332 research outputs found
As Southern Africa faces new urban drought challenges, who is heeding the wake-up call?
No full textAs experts forecast the likelihood of El Nino in southern Africa over the next few months, Kate Gannon, Patrick Curran and Declan Conway examine the impact of drought-related water and electricity supply disruption on businesses in southern Africa during the 2015/16 El Niño
Taking the temperature – forecasting GDP growth for mainland China
No full textWe present a new composite leading indicator of economic activity in mainland China, es-timated using a dynamic factor model. Our leading indicator is constructed from three se-ries: exports, a real estate climate index, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange index. These series are found to share a common, unobservable element from which our indicator can be identified. This indicator is then incorporated into out-of-sample one-step-ahead forecasts of Chinese GDP growth. Recursive out-of-sample accuracy tests indicate that the small-scale factor model approach leads to a successful representation of the sample data and provides an appropriate tool for forecasting Chinese business conditions.forecasting; China; leading indicator; factor model; growth cycles
“I Will Rise Again”: The Life and Legacy of the U.S.S. Monitor
No full textAbout the author:
Declan Riley Kunkel is an award winning writer, author, and consultant. Originally from Fort Worth, Texas, Declan writes about history, politics, and philosophy. He is pursing a degree in history at Yale
Economic Growth across Space and Time: subprovincial Evidence from Mainland China
No full textWe present a new composite leading indicator of economic activity in mainland China, estimated using a dynamic factor model. Our leading indicator is constructed from three series: exports, a real estate climate index, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange index. These series are found to share a common, unobservable element from which our indicator can be identified. This indicator is then incorporated into out-of-sample one-step-ahead forecasts of Chinese GDP growth. Recursive out-of-sample accuracy tests indicate that the small scale factor model approach leads to successful representation of the sample data and provides an appropriate tool for forecasting Chinese business conditions.Regional Economic Growth, China
Declan Kiberd. The Irish Writer and the World
No full textThe Irish author and the world is a collection of nineteen articles originally published by Declan Kiberd between 1978 and 2003. A note on the text specifies that the articles have not been altered in order to be included in this volume. They are not arranged in chronological order, which is accounted for in the introduction. The introductory chapter gives useful information on the political and cultural context – either specifically Irish or more global – in which the articles were originall..
Declan Kiberd. The Irish Writer and the World
No full textThe Irish author and the world is a collection of nineteen articles originally published by Declan Kiberd between 1978 and 2003. A note on the text specifies that the articles have not been altered in order to be included in this volume. They are not arranged in chronological order, which is accounted for in the introduction. The introductory chapter gives useful information on the political and cultural context – either specifically Irish or more global – in which the articles were originall..
British regional growth and sectoral trends: global and local spatial econometric approaches
No full textInternational audienceThis paper looks beneath the surface of British sub-regional aggregate GVA growth over the period 1995-2007, by examining how the differing growth dynamics of the secondary and services sectors have influenced the overall regional growth process. A spatial econometric analysis is undertaken which tests regional secondary and services real GVA per capita for absolute and conditional convergence at the NUTS 3 level. Both local and global spatial analysis techniques are utilised in order to gain a detailed insight into the growth process over the period 1995-2007. A number of explanatory factors influencing secondary and services sector regional economic growth are also identified
Hydroxyapatite-zirconia composites and strontium-hydroxyapatite for skeletal applications
No full textHydroxyapatite (HA) is inherently bioactive and is successfully used in non-load
bearing skeletal applications. However, its use in load-bearing applications is limited
due to its poor mechanical properties, particularly under tensional and torsional stresses.
For this reason HA is employed in non-load bearing clinical applications such as
implant coatings or as bone fillers. In the work contained herein, nano-sized zirconia
(ZrO2) is employed as a filler phase in an attempt to improve HA’s mechanical
properties. HA was synthesised at four temperatures: 6oC, 25oC, 45oC and 65oC. The
resultant powders were characterised in the green state using x-ray fluorescence (XRF),
dilatometry, x-ray-diffraction (XRD), BET and high-temperature XRD to determine the
synthesis temperature that offers the most suitable stoichiometry and resistance to
decomposition when sintering. ZrO2 (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 wt%) was added to the most
promising laboratory synthesised HA. Although HA reinforcement by the incorporation of ZrO2 is reported in the literature, high temperatures of over 1400°C are commonly required to sinter these composites to high density; temperatures at which HA is thermally unstable. The literature reports that microwave sintering (MS) can increase both density and mechanical properties in ceramic bodies with shorter processing times and at lower sintering temperatures than conventional sintering regimes. On account of this, microwave sintering was employed in this study to sinter the HA-ZrO2 composites
at 700oC, 1000oC and 1200oC; in addition to comparative sintering in a conventional
(CS) furnace. The 700oC samples do not undergo any appreciable densification,
irrespective of sintering method. Increasing ZrO2 decreases density of both the CS and
MS samples from approximately 88% to 85% in the 1200oC samples. Increasing amounts of ZrO2 had no significant effect on the biaxial flexural strength (BFS) of the
composites. The BFS of the samples sintered at 1000oC ranged from 30-45MPa, while
the samples sintered at 1200oC ranged from 60-85MPa. Statistically the hardness of the
materials is not affected by ZrO2 incorporation, although the MS 1200oC samples do show increased maximum hardness values with added ZrO2. The hardness values for the CS and MS samples sintered at 1000oC range from 0.5 to 1.5GPa, while the samples
sintered at 1200oC range from 1.7 to 3GPa. The volume fraction porosity was
determined as the main controlling factor in both the BFS and hardness of the CS and
MS samples over the temperature range 700oC to 1200oC, however at specific sintering
temperatures other secondary controlling factors have increased control over BFS and
hardness. SEM analysis showed that the ZrO2 particles collected in the grain boundaries, thereby reducing grain boundary diffusion in both the CS and MS samples.
HA was subsequently doped with strontium (Sr2+) ions in an attempt to increase
bioactivity, as Sr positively influences bone remodelling. Successful synthesis of
strontium-hydroxyapatite (Sr-HA) was achieved, as determined by XRD, Fourier
transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).
5% Sr incorporation resulted in stabilisation of a number of phases with an increase in BFS from 85MPa to 120MPa in the MS samples. A decrease in the maximum BFS
resulted in the CS samples, from 120MPa to 47MPa. The MS samples doped with 10%
Sr experienced approximately no change in BFS while the CS samples experienced an
increase in the maximum BFS from 47MPa to 73MPa. The maximum hardness for the
5% Sr-HA CS and MS samples increases from between 2GPa (MS) and 3GPa (CS) to
approximately 4.7GPa for both regimes. This remained unchanged for the 10% Sr-HA
samples. With 5% Sr dopant, the HA phase was stabilised in both sintering regimes,
however with increased 10% Sr dopant levels, decomposition increased. β-TCP is
stabilised in the CS samples with no α-TCP generation. This does not occur in the MS
samples due to destabilising effects of the microwave field. The 10% Sr-HA displayed
excellent bioactive properties in a successful animal trial
'The Great British Famine of 1845 to 1850'? Ireland, the UK and peripherality in famine relief and philanthropy
No full textIn the Company of Strangers
No full textRuby and Cat's friendship was forged on an English dockside sixty years ago when, as terrified children, they were shipped off to Australia. It was a friendship that was supposed to last a lifetime but when news of Cat's death reaches Ruby in London, it comes after years of estrangement. Declan too has drifted away from Cat but is forced back to her lavendar farm, Benson's Reach, by the terms of her will. He turns to his troubled friend Alice, who is desperate for a refuge. Can the magic of Benson's Reach triumph over the hurt of the past? Or is Cat's duty-laden legacy simply too much for Ruby and Declan to keep alive?" - Back cover
- …
