Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Type Scenario in Molecular Spin Liquid AACr2_2O4_4

The spin relaxation in chromium spinel oxides $A$Cr$_{2}$O$_{4}$ ($A=$ Mg, Zn, Cd) is investigated in the paramagnetic regime by electron spin resonance (ESR). The temperature dependence of the ESR linewidth indicates an unconventional spin-relaxation behavior, similar to spin-spin relaxation in the two-dimensional (2D) chromium-oxide triangular lattice antiferromagnets. The data can be described in terms of a generalized Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) type scenario for 2D systems with additional internal symmetries. Based on the characteristic exponents obtained from the evaluation of the ESR linewidth, short-range order with a hidden internal symmetry is suggested.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

China Incorporated

The development of entrepreneurship and a private business sector in China pose various challenges to analysis. On the one hand, neo-classically based New Institutional Economics aims to find evidence that long-term investment and long-term commitment in and around firms can not be expected without deeply entrenched and state guaranteed private property rights. On the other hand, empirical studies within the China field concentrate on the political processes, in particular the interaction between the central state and local governments, at the danger of neglecting market forces, economic interests, and economic problems at stake. The empirical study on which the following is based took a different path by using a set of framing assumptions

Framing China: Transformation and Institutional Change

The paper offers a frame for investigating the extent to which decentralisation, and subsequent locally chosen institutions shape private organisational and institutional innovation. To include the numerous locally based “economic regimes” matters as the resulting business system reflects political institution setting and private organisational innovation. Such a frame is a necessary first step for empirical studies attempting to explain the heterogeneity of China’s business systems, the emergence of hybrid organisations, and last but none the least, the different growth rates that can be observed across China

Institution Building and Change in China

We advance a conceptual frame for explaining economic transformation in China that combines a dynamic and a comparative perspective by taking the analysis of Fiscal Federalism one step further. Using insights from the comparative business systems literature we show that devolution of power at the beginning of the reform process introduced local autonomy, which stimulated a diversity of local regulatory regimes. As the central political leadership is no longer the sole supplier of institutional change, local governments become equal contributors to the formation of local business systems. Yet, local governments only partially define emerging local business systems. Local governance at the enterprise level is defined by the interaction between political and economic entrepreneurship, or, phrased in institutional terms, local business systems emerge from the interplay between the formal architecture of local autonomy and the informal institution of networking. In a comparative perspective this interaction, and its underlying driving forces for co-operation, namely: procedural uncertainty, relational risk and institutional change, will lead to diversity in outcomes. In a dynamic perspective both market competition and networking will ensure further competition between business systems, while political unification, imitation or scale economies will ask for convergence of local business systems beyond the local nexus

The Emergence of a Private Business Sector in China

This paper is part of a broader research project that aims to analyse the emerging private business sector in China by focusing on three topics

Market design in Chinese market places

The market design (MD) approach to institutional analysis provides the analytical tools to evaluate endogenous institution building in local market places irrespective of the institutional setting of the national economy. Implicit in this analysis of endogenous institution building at the market place level is the recognition of institutional diversity, which none of the conventional forms of institutional analysis can provide. We extend the MD approach from its original game theory perspective to examine three market places in China: township and village enterprises, equity joint ventures, and public utilities. We conclude that the MD approach (1) provides the analytical tools and criteria to evaluate whether or not market places are robust and sustainable, (2) links market behavior at the market place level, which is characterized by size, coordination, and trust problems, with general level considerations based on transaction costs, and (3) suggests that functioning market places are achievable, even if the formal institutions of the general economy are weak or partially missing. Our research has policy implications and opens new avenues for research into the emergence of markets

China’s Institutional Architecture: A New Institutional Economics and Organization Theory Perspective on the Links between Local Governance and Local Enterprises

We start our exploration of China’s institutional change by asking what the China experience can tell us about institutional economics and organization theory. We point to under-researched areas such as the formation of firms and the interplay between firms and local politics. Our findings support the dynamic capability approach which concentrates on activities rather than on pre-defined groups and models institution building as a co-operative game between the local business community and local government agencies. We find that the analysis of firms has to set in before they are formed by entrepreneurs and networks and we identify political management as a core competence of these two groups. While this contradicts the conventional view of clientelism or principle agent relations as institutional building blocks, we don’t propose competing models. Instead, we suggest focusing on a dynamic process in which the role of players can change. Faced with the spontaneous emergence of institutions, our concept of institutional architecture captures the fact that the two models can co-exist side by side and that, once the dichotomy between formal and informal institutions is given up, there can be a transition from local patron-client relations to local business-state coordination

Entrepreneurship in Transition: Searching for governance in China’s new private sector

Entrepreneurial activities in transition economies go beyond (technical) entrepreneurship. In an environment of institutional and procedural uncertainty entrepreneurs need to select business partners, choose a mode of governance that stabilizes long term business relations, and settle for such property rights regime that best matches the entrepreneurial endeavour. Bases on fieldwork in China the paper shows how entrepreneurs combine their predisposition for social relations with economic reasoning when they embed firms in one location, in mixed forms of relational and contractual governance, and specific ownership structures. The empirical research points to alternative economic concepts which allow further analysing the interaction between individual entrepreneurship and the emergence of market conforming institutions

RUNNING APPROACH VELOCITY AND ENERGY TRANSFORMATION IN DIFFICULT VAULTS IN GYMNASTICS

Introduction: Running approach velocity is the most important phase of energy production in gymnastic vaults. The take-off from a springboard and the push-off from a vaulting horse are phases of energy transformation. Difficult vaults in gymnastics can be characterized by a high and wide second flight phase. In this phase rapid airborne rotations are performed. These difficult saltos demand an appropriate level of translational impulse and angular momentum. Methods: A special measuring system wasused with two 50 Hz video cameras connected by genlock. Running approach velocity was measured with a laser velocity system. Additionally, the vault was recorded with a high speed video system (500 Hz). This setup was applied at the 1997 World Gymnastics Championships in Lausanne. Results: About 300 running approach velocities for different vaults were analyzed. The highest speed was 8.9 m/s in the men’s competition and 7.9 m/s in the women’s competition. The male gymnasts reached approximately 1 m/s higher running approach velocity than female gymnasts. The highest flight was 3 m over the mat. These parameters were measured in handspring vaults. With round off entry vaults (Yurchenko) the running approach velocity and the heights of the second flight phase were slightly lower. Conclusions: The investigations during the 1997 World Gymnastics Championships prove that the greatest difficulties also demand the highest levels of running approach velocity. Concerning the take-off it is interesting to note that after contact with the springboard the knee and hip joints were fixed. Therefore, the take-off from the elastic springboard is more a tension-shortening cycle than a stretchshortening cycle. The first flight phase is very low but with a high level of angular momentum. The transformation index of the energy and angular momentum from the first flight phase to the second flight phase proves that both parameters have decreased. The extensive databases make it possible to recommend training programs for the FIG. In addition to that, recommendations were made for the new point code. This point code will be valid after the 2000 Olympic Games. References: Brueggemann, G.-P. (1994). Biomechanics of Gymnastic Techniques. Sport Science Review, Champaign, 3, 2, 79-120. Komi, P.V. (1992). Stretch-shortening cycle. In Komi, P.V. (Ed.). The encyclopaedia of sports medicine. Vol. III: Strength and power in sport. Oxford, UK: Blackwall Scientific, 169-179. Krug, J. & Noble, L. (1997). Application for Participation in the 1997-98 ISBS Gymnastics Project. Fig. 1: Measuring Syste