5,664 research outputs found
Saving, Investment, and Gold: A Reassessment of Historical Current Account Data
This paper revises pre-World War II current account data for thirteen countries by treating gold flows on a consistent basis. The standard historical data sources often fail to distinguish between monetary gold exports, which are capital-account credits, and nonmonetary gold exports, which are current-account credits. The paper also adjusts historical investment data to account for changes in inventories. The revised data are used to construct estimates of saving and investment over the period from 1850 to 1945. Our methodology for removing monetary gold flows from the current account leads naturally to a gold-standard version of the Feldstein-Horioka hypothesis on capital mobility. The regression results are in broad agreement with those of Eichengreen, who found a significantly positive cross-sectional correlation between saving and investment even during some periods when the gold standard prevailed. Despite reaching broadly similar conclusions, we estimate correlations between saving and investment that are somewhat lower and less significant than those Eichengreen found. In particular, we find that in comparison to other interwar subsamples, the saving-investment correlation is markedly low during the fleeting years of a revived world gold standard, 1925-1930.
Local quantum critical point in the pseudogap Anderson model: finite-T dynamics and omega/T scaling
The pseudogap Anderson impurity model is a paradigm for locally critical
quantum phase transitions. Within the framework of the local moment approach we
study its finite-T dynamics, as embodied in the single-particle spectrum, in
the vicinity of the symmetric quantum critical point (QCP) separating
generalized Fermi-liquid (Kondo screened) and local moment phases. The scaling
spectra in both phases, and at the QCP itself, are obtained analytically. A key
result is that pure omega/T-scaling obtains at the QCP, where the Kondo
resonance has just collapsed. The connection between the scaling spectra in
either phase and that at the QCP is explored in detail.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Apprehending business and society
This paper claims to make a contribution by addressing a significant number of epistemological, theoretical and methodological problems in the business and society literature. We identify six sets of potential influences promoting corporate social responsibility. The private sector encompasses intra-organisational obligations and pressures from competitors, investors and consumers. Governmental and non-governmental organisations exert regulatory pressures. Calling upon radical institutional theory, we address each set with respect to its conceptual arguments, its empirical salience in terms of the latest relevant research, and our considered opinion regarding its prospects to be a significant factor in promoting outcomes consistent with social welfare. The conclusion addresses their combined potential to put capitalism on a firmly sustainable track, or whether they amount to an ideological distraction from capitalist pathologies. A call is made for fresh imaginings of the discourse.<br /
Distance learning for laboratory practical work in microcontrollers
This paper presents a simple and relatively straightforward solution to the problems of equity in laboratory practical exposure between distance-education students and their traditional, on-campus, fellow cohort. This system has been implemented for the past five years in a university that is amongst the leaders in distance education delivery and has proved to be extremely successful and very well accepted by all students. While the intention was to allow distance education students easy access to the required laboratory practical content of the course, the solution found has proved to have many advantages for the on-campus students. Although this specific implementation is based upon microcontroller technology units in an engineering degree course, the methodology is easily transferable to other disciplines and courses.<br /
Near-Infrared Stellar Populations in the metal-poor, Dwarf irregular Galaxies Sextans A and Leo A
We present JHK observations of the metal-poor ([Fe/H] -1.40)
Dwarf-irregular galaxies, Leo A and Sextans A obtained with the WIYN
High-Resolution Infrared Camera at Kitt Peak. Their near-IR stellar populations
are characterized by using a combination of colour-magnitude diagrams and by
identifying long-period variable stars. We detected red giant and asymptotic
giant branch stars, consistent with membership of the galaxy's intermediate-age
populations (2-8 Gyr old). Matching our data to broadband optical and mid-IR
photometry we determine luminosities, temperatures and dust-production rates
(DPR) for each star. We identify 32 stars in Leo A and 101 stars in Sextans A
with a DPR , confirming that metal-poor
stars can form substantial amounts of dust. We also find tentative evidence for
oxygen-rich dust formation at low metallicity, contradicting previous models
that suggest oxygen-rich dust production is inhibited in metal-poor
environments. The total rates of dust injection into the interstellar medium of
Leo A and Sextans A are (8.2 1.8) and (6.2 0.2) ,
respectively. The majority of this dust is produced by a few very dusty evolved
stars, and does not vary strongly with metallicity.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 10 tables; accepted for publication in Ap
Spectral imaging of thermal damage induced during microwave ablation in the liver
Induction of thermal damage to tissue through delivery of microwave energy is
frequently applied in surgery to destroy diseased tissue such as cancer cells.
Minimization of unwanted harm to healthy tissue is still achieved subjectively,
and the surgeon has few tools at their disposal to monitor the spread of the
induced damage. This work describes the use of optical methods to monitor the
time course of changes to the tissue during delivery of microwave energy in the
porcine liver. Multispectral imaging and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy are
used to monitor temporal changes in optical properties in parallel with thermal
imaging. The results demonstrate the ability to monitor the spatial extent of
thermal damage on a whole organ, including possible secondary effects due to
vascular damage. Future applications of this type of imaging may see the
multispectral data used as a feedback mechanism to avoid collateral damage to
critical healthy structures and to potentially verify sufficient application of
energy to the diseased tissue.Comment: 4pg,6fig. Copyright 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is
permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any
current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for
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