment of its potential role and the focus they provide for it. In the case of Humberside client consultation contributed to a change in the direction of policy in so far as the politicians used its outcomes to assess the extent of change necessary, but, when strategy had been politically determined, its potential for effecting change became tactical and was limited to modifying the application of that strategy.Consultation also made some contribution to greater public understanding of the Authority's policy and to making that policy more acceptable to those affected by it

Conditions for anti-Zeno effect observation in free-space atomic radiative decay

Frequent measurements can modify the decay of an unstable quantum state with respect to the free dynamics given by Fermi's golden rule. In a landmark article, Nature 405, 546 (2000), Kofman and Kurizki concluded that in quantum decay processes, acceleration of the decay by frequent measurements, called the quantum anti-Zeno effect (AZE), appears to be ubiquitous, while its counterpart, the quantum Zeno effect, is unattainable. However, up to now there have been no experimental observations of the AZE for atomic radiative decay (spontaneous emission) in free space. In this work, making use of analytical results available for hydrogen-like atoms, we find that in free space, only non-electric-dipolar transitions should present an observable AZE, revealing that this effect is consequently much less ubiquitous than first predicted. We then propose an experimental scheme for AZE observation, involving the electric quadrupole transition between D 5/2 and S 1/2 in the heaviest alkali-earth ions Ca + and Sr +. The proposed protocol is based on the STIRAP technique which acts like a dephasing quasi-measurement

Consideration of Ethical and Legal Aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Issue of Multi-National Corporations and Sustainable Development

Trend of events over the last ten years have shown that the world has witnessed widespread business failures and even collapses.1 These failures and collapses have been devastating and tragic to the global economy.2 Within this period, corporations have claimed to promote Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and be committed to sustainable development, while at the same time perpetrating harmful business practices in the communities in which they operate.3 Unethical behaviour and illegal practices (such as cheating, greed and deceit) on the part of the executives of the corporations are the major causes of these crashes.4 The primary motivating factor to cheat in the business world is financial gain. However, cheating in any sense, be it greed, deceit, unethical conduct, acts of illegality or illegal practices, though detrimental to the sustainable development of the communities in which corporations operate their businesses, eventually in some occasions end up causing the executives of these multi-national corporations (MNCs) problems.5 The issue is topical, because CSR continues to be one of the most important and controversial aspects of global business - receiving much attention from all circles – business managers, lawyers, government leaders and academics in different fields. While continuing to increase in prominence, there are many aspects and many approaches evolving surrounding this global phenomenon. CSR of business is actually impacting on the people at this point-in-time, locally, nationally, regionally and globally. The financial crisis has provided a number of examples of firms that have engaged in practices that create systemic risk to the economy, but the issue is not confined to the financial sector. Virtually all firms are deemed to be sufficiently strategic in their undertakings in the local, national, regional and global community. Actions desired by the society may differ from those undertaken by the firm in order to make reasonable profits in their business. Thus, firms may adopt different (positive or/and negative) strategies to maximise impact on society for their benefit. However, business strategy also affects the likelihood of harm to the society as a whole (though, with the level of impact differing on developed and developing societies).6 It is argued that CSR initiatives of MNCs are all about cover-up and pretence.7 Most of the legal authoritative works on CSR, which analyse company CSR, primarily focus on developed areas, and therefore overlook or discuss only briefly the CSR situations in developing countries that more clearly demonstrate the box-ticking mentality of companies.8 The few works that focus on developing areas reveal that in developing countries almost all the corporations are involved in box-ticking; as this paper will demonstrate. In light of the harm caused by firms globally, the hypothesis of this paper is that the undertakings or business activities of most large global firms (i.e. MNCs) must have impacted heavily on the sustainable development of the society, particularly the communities where they operate their businesses and, especially in the developing countries. It is therefore important for this paper to consider the ethical and legal aspects of CSR of MNCs and their business impact on sustainable development of the wider community. This paper primarily examines the contribution of CSR of MNCs to the sustainable development of the communities in which the corporations operate their businesses; this is approached from the context of practice argued through the three chosen empirical cases,9 and supported with theoretical analysis. This paper provides a separate sub-section for the consideration of various definitions or/and meaning of CSR.10 However, the working definition for the purpose of this paper is that CSR is about the sensitivity of an organisation to ethical and legal practices, and beneficial responsiveness that promote sustainable development in the community. Thus, while this paper recognises the importance of the success of business activities regarding what goes inside the corporations (i.e. internality-the inner circle), it is more concerned on the impacts of the activities of corporations on the communities or environments in which they operate their businesses (i.e. externality-the outer circle). This focus is on how CSR of an organisation contributes to the sustainable development of the wider community. Section 2 primarily looks at the various definitions or/and meaning attached to the term CSR, and briefly explains the central concepts helpful in the understanding of CSR as used in this paper, such as sustainable development, social responsibility, corporate governance, corporate citizenship, corporate accountability, triple-bottom-line, and box-ticking mentality; as well as looks at the difference between ethics and legality. Section 3 presents the three empirical case studies identified; these are Enron, North America (USA); MacDonald’s, UK (Europe); and Shell, Nigeria (Africa); it also made comparative remarks of CSR in UK (Europe), North America (USA), and Nigeria (Africa). The empirical cases form the basis of analysis in the other sections of this paper within the framework of the contribution of CSR of MNCs in the sustainable development of the communities in which they operate their businesses. This includes: consideration of the ongoing heated debate within the academic circles whether CSR is voluntary or mandatory (section 4); the issue of box-ticking and its implementation on a practical level (section 5); it concludes in section 6 that the neglect of the ethical and legal aspects of CSR, though detrimental to the sustainable development of the communities in which corporations operate their businesses, eventually in some occasions end up in causing the executives of these multinationals or/and the corporations problem