Costs and benefits of superfast broadband in the UK

This paper was commissioned from LSE Enterprise by Convergys Smart Revenue Solutions to stimulate an open and constructive debate among the main stakeholders about the balance between the costs, the revenues, and the societal benefits of ‘superfast’ broadband. The intent has been to analyse the available facts and to propose wider perspectives on economic and social interactions. The paper has two parts: one concentrates on superfast broadband deployment and the associated economic and social implications (for the UK and its service providers), and the other considers alternative social science approaches to these implications. Both parts consider the potential contribution of smart solutions to superfast broadband provision and use. Whereas Part I takes the “national perspective” and the “service provider perspective”, which deal with the implications of superfast broadband for the UK and for service providers, Part II views matters in other ways, particularly by looking at how to realise values beyond the market economy, such as those inherent in neighbourliness, trust and democrac

The de Rham-Witt and Z_p-cohomologies of an algebraic variety

We show how the Z_p(r)-cohomologies of a smooth projective algebraic variety can be obtained via its de Rham-Witt complex.Comment: 6 page

On the Selmer groups of abelian varieties over function fields of characteristic p>0

In this paper, we study a (p-adic) geometric analogue for abelian varieties over a function field of characteristic p of the cyclotomic Iwasawa theory and the non-commutative Iwasawa theory for abelian varieties over a number field initiated by Mazur and Coates respectively. We will prove some analogue of the principal results obtained in the case over a number field and we study new phenomena which did not happen in the case of number field case. We propose also a conjecture which might be considered as a counterpart of the principal conjecture in the case over a number field. \par This is a preprint which is distributed since 2005 which is still in the process of submision. Following a recent modification of some technical mistakes in the previous version of the paper as well as an amelioration of the presentation of the paper, we decide wider distribution via the archive.Comment: 21 page

Pragmatism or What? The Future of US Foreign Policy

This article discusses the intellectual sources of the presidential candidates' foreign policies. In the case of Barack Obama, the article examines the formation of his worldview, his intellectual inspirations, his most significant foreign policy appointments and the diplomatic course he has pursued as president. Mitt Romney's foreign policy views are harder to identify with certainty, but his business and political career-as well as the identity and dispositions of his advisory team-all provide important clues as to the policies he will pursue if elected in November 2012. The article finds much common ground between the two candidates; both are results-driven pragmatists, attuned to nuance and complexity, who nonetheless believe-in agreement with Robert Kagan-that US geostrategic primacy will continue through the span of the twenty-first century. The gulf between the candidates on domestic policy is vast, but on foreign policy-Romney's bellicose statements through the Republican primaries served a purpose that has passed-there is little between the

Developing information architecture through records management classification techniques

Purpose – This work aims to draw attention to information retrieval philosophies and techniques allied to the records management profession, advocating a wider professional consideration of a functional approach to information management, in this instance in the development of information architecture. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws from a hypothesis originally presented by the author that advocated a viewpoint whereby the application of records management techniques, traditionally applied to develop business classification schemes, was offered as an additional solution to organising information resources and services (within a university intranet), where earlier approaches, notably subject- and administrative-based arrangements, were found to be lacking. The hypothesis was tested via work-based action learning and is presented here as an extended case study. The paper also draws on evidence submitted to the Joint Information Systems Committee in support of the Abertay University's application for consideration for the JISC award for innovation in records and information management. Findings – The original hypothesis has been tested in the workplace. Information retrieval techniques, allied to records management (functional classification), were the main influence in the development of pre- and post-coordinate information retrieval systems to support a wider information architecture, where the subject approach was found to be lacking. Their use within the workplace has since been extended. Originality/value – The paper advocates that the development of information retrieval as a discipline should include a wider consideration of functional classification, as this alternative to the subject approach is largely ignored in mainstream IR works

Pricing Methods

In order to consider the range of pricing methods available, it is first necessary to choose a definition for road pricing. The term "road pricing" has been criticised as an inaccurate description of systems which is applied to (Thompson, 1990) and there is some inconsistency regarding the extent of charging policies which are considered to be included. A liberal definition could cover any fiscal form of traffic restraint, affecting the mode, time, route, destination of frequency of journeys. In this case road pricing already exists worldwide through taxes imposed upon the purchase and licensing of vehicles and through fuel taxation. The extension of conventional taxation arrangements has been used as part of road pricing strategies in both Hong Kong and Singapore (Dawson and Brown, 1985; LPAC, 1991). However, the essence of most road pricing work has been to replace and supplement these existing charges, which do not discriminate by time, location or amount of vehicle use, with charging structures which are directly related to these issues. For this reason the descriptions road-use pricing, congestion pricing and road user charging are sometimes preferred, and some recent texts have attempted to impose a narrower definition for road pricing, in which only charging systems relating directly to the time and distance travelled are included (CIT, 1992). For the purposes of this review it is best to retain the conventional term of road pricing and apply the broadest definition