The Criminalisation of Migration in Europe: A State-of-the-Art of the Academic Literature and Research. CEPS Liberty and Security in Europe No. 61, October 2013

In the last 30 years, a clear trend has come to define modern immigration law and policy. A set of seemingly disparate developments concerning the constant reinforcement of border controls, tightening of conditions of entry, expanding capacities for detention and deportation and the proliferation of criminal sanctions for migration offences, accompanied by an anxiety on the part of the press, public and political establishment regarding migrant criminality can now be seen to form a definitive shift in the European Union towards the so-called ‘criminalisation of migration’. This paper aims to provide an overview of the ‘state-of-the-art’ in the academic literature and EU research on criminalisation of migration in Europe. It analyses three key manifestations of the so-called ‘crimmigration’ trend: discursive criminalisation; the use of criminal law for migration management; and immigrant detention, focusing both on developments in domestic legislation of EU member states but also the increasing conflation of mobility, crime and security which has accompanied EU integration. By identifying the trends, synergies and gaps in the scholarly approaches dealing with the criminalisation of migration, the paper seeks to provide a framework for on-going research under Work Package 8 of the FIDUCIA project

An investigation into differential lateral dispersion of fossil forest tree pollen

Pollen rain phenomena with particular reference to forest pollen are discussed with evidence from FAEGRI.K and IVERSON.J, TAUBER.H, TURNER.J, and DAVIS .M. B. The existence of fossil tree pollen rain in raised bogs is postulated. The problem of local bog pollen in the peat against which to count a varying forest pollen rain is seen as the major statistical problem', relating to even distribution both vertically and horizontally in the peat. Bolton Fell is described as an ideal zone VIb bog to illustrate fossil tree pollen dispersion. Preliminary Investigation of peat showed this bog to contain VIIb peat and the N. margin of the bog proved most suitable. A 500m transect was laid out and levelled with depth measurements every l0m. Thirteen profile simples were taken at Intervals. From eight replicate samples taken over the centre metre of each profile pollen slides were prepared and all grains counted until 150 tree grains had bean recorded. The varying numbers of bog plant pollen were used to compute the actual change in forest pollen frequency. The figures obtained are plotted against distance. A real reduction in forest pollen frequency is clearly shown from 0-100m with differences between values statistically valid, so confirming the work of TAUBER and TURNER on extant forest pollen dispersion. Anomalously higher values for fores pollen further out on transect are discussed, and an explanatory hypothesis outlined of a slowly growing bog with trees possibly growing in it on 'islands' of shallow peat

An approach to software maintenance support using a syntactic source code analyser data base : this thesis is presented in a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Computer Science at Massey University

In this thesis, the development of a software maintenance tool called a syntactic source code analyser (SSCA) is summarised. An SSCA supports other maintenance tools which interact with source code by creating a data base of source information which has links to a formatted version of program source code. The particular SSCA presented handles programs written in a version of COBOL. Before developing a SSCA system, aspects of software maintenance need to be considered. Hence, the scope, definitions and problems of maintenance activities are briefly reviewed and maintenance support through environments, software metrics, and specific tools and techniques examined. A complete maintenance support environment for an application is found to overlap considerably with the application documentation system and shares some tools with development environments. Program source code is also identified as the fundamental documentation of an application and interaction with this source code is a requirement of many maintenance support tools

What is the Ideal Monetary Policy Regime? Improving the Bank of Canada's Inflation-targeting Program

The recent financial crisis has emphasized the role of sound monetary policy for ensuring Canada’s future prosperity. Although much is right with the Bank of Canada’s inflation-targeting regime, improvements such as price-level targeting and closer attention to potential financial instability should be considered in the lead-up to the renewal of the program in 2011.monetary policy, central bank policy, inflation-targeting program

Overnight Moves: The Bank of Canada Should Start to Raise Interest Rates Now

When the Bank of Canada will begin raising interest rates is looking very different than when it should even though the risks of postponement are growing. If more “no-change” decisions are made by the Bank of Canada regarding its policy interest rate, inflation expectations might begin to slip loose of their 2 percent anchor. Further, with the Fed continuing to hold a near-zero rate, the US dollar is likely to continue its steady slide. If the Canadian dollar moves at least partially with the US dollar, because the Bank of Canada keeps its interest rate close to the federal funds rate, the higher inflation rates of energy and other commodity prices that are currently deemed temporary might start to look permanent.Monetary Policy, Bank of Canada, interest rates, inflation rate

How Soon? How Fast? Interest Rates and Other Monetary Policy Decisions in 2010

With the economic recovery taking hold and the Bank of Canada’s conditional commitment to keep the overnight rate at 0.25 percent expiring soon, a number of questions about the conduct of monetary policy need to be considered. The author argues the Bank should keep its conditional commitment, but should thereafter raise the overnight rate sharply by 50 basis points at every announcement date until mid-2011. In addition, the Bank should publish conditional statements about the future path of the policy rate to help shape market expectations and avoid surprises that disrupt financial markets, output, and employment. Further, the Bank should withdraw its injection of excess reserves at a future preannounced date and should gradually wind down credit easing measures.Monetary Policy, Bank of Canada, overnight interest rate

Is there a case for using Visual Analogue Scale valuations in Cost-Utility Analysis?

This paper critically reviews theoretical and empirical propositions regarding visual analogue scale (VAS) valuations of health states and their use in Cost Utility Analysis. An oft-repeated conclusion in the economic evaluation literature is the inferiority, on theoretical grounds, of VAS valuations. Common criticisms are that VAS lacks a theoretical foundation; that VAS values are not ‘choice based’; that VAS values are not consistent with utility-under-uncertainty requirements; and that context and range effects observed in VAS valuation data mean that they cannot even be considered to represent measurable value functions. We address each of the above points, critically reviewing the economic and psychometric literature relating to theories of utility and theories of utility measurement, and the welfarist and non-welfarist literature relating to social choices and QALYs. We conclude that there are strong grounds, both theoretical and empirical, for challenging the apparently emerging consensus that VAS valuations should not be used in economic assessments. The theoretical appeal of alternatives such as the standard gamble is valid only at the level of individuals, rather than social decision-making. Further, the non-welfarist foundations of CUA do not require health state valuations to be grounded in any particular theory of utility, suggesting that the selection of the appropriate valuation method should be based on empirical performance. The VAS has important advantages over rival techniques such as standard gamble and time trade-off. However, we identify a number of areas in which further research is required to establish and consolidate the potential of VAS as a valuation method