bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Characterization
Authors: Rushton Julian
Published: June 2015

Chapter 15 discusses what Joseph Kerman has called “the most obvious” contribution of music to an opera, characterization. The primacy of music in this respect has been disputed, notably by Peter Kivy, who considers musical characterization to be an illusion. The chapter suggests that a rounded characterization in opera results from collaboration between poet, composer, and singer, and it reaches audiences through music as much as through words and plot. It takes issue with Edward T. Cone’s view that operatic characters are themselves composers, and that diegetic music in opera is impossible; and it discusses operatic acting with reference to a critique by David Hare. Examples are taken from operas by Verdi and Wagner, and allusion is made to, among others, Gluck, Mozart, Weber, Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Puccini, Berg, and Britten.
Divas and Divos
Authors: Poriss Hilary
Published: June 2015

Chapter 17 presents an analysis of the most important themes occupying the growing field of diva and divo studies and an overview of the field’s most compelling research. It opens with an exploration of the stereotype of the diva/divo as divine monster and then takes into consideration its binary opposition, that of the normal, down-to-earth, hard-working musician. This chapter then turns toward one of the most important concepts currently enlivening scholarship on singers: the idea that as a collaborative art form, the responsibility for the creation of operatic works falls, in part, on the shoulders of its practitioners, that they too possess artistic authority. By way of drawing both of these sections together, this chapter concludes with a case study of Angelica Catalani, a prima donna whose life and career embody both the stereotype of the diva and the authority of the creative artist.
The Chorus
Authors: Minor Ryan
Published: June 2015

This chapter discusses the opera chorus throughout its history as a lightning rod for operatic reform, focusing in particular on the fluctuations of its dramatic and political responsibilities. In opera, the chorus’s dramaturgical role has frequently indexed the genre’s concerns more generally: referencing the chorus of ancient Greek tragedy by providing reflective commentary; providing a human spectacle to populate the scenic one; or embodying the sentiments of nationalism and other mass politics. But this chapter also makes the case that eighteenth-century debates over verisimilitude—particularly the idealized dramaturgy of spontaneous utterance by individuals, not groups—effectively removed the opera chorus from a central role in the genre. Although the chorus obviously remained a persistent presence on the operatic stage, it has struggled to recoup the dramaturgical grounding it enjoyed in earlier centuries.
Dance
Authors: Tomko Linda J.
Published: June 2015

Studies of dance and opera in the past twenty years have issued chiefly from scholars working in the discipline of musicology, in some instances also from dance history and dance studies; collaborative investigations occur relatively infrequently. This chapter analyzes two modes of inquiry that have characterized research and debates about dance and opera in Europe of the seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. These are a materializing approach, one that tracks the “stuff” of dance in opera, including its aesthetics, performance practices, and repertoires, and a culturalist approach, which queries how dance and movement practices in and in connection with opera take action in and with respect to their historical, political, and social surrounds. A case study of Mark Morris’s late twentieth-century filmic Dido and Aeneas illuminates the debates through a performance optic.
Autographs, Memorabilia, and the Aesthetics of Collecting
Authors: Macchione Daniela
Published: June 2015

This chapter discusses music collecting as another expression of the music market and publishing industry. Music collecting is an activity closely associated with music-producing systems, but in the musicological arena, the phenomenon of “collecting” as a broader human phenomenon tout-court—a historical, socio-anthropological, economic manifestation of the same system—appears to be a field of only marginal interest, little explored and only rarely confronted as a topic for autonomous research, consigned, rather, to studies of a bibliographic nature, catalogues, and essays on single collections, collectors, or antiquarian firms. Also important to this discussion are reflections on the social dynamics of the production and transmission of collectible objects, specifically the privately owned autographs that circulate under the radar and inspire the work conducted in OperaCat.
Race and Racism
Authors: Graziano John
Published: June 2015

Few researchers have addressed the issues of racism in the West that were central to the exclusion of African-American and Asian singers from mainstream white opera companies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This chapter examines the alternative careers of some of these nineteenth-century singers. From Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, the first African-American soprano, who achieved some renown in musical circles in the United States and England, to Emma Louise Hyers, who sang operatic excerpts in their own traveling company, to the international success of Sissieretta Jones, the “Black Patti,” the chapter traces the venues and repertory where they performed. Twentieth-century singers whose careers are examined include Lillian Evanti, Theodore Drury, Catarina Jarboro, and Tamaki Miura. The final part of the chapter addresses the question of blind casting and its changing significance as opera enters the electronic realm, with HD broadcasts and DVDs.
Gender
Authors: Wilson Alexandra
Published: June 2015

This chapter considers recent approaches to gender in opera studies, with a particular emphasis on the historical gendering of the operatic genre. It takes as a central case study Sir Thomas Beecham’s attempts to popularize and politicize opera in 1920s Britain by “masculinizing” the art form. The article analyzes and contextualizes the highly charged rhetoric used by Beecham’s Imperial League of Opera (ILO) and in its symbolically titled journal, MILO, which evoked Milo of Croton, the great athlete of the ancient world. The promotion of opera by the ILO was framed as a military campaign being waged on two fronts: against Britain’s foreign cultural rivals and against perceived British philistinism. The ILO’s appropriation of heroic classicism demonstrates how opera intersected in surprising ways with interwar debates about masculinity, imperialism, and national identity.
Critics
Authors: Watt Paul
Published: June 2015

Opera has been a ripe topic for critics for centuries. The blend of music, words, and dramaturgy has made for a potent mix of elements on which critics have long delivered judgment. This chapter argues that opera criticism is borne not necessarily out of the act of passing judgment alone but is motivated by numerous social, intellectual, and economic interests. Critics past and present have included composer-critics, dilettantes, and intellectuals, who bring to criticism a variety of approaches and agendas through various media such as books, newspaper articles, and blogs. This chapter discusses cases studies from Britain with representative critics that include John M. Robertson, W. J. Galloway, Ernest Newman, and Barry Millington, while periodicals discussed in detail include the National Reformer, the Sunday Times, and the Speaker.
Soundings Offstage
Authors: Christensen Thomas
Published: June 2015

This chapter considers the critical role of keyboard transcription in the dissemination of opera through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. An astounding quantity of such arrangements was published during this time throughout Europe: simplified variations and potpourris for amateur pianists to play on the harpsichord or piano-forte, prosaic piano-vocal scores of full operas, and more virtuosic paraphrases and fantasies on operatic themes for professional salon and concert artists. Although this music has often been criticized as mere commercial ephemera distorting the integrity of the original music, a more generous view is suggested in which the transcriptional economy is seen to contribute positively to the literacy and aesthetic values of amateur pianists. Through these genres of transcription, operatic music enjoyed a vibrant life outside the opera house for some two centuries—in many ways as crucial to the reception and understanding of opera as what took place on stage.
Visual Media
Authors: Citron Marcia J.
Published: June 2015

This chapter discusses opera’s relationship with film and other visual media, a fascinating example of media convergence. Scholars have approached opera and film from various perspectives and drawn from many fields, including film music, cinema studies, media studies, and sound studies. The genre of opera-film has emerged as a major focus. Though the operas of many composers have received filmic treatment and elicited critical interest, this article pays special attention to Puccini in film and especially his opera Tosca. Giuseppe Patroni Griffi’s “live film” Tosca (1992), broadcast live from the original locations at the designated times of day, is an experiment in authenticity and technology that advances a global agenda but reveals the inherent tensions of a “live film.” In contrast, Benoît Jacquot’s Tosca (2001) foregrounds the manufactured nature of opera-film by fragmenting elements and creating a hyper-realism that renders the film a highly innovative example of its genre.
Improvisation, Time, and Opportunity in the Rhetorical Tradition
Authors: Norton Glyn P.
Published: June 2015

This chapter traces the origins of improvisation as a principle of classical rhetoric emerging from Greek declamation. The work of Alcidamas, contemporary of Plato, figures prominently in this survey with its seminal treatment ofkairos, the Greek concept of timeliness and opportunity. With Cicero and Quintilian, theex tempore dicendi facultasis incorporated fully in the theoretical underpinnings of rhetorical Latinity with reverberations in 15th- and 16th-century neo-Latin humanism. Extemporaneity is further highlighted and developed in the work of major Renaissance authors like Erasmus, Castiglione, and Rabelais, where the theme of timeliness and extemporaneity reemerge in vernacular literary texts. The pervasiveness of these rhetorical settings for discussions of extemporal time finds corroborating support in the wide popularity of the emblem tradition in the 16th century. With the publication of Nicolas Bérault’s treatise on improvisation in 1534, the topic achieves full theoretical legitimacy as a feature of neoclassical rhetorical thought.
Predatory Pricing
Authors: Elzinga Kenneth G. , Mills David
Published: June 2015

Predatory pricing occurs when a dominant firm adopts a strategy of charging prices below cost in order to drive rivals out of business—with the prospect of charging high prices in the future and recouping its losses. The economic conditions required for this strategy to be effective are constrained. Current antitrust case law, notably the Court’s Brooke Group decision, provides reasonable criteria for identifying genuine cases of predation.
Predatory Buying
Authors: Lopatka John
Published: June 2015

In theory, a buyer with monopsony power can exclude competitors and increase its power by engaging in predatory buying. The practice involves increasing the price paid for an input above the monopsony price that would otherwise prevail to achieve an anticompetitive effect. A buyer may profit solely by inflicting a loss on suppliers of the input, if it does not compete with input buyers in an output market and lowers input price after competing buyers are excluded. A buyer may also profit if it is a monopolist in an output market and does not compete in that market with competing buyers or competes with at least a group of the same competitors in both the input and output markets, using higher input prices to increase the costs of competing output sellers. But the use of predatory buying as an anticompetitive strategy in these contexts has different economic and legal implications.
Competitive Discounts and Antitrust Policy
Authors: Murphy Kevin , Topel Robert , Snyder Edward
Published: June 2015

This chapter deals with a broad class of quasi-exclusive, vertical agreements that we refer to as “quantity commitment discounts” (QCDs), though they are often referred to as “loyalty discounts,” as they appear to exchange price concessions for a buyer’s loyalty to a particular brand. As the discussion in section 5.2 indicates, law and policy have not evolved to yield clear standards for judging QCDs. Section 5.3 covers the basic economics of QCDs. Section 5.4 evaluates the circumstances when QCDs may cause harm to competition. We demonstrate that QCD agreements that would arise absent an ability or intent to exclude rivals might nevertheless do so, and might also cause ancillary harm to competition. Section 5.5 assesses the various means of testing for potential harm, discussing interpretations of the so-called attribution test and its flaws as well as other indicators of potential harm.
Treatments of Monopolization in Japan and China
Authors: Lin Ping , Ohashi Hiroshi
Published: June 2015

This chapter reviews how monopolization is treated under Japan’s 1947 antimonopoly law and China’s 2008 antimonopoly law. In addition to describing the relevant legal provisions, it also focuses on the economic principles and reasoning that have been adopted in both countries, as reflected in their laws and supplementing guidelines and regulations, and court rulings. Lastly, the chapter attempts to provide a comparative perspective on the legal and enforcement structures of these two countries. While Japan’s AMA and China’s AML have different historical roots, this chapter finds a number of similarities in the legal structure and enforcement of monopolization conduct.
Monopolization in Developing Countries
Authors: Heimler Alberto , Mehta Kirti
Published: June 2015

In developing countries, legal provisions that prohibit abusive behavior often have a wider application than in the EU or in the US. China’s law is also concerned with abuse of administrative power, Russia’s law overstresses unequal contracts conditions, India’s law takes over the idea of “unfair” pricing and often considers leveraging an abuse. These wider in scope provisions are meant to discipline dominant firms that are strong and connected. However, also an independent enforcer is necessary. Independence of the enforcing authorities may be strengthened by introducing binding presumptions for opening a proceeding. The chapter ends with enforcement examples from China, India, Russia, South Africa, and a number of other developing countries from Africa and Latin America.
Exclusive Dealing
Authors: Marvel Howard
Published: June 2015

Exclusive dealing is a vertical restraint that requires distributors of a supplier’s products to purchase most or all of the products or services that they offer for sale within a product category from that supplier, thereby excluding competing products of rival suppliers from those distributors. Exclusive dealing will likely remain a controversial segment of antitrust policy. There are clearly strong procompetitive reasons for its use in a wide variety of settings. But since suppliers can create property rights to customers unilaterally, and, given locked-in distributors, can enforce those property rights with anticompetitive effects, the boundaries of efficient and therefore permissible exclusive dealing will continue to be fought over for the foreseeable future. Standards, at least in the United States, have become must more lenient over time. But it is unlikely that any dominant firm will be able to adopt exclusive dealing without triggering charges that its actions harm competition.
Vertical Restraints Across Jurisdictions
Authors: Winter Ralph , Iacobucci Ed
Published: June 2015

Firms in a vertical relationship strike contracts that maximize joint surplus. If an increase in surplus from vertical restraints results from effects within the supply chain itself, competition policy should not intervene even if the restraints raise prices. Vertical restraints typically benefit a supply chain by correcting incentives of downstream firms to make self-interested decisions that do not serve the collective interest of the chain. In a wide variety of circumstances, for example, retailers compete excessively in prices rather than non-price dimensions such as sales effort. Vertical restraints can, on the other hand, have anticompetitive effects by facilitating cartelization of an upstream or downstream market. Only where vertical restraints negatively affect competition between supply chains should the law intervene. Antitrust law in the US increasingly reflects these principles, while the law in the EU remains overly interventionist.
Banking in a Post-Crisis World
Authors: Berger Allen N. , Molyneux Philip , Wilson John O. S.
Published: June 2015

This chapter provides a brief review of the recent financial crisis, the policy and banking industry responses to it around the world, and the resultant renaissance in banking research. This research suggests a need to better understand: financial development and the role of the state; financial innovation and the links to risk-taking; the optimal scale and scope of banks; and liquidity risk and creation. The chapter also provides a brief summary of the 39 additional chapters which make up the second edition of The Oxford Handbook of Banking.
Complexity and Systemic Risk
Authors: Herring Richard J. , Carmassi Jacopo
Published: June 2015

This chapter updates and extends our earlier work on the corporate complexity of large international banks (chapter 8 in the first edition of this handbook). Much has happened since 2007, when that first version was published. At that time, the issue of large, complex financial institutions had just begun to catch the attention of some policymakers, but the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 highlighted the problem. The Lehman crisis revealed that policymakers were totally unprepared to resolve a large, cross-border financial institution without causing damaging spillovers or requiring taxpayer support. After the crisis, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) negotiated a framework for the resolution of the so-called globally systemically important banks (G-SIBs) to be adopted by each member country. The chapter begins with an overview of G-SIBs, and examines how their complexity has changed since the crisis. We then consider what corporate structure banks would prefer in the absence of tax and regulatory constraints. Next we introduce tax and regulatory constraints and show that they appear to motivate a considerable amount of corporate complexity. Finally, we analyze some post-crisis policy initiatives to tackle the too-big-to-fail (TBTF) problem and improve the resolution framework. Our conclusion emphasizes the importance of enhancing transparency and market discipline to deal with these problems and urges that the authorities reexamine some of the tax and regulatory factors that have motivated banks to adopt increasingly complex corporate structures.
Universal Banking
Authors: Morrison Alan D.
Published: June 2015

Universal banks provide banking, insurance, and other financial products under a single corporate umbrella. While universal banking has been the norm in Germany since the nineteenth century, it was uncommon until recently in other countries, and was proscribed by regulators in the United States. I examine the theory and evidence that explains historical patterns of universal banking; I discuss in detail academic work concerning the Glass–Steagall Act, which separated commercial from investment banking in the US, and I outline evidence concerning the efficiency of modern universal banks. I provide a technological explanation for the recent growth in universal banking, and I relate this explanation to the early work of Gerschenkron (1962). Finally, I outline the emerging post-crisis regulatory consensus over universal banking, and I identify serious problems in writing useful rules for universal banks.
Measuring the Performance of Banks
Authors: Hughes Joseph P. , Mester Loretta J.
Published: June 2015

The unique capital structure of commercial banking—funding production with demandable debt that participates in the economy’s payments system—affects various aspects of banking. It shapes banks’ comparative advantage in providing financial products and services to informationally opaque customers, their ability to diversify credit and liquidity risk, and how they are regulated, including the need to obtain a charter to operate and explicit and implicit federal guarantees of bank liabilities to reduce the probability of bank runs. These aspects of banking affect a bank’s choice of risk vs. expected return, which, in turn, affects bank performance. This chapter gives an overview of two general empirical approaches to measuring bank performance and discusses some of the applications of these approaches found in the literature. One application explains how better diversification available at a larger scale of operations generates scale economies that are obscured by higher levels of risk-taking. Studies of banking cost that ignore endogenous risk-taking find little evidence of scale economies at the largest banks while those that control for this risk-taking find large scale economies at the largest banks—evidence with important implications for regulation.
Consumer Lending
Authors: Durkin Thomas A. , Elliehausen Gregory
Published: June 2015

Consumer lending involves intertemporal transactions typically provided by financial intermediaries operating in an environment with imperfect information. This suggests the possibility of default risk and credit rationing. Economists have studied these matters extensively and have developed sophisticated models of lending decisions. In recent decades automated information systems known as credit reporting agencies (or credit “bureaus”) have arisen to improve the availability of information to lenders, and statistical methodologies collectively called credit scoring have been employed to improve the quality of lending decisions and to make them more consistent. For centuries, governments have regulated lending to individuals. Among the more important modern methods have been attempts to improve market transparency through required disclosures. There also are many additional governmental restrictions on lending and lending practices.
Residential Mortgages
Authors: Donadio Gregory , Lehnert Andreas
Published: June 2015

Mortgages are loans to households secured by real property. Mortgage banking has historically comprised three functions: origination (the extension of credit), servicing (payment collection), and funding (financing the loans). Regulatory developments, technological advances, and demand from investors led to the separation of these three functions. Mortgages funding moved towards securitization, contributing to the growth of the shadow banking system. These developments were at the heart of the 2002–06 credit boom in the US and the ensuing financial crisis. Research since then has focused on the causes of the credit boom, the connection between credit growth and house prices, the optimal strategy for modifying mortgages, and the scope for regulation of mortgage markets to promote financial stability—a key part of so-called “macroprudential” policy. Since the financial crisis, underwriting standards have tightened dramatically, both because of new regulations and because of lenders’ increased caution following the outsized credit losses of the financial crisis.
Securitization
Authors: Casu Barbara , Sarkisyan Anna
Published: June 2015

Securitization, a structured process involving the transformation of illiquid assets into marketable securities, experienced an exponential growth in the 1990s and early 2000s. After a prolonged period of rapid expansion, securitization markets froze in 2008, as investors lost confidence in structured products. This chapter charts the rise and fall of securitization and attempts to map the future of the market by identifying the key issues that need to be addressed: (1) the alignment of incentives; (2) the reduction of complexity; (3) increase in transparency; and (4) improvements in the use of credit ratings. Despite its controversial role during the 2007–08 financial crisis, the economic importance of securitization is undeniable. Several policy interventions at the national and international levels have recently been enacted to accelerate the recovery of the market, as there is an emerging consensus that the benefits of high-quality securitization outweigh the costs and that this technique can play a key role to foster economic recovery and growth.
Shadow Bank Monitoring
Authors: Ashcraft Adam B. , Adrian Tobias , Cetorelli Nicola
Published: June 2015

We provide a framework for monitoring the shadow banking system. The shadow banking system consists of a web of specialized financial institutions that conduct credit, maturity, and liquidity transformation without direct, explicit access to public backstops. The lack of such access to sources of government liquidity and credit backstops makes shadow banks inherently fragile. Shadow banking activities are often intertwined with core regulated institutions such as bank holding companies, security brokers and dealers, and insurance companies. These interconnections of shadow banks with other financial institutions create sources of systemic risk for the broader financial system. We provide elements of monitoring risks in the shadow banking system, including recent efforts by the Financial Stability Board.
Lender of Last Resort and Bank Closure Policy
Authors: Freixas Xavier , Parigi Bruno M.
Published: June 2015

During the last 20 years a consensus has emerged that it is impossible to disentangle liquidity shocks from solvency shocks. As a consequence, the classical lender of last resort (LOLR) rules, as defined by Thornton and Bagehot and which is based on lending to solvent illiquid institutions, appears ill-suited to this environment. We summarize here the main contributions that that consider this new paradigm and discuss how institutional features relating to bank closure policy influences lender of last resort and other safety net issues. We devote particular emphasis to the analysis of systemic risk and contagion in banking and the role of the lender of last resort to prevent it. We argue that the financial crisis that began in 2007 redefines the functions of the lender of last resort of the twenty-first century placing it at the intersection of monetary policy, fiscal policy, supervision, and regulation of the banking industry, and the organization of the interbank market.
Risk-Based Regulatory Capital and the Basel Accords
Authors: Gordy Michael B. , Heitfield Erik A. , Wu Jason
Published: June 2015

Regulators impose minimum capital adequacy requirements on banks to mitigate moral hazard and reduce systemic risk and deadweight loss arising from bank failures. The Basel II reform to the original 1988 Basel Accord aimed to better align regulatory capital requirement with banks’ own risk management practices. In the wake of the financial crisis that began in 2008, Basel III addresses many of the shortcomings revealed. This chapter reviews the development of the Basel Accords and in particular the theoretical and empirical underpinnings for the derivation of capital requirements.
Competition in Banking
Authors: Degryse Hans , Morales-Acevedo Paola , Ongena Steven
Published: June 2015

This chapter combines recent findings from the empirical banking literature with established insights from studies of banking competition and regulation. It starts with a concise overview and assessment of the different methodological approaches taken to address banking competition. While market structure indicators are readily available, they may not be overly informative about the competitive conditions in banking markets. The literature has focused to date on “non-market structure” indicators such as the Panzar-Rosse H-statistic, the Lerner index, and the Boone indicator. The chapter then structures a discussion on the empirical findings based upon a framework that finds its roots in the different theories of financial intermediation. Many other specific approaches to infer banking competition are discussed, in particular, the impact that regulation and information-sharing between banks may have on banking competition.
Systemically Important Banks (SIBs) in the Post-Crisis Era
Authors: Barth James R. , Nolle Daniel E. , Li Tong (Cindy) , Brummer Chris
Published: June 2015

Policymakers around the world continue to respond vigorously to the problems in financial systems brought into high relief by the global financial crisis which began in 2008. However, the overall understanding of these responses remains rather vague and limited. Our study contributes to improving the state of knowledge by focusing on one particularly relevant issue, the regulation and supervision of systemically important banks (SIBs). We first present a “global view” by explaining the role of G20 and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in reforming the global financial system, with special focus on systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs). We then provide an overview of SIFI initiatives in 135 countries, using the new data collected by the World Bank on post-crisis regulation and supervision. We conclude that, despite substantial progress at both the national and international levels, regulators face an uphill battle, a point underscored by the discussion in our penultimate section of legal issues bearing on cross-border regulation of SIBs.
Systemic Risk in Banking after the Great Financial Crisis
Authors: Hartmann Philipp , De Bandt Olivier , Peydró José Luis
Published: June 2015

The chapter provides a comprehensive analysis of systemic risk in banking, as the primary ingredient in understanding financial crises that cause severe negative effects for the real sector. First, the important analytical elements of systemic risk are integrated into a coherent working concept. Three sources of systemic risk are distinguished, taking into account interactions between banks and asset prices, as well as the role of liquidity: contagion effects, aggregate and the endogenous buildup and unraveling of widespread financial imbalances. Ex ante (preventive) and ex post (crisis management) public policy to contain systemic risk and financial crises (including macroprudential policy) are also discussed. Second, the existing theoretical and empirical literature about systemic risk is reviewed in light of the previously developed general concept and on the basis of the experience of thefinancial crisis that started in the summer of 2007.
Banking in the European Union
Authors: Goddard John , Molyneux Philip , Wilson John O. S.
Published: June 2015

The European banking industry has been influenced by a wide range of regulatory developments. The deregulation that has taken place until the credit crisis reduced or eliminated many of the lines of demarcation between banks and other financial service providers, and helped to facilitate both domestic and cross-border competition. The credit crisis of 2007–08 and the more recent European sovereign debt crisis have led to large losses and the failure and closure of many banks, and forced the intervention of both central banks and governments in domestic banking systems. It is against this background that this chapter discusses the recent evolution of the European industry along with a discussion of the latest regulatory developments, which include plans for a European Banking Union.
Banking in Africa
Authors: Beck Thorsten , Cull Robert
Published: June 2015

This chapter takes stock of the current state of banking systems across sub-Saharan Africa and discusses recent developments including innovations that could help Africa leapfrog more traditional banking models. Using an array of different data, the chapter documents that African banking systems are shallow but stable. African banks are well capitalized and over-liquid, but lend less to the private sector than banks in non-African developing countries. African enterprises and households are less likely to use financial services than their peers in other developing countries. The chapter also describes a number of financial innovations across the continent that can help overcome different barriers to financial inclusion and have helped to expand the bankable and the banked population.
Banking in Transition Countries
Authors: Bonin John P. , Hasan Iftekhar , Wachtel Paul
Published: June 2015

Modern banks were virtually non-existent in the planned economies of Central Europe and former Soviet Union. In the transition period, banking sectors developed during years of macroeconomic decline and repeated bank crises. Governments eventually dealt successfully with the accumulated bad loans and poor regulation. Rapid progress in bank privatization and consolidation took place in the late 1990s and early 2000s, usually with the participation of foreign banks. By mid-2000s, banking sectors in many transition countries were dominated by foreign banks offering a wide range of services. Credit growth resumed, sometimes too rapidly, particularly in the form of lending to households. The global financial crisis put transition banking to the test. Countries that had expanded credit rapidly were vulnerable to the macroeconomic shock and there was considerable concern that foreign owners would reduce their funding to transition country subsidiaries. However, the banking sectors turned out to be resilient.
Annual parallax measurements of a Mira variable star, U Lyncis
Authors: Kamezaki Tatsuya , Nakagawa Akiharu , Omodaka Toshihiro , Handa Toshihiro , Inoue Kan-ichiro , Kurayama Tomoharu , Kobayashi Hideyuki , Nagayama Takumi , Ueno Yuji
Published: June 2015

We have measured the annual parallax of the water maser around a Mira star, U Lyncis (U Lyn) with VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA). The value of the parallax is 1.27 ± 0.06 mas, corresponding to a distance of $786^{+40}_{-36}\:$pc. This is the first VLBI measurement of the parallax of U Lyn. We obtained the period and the apparent magnitude of U Lyn based on near-infrared observations with the Kagoshima University 1 m telescope. The period and the mean magnitude of the K′ band are 437.9 day and +1.15 ± 0.09 mag, respectively. Using our measured parallax and period, we find that the location of U Lyn on the period–luminosity plane is consistent with its nature as a Mira variable fundamental mode pulsator. Also, we estimated the distance using the period–luminosity relationship, our period and apparent magnitude and this gave a difference of about 100 pc between our parallactic distance and the distance estimated by using the period–luminosity relationship. We estimated the luminosity, radius, and mass of U Lyn to be 10100 ± 420 L⊙, 391 ± 34 R⊙, and 1.9 ± 0.7 M⊙, respectively. We found 50 water maser spots with a distribution ∼ 13 au around the star and the motion implies the existence of an outflow.
Evolution of dinosaur epidermal structures
Authors: Barrett Paul M. , Evans David C. , Campione Nicolás E.
Published: June 2015

Spectacularly preserved non-avian dinosaurs with integumentary filaments/feathers have revolutionized dinosaur studies and fostered the suggestion that the dinosaur common ancestor possessed complex integumentary structures homologous to feathers. This hypothesis has major implications for interpreting dinosaur biology, but has not been tested rigorously. Using a comprehensive database of dinosaur skin traces, we apply maximum-likelihood methods to reconstruct the phylogenetic distribution of epidermal structures and interpret their evolutionary history. Most of these analyses find no compelling evidence for the appearance of protofeathers in the dinosaur common ancestor and scales are usually recovered as the plesiomorphic state, but results are sensitive to the outgroup condition in pterosaurs. Rare occurrences of ornithischian filamentous integument might represent independent acquisitions of novel epidermal structures that are not homologous with theropod feathers.
The organization and control of an evolving interdependent population
Authors: Vural Dervis C. , Isakov Alexander , Mahadevan L.
Published: June 2015

Starting with Darwin, biologists have asked how populations evolve from a low fitness state that is evolutionarily stable to a high fitness state that is not. Specifically of interest is the emergence of cooperation and multicellularity where the fitness of individuals often appears in conflict with that of the population. Theories of social evolution and evolutionary game theory have produced a number of fruitful results employing two-state two-body frameworks. In this study, we depart from this tradition and instead consider a multi-player, multi-state evolutionary game, in which the fitness of an agent is determined by its relationship to an arbitrary number of other agents. We show that populations organize themselves in one of four distinct phases of interdependence depending on one parameter, selection strength. Some of these phases involve the formation of specialized large-scale structures. We then describe how the evolution of independence can be manipulated through various external perturbations.
Physical role of topological constraints in localized magnetic relaxation
Authors: Yeates A. R. , Russell A. J. B. , Hornig G.
Published: June 2015

Predicting the final state of turbulent plasma relaxation is an important challenge, both in astro-physical plasmas such as the Sun's corona and in controlled thermonuclear fusion. Recent numerical simulations of plasma relaxation with braided magnetic fields identified the possibility of a novel constraint, arising from the topological degree of the magnetic field-line mapping. This constraint implies that the final relaxed state is drastically different for an initial configuration with topological degree 1 (which allows a Taylor relaxation) and one with degree 2 (which does not reach a Taylor state). Here, we test this transition in numerical resistive-magnetohydrodynamic simulations, by embedding a braided magnetic field in a linear force-free background. Varying the background force-free field parameter generates a sequence of initial conditions with a transition between topological degree 1 and 2. For degree 1, the relaxation produces a single twisted flux tube, whereas for degree 2 we obtain two flux tubes. For predicting the exact point of transition, it is not the topological degree of the whole domain that is relevant, but only that of the turbulent region.
Paws, pads and plants: the enhanced elasticity of cell-filled load-bearing structures
Authors: Mihai L. Angela , Alayyash Khulud , Goriely Alain
Published: June 2015

Paws, fat pads and plants share a remarkable structure made up of closed cells with elastic cell walls capable of supporting large loads and deformations. A key challenge is to understand how the function of these structures is enhanced by their geometric and material design. To do so, we compare different elastic models operating in large strain deformation when the cells are empty or filled with an incompressible liquid or solid core. We demonstrate theoretically, for three different cell geometries, that the elastic modulus in a direction associated with the change of curvature in the cell wall (i) is greater when the cell is filled; (ii) increases as the internal cell pressure increases; and (iii) increases also as the thickness of the cell wall increases or when the wall is multi-layer. As these results do not depend on the choice of the strain-energy function describing the cell-wall material, they are valid for a wide range of structures made from different elastic materials. For multiple cells deforming together due to external forces, the increase in elastic modulus of the cell walls under increasing core pressure is found numerically throughout the structure.
Mountain uplift explains differences in Palaeogene patterns of mammalian evolution and extinction between North America and Europe
Authors: Eronen Jussi T. , Janis Christine M. , Chamberlain C. Page , Mulch Andreas
Published: June 2015

Patterns of late Palaeogene mammalian evolution appear to be very different between Eurasia and North America. Around the Eocene–Oligocene (EO) transition global temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere plummet: following this, European mammal faunas undergo a profound extinction event (the Grande Coupure), while in North America they appear to pass through this temperature event unscathed. Here, we investigate the role of surface uplift to environmental change and mammalian evolution through the Palaeogene (66–23 Ma). Palaeogene regional surface uplift in North America caused large-scale reorganization of precipitation patterns, particularly in the continental interior, in accord with our combined stable isotope and ecometric data. Changes in mammalian faunas reflect that these were dry and high-elevation palaeoenvironments. The scenario of Middle to Late Eocene (50–37 Ma) surface uplift, together with decreasing precipitation in higher-altitude regions of western North America, explains the enigma of the apparent lack of the large-scale mammal faunal change around the EO transition that characterized western Europe. We suggest that North American mammalian faunas were already pre-adapted to cooler and drier conditions preceding the EO boundary, resulting from the effects of a protracted history of surface uplift.
Cognitive capacities for cooking in chimpanzees
Authors: Warneken Felix , Rosati Alexandra G.
Published: June 2015

The transition to a cooked diet represents an important shift in human ecology and evolution. Cooking requires a set of sophisticated cognitive abilities, including causal reasoning, self-control and anticipatory planning. Do humans uniquely possess the cognitive capacities needed to cook food? We address whether one of humans' closest relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), possess the domain-general cognitive skills needed to cook. Across nine studies, we show that chimpanzees: (i) prefer cooked foods; (ii) comprehend the transformation of raw food that occurs when cooking, and generalize this causal understanding to new contexts; (iii) will pay temporal costs to acquire cooked foods; (iv) are willing to actively give up possession of raw foods in order to transform them; and (v) can transport raw food as well as save their raw food in anticipation of future opportunities to cook. Together, our results indicate that several of the fundamental psychological abilities necessary to engage in cooking may have been shared with the last common ancestor of apes and humans, predating the control of fire.
Reproductive skew drives patterns of sexual dimorphism in sponge-dwelling snapping shrimps
Authors: Chak Solomon Tin Chi , Duffy J. Emmett , Rubenstein Dustin R.
Published: June 2015

Sexual dimorphism is typically a result of strong sexual selection on male traits used in male–male competition and subsequent female choice. However, in social species where reproduction is monopolized by one or a few individuals in a group, selection on secondary sexual characteristics may be strong in both sexes. Indeed, sexual dimorphism is reduced in many cooperatively breeding vertebrates and eusocial insects with totipotent workers, presumably because of increased selection on female traits. Here, we examined the relationship between sexual dimorphism and sociality in eight species of
Synalpheus
snapping shrimps that vary in social structure and degree of reproductive skew. In species where reproduction was shared more equitably, most members of both sexes were physiologically capable of breeding. However, in species where reproduction was monopolized by a single individual, a large proportion of females—but not males—were reproductively inactive, suggesting stronger reproductive suppression and conflict among females. Moreover, as skew increased across species, proportional size of the major chela—the primary antagonistic weapon in snapping shrimps—increased among females and sexual dimorphism in major chela size declined. Thus, as reproductive skew increases among
Synalpheus
, female–female competition over reproduction appears to increase, resulting in decreased sexual dimorphism in weapon size.
Uncovering DELLA-Independent Gibberellin Responses by Characterizing New TomatoproceraMutants
Authors: Livne Sivan , Lor Vai S. , Nir Ido , Eliaz Natanella , Aharoni Asaph , Olszewski Neil E. , Eshed Yuval , Weiss David
Published: June 2015

Gibberellin (GA) regulates plant development primarily by triggering the degradation/deactivation of the DELLA proteins. However, it remains unclear whether all GA responses are regulated by DELLAs. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) has a single DELLA gene named PROCERA (PRO), and its recessive pro allele exhibits constitutive GA activity but retains responsiveness to external GA. In the loss-of-function mutant proΔGRAS, all examined GA developmental responses were considerably enhanced relative to pro and a defect in seed desiccation tolerance was uncovered. As pro, but not proΔGRAS, elongation was promoted by GA treatment, pro may retain residual DELLA activity. In agreement with homeostatic feedback regulation of the GA biosynthetic pathway, we found that GA20oxidase1 expression was suppressed in proΔGRAS and was not affected by exogenous GA3. In contrast, expression of GA2oxidase4 was not affected by the elevated GA signaling in proΔGRAS but was strongly induced by exogenous GA3. Since a similar response was found in Arabidopsis thaliana plants with impaired activity of all five DELLA genes, we suggest that homeostatic GA responses are regulated by both DELLA-dependent and -independent pathways. Transcriptome analysis of GA-treated proΔGRAS leaves suggests that 5% of all GA-regulated genes in tomato are DELLA independent.
Development of mobile applications from existing Web-based enterprise systems
Authors: Barroca Filho Itamir de Morais , Aquino Júnior Gibeon Soares
Published: June 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to identify and propose strategies for development of mobile applications from Web-based enterprise systems and introduce a process called Metamorphosis. This process provides a set of activities subdivided into four phases – requirements, design, development and deployment – to assist in the creation of mobile applications from existing Web information systems.

Design/methodology/approach

– With the aim to provide a background to propose the Metamorphosis process, a systematic review was performed to identify strategies, good practices and experiences reported in the literature about creation of mobile applications.

Findings

– This paper identifies and proposes strategies for development of mobile applications from Web-based enterprise systems and introduces a process called Metamorphosis. Then, this process is applied for creation of SIGAA Mobile.

Originality/value

– The originality of this paper is the proposal of Metamorphosis process, that is, a process for development of mobile applications from Web-based enterprise systems.