Mutual information rate and bounds for it

The amount of information exchanged per unit of time between two nodes in a dynamical network or between two data sets is a powerful concept for analysing complex systems. This quantity, known as the mutual information rate (MIR), is calculated from the mutual information, which is rigorously defined only for random systems. Moreover, the definition of mutual information is based on probabilities of significant events. This work offers a simple alternative way to calculate the MIR in dynamical (deterministic) networks or between two data sets (not fully deterministic), and to calculate its upper and lower bounds without having to calculate probabilities, but rather in terms of well known and well defined quantities in dynamical systems. As possible applications of our bounds, we study the relationship between synchronisation and the exchange of information in a system of two coupled maps and in experimental networks of coupled oscillators

Impacts of horizontal and vertical foreign investment in business services : The experience of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic

“The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, European Urban and Regional Studies 18 (4) 2011, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2011: on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/”This article examines the impact of foreign direct investment in business services on the economies of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia and their place in the European division of labour. A distinction is drawn between horizontal market-seeking foreign investment in business services and efficiency-seeking vertical investments, which have increased since 2000. We posit a conceptual framework that differentiates between the static, dynamic and institutional properties of global production networks and their impacts on localities and regions. The research is based on interviews with senior managers in 25 companies in the three case-study countries, as well as inward investment agencies. We conclude that the most salient static impacts of these investments are on the labour market, where horizontal investments provide fewer, but more skilled jobs than vertical investments. Dynamic effects were contradictory in that, although learning and spillover effects were modest, vertical investments demonstrated a propensity to move up the value chain. Strategic coupling with local actors involved institution bending, enhancement or harnessing in changing the spaces of production.Peer reviewe