Devolution and the economy : a Scottish perspective

In their interesting and challenging chapter John Adams and Peter Robinson assess the consequences for economic development policy of the devolution measures enacted by the UK Labour government post 1997. Their chapter ranges widely over current UK regional disparities, the link between devolution and economic growth, the balance of responsibilities in policy between Whitehall and the devolved administrations, and finally, they raise questions about the developing "quasi-federal" role of Whitehall in regulating or coordinating the new devolved policy landscape. In response, we propose to focus on four issues that we believe are key to understanding the economic consequences of devolution both at the Scottish and UK levels. First, we argue that the view of Scotland's devolutionary experience in economic policy is partial and so does not fully capture the nature and extent of change post 1999. Secondly, we examine the role of devolution in regional economic performance. There is much in their paper on this topic with which we agree but we contend that there are significant omissions in the analysis, which are important for policy choice. Our third section highlights an area not discussed in depth by Adams and Robinson's paper: the funding of the devolution settlement. Here we consider some of the implications of funding arrangements for economic performance and the options for a new funding settlement. Finally, we deal with the difficult issue of co-ordination between the centre and the devolved regions. We contend that co-ordination is largely conspicuous by its absence. Moreover, where coordination is deployed it reflects an inadequate understanding of the extent to which the economies of the regions and devolved territories of the UK are linked

Three and Four Region Multi-sector Linear Modelling Using UK Data : Some Preliminary Results

Scotland and Wales have relatively up-to-date, independently generated, IO tables. These can be separated out from a UK national IO table to construct an inter-regional table. We therefore undertake the detailed analysis at this three-region (Scotland, Wales and the Rest of the UK (RUK)) level, where the Rest of the UK is England and Northern Ireland. However, we also construct a more rudimentary four-region (Scotland, Wales, England and Ireland) set of IO and SAM accounts by constructing a separate Northern Ireland accounts. The inter-regional IO and SAM models are produced for the year 1999. This was determined by the availability of consistent data. In Section II we describe the construction of a three-region Input-Output model for the United Kingdom, which includes the regions of Scotland, Wales and the Rest of the UK (RUK). In Section III we extend the three-region model to construct an inter-regional Social Accounting Matrix. Section IV reports some results using the three-region IO and SAM models. In Section V, we generate a four-region IO and SAM model for the UK, which disaggregates Northern Ireland from the Rest of the UK, and provide some results using the four-region IO and SAM models. Section VI offers our conclusions

An extension and application of the Leontief pollution model for waste generation and disposal in Scotland

Solid waste generation, treatment and disposal are important policy concerns for the Scottish Parliament. As a result of the Environment Act 1995, a National Waste Strategy for Scotland was introduced with the general aim of reducing the amount of waste produced and dealing with what is produced in more sustainable ways. This implies the need for an empirical framework to inform policymakers regarding the relationship between economic activity and waste generation, treatment and disposal and the likely impacts of any policy actions or other disturbances on all types of sustainability indicators. In this paper we report on a study to develop an extended input-output (IO) system of the type originally proposed in the seminal paper by Leontief (1970). This involves extending the standard IOaccounts to take account of pollution or waste generation as an additional output accompanying production and consumption activities in the economy and of the activity required to clean up (or prevent) these unwanted outputs. The extension of IO tables to take account of pollution/waste generation is relatively widespread in the literature. It is usually achieved through the introduction of physical pollution/waste-output coefficients, and has been previously applied to Scotland for the case ofair pollution (see McNicoll & Blackmore, 1993, McGregor et al, 2001). Such an approach allows us to examine the impact of the economy on the environment, in terms of the amount of pollution/waste emitted as a result of economic activity. However, it does not allow us to track the feedback from the environment to the economy in terms of the resources used in environmental cleaning. If we areinterested in this aspect, we need to identify the input structure of any pollution abatement or waste disposal activities and identify columns in the IO tables representing cleaning activities

Calcitonin receptor-like receptor is expressed on gastrointestinal immune cells

Background/Aims: Pharmacological and morphological studies suggest that the gut mucosal immune system and local neuropeptide-containing neurones interact. We aimed to determine whether gut immune cells are targets for calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), which has potent immune regulatory properties. Methods: Using density gradient centrifugation, rat lamina propria mononuclear cells (LP-MNCs) and intra-epithelial lymphocytes (IELs) were isolated. RT-PCR was employed for the detection of mRNA of rat calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CRLR), which is considered to represent the pharmacologically defined CGRP receptor-1 subtype, as well as mRNA of the receptor activity-modifying proteins, which are essential for CRLR function and determine ligand specificity. A radioreceptor assay was employed for the detection of specific CGRP binding sites. Results: RT-PCR and DNA sequencing showed that LP-MNCs and IELs express CRLR. Incubation of isolated LP-MNCs with radiolabelled alphaCGRP revealed the existence of specific binding sites for CGRP. Conclusion: These novel data indicate that mucosal immune cells of the rat gut are a target for CGRP and provide significant evidence that CGRP functions as an immune regulator in the gut mucosa. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

Densest Subgraph in Dynamic Graph Streams

In this paper, we consider the problem of approximating the densest subgraph in the dynamic graph stream model. In this model of computation, the input graph is defined by an arbitrary sequence of edge insertions and deletions and the goal is to analyze properties of the resulting graph given memory that is sub-linear in the size of the stream. We present a single-pass algorithm that returns a $(1+\epsilon)$ approximation of the maximum density with high probability; the algorithm uses O(\epsilon^{-2} n \polylog n) space, processes each stream update in \polylog (n) time, and uses \poly(n) post-processing time where $n$ is the number of nodes. The space used by our algorithm matches the lower bound of Bahmani et al.~(PVLDB 2012) up to a poly-logarithmic factor for constant $\epsilon$. The best existing results for this problem were established recently by Bhattacharya et al.~(STOC 2015). They presented a $(2+\epsilon)$ approximation algorithm using similar space and another algorithm that both processed each update and maintained a $(4+\epsilon)$ approximation of the current maximum density in \polylog (n) time per-update.Comment: To appear in MFCS 201

Physical equivalency of wild type and Galactose α 1,3 Galactose free porcine pericardium; a new source material for bioprosthetic heart valves

Humans make high levels of antibody to carbohydrates with terminal galactose α 1,3 galactose (Gal) modifications. This Gal antigen is widely expressed in other mammals and is present on an array of current animal derived biomedical devices including bioprosthetic heart valves. There is growing interest in using Gal-free animal tissues from Gal knockout pigs (GTKO) as these tissues would not be affected by anti-Gal antibody mediated injury. In this study we compare the composition and biophysical characteristics of glutaraldehyde fixed porcine pericardium from standard and GTKO pigs. We show that with the exception of the Gal antigen which is only present in standard pig tissue both GTKO and standard pig tissue have the same general morphology and collagen content. Moreover uniaxial stress testing and suture retention testing indicate the tissues are equivalent in tensile strength. These studies indicate that genetic disruption of the α-galactosyltransferase (GGTA-1) which blocks synthesis of the Gal antigen has no significant impact on the structural integrity of porcine pericardium and suggest that this tissue could be directly substituted for standard pig pericardium in biomedical devices such as bioprosthetic heart valves. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Surgical heart valve replacement is a proven life saving therapy to treat heart valve dysfunction due to birth defects, infection and the effects of aging. Bioprosthetic heart valves (BHV) made from glutaraldehyde fixed animal tissues are an effective durable therapy in older patients (> 60 years) but exhibit age-dependent structural valve degeneration (SVD) in younger patients (<60 years). SVD is principally caused by BHV calcification. Immune injury contributes to age-dependent SVD through the interaction of galactose α 1,3 galactose (Gal) a dominant xenogeneic antigen present on commercial BHVs and universally abundant human anti-Gal antibody. This study measures the tissue equivalency between standard pig pericardium and Gal-free pericardium from genetically modified pigs as a first step towards making Gal-free BHVs

The extent of public green space and alien plant species in 10 small towns of the sub-tropical Thicket Biome, South Africa

Urban areas in developing countries will accommodate nearly 90% of the projected world population increase between 1995 and 2030. Despite this, few studies, especially in smaller towns, have been carried out on urban green space areas in the developing world. This paper makes a first step in this regard, reporting on the extent and state of urban green spaces within 10 small towns in the Eastern Cape (South Africa). After measuring the size and state (in terms of woody plant cover) of public green space, we then sought patterns across the 10 towns between green space attributes, such as area, density, mean size and proportion of alien or indigenous, with socio-economic attributes of the towns. The area and state of current public green space varied markedly between the towns, with the poorer towns faring the worst. Lower income levels were significantly negatively correlated with the area and quality of public green space. Despite this, human population density and per capita green space were the best predictors of the proportion and mean area of public green space present in the towns. The proportion of town green space and the per capita green space were the best predictors of changes in woody plant composition and density

The impact of constructive operating lease capitalisation on key accounting ratios

Current UK lease accounting regulation does not require operating leases to be capitalised in the accounts of lessees, although this is likely to change with the publication of FRS 5. This study conducts a prospective analysis of the effects of such a change. The potential magnitude of the impact of lease capitalisation upon individual users' decisions, market valuations, company cash flows, and managers' behaviour can be indicated by the effect on key accounting ratios, which are employed in decision-making and in financial contracts. The capitalised value of operating leases is estimated using a method similar to that suggested by Imhoff, Lipe and Wright (1991), adapted for the UK accounting and tax environment, and developed to incorporate company-specific assumptions. Results for 1994 for a random sample of 300 listed UK companies show that, on average, the unrecorded long-term liability represented 39% of reported long-term debt, while the unrecorded asset represented 6% of total assets. Capitalisation had a significant impact (at the 1% level) on six of the nine selected ratios (profit margin, return on assets, asset turnover, and three measures of gearing). Moreover, the Spearman rank correlation between each ratio before and after capitalisation revealed that the ranking of companies changed markedly for gearing measures in particular. There were significant inter-industry variations, with the services sector experiencing the greatest impact. An analysis of the impact of capitalisation over the five-year period from 1990 to 1994 showed that capitalisation had the greatest impact during the trough of the recession. Results were shown to be robust with respect to key assumptions of the capitalisation method. These findings contribute to the assessment of the economic consequences of a policy change requiring operating lease capitalisation. Significant changes in the magnitude of key accounting ratios and a major shift in company performance rankings suggest that interested parties' decisions and company cash flows are likely to be affected

A supply chain approach to meat goat industry development

The Victorian goat meat industry is a significant contributor to export earnings, which is derived largely from the harvest of feral goats. The potential for exports of farmed goat meat into Asian product markets is being developed in a supply chain approach with producers, processors, exporters and Asian importers. Producers have been networked in four locations to improve supply capability and participate in production and economic benchmarking. In the absence of an existing market for premium farmed goat meat, a larger group of producers are cooperating with a marketer to develop a niche market in the Asian food service sector. This presents a challenge to the group in developing commercial relationships and playing a role in the marketing of their goat meat