Estimating Investment Functions for a Small-Scale Econometric Model

This note summarises the results of an exercise in estimating investment functions for inclusion in a small-scale econometric model of the economy. The overall exercise in model-building is a joint project involving three staff from Economic Analysis, Research and Publications. Its aim is to produce a small-scale model of the economy with reasonably good forecasting and policy simulation properties. One of the main difficulties with previous versions of the model and, indeed, with some other models of the Irish economy is their relatively unsatisfactory modelling of investment. The estimated equations generally have poor fit compared to other areas of the model resulting in rather large forecast errors and undermining confidence in policy simulations.

With us or against us? : hegemony and ideology within American superhero comic books 2001-2008

Superhero comic books, part of American popular culture since 1938, have been recognised as a site for the reproduction of dominant ideology, however, their ability to resist dominant ideology has not been as equally considered. This study examines the narratives of DC Comics and Marvel Comics superhero characters’ Batman and Captain America, in the time period 2001-2008 to evaluate the ability of these superhero narratives to reproduce, critique, challenge and contest dominant ideological versions of the American Dream. The years 2001 to 2008 were a time of ideological upheaval in American society influenced in no small part by specific articulations of historical events; 9/11 in 2001, the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the election of the first African American to the Presidency, Barack Obama, in 2008. To position the dominant ideology this study adopts the theoretical lens of hegemony as developed by Antonio Gramsci, and radicalised by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Methodologically, the theory of hegemony is used to develop a sociological tool of analysis; the analysed hegemonic ideology. When this tool is applied to the ideology of the American Dream it exposes the constituted ideological components of the ideology that are subject to articulation within the process of hegemony and counter hegemony. The changing articulations, ideologies and process of hegemony from 2001 to 2008 are detailed in this study as a necessary step in analysis. When the specific constituted ideological components of the hegemonic ideology are applied to the superhero narratives of the same period, the true ideological position of the superhero narratives are exposed. The results suggest that superhero comics’ engagement and role in hegemony as a popular cultural product are extremely complex. While there is evidence of superhero narratives reproducing the ideological positions of the Right Wing hegemony that emerges after 9/11, there is also evidence of ideological resistance within the narrative and later support for the Left Wing hegemony that emerges in the Presidential campaign of Obama in 2008. In the changing landscape of hegemony in American society, superhero comics offer intelligent and detailed ideological contributions to process of hegemony and counter hegemony. This suggests both a progressive power to the concept of the American Dream and a degree of agency within the realm of popular cultural production

Pressure-actuated joint system

A pressure vessel is provided that includes first and second case segments mated with one another. First and second annular rubber layers are disposed inboard of the first and second case segments, respectively. The second annular rubber layer has a slot extending from the radial inner surface across a portion of its thickness to define a main body portion and a flexible portion. The flexible portion has an interfacing surface portion abutting against an interfacing surface portion of the first annular rubber layer to follow movement of the first annular rubber layer during operation of the pressure vessel. The slot receives pressurized gas and establishes a pressure-actuated joint between the interfacing surface portions. At least one of the interfacing surface portions has a plurality of enclosed and sealed recesses formed therein

The use of mythology in Thomas Hardy\u27s Tess of the D\u27Urbervilles

In Thomas Hardy\u27s Tess of the d\u27Urbervilles a relationship exists between the symbolical sacrifice of Tess at Stonehenge and her association with fertility, ritual, and mythic cycles of seasonal death and rebirth. Because Hardy associates Tess with fertility, reproductive power, and seasonal change, she personifies nature and closely resembles the earth mother goddess Demeter. Ritual is evident in her participation in the May-Day club revel, in her intended suicide under the mistletoe, and in her manner of killing Alec d1Urberville. Myth cycle culminates with a fertility ritual in the powerful sacrificial incident at Stonehenge, for, although Tess physically dies at Wintoncester, she symbolically dies at Stonehenge. Following her execution, the significance of her symbolic death at Stonehenge becomes apparent in her rebirth in \u27Liza-Lu, In the Demeter-Persephone myth, two anthropomorphic entities, the mother and the maiden, enact the single phenomenon of organic nature--the principle of life seen in the seasonal growth of vegetation. Tess, then, as mother symbolizes the end of the old year\u27s crops, while \u27Liza-Lu as maiden signifies the fructification of Tess\u27s seed in the burgeoning fertility of the new year. By being reborn in \u27Liza-Lu, Tess thus completes the mythic pattern of seasonal changes

Margaret Thatcher’s UK School Reforms - Aims, Impact, and Legacy

Rarely have changes to state funded school education in the United Kingdom (UK) been as significant or lasting as during the 1970 - 1990 period, under the direction of Education Secretary, and then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. This article will establish Thatcher’s place in the timeline of UK state funded education, before discussing the major changes to educational policy and teaching practice during the Thatcher premiership, including the complex socio-economic, cultural, and political context of these changes. Of particular interest is the 1988 Education Act, and the legacy this has had on UK schools and education