The geography of British exports: country-level versus firm-level evidence

This study investigates the degree of regionalization of UK exporters. The firm-level findings, based on an original set of primary data of 356 UK exporters, are contrasted with the UK national trade flows as well as with the geographic spread of the UK, European and the world's largest MNEs. The analysis produced consistent findings of regionalization regardless of the classification thresholds or sales matrices employed. The findings also imply that country-level data supports the firm-level findings of regionalization. White the analysis presents relatively strong corroborating evidence of regionalization of UK exports, it also indicates that UK exporters might be more multi-regional and global oriented than previously thought. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. ALL rights reserved

Solving Imperfect Information Games Using Decomposition

Decomposition, i.e. independently analyzing possible subgames, has proven to be an essential principle for effective decision-making in perfect information games. However, in imperfect information games, decomposition has proven to be problematic. To date, all proposed techniques for decomposition in imperfect information games have abandoned theoretical guarantees. This work presents the first technique for decomposing an imperfect information game into subgames that can be solved independently, while retaining optimality guarantees on the full-game solution. We can use this technique to construct theoretically justified algorithms that make better use of information available at run-time, overcome memory or disk limitations at run-time, or make a time/space trade-off to overcome memory or disk limitations while solving a game. In particular, we present an algorithm for subgame solving which guarantees performance in the whole game, in contrast to existing methods which may have unbounded error. In addition, we present an offline game solving algorithm, CFR-D, which can produce a Nash equilibrium for a game that is larger than available storage.Comment: 7 pages by 2 columns, 5 figures; April 21 2014 - expand explanations and theor

Empowering audiences to measure quality

This paper addresses four indicators of the audience experience in the performing arts: knowledge, risk, authenticity and collective engagement, and argues that these provide a measure of the audience\u27s experience of the quality of a performance. Qualitative interviews with four performing arts companiesdemonstrated a range of strategies for gathering audience feedback. In particular, the paper addresses systems for gathering &quot;deep feedback&quot; by audiences, and argues that these are a means of collecting information about the quality of the audience experience. &quot;Deep feedback&quot; is a critical mechanism by which performing arts organisations can engage in audience development and audiences are empowered to measure quality.<br /

Three new species of Helicopsyche (Trichoptera, Helicopsychidae) from northern Vietnam, with a key to Helicopsyche species of Vietnam

Three new species of Helicopsyche Siebold, 1856 are described from Vietnam: Helicopsyche melina sp. nov., Helicopsyche meander sp. nov., and Helicopsyche lamnata sp. nov. All species were described from Melinh Station for Biodiversity in the Me Linh District of Vinh Phuc Province. The species were collected mainly in Malaise traps situated across a small stream surrounded by lowland forest. Some individuals were also collected on light in traps situated at the stream bank

Using a graphical programming language to write CAMAC/GPIB instrument drivers

To reduce the complexities of conventional programming, graphical software was used in the development of instrumentation drivers. The graphical software provides a standard set of tools (graphical subroutines) which are sufficient to program the most sophisticated CAMAC/GPIB drivers. These tools were used and instrumentation drivers were successfully developed for operating CAMAC/GPIB hardware from two different manufacturers: LeCroy and DSP. The use of these tools is presented for programming a LeCroy A/D Waveform Analyzer

Immersive Coordinates: Digital Anatolia

Funding from the NEH is requested to support the development of a lightweight infrastructure for pre-publication release of curated, 4D cartographic data and narratives centered on two, lesser known archaeological sites in Roman Asia Minor, modern-day western Turkey. The project is the direct result of a five-year investigation into data-management and curation methods at the Turkish archaeological sites of Nysa and Magnesia on the Maeander. While so many efforts are working successfully to allow for depositing data in repositories, few have focused on what is arguably the most important element when exploring such complex data: effective communication through visual argumentation. Using a neo-geographic, web 2.0 approach that has been highly successful when applied to broad, urbanistic studies of modern cities, this project will focus on developing pre-print publications of two ongoing excavations of urban-scale archaeological sites

Employer-Sponsored Training in Stabilisation and Growth Policy Perspectives

In Europe, accounting standards prevent larger expenditures on employer-sponsored training from being treated as investments. Using Sweden as example, we discuss two consequences for training. First, the timing: training will be conducted when income is large enough for training costs to be deducted without loss. This is more often possible during booms than recessions, providing a stabilisation policy dimension to training. Second, the volume: the training opportunity cost (foregone production) is largest during booms. Hence, training tends to be smaller than if conducted during downturns, possibly limiting growth.We formulate two proposals that can make training more counter-cyclical and increase the amount of training.Training; Accounting System; Timing; Growth

Employer-sponsored training in stabilisation and growth policy perspectives

In Europe, accounting standards prevent larger expenditures on employer-sponsored training from being treated as investments. Using Sweden as example, we discuss two consequences for training. First, the timing: training will be conducted when income is large enough for training costs to be deducted without loss. This is more often possible during booms than recessions, providing a stabilisation policy dimension to training. Second, the volume: the training opportunity cost (foregone production) is largest during booms. Hence, training tends to be smaller than if conducted during downturns, possibly limiting growth. We formulate two proposals that can make training more counter-cyclical and increase the amount of training.Employer-sponsored training; accounting standards