Chalk cliff retreat in East Sussex and Kent 1870s to 2001

The retreat of chalk cliffs fringing the eastern English Channel contributes shingle to the beaches which helps to protect the cliffs and slow down erosion. Conversely, cliff retreat endangers settlements and infrastructure on the clifftop. Rates of retreat have been calculated by a variety of methods over the past century, but no attempt has been made to provide a complete coverage that allows for a true comparison of retreat rates over the entire coastline. Using historic maps and recent orthophotos, cliff retreat rates have been calculated for consecutive 50 m sections of chalk cliff along the English side of the entire eastern English Channel for a period of 125 years. The chalk cliffs of East Sussex erode at an average rate of 0.25 - 0.3 m y−1 while those in Kent at a rate of 0.1 m y−1

International capital mobility in an era of globalisation: adding a political dimension to the 'Feldstein–Horioka Puzzle'

The debate about the scope of feasible policy-making in an era of globalisation continues to be set within the context of an assumption that national capital markets are now perfectly integrated at the international level. However, the empirical evidence on international capital mobility contradicts such an assumption. As a consequence, a significant puzzle remains. Why is it, in a world in which the observed pattern of capital flows is indicative of a far from globalised reality, that public policy continues to be constructed in line with more extreme variants of the globalisation hypothesis? I attempt to solve this puzzle by arguing that ideas about global capital market integration have an independent causal impact on political outcomes which extends beyond that which can be attributed to the extent of their actual integration

And the first shall be the last

This study analyzes the puzzle of Hungarian economic drifting in a long run perspective. The underlying puzzle for the investigation is why bad policies are invariably popular and good policies unpopular, thus why political and economic rationality never overlap. The first part of the article summarizes in eight points the basic features of the postwar period. Then six lessons are offered, which might be useful for other countries in transition or for students of comparative economics and politics, lessons that can be generalized on the basis of the individual country experience

New Observing Modes for the DBBC3

The DBBC3 was further enhanced by introducing\ua0new modes. Three different firmwares have\ua0recently been implemented for observing: Direct Sampling\ua0Conversion (DSC), arbitrary selection of bands\ua0(OCT), and Digital Down Conversion (DDC). These\ua0modes cover all the requirements of astronomical,\ua0VGOS, and legacy geodetic VLBI for the time being\ua0and the immediate future. In addition, the DBBC3\ua0offers unsurpassed compatibility to the relatively large\ua0number of other existing VLBI backends. A number\ua0of test observations were performed in the last months\ua0to achieve the best performance of the VGOS modes,\ua0and similar tests are planned for the EVN network. At\ua0the same time the DBBC3 is an important platform\ua0for additional new modes to be implemented for\ua0the BRAND receiver. Several DBBC3 systems are\ua0deployed in the field and more are under construction,\ua0with the number of 4-GHz bands ranging from two up\ua0to eight with resulting output data rates from 32 Gbps\ua0to 128 Gbps

PRIVATE SAVINGS IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES: ARE THERE TERMS OF TRADE SHOCKS?

The paper examines the impact of terms of trade shocks on private savings in the transition economies after accounting for the effect of other determinants. Economic agents in the transition economies are subject to tight credit constraints which are more pronounced during bad state of nature. Thus, adverse shocks to commodity prices in the world market can force them to reduce savings by a larger amount than they would otherwise have. Empirical analysis using a dynamic panel model and data from twenty one transition economies confirm that most of the determinants of savings identified in the literature also apply to the transition economies. Favorable movements in both the permanent and transitory components of the terms of trade have a significant positive impact on private savings with transitory movements having a larger impact than the permanent component. This reflects the lack of access to foreign borrowing that many of the transition economies have faced during the last decade. Although the impact of terms of trade shocks are found to be asymmetric, the magnitude of the impact appears to be small. The results are robust for alternative estimators, determinants, and country groupings.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39958/3/wp572.pd

Economic liberalization and the antecedents of top management teams: evidence from Turkish 'big' business

There has been an increased interest in the last two decades in top management teams (TMTs) of business firms. Much of the research, however, has been US-based and concerned primarily with TMT effects on organizational outcomes. The present study aims to expand this literature by examining the antecedents of top team composition in the context of macro-level economic change in a late-industrializing country. The post-1980 trade and market reforms in Turkey provided the empirical setting. Drawing upon the literatures on TMT and chief executive characteristics together with punctuated equilibrium models of change and institutional theory, the article develops the argument that which firm-level factors affect which attributes of TMT formations varies across the early and late stages of economic liberalization. Results of the empirical investigation of 71 of the largest industrial firms in Turkey broadly supported the hypotheses derived from this premise. In the early stages of economic liberalization the average age and average organizational tenure of TMTs were related to the export orientation of firms, whereas in later stages, firm performance became a major predictor of these team attributes. Educational background characteristics of teams appeared to be under stronger institutional pressures, altering in different ways in the face of macro-level change

DBBC3 Towards the BRAND EVN Receiver

The DBBC3 is a flexible VLBI backend and\ua0environment that supports a wide range of observational\ua0needs via a suite of FPGA firmware types. The\ua0hardware can sample up to eight 4 GHz-wide baseband\ua0signals and convert to digital streams over multiple\ua010GE links on fibre. The development team has an ongoing\ua0development programme that has enhanced existing\ua0modes and introduced new desired modes as user\ua0requirements evolve. Three dierent firmware types for\ua0observing have been implemented which will be briefly\ua0summarised: Direct Sampling Conversion (DSC), arbitrary\ua0selection of bands (OCT), Digital Down Conversion\ua0(DDC). These modes cover all the requirements\ua0of astronomical, VGOS and legacy geodetic VLBI of\ua0the present, but also of the near future. At the same\ua0time the DBBC3 is an important platform for additional\ua0new modes to be implemented for the BRAND\ua0receiver. This paper describes the use of the DBBC3\ua0for the receiver development, pointing out which element\ua0in the current DBBC3 structure will be part of\ua0the BRAND receiver in order to simplify its introduction\ua0into the existing VLBI environment at telescopes\ua0with a DBBC3 backend

Mean reversion in annual earnings and its implications for security valuation

This article documents the long-horizon mean reverting character of annual earnings and tests the implications of such mean reversion for security valuation. First, both theory-based and nonparametric measures of earnings persistence decrease as the estimation order increases, revealing 40 percent less long-horizon persistence than expected under the commonly used random walk model. Second, the return responses to the earnings shocks are more closely related across firms to the higher-order measures of persistence that reflect significant long-horizon mean reversion. Third, the persistence measure derived from classical valuation theory outperforms the generic measure in explaining the return responses. Taken as a whole, these results provide evidence for significant mean reversion in the higher-order properties of earnings and for the stock market incorporating these properties in a manner consistent with classical valuation theory.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47883/1/11156_2005_Article_BF01082663.pd

Susceptibility testing of Haemophilus influenzae— an international collaborative study in quality assessment

In order to compare the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in different geographical areas, it is necessary to ensure that agreement is achieved between laboratories on the assignment of strains to ‘susceptible' and ‘resistant' categories. An international quality assessment study, involving 15 laboratories in eight countries, was performed to investigate the standard of performance of the susceptibility testing of Haemophilus influenzae. One hundred and fifty strains of H. influenzae were distributed from the London Hospital Medical College (LHMC) to all laboratories who were asked to test the susceptibility of the strains to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, trimethoprim, cephalosporins and ciprofloxacin. Laboratories were also asked to provide the details of methodology to test the susceptibility. Significant discrepancy between the LHMC and the participating laboratories appeared in the detection of resistance to ampicillin (especially β-lactamase-negative strains resistant to ampicillin) as well as the assignment of susceptibility and resistance to chloramphenicol, tetracycline and trimethoprim. Often these reflected the use of inappropriate breakpoints which led to erroneous assignment of susceptibility. Other variations including disc content, medium and supplement, inoculum as well as failure to measure zone sizes properly also led to some repeating anomalie