bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
3D Reconstruction of Complex Polyhedral Shapes from Contours using a Simplified Generalized Voronoi Diagram
Authors: Oliva J‐M. , Perrin M. , Coquillart S. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractWe are interested in modelling the suface of very irregular objects known through a few planar polygonal cross‐sections. This problem is considered difficult when severe topology and morphology variations appear between neighbouring cross‐sections (multi‐branching, holes, disconnected areas). Only few methods deal with this problem in a systematic way.The paper describes an original method allowing to build, in a fully automatic and systematic way, an external surface with a valid topology in any case. It moreover allows to adjust details of the reconstructed surface in view of the morphologies and topologies of the various initial cross‐sectional contours.At first, a global correspondence is operated between each couple of adjacent cross‐sections by extracting polygonal areas of difference. Next steps are based on the computation in each area of difference of the bisector network, a well‐defined simplified generalised Voronoi diagram. This structure is used both for connecting initial contour points and for interpolating new intermediate portions of contours. It depends on the complexity of initial 2D shapes. Interpolation stage is then recursively operated until a satisfactory surface has been obtained or until a maximum number of new intermediate cross‐sectional contours have been built. The valid final suface is directly obtained by concatenating all the tiling areas of difference without need of any post processing step. The processing of several real data related to geological bodies or human organs has proved that the described method allows detailed modelling of irregular objects with very performing CPU times. The reconstruction appears insensitive to severe variations of the object shape, including apparitions of holes or disconnections.
Demand‐Driven Geometry Transmission for Distributed Virtual Environments
Authors: Schmalstieg Dieter , Gervautz Michael 
Published: March 2003

AbstractWe present a strategy for rendering in distributed virtual environments. A geometry database is maintained by a server, while users invoke individual clients to interact with the environment. Instead of downloading a complete copy of the geometry data, the data is distributed on demand, thus gaining signifcant savings in network bandwidth. Our strategy combines several techniques, including levels of detail, progressive refinement and graceful degradation to deliver the data “just in time” over the network to the rendering process. The method allows operate on a tight resource budget, which important if attempting to use low cost systems for virtual reality applications.
Symbiosis of Virtual Reality and Scientific Visualization System
Authors: Haase Helmut 
Published: March 2003

AbstractThis paper describes a concept for the symbiosis of a virtual reality system and a system for scientific visualization, as well as an implementation (called ISVAS‐VR) to evaluate the concept. The idea is to preserve the strengths of both systems in order to help scientists in analyzing their data by means of the joint synergy of both approaches.Motivation for this work is given along with a description of the two individual systems (ISVAS† and Virtual Design). Possible communication schemes are discussed and the communication techniques which were utilized in the implementation are presented, namely shared memory and pipes. Finally, interaction of the user with the compound system is described and a number of application examples are given.
The Role of Non‐Executive Directors in Cyprus Public Companies and their Subsidiaries
Authors: Aloneftis Andreas 
Published: March 2003

Corporate governance practices in Cyprus, despite the shortcomings of the relevant legislation, will continue to evolve to meet changing conditions and increased shareholder awareness but certainly do vary and will persist to vary with those of other nations and cultures.Gradually, it is being accepted that the main corporate objective is enhancing shareholder value, which not only indicates superior competitive performance, but also generally requires awareness to the expectations and aspirations of other stakeholders.Wider transparency and independent supervision of management by boards of directors are the central elements of improved corporate governance but board practices should be subject to unforced adaptation and evolution in an environment of globally understood and accepted minimum standards.There is no single universal model of corporate governance, which could be transplanted nor is there a static final structure which could be easily adopted. The country will have to develop a system of corporate governance which will fit its respective culture and values. Therefore, we can learn a great deal from observing developments in other countries and encourage experimentation and variety.
The Development of Technological Creativity through Project Work
Authors: Hong Jon‐Chao , Sheu Shu‐Wu 
Published: March 2003

Working in research and development groups and development groups and using actual materials, the learners acquire the abilities of systematic thinking and problem solving in completing the multifunction robot project. Moreover, the learners keep a record of data and messages collected in various stages of robot design and production. They also have to use thinking skills to locate problems and keep looking for better ways to modify and improve on their ideas until the robot function as it is originally intended to.A creativity‐developing, and learning experiment is described involving the design of a multi‐function robot. We conclude that the development of creative capabilities is enhanced when the design processes are accompanied by reflection and reporting procedures.
Review article: Property, ideology and the territorial power of the papacy in the early Middle Ages
Authors: Costambeys Marios 
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed in this article:F. Marazzi,I Patrimonia Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae nel Lazio (secoli IV–X). Struttura amministrativa e prassi gestionali.C. Azzara, L'ideologia del potere regio nel papato altomedievale (secoli VI–VIII).
The legal framework of the EC single market
Authors: QC Martin Howe 
Published: March 2003

The European single market is underpinned by Community law, which is supreme and directly applicable in national courts. But the UK loses out because of disparities between national legal systems, and because Community law is interpreted to serve the political objective of European unity. There are several possible intermediates between full EU membership and complete withdrawal.There is no legal barrier to the UK's exit from the EU should it wish to take that step.
Monetary targets: an unfinished experiment?
Authors: Pepper Gordon , Oliver Michael J. 
Published: March 2003

The memoirs of Chancellors of the Exchequer and the retirement speeches of officials indicate that monetary targets were adopted in the second half of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s primarily in an attempt to manage expectations in financial markets, to stop them from behaving in an undesirable way, and not as an intermediate target to control nominal GDP, as monetarists advocated.Gordon Pepper is Honorary Visiting Professor, City University Business School, and Michael J. Oliver is Senior Lecturer in Economics and Economic History, Sunderland Business School.
Women’s unemployment during transition
Authors: Ham John C. , Svejnar Jan , Terrell Katherine 
Published: March 2003

We analyse women’s weekly probabilities of leaving unemployment in the Czech and Slovak Republics (CR and SR) in order to investigate three questions: 1) Why are unemployment rates much lower in the CR than the SR?; 2) Does the unemployment compensation scheme (UCS) substantially lengthen unemploy‐mentspells?; and 3) Why are women’s unemployment rates higher than men’s? We find that differences in the behaviour of the individuals, employers and institutions in the SR and CR (as measured by differences in coefficients) play a larger role in determining the CR’s shorter female unemployment spells than do differences in measured demand and demographic variables. The UCS has only a moderate effect on duration and its impact is greater in the CR. The differences between men’s and women’s spells (in each republic) are explained more by differences in coefficients than by differences in observed characteristics.JEL classification: C41, H53, J23, J64, O15, P2.
Enterprise restructuring and bank competition in transition economies
Authors: Schnitzer Monika 
Published: March 2003

We investigate how bank competition affects the efficiency of credit allocation, using a model of spatial competition. Our analysis shows that bad loans are more likely the larger the number of banks competing for customers. We study further how many banks will be active if market entry is not regulated. Free entry can induce too much entry and thus too many bad loans compared to the social optimum. Finally we analyse how bank competition affects the restructuring efforts of firms. We find that restructuring has positive externalities which give rise to multiple equilibria, with either much or little restructuring activity.JEL classification: D43, G21, G34, L13, P31, P34.
Cross‐sectional analysis of Swedish stock returns with time‐varying beta: the Swedish stock market 1983–96
Authors: Asgharian Hossein , Hansson Björn 
Published: March 2003

This paper analyses the ability of beta and other factors, like firm size and book‐to‐market, to explain cross‐sectional variation in average stock returns on the Swedish stock market for the period 1983–96. We use a bivariate GARCH(1,1) process to estimate time‐varying betas for asset returns. The estimated variances of these betas, derived from a Taylor series approximation, are used for correcting errors in variables. An extreme bound analysis is utilized for testing the sensitivity of the estimated coefficients to changes in the set of included explanatory variables.Our results show that the estimated conditional beta is a more accurate measure of the true market beta than the beta estimated by OLS. The coefficient for beta is not significantly different from zero, while the variables book‐to‐market and leverage have significant coefficients, and the latter coefficients are also robust to model specification. Excluding the down turn 1990–92 from the sample shows that the significance of the risk premium for leverage might be considered as an industry effect during this extreme period. Finally, we find a close dependence between the risk premium for beta and that for size and book‐to‐market. The omission of each of these variables may cause statistical bias in the estimated coefficient for beta.
Why Do Companies List Shares Abroad?: A Survey of the Evidence and Its Managerial Implications
Authors: Karolyi G. Andrew 
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this monograph is to survey the academic literature on the economic implications of the corporate decision to list shares on an overseas stock exchange. My focus is on the valuation and liquidity effects of the listing decision, and the impact of listing on the company's global risk exposure and its cost of equity capital. The evidence shows:(1) share prices reacts favorably to cross‐border listings in the first month after listing;(2) post‐listing price performance up to one year is highly variable across companies depending on the home and listing market, its capitalization, capital‐raising needs and other company‐specific factors;(3) post‐listing trading volume increases on average, and, for many issues, home‐market trading volume increases also;(4) liquidity of trading in shares improves overall, but depends on the increase in total trading volume, the listing location and the scope of foreign ownership restrictions in the home market;(5) domestic market risk is significantly reduced and is associated with only a small increase in global market risk and foreign exchange risk, which can result in a net reduction in the cost of equity capital of about 126 basis points;(6) American Depositary Receipts represent an effective vehicle to diversify U.S.‐based investment programs globally;(7) stringent disclosure requirements are the most important impediment to cross‐border listings.
Race and Gender in the United States of America
Authors: Chessum Lorna 
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed in this article:Nell Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life, a SymbolAnn D. Gordon (ed.), The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, vol. 1, In the School of Anti‐Slavery 1840‐1866Ann D. Gordon with Bettye Collier‐Thomas, John H. Bracey, ArleneVoski Avakian and Joyce Avrech Berkman (eds), African AmericanWomen and the Vote 1837‐1965
Downward Nominal Rigidity in West German Earnings, 1975-95
Authors: Beissinger Thomas , Knoppik Christoph 
Published: March 2003

Abstract
If downward nominal wage rigidity exists, it should affect the distribution of earnings changes. We present a common analytical framework for three distinct and previously unconnected approaches to the analysis of downward nominal rigidity, the skewness±location approach, the symmetry approach and the histogram±location approach. We modify them by dropping the assumption of time-invariant rigidity and apply them to earnings data from the IABB-escha Èftigtenstichprobe (IABS). We find that the distribution of West German log earnings changes is indeed affected by downward nominal rigidity. Our modification of the approaches also allows us to find that the degree of nominal rigidity depends on business cycle conditions, with weaker rigidity in times of rising unemployment. Our findings support the critics of very low inflation targets.
Defining The Genre Of Bonaventura’s Nachtwachen
Authors: Katritzky Linde 
Published: March 2003

The enigmatic text of the anonymous Nachtwachen. Von Bonaventura has consistently baffled critics. Its meaning has largely remained elusive and its structure has resisted logical decoding. Yet most interpretative difficulties disappear when the text is considered as a menippean satire, the genre dealing with questions of life and death, and with the tragicomic reaction of mankind to the challenge they represent.The Nachtwachen fit easily into this tradition originating from Greek philosophy. This view is supported by the literary criticism of Northrop Frye, and particularly by that of the Russian Mikhail Bakhtin, who tabulated a number of generic characteristics and intellectual menippean conventions, all of which relate to Bonaventura’s text and reveal a veritable compendium of eighteenth‐century concerns. Though the identity of the author may remain in doubt, we have, therefore, to focus on a personality of quite unusual erudition and intelligence.
Long Memories: The German Student Movement in Recent Fiction
Authors: Cornils Ingo 
Published: March 2003

This article examines three novels about the German Student Movement published in 2001. While ‘1968’ continues to divide the nation, Leander Scholz's Rosenfest, Erasmus Schoöfer's Ein Frühling irrer Hoffnung, and Uwe Timm's Rot supply the reader with a sensitive ‘Innenansicht’ of the movement. They portray the definitive moments of individual or collective experience at the time, but they also set those experiences in relation to the present. As the process of literary representation is slowly being replaced by one of remembering and re–evaluation, temporal distance paradoxically allows for greater honesty and authenticity when dealing with problematic aspects of the movement such as violence, ‘open’ relationships, and idealism. It becomes clear that these three novels are less nostalgic than the ‘literarisierte Revolte’ is commonly perceived to be. The counter–cultural nature of the movement has certainly left its mark on Scholz, Schöfer and Timm: while consciously contributing to a cultural memory, they assert the continuing relevance of the students’ utopian dream.Ist es tatsächlich schon 30 Jahre her, daß wir die Revolution machen wollten. Käme es heute zur Revolution, die Leute würden denken, es sei eine Werbeveranstaltung.
State Unemployment Differentials: Equilibrium Factors vs. Differential Employment Growth
Authors: PARTRIDGE MARK D. , RICKMAN DAN S. 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACT:Differentials in U.S. state unemployment rates were persistent in the early 1990s. In addition, states with higher employment growth did not necessarily have the lowest unemployment rates. Thus, this paper examines the differentials in U.S. state unemployment rates from 1992 to 1994, decomposing them into the parts that were due to differences in recent employment growth, and those that were due to longer‐term equilibrium factors. Also, using the shift‐share model, employment growth differences are decomposed into an industry mix component and a competitiveness component. The decomposition of the 1992 to 1994 unemployment rate differentials is based on an econometric equation estimated using panel data from 1972 to 1991. Explanatory equilibrium factors included in the model are amenities, demographic characteristics, education, industry composition, labor mobility, and wage rates.
Interdependence of Retail Businesses
Authors: HARRIS THOMAS R. , SHONKWILER J. SCOTT 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTPrevious studies employing the trade area analysis procedure of pull factors assume retail sectors are independent. However, interdependencies exist between and among retail sectors. Employing a multivariate Tobit procedure, the agglomerative aspects of retail trade can be captured. Results indictate that interdependencies exist between retail sectors and if these retail interdependencies are ignored, extension and outreach retail sector programs may prove to be ineffective.
Student Loans: are the Policy Objectives being Achieved?
Authors: Winn Sandra , Stevenson Richard 
Published: March 2003

This paper examines two of the stated objectives of the government’s student loans scheme, ‘to increase the resources available to students’ and ‘to increase economic awareness among students, and their self reliance’. Following Farrell and Tapper (1992) we also consider a third, less explicit objective, that of exerting an influence on the shape of higher education itself, through economic pressure on students to select courses that are earnings related and vocationally oriented.The results of a survey of a random sample of students conducted annually between 1992 and 1996 at the University of Brighton demonstrate a substantial increase in student debt over this period. Among students increasing support for the principles underlying the loan scheme was found, as were high levels of ‘economic awareness’ and ‘self‐reliance’. There was no evidence of a demand for changes in the pattern of course provision and it is suggested that this is because of the way in which students have responded to their changed financial situation, in particular the high reliance of many on part‐time employment in preference to student loans and a desire to maximise current rather than future earnings.
The Construction of Episcopal Sanctity in Early Anglo‐Saxon England: the Impact of Venantius Fortunatus*
Authors: Coates Simon 
Published: March 2003

Abstract
This article examines the manner in which early Anglo‐Saxon episcopal sanctity was shaped by the writings of Venantius Fortunatus, the prolific, and yet sometimes neglected, Italian hagiographer and poet who was to end his days as bishop of Poitiers. Firstly, the manner in which Fortunatus's works shaped the literary form of Anglo‐Saxon episcopal hagiography is examined. Secondly, the debt which the various Vitae of Cuthbert owed to Fortunatus is explored. Here it is emphasized that Bede's two Vitae differed from the earlier anonymous Life by their heavier use of Fortunatus's writings promoting the cult of St. Martin of Tours. It is also shown how Fortunatus's re‐shaping of the Martinian cult in the light of his own classical background as a hagiographer bears marked similarities to the manner in which Bede reshaped the Cuthbert cult in line with his own concerns. The article then turns to the much more developed use of Fortunatus's writings as a guide to the construction of episcopal sanctity which was made by Alcuin. It shows how Alcuin's strong emphasis on the urban background of the bishops of York was derived from the Gallic tradition. The article concludes by stressing that although knowledge of Fortunatus's works in early Anglo‐Saxon England is difficult to trace, they could have been known from Ireland where Fortunatus in particular had helped to shape the hymnody of the early Irish Church. However, given Alcuin's more extensive knowledge of the works, it is more likely that his own time on the continent ensured his richer knowledge of Fortunatus's works.
The Silent Years of London Guild History before 1300: the Case of the Mercers
Authors: Sutton Anne F. 
Published: March 2003

Abstract
The first surviving mention, in 1304, of the Mercers’ Company of London acting as a body, shows it already fully conscious of its rights and the value of the freedom of the city, and this article discusses how the mistery had arrived at this point. It is suggested that the earliest mistery of mercers received their first regulations as artisans, and that it was the need to protect the privileges of the city's freedom, so important to itinerant mercers, which may have combined the great merchant and the lesser dealer-artisan into one mistery of mercers.
The Corporation of Hull and the Government of James II, 1687–8
Authors: Short M. J. 
Published: March 2003

Abstract
In 1688 James II's government attempted to pack parliament by extensively remodelling local office-holding. This article uses the records of the Hull corporation, in particular a newly-discovered letterbook, to re-examine the campaign's impact on one large freeman borough. It concludes that, although government agents failed to browbeat the mayor and aldermen into nominating suitable candidates, their royally-appointed successors would almost certainly have secured the election of ‘right’ M.P.s. By focusing on the presumed intractability of voter opinion, historians have overlooked the government's potentially far more productive intervention in the nomination process. Indeed, if Hull's experience is typical, James's campaign was by no means predestined to fail.
Dugdale's History of Imbanking and Drayning: a ‘Royalist’ Antiquarian in the Sixteen‐Fifties*
Authors: Willmoth Frances 
Published: March 2003

Abstract
Because of its overtly propagandist associations, William Dugdale's History of Imbanking and Drayning (1662) has been ignored by historians or at best dismissed as inferior to his other writings. Examination of its content, however, suggests that it deserves some credit as a carefully‐researched piece with some genuinely innovative features. The drainage company's records reveal how Dugdale was commissioned to write the work: his skills as an antiquarian were valued as a means of strengthening the company's uncertain legal position, both before and after the Restoration. Recognition that this episode was centred upon the late sixteen‐fifties shows up the unreliability of Dugdale's 1681 autobiography; his motives for the misrepresentation can only be conjectured.
The Monmouthshire Election of 1771
Authors: Thomas Peter D. G. 
Published: March 2003

Abstract
The case study of the Monmouthshire contest of 1771 forms a corrective to recent views on the freedom of election in pre‐reform Britain. The underlying lesson is the power of the great landed estates, with appeal to popular opinion being mainly for propaganda effect. Light is also thrown on electoral procedures, such as after‐poll speeches, a new practice and a motive for compiling a poll‐book.