The Suspension of the Gold Standard as Sustainable Monetary Policy

This paper models the gold standard as a state contingent commitment technology that is only feasible during peace. Monetary policy during war, when the gold convertibility rule suspended, can still be credible, if the policy maker’s plan is to resume the gold standard in the future. The DGE model developed in this paper suggests that the resumption of the gold standard was a sustainable plan, which replaced the gold standard as a commitment technology and made monetary policy time consistent. Trigger strategies support the equilibrium: private agents retaliate if a policy maker defaults its plan to resume the gold standard

Hole cutter

An adjustable hole cutter is described for use in forming circular openings in workpieces. The hole cutter is characterized by a mount of a substantially planar configuration, positionable into a plane paralleling the working plane of a selected workpiece. It also contains a shaft for imparting rotary motion to the mount about an axis of rotation normally related to the working plane, a plurality of stabilizing struts for resiliently supporting the mount in parallelism with the working plane as rotary motion is imparted thereto, a drill bit for drilling a pilot hole concentric with the axis of rotation, and an elongated cutting tool adjustably seated within a radially extended slot

Metabolic and functional consequences of cytosolic 5′-nucleotidase-IA overexpression in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes

Adenosine exerts a spectrum of energy-preserving actions on the heart negative chronotropic effects. The pathways leading to adenosine formation have remained controversial. In particular, although cytosolic 5′-nucleotidases can catalyze adenosine formation in cardiomyocytes, their contribution to the actions of adenosine has not been documented previously. We recently cloned two closely related AMP-preferring cytosolic 5′-nucleotidases (cN-IA and -IB); the A form predominates in the heart. In this study, we overexpressed pigeon cN-IA in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes using an adenovirus. cN-IA overexpression increased adenosine formation and release into the medium caused by simulated hypoxia and by isoproterenol in the absence and presence of inhibitors of adenosine metabolism. Adenosine release was not affected by an ecto-5′-nucleotidase inhibitor, α,β-methylene-ADP, but was affected by a nucleoside transporter, dipyridamole. The positive chronotropic effect of isoproterenol (130 ±3 vs. 100 ±4 beats/min) was inhibited (107 ±3 vs. 94 ±3 beats/min) in cells overexpressing cN-IA, and this was reversed by the addition of the adenosine receptor antagonist 8-(p-sulfophenyl)theophilline (120 ± 3 vs. 90 ± 4 beats/min). Our results demonstrate that overexpressed cN-IA can be sufficiently active in cardiomyocytes to generate physiologically effective concentrations of adenosine at its receptors.Fil: Sala-Newby, Graciela B.. University of Bristol; Reino UnidoFil: Freeman, Nicola V. E.. University of Bristol; Reino UnidoFil: Curto, Maria de Los Angeles. University of Bristol; Reino Unido. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Newby, Andrew C.. University of Bristol; Reino Unid

Parks for people—a case study from the Aïr Mountains of Niger

The Aïr Mountains of north-central Niger are relatively unspoilt and contain some of the last remaining populations of addax Addax nasomaculatus, ostrich Struthio camelus and dama gazella Gazella dama in in West Africa. The Aïr Mountain are also home for some 5000 Twaregs, half of whom are cultivators and the other half herders. The Aïr and Tùnùrù National Nature Reserve, which was gazetted in 1988, covers more than 77,000 sq km. It was inspired by concern for the region's unique and increasingly threatened wildlife, wcology. The Nigerien Wildlife Service and the IUCN/WWF project that supports the reserve are attempting to reconcile conservation with development through a broadly based programme geared to protection, resoration and sustainable use of the area's natural resource

Design and evaluation of fluidized bed heat recovery for diesel engine systems

The potential of utilizing fluidized bed heat exchangers in place of conventional counter-flow heat exchangers for heat recovery from adiabatic diesel engine exhaust gas streams was studied. Fluidized bed heat recovery systems were evaluated in three different heavy duty transport applications: (1) heavy duty diesel truck; (2) diesel locomotives; and (3) diesel marine pushboat. The three applications are characterized by differences in overall power output and annual utilization. For each application, the exhaust gas source is a turbocharged-adiabatic diesel core. Representative subposed exhaust gas heat utilization power cycles were selected for conceptual design efforts including design layouts and performance estimates for the fluidized bed heat recovery heat exchangers. The selected power cycles were: organic rankine with RC-1 working fluid, turbocompound power turbine with steam injection, and stirling engine. Fuel economy improvement predictions are used in conjunction with capital cost estimates and fuel price data to determine payback times for the various cases

Which outcome expectancies are important in determining young adults intentions to use condoms with casual sexual partners?: A cross-sectional study

Background: The prevalence of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection amongst young adults represents an important public health problem in the UK. Individuals attitude towards the use of condoms has been identified as an important determinant of behavioural intentions and action. The Theory of Planned Behaviour has been widely used to explain and predict health behaviour. This posits that the degree to which an individual positively or negatively values a behaviour (termed direct attitude) is based upon consideration of the likelihood of a number of outcomes occurring (outcome expectancy) weighted by the perceived desirability of those outcomes (outcome evaluation). Outcome expectancy and outcome evaluation when multiplied form indirect attitude. The study aimed to assess whether positive outcome expectancies of unprotected sex were more important for young adults with lower safe sex intentions, than those with safer sex intentions, and to isolate optimal outcomes for targeting through health promotion campaigns. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used. Data was collected from 1051 school and university students aged 16-24 years. Measures of intention, direct attitude and indirect attitude were taken. Participants were asked to select outcome expectancies which were most important in determining whether they would use condoms with casual sexual partners. Results: People with lower safe sex intentions were more likely than those with safer sex intentions to select all positive outcome expectancies for unprotected sex as salient, and less likely to select all negative outcome expectancies as salient. Outcome expectancies for which the greatest proportion of participants in the less safe sex group held an unfavourable position were: showing that I am a caring person, making sexual experiences less enjoyable, and protecting against pregnancy. Conclusions: The findings point to ways in which the attitudes of those with less safe sex intentions could be altered in order to motivate positive behavioural change. They suggest that it would be advantageous to highlight the potential for condom use to demonstrate a caring attitude, to challenge the potential for protected sex to reduce sexual pleasure, and to target young adults risk appraisals for pregnancy as a consequence of unprotected sex with casual sexual partners

'Midas, transmuting all, into paper': the Bank of England and the Banque de France during the Napoleonic Wars

This paper assesses Revolutionary and Napoleonic wartime economic policy. Suspension of gold convertibility in 1797 allowed the Bank of England to nurture British monetary orthodoxy. The Order of the Privy Council suspended gold payments on Bank of England notes and afforded simultaneous protection to the government and the Bank in pursuit of the conflicting goals of price stability and war finance. The government, the Bank of England and the commercial banks formed a loose alliance drawing on due political and legal processes and also paid close attention to public opinion. We suggest that the on-going solvency of the Bank of England was facilitated by suspension and allowed the Bank to continue to make substantial profits throughout the Wars. It became acceptable for merchants to continue to trade with non-convertible Bank of England notes and for the government to finance the war effort, even with significant recourse to unfunded debt. These aspects combined to create a suspension of convertibility that did not undermine the currency. By contrast, the Assignats debacle had cost the French monetary system its reputation in the last decade of the 18th century and so Napoleonic finance had to evolve within a more rigid and limiting framework