The export behaviour of South African manufacturing firms

This paper presents results based on a recent South African firm-level survey. It examines the export behaviour of South African manufacturing firms, it attempts to characterise the decision to export and it also considers the destination of exports.Exports; South African firms

Topology and Polarisation of Subbeams Associated With Pulsar 0943+10's ``Drifting''-Subpulse Emission: I. Analysis of Arecibo 430- and 111-MHz Observations

The ``drifting'' subpulses exhibited by some radio pulsars have fascinated both observers and theorists for 30 years, and have been widely regarded as one of the most critical and potentially insightful aspects of their emission. Here, we report on detailed studies of pulsar B0943+10, whose nearly coherent sequences of ``drifting'' subpulses have permitted us to identify their origin as a system of subbeams that appear to circulate around the star's magnetic axis. We introduce several new techniques of analysis, and we find that both the primary and secondary features in the star's fluctuation spectra are aliases of their actual values. We have also developed a method of tracing the underlying pattern responsible for the observed sequences, using a ``cartographic'' transform and its inverse, permitting us to study the characteristics of the polar-cap emission ``map'' and to confirm that such a ``map'' in turn represents the observed sequence. We apply these techniques to the study of three different Arecibo observations. The ``B''-mode sequences are consistent in revealing that the emission pattern consists of 20 subbeams, which rotate around the magnetic axis in about 37 periods or 41 seconds. Even in the ``Q'' mode sequence, we find evidence of a compatible circulation time. The similarity of the subbeam patterns at different radio frequencies strongly suggests that the radiation is produced within a set of columns, which extend from close to the stellar surface up though the emission region and reflect some manner of a ``seeding''phenomenon at their base. The subbeam emission is then tied neither to the stellar surface nor to the field.Comment: 25 pages with 26 figures; in press in MNRA

Why can't every year be a National Year of Reading? An evaluation of the NYR in Yorkshire

An evaluation of the National Year of Reading in Yorkshire was conducted by Leeds Metropolitan University in response to a brief from Museums, Libraries and Archives, Yorkshire. This paper outlines the development and planning of phase one of this small scale qualitative research project and the analysis of the initial results which looks at the impact of NYR on the organisations that delivered the campaign and their work with target groups. The Generic Social Outcomes and the National Indicators were used to develop a theoretical framework. Data were gathered via in depth interviews and focus groups with NYR steering group partners in Calderdale and North Lincolnshire, selected as the two case study authorities. The use of MAXQDA computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) enabled data and coding structures to be stored and will facilitate comparison in this longitudinal study. This evaluation will provide material that local library authorities can use for advocacy with a range of audiences including local and central government

Price setting in South Africa 2001-2007 - stylised facts using consumer price micro data

Inflation, a macroeconomic variable, is underpinned by microeconomic data. This paper uses a large microdata sample at the unit level of South Africa’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the period 2001m12 to 2007m12 to begin to understand price setting conduct in South Africa. An understanding of price setting conduct is important since macroeconomic models, used for monetary policy, often incorporate estimates of pricing conduct. Often these estimates are not based on rigorous analysis of the underlying data. The dataset used in this paper allows for the following to be calculated: the frequency of price changes, the frequency of price increases and price decreases, findings on the magnitude of price changes, price increases and price decreases, and findings on the duration of prices, and thus provides a more accurate estimate on pricing conduct than has been previously available for South Africa. Results are presented at both an aggregate and a disaggregated level, based on the CPI’s major product categories and show the heterogeneous nature of price changes within the South African economy. These South African results are compared briefly to the results for other countries, where such micro level price data analysis has been undertaken. The study is part of a broader research effort into the implications of price setting conduct for monetary policy in South Africa, including an analysis of time- and state-dependent factors influencing the frequency and magnitude of price changes.Inflation; price setting; South Africa; consumer price index

Circulating Subbeam Systems and the Physics of Pulsar Emission

The purpose of this paper is to suggest how detailed single-pulse observations of ``slow'' radio pulsars may be utilized to construct an empirical model for their emission. It links the observational synthesis developed in a series of papers by Rankin starting in the 1980s to the more recent empirical feedback model of Wright (2003a) by regarding the entire pulsar magnetosphere as a non-steady, non-linear interactive system with a natural built-in delay. It is argued that the enhanced role of the outer gap in such a system indicates an evolutionary link to younger pulsars, in which this region is thought to be highly active, and that pulsar magnetospheres should no longer be seen as being ``driven'' by events on the neutron star's polar cap, but as having more in common with planetary magnetospheres and auroral phenomena.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Time resolved studies of shock wave propagation in laser irradiated targets

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Pulsar "Drifting"-Subpulse Polarization: No Evidence for Systematic Polarization-Angle Rotations

Polarization-angle density displays are given for pulsars B0809+74 and B2303+30, which exhibit no evidence of the systematic polarization-angle rotation within individual subpulses previously reported for these two stars. The ``drifting'' subpulses of both pulsars exhibit strikingly linear and circular polarization which appears to reflect the characteristics of two nearly orthogonally polarized emission ``modes''--along which the severe average-profile depolarization that is characteristic of their admixture at comparable overall intensities.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic