Assessing Economic Performance among North American Manufacturing Establishments, 1870/71: Data, Methodology and Measurement Issues

A number of conceptually robust and empirically practical approaches are available to assess relative economic performance among producers who operate on either side of an international border. In this paper we discuss the impact that data compilation, methodological choice, and variable definitions may have on the quantitative and qualitative assessment of cross-border performance comparisons. As an illustrative example we use manuscript census data from 1870/71 to compare total factor productivity (TFP) among a sample of manufacturing establishments located along the Canada-US border. We briefly discuss issues associated with the preparation of manuscript census data for the measurement of cross-border TFP differentials and the establishment of industry selection criteria. We also review TFP measurement techniques, such as growth accounting calculations, cost and production function index number approaches, and econometric estimation. However, the central focus of the paper is an investigation of the impact that variable definitions have on our assessment of TFP performance. In particular, we probe the relationship between the size of cross-border TFP differentials and the reliance on a variety of common definitions for labour, capital, output, input weights, and prices.Productivity Measurement, International Performance Comparisons, North American Industrialization

Labour market dynamics in Canada, 1891-1911: A first look from new census samples

This paper uses newly available census evidence to portray changes in labour market outcomes in Canada between 1891 and 1911. Multiple census cross-sections allow for the documentation of how the location, occupation, and earnings of Canadian and foreign-born cohorts changed over time. The westward movement of young anglophones after 1901 contributed to the formation of a national labour market. Anglophone, francophone, and foreign-born cohorts all experienced significant occupational mobility between 1891 and 1911, but francophones and immigrants remained over-represented at the bottom of the occupational ladder. Greater occupational and geographical mobility supported higher rates of earnings growth among Anglophones.labour market, census, Canada, ethnicity, anglophone, francophone, occupations, earnings regression, 1891, 1901, 1911

Physical stature and its interpretation in nineteenth century New Zealand

During the late nineteenth century the physical stature of New Zealandborn men stagnated, despite an apparently beneficial public health environment and growth in per-capita incomes. Stature varied by social class, with professionals and men in rural occupations substantially taller than their peers. There is not enough evidence to show that the indigenous Maori population differed in height from men of European descent.Physical stature; Height; Well-being; New Zealand Anthropometric history; Biological standard of living

Farming at the Rural Urban Interface

Population growth and development at the rural urban interface (RUI) is creating challenges and opportunities for farmers. A standard thesis is that agriculture will steadily decline in the face of increased non-farm competition, but closer inspection reveals a more dynamic process of change. This poster describes the leading models for describing the structure of agriculture at the RUI and presents a bivariate analyses of Census of Agriculture data to assess the extent to which certain types of farm adaptations exist in proximity to large, urban areas. The aim of this research is to identify the relationship of urbanization and the structure of agriculture.USDA-NR

THE TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE HATAY OPHIOLITE OF SOUTHEAST TURKEY

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/745 on 27.02.2017 by CS (TIS)A combination of palaeomagnetic and structural analyses have been used to constrain rotations in the Hatay (Kizildag) ophiolite of southeast Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean region and to produce a tectonic model for its evolution. The ophiolite comprises part of a prominent chain of southern Neotethyan ophiolites that stretches from the Troodos ophiolite of Cyprus eastwards to the Semail ophiolite of Oman. The Hatay ophiolite and the related Baer-Bassit ophiolite of Syria comprise the most westerly ophiolites emplaced onto the Arabian platform in the Maastrichtian. The palaeomagnetic analyses demonstrate that a large coherent anticlockwise rotation was experienced by the Hatay ophiolite, with minor variability resulting from differential rotations of adjacent tectonic blocks. Positive inclination-only tilt tests indicate that the Hatay ophiolite preserves a pre-deformational magnetisation. This is supported by rock magnetic analyses, consistent with a seafloor origin of magnetisation acquisition, soon after genesis at a spreading ridge. Magnetic carriers capable of preserving a remanence stable over geological time are identified. Palaeomagnetic analyses of the sedimentary cover sequences of the Hatay and Baer-Bassit ophiolites have been performed to provide timing constraints on the rotations in the underlying ophiolites. These illustrate that a large component of the rotations occurred pre-emplacement of the Hatay/Baer-Bassit sheet. Structural analyses performed on all levels of the Hatay ophiolite and its sedimentary cover add insight into the phases of deformation that have affected the ophiolite and enable rotations to be constrained in relation to the structural development of the ophiolite. The structural events recognised can be linked to the regional tectonic evolution of the ophiolite and used to critically evaluate previous tectonic interpretations of the Hatay ophiolite. Comparison between the large coherent anticlockwise rotations observed in the Troodos, Hatay and Baer-Bassit ophiolites imply that a significant component is likely to be linked to a common cause, inferred to be of intraoceanic origin as part of a coherent microplale. Thus, existing models for the rotation of the Troodos microplate have been revised to incorporate a larger area and also account for the rotations of the Hatay and Baer-Bassit ophiolites. Restoration of sheeted dykes to their original orientations implies that a primary variation in dyke strike existed within the southern Neotethyan ocean. In combination with the implications of the palaeomagnetic results for microplate rotation, these characteristics suggest formation of the ophiolites within a complex Neotethyan spreading system, analogous in many respects to fast-spreading marginal basin systems of the modem oceans

What's in a Game? Transmedia Storytelling and the Web-Game Genre of Online Chinese Popular Fiction

This paper uses a genre of online Chinese popular fiction known as Web-Game ction as an entry point for exploring the influence of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) on linear narrative fiction. By offering a thick description of MMORPG gameplay and of gamers’ movements between online and offline worlds, Web-Game fiction narrates and “deinteractivates” the subjective experiences of players as they progress through the levels of online role-playing games. This essay proposes that the genre offers an alternative perspective on transmedia production strategies in Chinese popular culture and on the nature of immersion in online environments, often viewed in negative terms by Chinese critics who employ vocabulary such as youxihua (“gamification” or “ludification”), “YY” (yiyin, or “mental masturbation”), and chenmi (absorption or addiction) to warn of the dangers of allowing one’s imagination to run wild in mediated fictional worlds. By reading one novel from the perspectives of transmedia storytelling, remediation, and affective involvement in digital games, I suggest that Web-Game fiction is emblematic of Chinese netizens’ desire to take control of their own stories within a larger contemporary reality, the rules and parameters of which lie beyond any individual control