Current Accounts and Exchange Rates: A New Look at the Evidence

This paper 'goes back to basics' in empirical analysis of the J-Curve. First, we document strong violations in the distributional assumptions that underlie nearly all previous work on this issue. Second, we employ distribution-free, non-parametric statistical tests to characterize the data and summarize the key relationships between real exchange rates, the current account, and real GDP. We find some (weak) evidence of a J-Curve in the data. Interestingly, however, we document that this evidence is not consistent with the standard theoretical explanation of the J-Curve. Consequently, our empirical results pose a strong challenge for international economic theory.

Getting In On the Act: How Arts Groups are Creating Opportunities for Active Participation

Arts participation is being redefined as people increasingly choose to engage with art in new, more active and expressive ways. This movement carries profound implications, and fresh opportunities, for the nonprofit arts sector.We are in the midst of a seismic shift in cultural production, moving from a "sit-back-and-be-told culture" to a "making-and-doing-culture." Active or participatory arts practices are emerging from the fringes of the Western cultural tradition to capture the collective imagination. Many forces have conspired to lead us to this point. The sustained economic downturn that began in 2008, rising ticket prices, the pervasiveness of social media, the roliferation of digital content and rising expectations for self-guided, on-demand, customized experiences have all contributed to a cultural environment primed for active arts practice. This shift calls for a new equilibrium in the arts ecology and a new generation of arts leaders ready to accept, integrate and celebrate all forms of cultural practice. This is, perhaps, the defining challenge of our time for artists, arts organizations and their supporters -- to embrace a more holistic view of the cultural ecology and identify new possibilities for Americans to engage with the arts.How can arts institutions adapt to this new environment?Is participatory practice contradictory to, or complementary to, a business model that relies on professional production and consumption?How can arts organizations enter this new territory without compromising their values r artistic ideals?This report aims to illuminate a growing body of practice around participatory engagement (with various illustrative case studies profiled at the end) and dispel some of the anxiety surrounding this sphere of activity

The Effects of Counselor Age, Sex and Attire on Client Preferences for Counselors

The purpose of this study was to determine the preferences, if any, subjects have for counselors based on counselor characteristics of age, sex and attire. Photographs were taken of persons of differing ages (old, middle-age, young), sex (male, female) and attire (formal, casual, grub). One-hundred and five college and non-college adults were shown the photographs, asked to perceive the photographs as being those of counselors, and asked to rank their preferences for the persons depicted as counselors using a modified Q sort methodology. To determine whether the subjects had actually perceived the photographs as representing counselors and, therefore, discriminated among them on that basis, the subjects were also instructed to perceive the photographed individuals as attorneys and as friends, and to rank their preferences for the persons pictured under these conditions. Statistical analysis of the data was accomplished by assigning each photograph a numerical value (weighting) from one to seven, based on the location (ranking) it had been given by each subject. This procedure resulted in each photograph receiving a score each time a subject ranked the set of pictures. The data were analyzed using three three-way analyses of variance. Significant main effects were found for counselor age (F=6.77; df=2; p The manipulation of subject perception of the photographs appeared successful. The results indicated that systematic differences occurred in subject rankings of the photographs when the photographed individuals were perceived and ranked separately as counselors, attorneys and friends, respectively. From the results of the study it was concluded that counselor age, attire and, to a lesser extent, sex are related to subject preferences for counselors. Recommendations concerning the applications of the results to practical settings and areas of further research were given

George Mann was not a cowboy : rationalizing western versus Aboriginal perspectives of life and death 'dramatic' history

The dramatic history of the 1885 Riel Rebellion has been revisited and reinterpreted countless times by hundreds of amateur and professional historians from all cultural backgrounds. From 1885 to the mid-twentieth century and beyond the tendency of many historians was to create melodramatic narratives, a writing style that began in various English theatrical traditions, dating back to the Middle Ages. Of particular interest to this study were the eyewitness narratives whose melodramatic style included a desire to codify and define the roles of Aboriginal people, another British tradition of defining the dark skinned ‘other’ that was debated in London theatres from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. The Canadian historical myth was created by gifted writers who captured the broader public’s imagination with their dramatic style, a hegemonic force which eclipsed many Aboriginal versions of similar historical events. One such event was the George Mann family’s dramatic “escape to Fort Pitt,” as remembered by descendants of Mann and those of Nehithawe (Wood Cree) treaty Chief Seekascootch, whose family aided the Mann family in their escape. Through a variety of methods that have included historiographical analysis, literary analysis, playwriting, microhistory, and interviews with members of both families, this paper engages an interdisciplinary approach to the academic areas of drama, history and anthropology as a means of creating a broader picture of history that is hopefully interesting and accessible to people from multiple cultural backgrounds. This project concludes that single discipline western academic narratives do not sufficiently problematize their archival sources, and often underestimate the complexity of Aboriginal epistemologies

A study of the nitrogen content of dune soils, with particular reference to the effects produced by the sea-buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides L.

The history of research into the chemistry of dune soils is reviewed, with particular reference to the presence of nitrogen compounds, and also the effects created by the nitrogen-fixing shrub, sea-buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides, L.). Problems associated with the colonization of sand dunes by Hippophaë were investigated in the main study, involving soil sampling at selected sites between December 1980 and November 1981 on the Norfolk coast near Hunstanton. Hippophaë scrub of different ages was chosen, and control sites were left undisturbed. At experimental sites thick polythene sheeting was buried below the surface sand to prevent the downward percolation of solubles. Subsidiary investigations were made of other coastal sites in Britain, some with, and some without, Hippophaë colonies. The soil samples were analysed principally for nitrate ion, but also for ammonium, phosphate, and carbonate ions. The investigations revealed that nitrate levels in dune soil are proportional to the age of the Hippophaë scrub. A seasonal variation in nitrate levels was observed, with peaks in April and September. A model nitrogen economy was proposed to account for this. Statistical tests revealed no significant differences between control and experimental sites suggesting that nitrate is derived principally from Hippophaë rather than the leaf litter or animal products, probably by routine disintegration of the root nodules. The subsidiary sites lacking Hippophaë colonies had no detectable nitrate, or very low levels (< 0.5 ppm) even when heather scrub (Studland Heath, Dorset) or hawthorn scrub (Daymer Bay, Cornwall) was present. This confirms the view that the nitrate detected at Hunstanton came from the Hippophaë scrub. Where Hippophaë was prolific (Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire) the levels of nitrate detected were higher than at Hunstanton, even in the uncolonized sand of the beach, due possibly to the circulation of nitrates within the ground water of the dune system

An investigation of intraperitoneal procaine penicillin G administration in lactating dairy cows

This study describes the pharmacokinetic profile of procaine penicillin G after intraperitoneal (IP) administration in 8 lactating dairy cows. Procaine pencillin G (PPG, 21,000 IU/kg) was deposited into the abdominal cavity of each cow following an incision in the right paralumbar fossa. Blood and milk samples were taken over the following 10 days, at which point the cows were euthanized. Plasma, milk, muscle, liver, and kidney penicillin concentrations were determined by HPLC, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 5 ppb for plasma and milk samples. Noncompartmental methods were used to analyze plasma kinetics. The mean pharmacokinetic parameters ( } s.d.) were: Cmax, 5.5 } 2.6 ƒÊg/mL; Tmax, 0.75 } 0.27 h; AUC0- ‡, 10.8 } 4.9 ƒÊg*h/mL; MRT, 2.2 } 0.9 h. All milk from treated cows contained penicillin residues for a minimum of 3 milkings (31 h) and maximum of 5 milkings (52 h) after administration. Concentrations of penicillin G in all muscle, liver, and kidney samples taken 10 days post-administration were below the limit of detection. Necropsy examinations revealed foci of hemorrhage on the rumenal omentum of most cows but peritonitis was not observed. Systemic inflammation as determined by altered leukograms and fibrinogen was noted in one cow. The results of this study demonstrate that IP procaine penicillin G is absorbed and eliminated rapidly in lactating dairy cows