bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A generalization of tight closure and multiplier ideals
Authors: Hara Nobuo , Yoshida Ken-ichi
Published: May 2003

We introduce a new variant of tight closure associated to any fixed ideal

a

\mathfrak {a}

, which we call

a

\mathfrak {a}

-tight closure, and study various properties thereof. In our theory, the annihilator ideal

τ
(

a

)

\tau (\mathfrak {a})

of all

a

\mathfrak {a}

-tight closure relations, which is a generalization of the test ideal in the usual tight closure theory, plays a particularly important role. We prove the correspondence of the ideal

τ
(

a

)

\tau (\mathfrak {a})

and the multiplier ideal associated to

a

\mathfrak {a}

(or, the adjoint of

a

\mathfrak {a}

in Lipman’s sense) in normal

Q

\mathbb {Q}

-Gorenstein rings reduced from characteristic zero to characteristic

p
≫
0

p \gg 0

. Also, in fixed prime characteristic, we establish some properties of

τ
(

a

)

\tau (\mathfrak {a})

similar to those of multiplier ideals (e.g., a Briançon-Skoda-type theorem, subadditivity, etc.) with considerably simple proofs, and study the relationship between the ideal

τ
(

a

)

\tau (\mathfrak {a})

and the F-rationality of Rees algebras.
On measures of maximal and full dimension for polynomial automorphisms of ℂ²
Authors: Wolf Christian
Published: May 2003

For a hyperbolic polynomial automorphism of

C

2

\mathbb {C}^2

, we show the existence of a measure of maximal dimension and identify the conditions under which a measure of full dimension exists.
Clustering of critical points in Lefschetz fibrations and the symplectic Szpiro inequality
Authors: Braungardt V. , Kotschick D.
Published: May 2003

We prove upper bounds for the number of critical points in semi- stable symplectic Lefschetz fibrations. We also obtain a new lower bound for the number of nonseparating vanishing cycles in Lefschetz pencils and reprove the known lower bounds for the commutator lengths of Dehn twists.
Homology of pseudodifferential operators on manifolds with fibered cusps
Authors: Lauter Robert , Moroianu Sergiu
Published: May 2003

The Hochschild homology of the algebra of pseudodifferential operators on a manifold with fibered cusps, introduced by Mazzeo and Melrose, is studied and computed using the approach of Brylinski and Getzler. One of the main technical tools is a new convergence criterion for tri-filtered half-plane spectral sequences. Using trace-like functionals that generate the

0
0

-dimensional Hochschild cohomology groups, the index of a fully elliptic fibered cusp operator is expressed as the sum of a local contribution of Atiyah-Singer type and a global term on the boundary. We announce a result relating this boundary term to the adiabatic limit of the eta invariant in a particular case.
D-log and formal flow for analytic isomorphisms of n-space
Authors: Wright David , Zhao Wenhua
Published: May 2003

Given a formal map

F
=
(

F
1

,
…
,

F
n

)

F=(F_1,\ldots ,F_n)

of the form

z
+
higher-order

z+\text {higher-order}

terms, we give tree expansion formulas and associated algorithms for the D-Log of

F
F

and the formal flow

F
t

F_t

. The coefficients that appear in these formulas can be viewed as certain generalizations of the Bernoulli numbers and the Bernoulli polynomials. Moreover, the coefficient polynomials in the formal flow formula coincide with the strict order polynomials in combinatorics for the partially ordered sets induced by trees. Applications of these formulas to the Jacobian Conjecture are discussed.
Vitali covering theorem in Hilbert space
Authors: Tišer Jaroslav
Published: May 2003

It is shown that the statement of the Vitali Covering Theorem does not hold for a certain class of measures in a Hilbert space. This class contains all infinite-dimensional Gaussian measures.
Primitive free cubics with specified norm and trace
Authors: Huczynska Sophie , Cohen Stephen
Published: May 2003

The existence of a primitive free (normal) cubicx3−ax2+cx−bx^3-ax^2+cx-bover a finite fieldFFwith arbitrary specified values ofaa(≠0\neq 0) andbb(primitive) is guaranteed. This is the most delicate case of a general existence theorem whose proof is thereby completed.
Projective normality of abelian varieties
Authors: Iyer Jaya
Published: May 2003

We show that ample line bundles

L
L

on a

g
g

-dimensional simple abelian variety

A
A

, satisfying

h
0

(
A
,
L
)
>

2
g

⋅
g
!

h^0(A,L)>2^g\cdot g!

, give projective normal embeddings, for all

g
≥
1

g\geq 1

.
Seshadri constants on Jacobian of curves
Authors: Kong Jian
Published: May 2003

We compute the Seshadri constants on the Jacobian of hyperelliptic curves, as well as of curves with genus three and four. For higher genus curves we conclude that if the Seshadri constants of their Jacobian are less than 2, then the curves must be hyperelliptic.
Mean curvature flow, orbits, moment maps
Authors: Pacini Tommaso
Published: May 2003

Given a compact Riemannian manifold together with a group of isometries, we discuss MCF of the orbits and some applications: e.g., finding minimal orbits. We then specialize to Lagrangian orbits in Kaehler manifolds. In particular, in the Kaehler-Einstein case we find a relation between MCF and moment maps which, for example, proves that the minimal Lagrangian orbits are isolated.
Hausdorff dimension and asymptotic cycles
Authors: Pollicott Mark
Published: May 2003

We carry out a multifractal analysis for the asymptotic cycles for compact Riemann surfaces of genus

g
≥
2

g \geq 2

. This describes the set of unit tangent vectors for which the associated orbit has a given asymptotic cycle in homology.
Singular integrals on symmetric spaces, II
Authors: Ionescu Alexandru
Published: May 2003

We extend some of our earlier results on boundedness of singular integrals on symmetric spaces of real rank one to arbitrary noncompact symmetric spaces. Our main theorem is a transference principle for operators defined by

K

\mathbb {K}

-bi-invariant kernels with certain large scale cancellation properties. As an application we prove

L
p

L^p

boundedness of operators defined by Fourier multipliers that satisfy singular differential inequalities of the Hörmander–Michlin type.
Explicit Lower bounds for residues at 𝑠=1 of Dedekind zeta functions and relative class numbers of CM-fields
Authors: Louboutin Stéphane
Published: May 2003

Let

S
S

be a given set of positive rational primes. Assume that the value of the Dedekind zeta function

ζ
K

\zeta _K

of a number field

K
K

is less than or equal to zero at some real point

β
\beta

in the range

1
2

>
β
>
1

{1\over 2} >\beta >1

. We give explicit lower bounds on the residue at

s
=
1

s=1

of this Dedekind zeta function which depend on

β
\beta

, the absolute value

d
K

d_K

of the discriminant of

K
K

and the behavior in

K
K

of the rational primes

p
∈
S

p\in S

. Now, let

k
k

be a real abelian number field and let

β
\beta

be any real zero of the zeta function of

k
k

. We give an upper bound on the residue at

s
=
1

s=1

of

ζ
k

\zeta _k

which depends on

β
\beta

,

d
k

d_k

and the behavior in

k
k

of the rational primes

p
∈
S

p\in S

. By combining these two results, we obtain lower bounds for the relative class numbers of some normal CM-fields

K
K

which depend on the behavior in

K
K

of the rational primes

p
∈
S

p\in S

. We will then show that these new lower bounds for relative class numbers are of paramount importance for solving, for example, the exponent-two class group problem for the non-normal quartic CM-fields. Finally, we will prove Brauer-Siegel-like results about the asymptotic behavior of relative class numbers of CM-fields.
On idempotents in reduced enveloping algebras
Authors: Seligman George
Published: May 2003

Explicit constructions are given for idempotents that generate all projective indecomposable modules for certain finite-dimensional quotients of the universal enveloping algebra of the Lie algebra

s
ℓ
(
2
)

s\ell (2)

in odd prime characteristic. The program is put in a general context, although constructions are only carried through in the case of

s
ℓ
(
2
)

s\ell (2)

.
Managing the transition from products to services
Authors: Oliva Rogelio , Kallenberg Robert
Published: May 2003

Management literature is almost unanimous in suggesting to manufacturers that they should integrate services into their core product offering. The literature, however, is surprisingly sparse in describing to what extent services should be integrated, how this integration should be carried out, or in detailing the challenges inherent in the transition to services. Reports on a study of 11 capital equipment manufacturers developing service offerings for their products. Focuses on identifying the dimensions considered when creating a service organization in the context of a manufacturing firm, and successful strategies to navigate the transition. Analysis of qualitative data suggests that the transition involves a deliberate developmental process to build capabilities as firms shift the nature of the relationship with the product end‐users and the focus of the service offering. The report concludes identifying implications of our findings for further research and practitioners.
Linking service to profit: the business case for service excellence
Authors: Bates Ken , Bates Hilary , Johnston Robert
Published: May 2003

Adds to the stream of research concerned with understanding the relationship between good service and profit. Takes a broader perspective than recent studies and asks does the financial performance of those organisations with a reputation for service excellence differ markedly from those with a poor reputation? Focuses on three questions: “Does size matter?”; “Are the better organisations more productive?”; and “Are the better organisations more profitable?” The findings, based on a large and wide‐ranging empirical study undertaken in the UK, found that, whether measured in terms of total assets, turnover or number of employees, both large and small organisations are capable of being both excellent and poor. In terms of productivity the findings suggest that provision of better service is staff intensive but yields significantly greater profit per employee. The better service providers have significantly better return on equity and return on total assets than the poorer ones.
Hierarchical representation of satisfactory consumer service experience
Authors: Orsingher Chiara , Luca Marzocchi Gian
Published: May 2003

What conceptual organization underlies evaluative judgments in the mind of consumers? Drawing from the theory of cognitive schemata and from means‐end theory, here we show that customer evaluations can be represented as a set of self‐relevant, interconnected and hierarchically organized elements. Elements of the hierarchy are components of a satisfactory service experience that range from concrete service attributes (such as staff kindness), to higher level benefits (such as the feeling of being looked after), to more abstract values (such as happiness). To construct a hierarchical map of components and explain overall satisfaction the laddering technique was applied to a sample of hotel customers. Results suggest that the links between concrete attributes, high‐level benefits, and values provide a better explanation of overall satisfaction than service attributes alone.
Customer complaining behaviour in technology‐based service encounters
Authors: Snellman Kaisa , Vihtkari Tiina
Published: May 2003

Compares complaining behaviour in traditional and technology‐based service encounters. Drawing on 160 negative critical incidents within Finnish retail banking, shows that, contradictory to common predictions, there are no significant differences in the complaining rates between the two types of service encounters. Attributes this finding to the high reliance of traditional complaining methods in both types of service encounters. Finds, however, that complaints about technology‐based service encounters have significantly higher response rates than complaints about traditional service encounters. Also, when focusing on technology‐based service encounters, finds that customers who actually consider themselves guilty for the outcome were the most frequent complainers, while the ones attributing the outcome to technology failures or service process failures complain less often. These findings have interesting implications for designers of service recovery systems.
Decision support in selecting maintenance organization
Authors: Emblemsvåg Jan , Tonning Leif
Published: May 2003

Selecting a satisfactory maintenance organization to support costly and technologically advanced assets with a long life‐cycle is not easy. There are numerous objectives to fulfill and many are changing. There are many fuzzy and multi‐dimensional decision criteria and significant uncertainties and risks. Additionally, stakeholders from industry and government may not share similar interests, and this restricts the range of alternative solutions. Yet, we must select the complete maintenance organization for these assets to ensure product integrity through life compliant to end‐user needs. This paper discusses how the Analytic Hierarchy Process is applied in a method to identity the preferred maintenance organization for one particular weapons system of the Norwegian Army. We also find it necessary to evaluate the robustness of the decision using Monte Carlo simulations and to employ sensitivity analyses to identify critical success factors.
A statistical approach linking energy management to maintenance and production factors
Authors: Al‐Ghanim Amjed
Published: May 2003

This research has addressed a quantitative approach for improving energy management through applying statistical techniques aimed at identifying and controlling factors linked to energy consumption rates at manufacturing plants. The paper presents analysis and results of multiple linear regression models used to establish the significance of a number of energy related management factors in controlling energy usage. Regression models constructed for this purpose proved the existence of statistically valid relationships between electrical energy consumption and maintenance and production management factors, namely, failure rate and production rate, where R2 values of the magnitude of 65 per cent were obtained. Furthermore, an economical treatment based on the derived regression models was formulated and demonstrated that effective management practices associated with proper maintenance, cost accounting and reporting systems can result in highly significant savings in energy usage.
Determination of the optimal software release time based on proportional hazards software reliability growth models
Authors: Nishio Yasuhiko , Dohi Tadashi
Published: May 2003

The software reliability models to describe the reliability growth phenomenon are formulated by any stochastic point process with state‐dependent or time‐dependent intensity function. On the other hand, to deal with the environmental data, which consists of covariates influencing times to software failure, it may be useful to apply the Cox’s proportional hazards model for assessing the software reliability. In this paper, we review the proportional hazards software reliability models and discuss the problem to determine the optimal software release time under the expected total software cost criterion. Numerical examples are devoted to examine the dependence of the covariate structure in both the software reliability prediction and the optimal software release decision.
Hierarchical control of production and maintenance rates in manufacturing systems
Authors: Kenné J.P. , Boukas E.K.
Published: May 2003

This paper deals with the production and preventive maintenance planning control problem for a multi‐machine flexible manufacturing system (FMS). A two‐level hierarchical control model is developed according to the discrepancy between the time scale of the discounting cost event and one of the machine state processes. The proposed model extends the classical singular perturbation approach by considering age‐dependent machine failure rates and controlling both production and preventive maintenance rates. We replace the stochastic optimal control problem by a deterministic one termed limiting control problem. With this approach, we compute an age‐dependent near‐optimal control policy of the stochastic initial control problem from the optimal solution of the equivalent limiting control problem. A numerical example is used to illustrate the procedure and to show the reduction of the control problem size.
Note on reliability of a system complexity considering entropy
Authors: Nakagawa Toshio , Yasui Kazumi
Published: May 2003

Large‐scale systems have been developed with increasing requirements of high quality and performance. It would be indispensable to define the reliability of more complex systems, considering their complexity. This paper defines a complexity of redundant systems as a logarithmic function of paths, using the concept of an entropy. Further, a reliability function of complexity is given, and the reliabilities of series and parallel systems with complexity are computed. As one of typical redundant systems, a majority voting system is analyzed, and an optimal number of components is derived. Finally, a complexity of network systems is also proposed.
Modern Hebrew literature on the Web: a content analysis
Authors: Bar‐Ilan Judit , Groisman Nurit
Published: May 2003

In this study, a set of freely accessible Web sites were examined, as a first step in understanding the ways the Web is utilised for disseminating, publishing, discussing, studying and selling modern Hebrew literature. The sites were classified according to different facets using the method of content analysis. The results show that amateurs have great interest in publishing their works on the Web, either on their own private sites or on sites that encourage the users to upload their literary works and to interact with other writers and poets. Educational networks and organisations make use of the technology for advancing the teaching of literature. The most popular genre is poetry, closely followed by prose. Almost all sites enable some kind of interaction with the users; larger sites utilise the interactive capabilities of the Web to create virtual communities, to enable uploading of literary texts and to develop discussions about the works published on the site. Publishers, bookstores and a few electronic journals are also present.
Relevancy rankings: pay for performance search engines in the hot seat
Authors: Goh Dion H. , Ang Rebecca P.
Published: May 2003

Pay for performance (PFP) search engines provide search services for documents on the Web, but unlike traditional search engines, they rank documents not on content characteristics, but according to the amount of money the owner of a Web site is willing to pay if a user visits the Web site through the search results pages. A study was conducted to compare the retrieval effectiveness of Overture (a PFP search engine) and Google (a traditional search engine) using a test suite of general knowledge questions. A total of 45 queries, based on a popular game show, “Who wants to be a millionaire?”, were submitted to each of these search engines and the first ten documents returned were analysed using different relevancy criteria. Results indicated that Google outperformed Overture in terms of precision and number of queries that could be answered. Implications for this study are also discussed.
Re‐inventing subject access for the semantic Web
Authors: Aud Franklin Rosemary
Published: May 2003

First generation scholarly research on the Web lacked a firm system of authority control. Second generation Web research is beginning to model subject access with library science principles of bibliographic control and cataloguing. Harnessing the Web and organising the intellectual content with standards and controlled vocabulary provides precise search and retrieval capability, increasing relevance and efficient use of technology. Dublin Core metadata standards permit a full evaluation and cataloguing of Web resources appropriate to highly specific research needs and discovery. Current research points to a type of structure based on a system of faceted classification. This system allows the semantic and syntactic relationships to be defined. Controlled vocabulary, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings, can be assigned, not in a hierarchical structure, but rather as descriptive facets of relating concepts. Web design features such as this are adding value to discovery and filtering out data that lack authority. The system design allows for scalability and extensibility, two technical features that are integral to future development of the digital library and resource discovery.
Education practice and analysing behaviour of students in a Web‐based learning environment: an exploratory study from China
Authors: Liu Ying , Lin Fuzong , Wang Xue
Published: May 2003

Tertiary institutions are increasingly providing Web‐based courses to learners both on‐campus and off‐campus, enabling more students to take these courses and get the most recent information. Students can also learn more interactively with the new types of instruction methods used online. Synchronous or asynchronous communication via computer networks can also greatly facilitate the learning process. In order to help the teachers and administrators of the Web‐based learning systems to improve the effectiveness of their instruction and design better online learning software, we have implemented an exploratory investigation of the behaviour of the students in the Web‐based learning environment. Multiple approaches were adopted to collect data, which included questionnaires, posted documents, online logs, interviews and observations. Comparison and analyses are also made between students in different semesters, and under different instruction methods. Some viewpoints on the construction of the Web‐based learning systems are proposed.
Network information resources management system based on knowledge mining
Authors: Zhang Chengyu , Wang Ping , Zhao Yi , Lai Qiang , Kong Li
Published: May 2003

This article describes the analysis, design and implementation of the network information resources management system (NIRMS), which uses distributed modes of content management to collect information resources on the Internet for Chinese patrons. The first two sections describe the architecture and framework of the NIRMS and the network resources management metadata (NRMM) schema. Then the modules for resource inspection and evaluation, knowledge mining and users’ information feedback are discussed.
Mind the gap: the need for a generic bridge between psychoanalytic and systemic approaches
Authors: Donovan Mary
Published: May 2003

The context for this paper is the ongoing systemic/psychoanalytic debate. It offers an alternative perspective to the recent contribution by Brodie and Wright (2002), in which they are concerned to underscore difference between the two therapeutic approaches. Here it is argued that the relationship is a great deal more complex than Brodie and Wright's analysis might suggest. Attention is focused on significant areas of commonality, in particular the impact of social constructionist thinking across the two therapies as well as current developments in technique. A case is made for the consolidation of generic space where there is opportunity for cross‐fertilization and for integrative and combined systemic/psychoanalytic approaches to be nurtured and developed where appropriate. Case vignettes are used to highlight different aspects of the generic component in child and family therapy and to underline the need for bridge‐building between these key therapeutic approaches in the field.
Causal attributions during therapy I: Responsibility and blame
Authors: Stratton Peter
Published: May 2003

The way that responsibility is attributed and blame is expressed and apportioned in families is a crucial but rather neglected issue for family therapy. A case is made for analysing causal attributions as a way to gain a better understanding of these processes. The Leeds Attributional Coding System (Stratton et al., 1988) was used to analyse all the attributions made early in therapy by eight families which included biological, step‐ and adoptive parents. Some 1799 attributions made by family members during ten therapy sessions were identified and their attributional dimensions recorded. Both parents and children used attributional patterns consistent with blaming the child and there was evidence of the occurrence of an ‘attributional discrepancy’, found previously in families of abuse, with more personal and controllable causes being applied to the child. Considering attributional dimensions in combination proved an effective way of identifying incidences of characterological blaming. Limited changes in the form of these attributions, by focusing on change in just one of the dimensions, could convert them into more benign and productive contributions to family conversations.
Causal attributions during therapy II: Reconstituted families and parental blaming
Authors: Stratton Peter
Published: May 2003

A powerful route to understanding communication within the family is provided by identifying and coding the causal attributions they make during family therapy sessions. The analysis of attributions of responsibility reported in the first of these linked papers (Stratton, 2003) is here extended to explore the accounts given by biological, step‐ and adoptive parents about their children. Some 1799 causal attributions offered spontaneously by the family members during therapy were analysed according to the Leeds Attributional Coding System (Stratton et al., 1988). Attributional styles that previously have been found to relate to abuse were more common when stepfathers talked about their children, although none of the parents were believed to be abusing their children. The adoptive parents' attributions were more explicit about problems with the children but were more likely to be functional. Stepfathers made substantially more attributions in the form of blaming a child, with the dimensions identifying characterological blaming being especially significant. Alternative styles of attributing which would offer a way of avoiding characterological blaming are presented. Possible causes and consequences of the consistencies in problematic attributing, and the implications for therapy, are discussed.
Financial Markets and Stochastic Growth
Authors: Mirman Leonard J. , Schenk‐Hoppé Klaus Reiner
Published: May 2003

The authors study the effect of financial markets on the investment of a two‐good two‐country economy with stochastic production in a dynamic framework. Each country produces and invests only one good and, therefore, makes decisions as a central planner in an optimal growth model. Trade between consumers of both countries, however, takes place on competitive (spot or financial) markets. The authors compare the investment–consumption decisions of both “market” models with the benchmark case of an integrated world‐equilibrium. In the log‐linear case, it is possible to uniquely characterize the state‐dependent preferences of consumers that lead to dynamically efficient investment decisions. It is shown that the investment decisions in both “market” models are, in general, inefficient compared with the efficient, or integrated world economy, case.
Trade, Vertical Production Chain, and Competition Policy
Authors: Yano Makoto , Dei Fumio
Published: May 2003

The authors build a trade model that renders tractable the process in which imperfect competition in a country's downstream sector affects the rest of the world through international trade. For this purpose, internationally traded goods are viewed as middle products in the vertical chain of production, in which middle products are produced upstream and transformed into final consumption goods downstream. Suppression of competition in a country's downstream sector may serve as a beggar‐thy‐neighbor policy, increasing that country's own utility while reducing that of its trading partner countries.
Attitudes Towards Immigration: a Trade‐Theoretic Approach
Authors: Bilal Sanoussi , Grether Jean‐Marie , Melo Jaime de
Published: May 2003

The paper uses a three‐factor (capital, low‐ and high‐skill labor), two‐household (low‐ and high‐skill individuals), two‐sector trade model to analyze the determinants of voter attitudes towards immigration under direct democracy, and to identify factors that would be coherent with both the observed increase in the skilled–unskilled wage differential and the stiffening attitudes towards low‐skill capital‐poor immigration. If the import‐competing sector is intensive in the use of low‐skill labor, and capital is the middle factor, an improvement in the terms of trade or neutral technical progress in the exporting sector leads nationals to oppose immigration of capital‐poor low‐skill households. An increase in income inequality is also likely to stiffen attitudes towards this type of capital‐poor, low‐skill immigration prevalent in Europe until recently.
A Specific‐Factors Model with Historical Application
Authors: Bliss Christopher
Published: May 2003

In 1971, Ronald Jones examined a three‐factor two‐good model under the assumption that two of the factors are specific to one sector (a different sector for each such factor). Working independently, in the same year Paul Samuelson developed a similar framework. In this paper that specification is weakened, so that only one sector (agriculture) has a specific factor (land). When land is a separable input into food production, factor price‐equalization can no longer be shown, but Stolper–Samuelson magnification is still observed, although it is weakened. An application to the abolition of the corn laws is discussed.
A Simultaneous‐Equations Model of Trade, Conflict, and Cooperation
Authors: Reuveny Rafael , Kang Heejoon
Published: May 2003

A simultaneous‐equations model is developed for the reciprocal relationship among bilateral trade value, conflict, and cooperation by modeling the actions of exporters, importers, and governments. The model is estimated separately for each of the dyads among the US, the USSR, China, Japan, and (West) Germany for the yearly data from 1948 to 1992. The direction of the effects of conflict or cooperation on trade and that of trade on conflict or cooperation are generally mixed, as expected. Certain reciprocal relationship patterns emerge depending on whether countries belong to the East or West block.
Fragmentation, Efficiency‐Seeking FDI, and Employment
Authors: Eckel Carsten
Published: May 2003

The paper examines the impact of efficiency‐seeking FDI on factor prices, employment, and output. The analysis shows that when transportation costs fall, companies start relocating labor‐intensive production processes to low‐wage countries. But this does not necessarily hurt workers in the high‐wage country. The paper demonstrates an employment‐depressing “relocation effect” and an employment‐enhancing “efficiency effect.” Employment is more likely to rise if the internationality of production is high and if the supply of capital is elastic. Furthermore, the model is capable of explaining intraindustry cross‐hauling.
Currency Invoicing in International Trade: an Empirical Investigation
Authors: Donnenfeld Shabtai , Haug Alfred
Published: May 2003

The authors investigate the choice of currency of invoicing in international trade under exchange rate fluctuations. Predictions derived from a model developed by Donnenfeld and Zilcha in 1991, and others, regarding the optimal choice of currency of invoice are tested for imports into Canada. The authors employ a unique dataset from Customs Canada that covers a six‐year period and lists all currencies used for invoicing by industry. The empirical results support the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between the extent of invoicing in the importer's national currency and exchange rate risk, and a negative relationship between invoicing in the exporter's currency as well as invoicing in a third currency and exchange rate risk. The empirical results further indicate that relative size of a country plays a role in determining the currency of invoicing.
Oligopolistic Competition, Technology Innovation, and Multiproduct Firms
Authors: Ju Jiandong
Published: May 2003

Firms’ proliferation behavior in a differentiated product market is studied using an oligopolistic competition model with multiproduct firms. The model has the following characteristics: (1) the elasticity of substitution across firm's own products and the elasticity of substitution across different firms are allowed to differ; (2) the product managers of the same firm behave cooperatively rather than independently; (3) the number of firms is determined by a free‐entry condition and so is endogenous. If the elasticity of substitution across the firm's own products increases, it is shown that the firm proliferates less and the number of firms in the market increases. If the elasticity of substitution across different firms increases, firms proliferate more and the number of firms in the market decreases.
Pricing‐to‐Market: the Japanese Experience with a Falling Yen and the Asian Crisis
Authors: Uctum Merih
Published: May 2003

The paper examines whether Japanese exporters changed their strategic pricing behavior as a result of the profit squeeze of the late 1980s. It shows that shocks such as the end‐of‐bubble, the prolonged yen depreciation, and the Asian crisis affected export prices. These effects, however, are too small to change the long‐run equilibrium relation between sectoral export prices and their determinants. In particular, results suggest that Japanese exporters are not using the depreciation of the yen to gain market share.
Strategic Environmental Policy under Free Entry of Firms
Authors: Bayındır‐Upmann Thorsten
Published: May 2003

With direct trade barriers banned, governments may be tempted to use indirect policy tools to interfere with trade, such as environmental taxes. The author uses a model of an endogenous market structure, where the number of firms is determined by a zero‐profit condition in one country but is exogenously given in the other country, to show that a government harboring a fixed number of firms fails to affect aggregate supply, and therefore has little scope for improving domestic environmental quality (if pollution is transboundary). Moreover, owing to the absence of a terms‐of‐trade effect, it diverts from the classical strategic tax rule. The author argues that both governments arguably fix their equilibrium emission taxes “too low,” meaning that tax competition plausibly leads to “ecological dumping.”
Trade and Relative Wage in a Global Economy
Authors: Das Satya P.
Published: May 2003

The effects of trade among similar countries and that among dissimilar countries on the relative wage are examined. Product quality is a choice variable by firms. Quantity production is assumed to satisfy constant costs, while quality production is more skilled‐labor intensive than quantity production and obeys increasing costs. Compared to autarky, free trade, by fostering more competition, leads to quality improvement, which in turn tends to increase the relative wage. Trade among similar countries increases the relative wage in all trading countries, while trade among dissimilar countries, in a two‐country model, increases it in one country but may increase or lower it in the other.
Endogenous Restrictions for Least Developed Economies
Authors: Suliman Osman
Published: May 2003

The paper explores appropriate trade restrictions for least developed countries facing external terms‐of‐trade disturbances in terms of minimizing variations in the real sphere of the economy. Two alternative models are explored: export‐subsidy versus import‐tariff endogeneity. The theoretical model indicates that the tariff regime is a more appropriate policy. Empirical evidence from Sudan (1950– 1991) suggests that, although there is some discernable evidence that Sudan followed the tariff regime, the country did not apply the policy correctly, adjusting the tariff mainly in response to foreign import prices rather than foreign export prices, which are more unstable.
Researching Quality of Life in Early Old Age: The Importance of the Sociological Dimension
Authors: Higgs Paul , Hyde Martin , Wiggins Richard , Blane David
Published: May 2003

Measurement of quality of life has become a major feature of much social and epidemiological research in health and social care settings. It is seen as an important alternative to more process‐based outcome measures but remains poorly defined. A major weakness is the absence of any coherent theoretical underpinning whether sociological, psychological or philosophical. Into this conceptual vacuum proxies for quality of life have been introduced. Quality of life [QoL] research into older populations has focused on measures of health and illness as equivalents of QoL. This paper argues that this response is inadequate as it reduces old age to a dimension of health, disability and disease. Instead, we argue that it is necessary to create a theoretically based measure of QoL in early old age which relates to those aspects of later life that are not defined by health. We present a model of QoL that is derived from aspects of contemporary social theory as they relate to the ontology of late modernity. In particular, we utilize a model based upon needs satisfaction. The model contains four domains: Control, Autonomy, Pleasure and Self‐realization. The measure consists of a 19‐item scale. The four domains load on to a single latent QoL factor. We argue that the CASP 19 scale offers an approach to QoL that integrates a sociologically based model of quality of life with a meaningful and valid research instrument.
The Dutch and Danish Miracles Revisited: A Critical Discussion of Activation Policies in Two Small Welfare States
Authors: Oorschot Wim van , Abrahamson Peter
Published: May 2003

Denmark and the Netherlands are usually considered to belong to two different families of welfare states: the Scandinavian and the Continental model respectively. Yet, in both states active labour market policies, or activation, have increased during the 1990s and are currently prominent. Both in Denmark and in the Netherlands activation has been viewed as an important reason for the low unemployment rates which both states have experienced since the early to mid‐1990s, hence explaining the so‐called Dutch and Danish jobs miracles. The paper examines critically the activation measures taken in both countries and their alleged positive effect upon (un)employment. It further examines their effect on rights and obligations from a citizenship perspective. The paper concludes that in both cases the positive development of labour market performance cannot primarily be attributed to activation measures. Furthermore, activation has reduced the entitlements and increased the obligations affiliated with social citizenship.
Slippery Concepts, Shifting Context: (National) States and Welfare in the Veit‐Wilson/Atherton Debate
Authors: Wincott Daniel
Published: May 2003

The debate between Veit‐Wilson and Atherton raises key conceptual questions for the analysis of welfare states. Veit‐Wilson, in particular, focuses on the important, but strangely neglected question of when and why a state qualifies as a welfare state. Atherton usefully draws attention to historical debates about the legitimate purposes of state welfare policies and worthy recipients of state benefits, particularly in the Anglo‐Saxon countries. His contribution may draw our attention to the shifting meaning of concepts (such as poverty) over time. In this contribution I seek to broaden the debate. First, without underestimating the importance of such criteria, rather than presenting one single (normatively based) “discriminating criterion” defining welfare statehood, I argue that other conceptions of “the welfare state” may be useful as well—so long as analysts are clear and explicit about how they are using the phrase. Second, in the current conjuncture of the perceived “transformation” perhaps even “destruction” of the welfare state, historical and comparative research grounded on clear and explicit concepts is crucial.
Test Procedures for Unit Roots in Time Series with Level Shifts at Unknown Time*
Authors: Lanne Markku , Lütkepohl Helmut , Saikkonen Pentti
Published: May 2003

Two types of unit root tests which accommodate a structural level shift at a known point in time are extended to the situation where the break date is unknown. It is shown that for any estimator for the break date the tests have the same asymptotic distribution as the corresponding tests under the known break date assumption. Different estimators of the break date are compared in a Monte Carlo experiment and a recommendation for choosing the break date in small samples is given. Example series from the Nelson–Plosser data set are used to illustrate the performance of our tests.
Are Returns to Schooling Concentrated Among the Most Able? A Semiparametric Analysis of the Ability–earnings Relationships1
Authors: Tobias Justin L.
Published: May 2003

In this paper I explore the relationship between ability and log waves using flexible estimation techniques. I find evidence of nonlinearities in these relationships that vary across levels of schooling, and argue that ability‐sorting into higher education creates problems for accurately identifying the return to schooling over the entire ability support. Over an ability support that is “common” to those with and without a college education, I find that the college log wage premium is incerasing for the more able, and this premium grew during the period 1984–1994 for individuals at all points in the ability distribution. The growth of this wage premium over time also appears to have followed a “smoother” linear path for high‐ability individuals than individuals of lower ability.
The Vikings on the Continent in Myth and History
Authors: Coupland Simon
Published: May 2003

The Vikings have a bad reputation, and it was no different on the Continent in the middle ages where they were regularly portrayed as brutally cruel, devilishly cunning and of superhuman stature. This article examines the evidence for the Vikings’ supposed cruelty, cunning and remarkable height and investigates how true the stereotypes were. What emerges is that all three contained a grain of truth, but led to exaggeration and distortion in later medieval texts and even some ninth‐century sources. There were, for example, tall individuals among the invaders, but little difference overall between the height of the average Frank and the average Dane. There were likewise instances of Scandinavian brutality, but not on a large scale, and they were no worse than acts carried out by the Franks in the same period. Nor, surprisingly, is there clear evidence of Viking rape: certainly they were not known for ‘rape and pillage’ in the ninth century. Finally, though the invaders were capable of duplicity, Carolingian parallels are once again not hard to find. In sum, tales of tall, treacherous and brutal Northmen can be shown to have grown in the telling, and there is an evident gap between the Vikings of myth and the Vikings of history.
‘Memories of the Maimed’: The Testimony of Charles I's Former Soldiers, 1660–1730
Authors: Stoyle Mark
Published: May 2003

Historians have paid little attention to the experiences and attitudes of the ordinary men who enlisted in the royalist armies during the English Civil War: chiefly because such individuals – most of them poor and unlettered – left no formal memoirs of their wartime service behind them. The present article suggests that the petitions for financial relief which were submitted by wounded and impoverished Cavalier veterans after the Restoration can help to bridge this evidential gap and to illuminate the mental world of the king's more humble supporters. By putting the language of the ‘maimed soldiers’ petitions’ under the microscope, it shows how the artisans, husbandmen and labourers who had fought for Charles I viewed the conflict in retrospect. The article begins by considering the strengths and limitations of the petitions themselves and the purposes for which they were initially composed. It then goes on to discuss what these documents reveal: not only about the physical suffering which the king's soldiers had undergone in the field, but also about their views of their comrades, their commanders and their enemies. The article concludes by arguing that the personal and political links which had been forged amid the fiery trials of the Civil War continued to bind together former royalists, of all ranks, for decades after the conflict came to an end.
‘The Hearts of the Millions’: Chartism and Popular Monarchism in the 1840s
Authors: Pickering Paul A.
Published: May 2003

Despite the emergence of an abrasive sense of class‐consciousness during the 1830s, an investigation into the Chartists’ attitudes to monarchy highlights the limits of their challenge. For most Chartists the queen was not the problem. While some Chartists saw a positive role for the ‘pre‐Bagehot monarchy’ in attaining the Charter, others had discovered Bagehot's circumscribed monarchy long before he had. This recognition of the queen's supra‐political status did not necessarily lead to republican conclusions. For many Chartists, Britain's ‘mild monarchy’ was the exception to the republican rule precisely because of its limitations. Either way, many Chartists were prepared to build their campaign for democracy around the monarchy.
Trouble with Helen: The Gladstone Family Crisis, 1846– 1848
Authors: Isba Anne
Published: May 2003

The life of Helen Gladstone (1814–80), younger sister of William Ewart Gladstone, the pre‐eminent statesman of nineteenth‐century Britain, was an unhappy series of rebellions against a Victorian patriarchy that sought to manage her aberrant behaviour by grinding her into submission. Of her life's many low points, the period in her early thirties was perhaps the most profoundly shocking. Unrequited in love, lacking any useful occupation, and alienated from her favourite brother, William, by her conversion to Roman Catholicism, she was depressed and drug‐dependent. Yet, even in despair, she demonstrated a defiance that threatened to turn a private drama into public shame. The way that her brothers and father tried to control her, both physically and mentally, highlights the predicament of many independent yet redundant women in upper‐class Victorian society. In William Gladstone, in particular, Helen brought out a bullying streak unparalleled in his relationships with other people; perhaps he recognized, in her behaviour, the darker side of his own nature and the possible consequences if it were not kept under strict control.
The Trial of Oscar Slater (1909) and Anti‐Jewish Prejudices in Edwardian Glasgow
Authors: Braber Ben
Published: May 2003

This article examines the case of Oscar Slater within the context of Jewish history in the United Kingdom. It argues that Slater's conviction was the result of errors made by the police and judicial authorities and that these errors were made under public pressure. It is shown that the public, police and authorities were influenced by xenophobia and anti‐Jewish feelings. The article illustrates that in Glasgow it was not the often assumed Jewish involvement in political violence, but the growing presence of Jewish immigrants and their alleged participation in crime, especially prostitution, which aroused already existing fears about the condition of society. It is also found that there was another side to public opinion, namely a preparedness to speak out against injustice no matter at whom the wrongdoing was directed. Finally, the article concludes that the case affected the local Jewish population and shaped their responses to local attitudes.