A locally anisotropic geometrical model of space-time based on CMBR

We study a locally anisotropic model of General Relativity in the framework of a more general geometrical structure than the Riemannian one. In this model the observable anisotropy of the CMBR (WMAP) is represented by a tensor of anisotropy and it is included in the metric structure of space-time. As well, some interesting special cases of spaces are considered.Comment: 5 pages, 0 figures, 7th International Astronomy Conference of the Hellenic Astronomical Society, curvature and connection sections decreased, minor explanation added, fixed some typo

Price and Non - Price Competitiveness of Exports of Manufactures

This paper develops a demand function for Greece’s exports of manufactures according to New Trade Theory. The sample covers a rather long period of four decades with exports aggregated based on industrial rather than on trade classification. The study contributes to a better understanding of the effects of export prices, domestic and competitors’, as well as of non-price competitiveness approximated with capital stock, on export performance. The empirical estimation uses the Johansen maximum likelihood approach in the long run and a dynamic errorcorrection equation in the short run. The estimated long-run and short-run relationships follow the economic theory and are remarkably stable. It is shown that non-price competitiveness plays a vital role in explaining export performance in the long run as well as in the short run and that failure to include it in the export equation may lead to mis-specification error. As opposed to conventional models of export demand where income effects are very high, in the present study foreign income has a moderately high effect on exports in the long run and no effect in the short run. Exports are also sensitive to domestic and competitors’ prices in the long run, but cost and price competitiveness elasticities are close to one, indicating that Greek exporters have some ability to compete on the basis of prices.Export demand; price and non-price competitiveness; new trade theory; vector autoregressive error correction model

Assessing Output and Productivity Growth in the Banking Industry

This paper assesses the evolution of output and productivity in the Greek banking industry for the period 1990-2006. Three main categories of bank output were estimated based on modern theoretical approaches, while for the aggregation and estimation of output and inputs and the estimation of productivity (partial and total factor) we relied on the index number method (Tornqvist index). Additionally, we considered the effect of labor quality on banks’ productivity and using a growth accounting framework we examined the contribution of total factor productivity (TFP) to bank output growth. The results show that bank output and labor productivity increased considerably during the period under examination, outpacing the respective GDP growth and labor productivity of the Greek economy. Capital productivity and TFP of the Greek banking industry have also improved remarkably mainly since 1999, as a result of the structural changes that took place within the industry, capital investments (mainly in IT equipment) as well as improvement in the quality of human capital.Bank output; user-cost approach; total factor productivity; Tornqvist index; growth accounting; labor quality

On the impulse criterion for entrainment of coarse grains in air

River hydrodynamicsTurbulent open channel flow and transport phenomen

Instantaneous pressure measurements on a spherical grain under threshold flow conditions

River morphodynamics and sediment transportMechanics of sediment transpor