Assessing the Fiscal Costs and Benefits of A8 Migration to the UK

A8 immigrants who are eligible to receive state benefits are 60% less likely to claim for them than the native population -- and are 13% less likely to do so adjusting for demographics. Since 2004, A8 migrants have made net contributions to public finances. Immigrants also tend to be more highly educated, more likely to participate in the job market, and have much higher employment rates

Assessing the Fiscal Costs and Benefits of A8 Migration to the UK

A8 immigrants who are eligible to receive state benefits are 60% less likely to claim for them than the native population -- and are 13% less likely to do so adjusting for demographics. Since 2004, A8 migrants have made net contributions to public finances. Immigrants also tend to be more highly educated, more likely to participate in the job market, and have much higher employment rates

Impact of carwash discharge on stormwater quality (Toulouse, France)

The contribution of discharge from carwashes to pollutant levels in stormwater was evaluated. Five carwashes and two outlets in the city of Toulouse (France) were selected. Water samples were collected from December 2006 to December 2007. Concentrations and loadings of classical water quality parameters (conductivity, pH, turbidity, chemical oxygen demand, nitrogen, phosphorus, ammonium, nitrate, suspended solid and volatile suspended solid) and five groups of organic compounds (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, lauryl alkyl benzene sulphonates, methyl tert-butyl ether and total hydrocarbons) were determined. The results suggest that the wastewater derived from carwashes was negligible compared to the volume and flow rates within the stormwater network. However, high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phosphorus and lauryl alkyl benzene sulphonates in liquid waste from carwashes, and the impact of these pollutants on stormwater quality could not be neglected

Food Miles, Carbon Footprinting and their potential impact on trade

To obtain market access for NZ food exports to high value developed country markets exporters are having to comply and consider environmental factors such as carbon footprinting. This growth in demand for environmental attributes is shown in the rise of the food miles debate or concept. Food miles is a concept which has gained traction with the popular press arguing that the further food travels the more energy is used and therefore carbons emissions are greater. This paper assesses, using the same methodology, whether this is the case by comparing NZ production shipped to the UK with a UK source. The study found that due to the different production systems even when shipping was accounted for NZ dairy products used half the energy of their UK counterpart and in the case of lamb a quarter of the energy. In the case of apples the NZ source was 10 per cent more energy efficient. In case of onions whilst NZ used slightly more energy in production the energy cost of shipping was less than the cost of storage in the UK making NZ onions more energy efficient overall. The paper then explores other developments in market access to developed markets especially the rise in demand for products to be carbon footprinted and the introduction of carbon labelling. A review of latest methodology in carbon footprinting the PAS from the UK is reviewed and implications for trade assessed.

CSR firm profiles and innovation: An empirical exploration with survey data

This paper explores the relationship between different Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies and innovation. Using a survey carried out on CSR behavior of Luxembourg firms, we found two types of firms as far as CSR practices are concerned. Cluster 1 firms adopted CSR practices to achieve economic goals without resorting to the formalization of these practices. In contrast, cluster 2 firms "learn CSR by doing" and by establishing CSR procedures and tools. Then  we match Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data and specific data collected on CSR clusters. We estimate Logit models to explain the different types of innovation (product, process, organizational). In comparison with the firms which don't adopt CSR, firms in Cluster 1 are more innovative in  terms of product and process once we control for firm characteristics and innovation drivers while firms in cluster 2 tend to reject innovation in process and adopt organizational innovation. These results, which show the link between the various CSR practices and innovation types, have important consequences in terms of managerial recommendations and public policy support for innovation.Corporate Social Responsibility; Innovation; Organizational; Practices; Product; Process

Technological innovation persistence: Literature survey and exploration of the role of organizational innovation

In this paper, we will review the literature on technological innovation persistence and provide a general theoretical framework to analyze the main determinants of this innovative behavior. Moreover, no previous empirical study has taken into account organizational innovation practices as possible determinants of innovation persistence. We will therefore include them, as previous studies have shown the interaction effects between the two types of innovation, and produce empirical results on technical innovation persistence. A multinomial probit model was used to estimate the likelihood of belonging to each of the three longitudinal innovation profiles. Results confirm the differentiated impact of determinants on process and technological innovation persistence, and the effect of R&D intensity, R&D cooperation and competition intensity. As hypothesized, we also found that organizational innovation is a determinant factor for innovation persistence and, more generally speaking, for technological innovation, in particular organizational practices such as knowledge management and external partnerships.Persistence; Innovation; Technological innovation; Organizational innovation; R&D

Analysis of 2D/3D Urban Density Indices in Context of Land Surface Temperature

Cities worldwide cover only 2 % of earth`s surface but spend almost 75 % of the world`s energy resources (Gago et al. 2013). The emission of heat and the structure of built-up areas can increase the phenomenon of urban heat islands (UHI), which highly infects the well-being of all inhabitants. Future work will focus on monitoring capabilities to manage the development of urban settlements. The study investigates the relationship between urban density indices and land surface temperature (LST) using multi-sensor remote sensing data. All processing steps are performed for the City of Cologne, Germany. The input data are consisting of high resolution multi-spectral Ikonos imagery, as well as an object height model, derived from Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data and thermal information, provided by the Landsat 7 satellite mission. The first working step, the derivation of six land cover (LC) classes, is based on a geographic object based image analysis (GEOBIA) approach. Therefore, LiDAR and pan-sharped Ikonos data with a spatial resolution of one meter are used. In a second step, and based on the extracted LC and object height information, existing and new measures of urban density are computed, that take into account the horizontal and/or vertical characteristics of a city. All measures are separated into single object related and area related indices, depending on the basis of calculation. The significance of different Areas of Interests (AOI) are analyzed and compared for area related indices. Finally, the correlation between multi-temporal LST data, derived from Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+), and each indicator is calculated with regard to their dependency on the predominant type of urban land use (LU) and the acquisition date (season) of the Landsat ETM+ data

Eels With Strings: Live at Town Hall

Die US-amerikanische Alternative Rockband The Eels wurde 1995 durch den Songwriter Mark Oliver Everett gegründet, der der programmatische Kopf der Gruppe geblieben ist. Sie zeichnete sich von Beginn an durch eine ungewöhnliche Experimentierfreude aus, darum bemüht, immer neue unterschiedliche Klangspektren in der Musik der Band zu entfalten. Everett ist der einzige, der noch aus der Erstformation stammt; sämtliche anderen Mitglieder der Gruppe sind z.T. mehrfach ausgetauscht wurden

Marginalising the mainstream: A signed performance of the miracle worker places deaf issues centre-stage

William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker was staged at the Brisbane Powerhouse June 2009 by Crossbow Productions. In this adaption, people with hearing impairment were privileged through the use of shadow-signing, unscripted signing and the appropriation of signing as a theatrical language in itself. 250 people living with hearing impairment attended the production, 70 had never attended a theatrical event before. During the post-performance discussions hearing audience members expressed feelings of displacement through experiencing the culture of the deaf society and not grasping some of the ideas. This paper argues that this inversion enhanced meaning making for all and illustrates a way forward to encourage the signing of more theatrical events