Modelling Nitrogen Fertiliser Demand in New Zealand

In New Zealand, the demand for nitrogen fertiliser has increased markedly since the early 1980s. Potentially, this trend has significant environmental and climate change implications. While many factors could contribute to this trend, little work has been done to examine the drivers of increased use of nitrogen fertiliser in New Zealand. In this paper, we review the international literature and discuss a theoretical framework for modelling fertiliser demand. Using a national data set, we develop an empirical cointegration model for New Zealand. The results suggest that, in the long run, nitrogen fertiliser use is elastic (2.3) to output prices and unit elastic to its own price.Nitrogen fertiliser demand, New Zealand, Cointegration, Demand and Price Analysis,

The Mixing-Sensitive Product Distribution of Chemical Reactions

The rate of mixing might exert a decisive influence on the product distribution in competitive chemical reactions. This review gives an account of existing mixing-sensitive single-phase liquid-liquid chemical reactions where all reactants and products are soluble, and which have the potential to be employed as an exploratory 'microprobe' to investigate the local flow characteristics and the mixing process at the molecular scale. In addition, the appropriate literature references are given to the existing theoretical ad hoc mixing-reaction models and to the recent progress in simulating the coupling between mixing and chemical reaction by numerical calculations

The Entry of Transition Countries of Central Europe in the European Union: Some Social Protection Issues

After a brief survey of evidence showing that social security reform in each country of the region now follows its own path, the author reviews some general issues of social protection with special reference to transition countries. He then deals with several questions that preoccupy Western observers in relation to EU enlargement: the emergence of a new model in addition to those already in place, the fear of social dumping, & the interrogation regarding the possibility of keeping economic & social progress in equilibrium. On the way to a successful enlargement, the respective protection levels should not create a problem in view of the relatively high standards maintained in this field in the past. The problem is rather on the EU side, which finds it difficult to define with some precision the positive content of the European social model & the common goals. In view of their historical experience, the CE countries should be invited from the start to participate in the formulation of new European social policies

Social security developments in Central Europe: a return to reality

The orientation of social security reform in the former communist countries of Central Europe is discussed. Reform measures are traced to their genesis in the immediate postcommunist period. It is argued that early reform efforts were hampered by a widespread belief that the functions of the existing social security system had to be preserved, leading to the ignorance of fundamental political & economic realities that shape such social legislation

Review of \u3cem\u3eWorld Crisis Effects on Social Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and Policies.\u3c/em\u3e Carmelo Mesa-Lago. Reviewed by Vladimir Rys.

Book review of Carmelo Mesa-Lago, World Crisis Effects on Social Security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Lessons and Policies. Institute for the Study of the Americas, 2010. $28.95, paperback

PC-POSTAN Version 3.0. Postoptimal Analysis Package. User's Manual

This paper is one of the series of 11 Working Papers presenting the software for interactive decision support and software tools for developing decision support systems. These products constitute the outcome of the contracted study agreement between the System and Decision Sciences Program at IIASA and several Polish scientific institutions. The theoretical part of these results is presented in the IIASA Working Paper WP-88-071 entitled "Theory, Software and Testing Examples in Decision Support Systems" which contains the theoretical and methodological backgrounds of the software systems developed within the project. This paper presents the PC-POSTAN package. This package constitutes a tool for postoptimal analysis for linear and linear-fractional programming problems. Contrary to the POSTAN 3 package it has been designed to be used on the IBM-PC computers running under the MS-DOS operating system. This is an interactive package which retains all options of the POSTAN 3 and adds some new features. PC-POSTAN consists of a number of FORTRAN routines which are incorporated into MINOS, the well known linear and nonlinear programming code developed at the Stanford University. The postoptimal analysis is performed after MINOS has found an optimal solution and is initiated by extending the original MINOS specification file. The main function of PC-POSTAN is ranging with respect to parameters specified by the user and computing the sensitivity coefficients. The user can control the program interactively, using hierarchical menu system. It is possible to perform series of experiments, selective inspection of results using the window interface, and modification of model data. For details regarding theoretical backgrounds of this package, the user is advised to consult the POSTAN 3 manual

Between Nationalist and Cosmopolitan Visions of Fraternity. The Prefigurative Role of the French Revolution in Victor Hugo’s introduction to «Paris guide» (1867) and Robert Hamerling’s «Danton und Robespierre» (1871)

This article analyses the ways in which fraternity is imagined in Victor Hugo’s introductory essay to Paris guide (1867) and Danton und Robespierre (1871), by the Austrian poet Robert Hamerling. Both texts use the French Revolution as a pretext to articulate a cosmopolitan vision that has to be understood as a reaction to the political tensions in the prelude to and aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). By reconstructing how Hugo and Hamerling intervene in a broader debate on the question of nationalism and internationalism, this article sheds more light on how literature was a vehicle for cosmopolitan views