3,021 research outputs found
Rhetoric in the language of real estate marketing
No full text“Des. Res.”, “rarely available”, “viewing essential” – these are all part of the peculiar parlance of housing advertisements which contain a heady mix of euphemism, hyperbole and superlative. Of interest is whether the selling agent’s penchant for rhetoric is spatially uniform or whether there are variations across the urban system. We are also interested in how the use of superlatives varies over the market cycle and over the selling season. For example, are estate agents more inclined to use hyperbole when the market is buoyant or when it is flat, and does it matter whether a house is marketed in the summer or winter? This paper attempts to answer these questions by applying textual analysis to a unique dataset of 49,926 records of real estate transactions in the Strathclyde conurbation over the period 1999 to 2006. The analysis opens up a new avenue of research into the use of real estate rhetoric and its interaction with agency behaviour and market dynamics
A Reconsideration of Environmental Federalism
No full textThis paper provides a review and assessment of the debate over environmental federalism-the issue of the roles of different levels of government in environmental management. The paper begins with the presentation of three benchmark cases that provide a framework for thinking about the issue. It then offers a review, first of the theoretical literature and second of some new, provocative empirical literature on the race to the bottom. The paper contends that there remains, under certain circumstances, an important role for decentralized government in the setting of environmental standards and the design of regulatory programs. The central government, in addition to setting standards for "national" pollutants, has a fundamental contribution to make in supporting research in environmental science and pollution control technology and in providing needed information and guidance to state and local governments.environmental federalism, environmental management, environmental policy, environmental regulation
sj-bib-3-jim-10.1177_1045389X211048220 – Supplemental material for The maximum entropy method for data fusion and uncertainty quantification in multifunctional materials and structures
No full textSupplemental material, sj-bib-3-jim-10.1177_1045389X211048220 for The maximum entropy method for data fusion and uncertainty quantification in multifunctional materials and structures by Wei Gao, Paul R Miles, Ralph C Smith and William S Oates in Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures</p
sj-bst-2-jim-10.1177_1045389X211048220 – Supplemental material for The maximum entropy method for data fusion and uncertainty quantification in multifunctional materials and structures
No full textSupplemental material, sj-bst-2-jim-10.1177_1045389X211048220 for The maximum entropy method for data fusion and uncertainty quantification in multifunctional materials and structures by Wei Gao, Paul R Miles, Ralph C Smith and William S Oates in Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures</p
sj-cls-1-jim-10.1177_1045389X211048220 – Supplemental material for The maximum entropy method for data fusion and uncertainty quantification in multifunctional materials and structures
No full textSupplemental material, sj-cls-1-jim-10.1177_1045389X211048220 for The maximum entropy method for data fusion and uncertainty quantification in multifunctional materials and structures by Wei Gao, Paul R Miles, Ralph C Smith and William S Oates in Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures</p
Tobin meets Oates: Solidarity and the optimal fiscal federal structure
No full textWe explore the implications for the optimal degree of fiscal decentralization when people’s preferences for goods and services, which classic treatments of fiscal federalism (Oates, 1972) place in the purview of local governments, exhibit specific egalitarianism (Tobin, 1970), or solidarity. We find that a system in which the central government provides a common minimum level of the publicly provided good, and local governments are allowed to use their own resources to provide an even higher local level, performs better from an efficiency perspective relative to all other systems analyzed for a relevant range of preferences over solidarity.fiscal decentralization, specific egalitarianism, solidarity, externalities.
Voting, lobbying, and the decentralization theorem
No full textThis paper revisits the well-known fiscal "Decentralization Theorem" of Oates(1972), by relaxing the role of the assumption that governments are benevolent, while retaining
the assumption of policy uniformity. If instead, decisions are made by direct majority voting, the theorem fails. Speci…cally, (i) centralization can welfare-dominate
decentralization even if there are no externalities and regions are heterogenous; (ii) decentralization can welfare-dominate centralization even if there are positive externalities and regions are homogenous. The intuition is that the insensitivity of majority voting to preference intensity interacts with the different inefficiencies in
the two …scal regimes to give second-best results. Similar results obtain when governments are benevolent, but subject to lobbying, because now decisions are too sensitive to the preferences of the organized group. The conclusion is that the Decentralization Theorem is not robust to relatively minor and standard deviations away from the benchmark of purely benevolent government
VLT and Suzaku observations of the Fermi pulsar PSR J1028-5819
No full textContext. The launch of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in 2008 opened new perspectives in the multi-wavelength studies of neutron stars, with more than 100 γ-ray pulsars having since been detected. While most Fermi pulsars had previously been observed in the X-rays with Chandra and XMM-Newton, optical observations with 8 m-class telescopes exist for only a tiny fraction of them. Aims. We aim to search for optical emission from the Fermi pulsar PSR J1028-5819 (P = 91.4 ms). With a spin-down age τ ∼ 90 kyr and a rotational energy loss rate of Ä-∼ 8.3 × 10 35 erg s -1, PSR J1028-5819 can be considered a transition object between the young, Vela-like pulsars and the middle-aged ones. At a distance of ∼2.3 kpc and with a relatively low hydrogen column density PSR J1028-5819 is a good potential target for 8 m-class telescopes. Methods. Owing to its recent discovery, no optical observations of this pulsar have been reported so far. We used optical images taken with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the B and V bands to search for the optical counterpart of PSR J1028-5819 or constrain its optical brightness. At the same time, we used an archival Suzaku observation to confirm the preliminary identification of the pulsar's X-ray counterpart obtained by Swift. Results. Owing to the large uncertainty in the pulsar's radio position and the presence of a bright (V = 13.2) early F-type star at 4″ (star A), we are unable to detect its counterpart down to flux limits of B ∼ 25.4 and V ∼ 25.3, the deepest obtained so far for PSR J1028-5819. From the Suzaku observations, we find that the X-ray spectrum of the pulsar's candidate counterpart is best-fit by a power-law with spectral index Γ X = 1.7 ± 0.2 and an absorption column density N H < 10 21 cm -2, which would support the proposed X-ray identification. Moreover, we find possible evidence of diffuse emission around the pulsar. If real and associated with a pulsar wind nebula (PWN), its surface brightness and angular extent would be compatible with the expectations for a ∼100 kyr old pulsar at the distance of PSR J1028-5819. Conclusions. A far more accurate radio position for PSR J1028-5819 is necessary to better determine its position relative to star A. Future high-spatial resolution observations with both the HST and Chandra will be more able to distinguish the optical emission of PSR J1028-5819 from the halo of star A and confirm the existence of the candidate PWN. © 2012 ESO.link_to_subscribed_fulltex
Open destinies : modern American women and the short story cycle
No full textThis thesis examines the juncture between the short story cycle form and gender politics. It explores how twentieth-century women from the United States have been using the form to represent and question gender identity. The introduction outlines commentaries on the story cycle and considers definitions of the form. It includes case studies of earlier twentieth-century cycles by American women: cycles such as Mary McCarthy's The Company She Keeps that have been passed over by critics of the form.
Chapter One presents Eudora Welty's The Golden Apples as a cycle paradigm, examining conventions such as the form's metafictional dimension and its preoccupation with communal identity. Chapter Two argues that Grace Paley's scattered Faith narratives set a standard for more dispersed versions of the form. Chapter Three considers how Joyce Carol Oates uses the sequential cycle to represent gender identity as a social construct. Chapters Four and Five examine the macrocosmic cycles of Gloria Naylor and Louise Erdrich and consider changes in their form and gender politics. The final 'composite' chapters explore postmodern versions of the form such as Susan Minot's Monkeys. The prose works of Sandra Cisneros stretch across the story cycle continuum, whilst Toni Morrison's Paradise is universally regarded as a novel. Readings of contemporary cycles by Melissa Bank, Elissa Schappell and Emily Carter demonstrate that American women are re-invigorating the form to facilitate the plural identity of the postmodern heroine
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