The Belgian migration to SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area)

The main aim of SEPA (Single European Payment Area) is to promote financial integration in Europe, more particularly in the field of cashless payment services and payment systems. It is intended to enable all economic players (businesses, consumers and public authorities) to effect payments anywhere in the SEPA zone (the 27 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) as easily, securely and efficiently as domestic payments. It must also be possible to execute these payments in accordance with a single regulatory framework within which all players have the same rights and obligations. To that end, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a directive on payment services in the internal market, which has to be transposed into national law by 1 November 2009. The SEPA migration is a process whereby the current national payment instruments are gradually replaced by standardised European instruments. More precisely, European instruments have been developed for credit transfers and direct debits, while a general framework has been set up for payment cards. The development of standards for these payment instruments and the organisation of the migration to SEPA were largely decided by the banking sector. For that purpose, interbank consultation bodies were set up at national and European level, and special structures were created to encourage societal dialogue concerning SEPA and its implementation. In Belgium, the organisational structures behind the SEPA migration are the “Steering Committee on the future of means of payment” and the SEPA interbank Forum. SEPA is being created in phases. The signal for the operational launch was given just over a year ago : since 28 January 2008 it has been possible to use the European transfer to effect payments anywhere in the SEPA area. The banking sector set the launch date for the European direct debit at European level : it will coincide with the date on which the payment services directive has to be transposed into national law, namely 1 November 2009. The success of the launch of the European direct debit on that date will depend mainly on a number of legal aspects, its adoption by the market, and the time taken to implement it in banks and businesses. The SEPA Card Framework is ready and has applied since 1 January 2008, but that has had little or no practical impact on the Belgian market in bank cards. Although the original plan for switching to a new payment card scheme in a single operation was abandoned, the Belgian market is technically ready for the introduction of new card payment schemes.SEPA (Single European Payment Area), payments instruments, financial integration, Payment Services Directive, banking standards

Towards an Integrative Formative Approach of Data-Driven Decision Making, Assessment for Learning, and Diagnostic Testing

This study concerns the comparison of three approaches to assessment: Data-Driven Decision Making, Assessment for Learning, and Diagnostic Testing. Although the three approaches claim to be beneficial with regard to student learning, no clear study into the relationships and distinctions between these approaches exists to date. The goal of this study was to investigate the extent to which the three approaches can be shaped into an integrative formative approach towards assessment. The three approaches were compared on nine characteristics of assessment. The results suggest that although the approaches seem to be contradictory with respect to some characteristics, it is argued that they could complement each other despite these differences. The researchers discuss how the three approaches can be shaped into an integrative formative approach towards assessmen

Environment of compact extragalactic radio sources

We have studied the interrelation of young AGN with their hosts. The objects of study are the young and powerful GPS and CSS radio sources. Due to their small size, GPS and CSS sources are excellent probes of this relation. Furhthermore, their young age allows us to compare them to the larger, old radio sources and establish a time-line evolution of this relation. Combining imaging and spectroscopy at UV, optical and radio wavelengths we find evidence of strong interaction between the host and the radio source. The presence and expansion of the radio source clearly affects the properties and evolution of the host. Furthermore, the radio source and host significantly affect each other's evolution. We describe our results and how these interactions take place.Comment: 6 pages. To appear in "Highlights of Spanisg astrophysics IV. Proceedings of the VII scientific meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society". Editors: F. Figueras, J.M. Girart, M.Hernanz, C. Jordi. Springe

Capitalization of Central Government Grants into Local House Prices

We explore the impact of central government grants on local house prices in England using a panel data set of local authorities (LAs) from 2001 to 2008. Electoral targeting of grants to LAs by the incumbent national government provides an exogenous source of variation in grants that we exploit to identify their causal effect on house prices. Our results indicate substantial or even full capitalization. We also find that house prices respond more strongly in locations in which new construction is constrained by physical barriers. Our results imply that (i) during our sample period grants were largely used in a way that is valued by the marginal homebuyer and (ii) increases in grants to a LA may mainly benefit the typically better off property owners (homeowners and absentee landlords) in that LA.

Firm Investment and Monetary Policy Transmission in the Euro Area.

We present a comparable set of results on the monetary transmission channels on firm investment for the four largest euro-area countries (Germany, France, Italy and Spain). With particularly rich micro datasets for each country containing over 215,000 observations from 1985 to 1999, we ex-plore what can be learned about the interest channel and the broad credit channel. For each of those countries, we estimate neo-classical investment relationships, explaining investment by its user cost, sales and cash flow. We find investment to be sensitive to user cost changes in all those four countries. This implies an operative interest channel in these euro-area countries. We also find in-vestment in all countries to be quite sensitive to cash flow movements. However, only in Italy do smaller firms react more to cash flow movements than large firms, implying that a broad credit channel might not be equally pervasive in all countries.Investment, Monetary transmission channels, User cost of capital.

Molecular footprint of drug-selective pressure in a human immunodeficiency virus transmission chain

Known human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission histories are invaluable models for investigating the evolutionary and transmission dynamics of the virus and to assess the accuracy of phylogenetic reconstructions. Here we have characterized an HIV-1 transmission chain consisting of nine infected patients, almost all of whom were treated with antiviral drugs at later stages of infection. Partial pol and env gp41 regions of the HIV genome were directly sequenced from plasma viral RNA for at least one sample from each patient. Phylogenetic analyses in pol using likelihood methods inferred an evolutionary history not fully compatible with the known transmission history. This could be attributed to parallel evolution of drug resistance mutations resulting in the incorrect clustering of multidrug-resistant virus. On the other hand, a fully compatible phylogenetic tree was reconstructed from the env sequences. We were able to identify and quantify the molecular footprint of drug-selective pressure in pol using maximum likelihood inference under different codon substitution models. An increased fixation rate of mutations in the HIV population of the multidrug-resistant patient was demonstrated using molecular clock modeling. We show that molecular evolutionary analyses, guided by a known transmission history, can reveal the presence of confounding factors like natural selection and caution should be taken when accurate descriptions of HIV evolution are required.status: publishe

Working with farmers for agricultural innovation and climate adaptation

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), in common with other CGIAR research programs, understands that farmers are at the centre of agricultural innovation and adaptation. This publication describes some of the many ways in which CCAFS works with farmers and farmers’ organizations to solve problems generated by climate change. Recognizing the importance of participatory knowledge systems involving farmers, scientists, and other stakeholders in responding effectively to climate change, this document seeks to provide an overview of the many ways CCAFS collaborations with farming communities work in practice – and how this can serve as a springboard for more effective dialogue and planning, leading ultimately to better outcomes for farming in a climate-constrained world

The inner radio jet region and the complex environment of SS433

We present multi-frequency VLBA+VLA observations of SS433 at 1.6, 5 and 15 GHz. These observations provide the highest angular resolution radio spectral index maps ever made for this object. Motion of the components of SS433 during the observation is detected. In addition to the usual VLBI jet structure, we detect two radio components in the system at an anomalous position angle. These newly discovered radio emitting regions might be related to a wind-like equatorial outflow or to an extension of the accretion disk. We show that the radio core component is bifurcated with a clear gap between the eastern and western wings of emission. Modelfitting of the precessing jets and the moving knots of SS433 shows that the kinematic centre -- i.e. the binary -- is in the gap between the western and eastern radio core components. Spectral properties and observed core position shifts suggest that we see a combined effect of synchrotron self-absorption and external free-free absorption in the innermost AU-scale region of the source. The spatial distribution of the ionized matter is probably not spherically symmetric around the binary, but could be disk-like.Comment: Accepted for publication by Astronomy and Astrophysic