Positive Terms of Trade Shocks and Structural Adjustment in Sub Saharan Africa

Recent research has developed and tested a theoretical framework for analysing the macro and micro economic effects of temporary positive external trade shocks in small open developing economies (Bevan et al., 1990). The findings, termed ‘construction boom theory’, suggest that the extent to which a boom’s transient windfall income is converted into a permanent income gain depends upon the savings responses of the public and private sectors and their ability to allocate savings among different fixed and financial assets. The nature of the economic policy regime plays a crucial role. An extensive system of controls over prices, interest rates, imports and foreign asset purchases is likely to induce a sub-optimal allocation of the windfall resources and to depress rates of return to saving and thus permanent income gains. Moreover, an inappropriate macroeconomic policy response during the boom (especially an excessive expansion of public spending, rapid growth of the money supply and an appreciation of the real exchange rate) may have very serious adverse consequences for external and internal macroeconomic imbalances during and/or following the end of the boom. Macroeconomic problems include excessively large construction booms, declining tradeables output, over-extended public sectors, unsustainable public deficits, overvalued exchange rates and inflation. Many of these problems ultimately contributed to the need for the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) which have been under way in much of sub-Saharan Africa for well over a decade. The aim of this article is to assess these SAPs from the standpoint of whether the reforms have left adjusting countries in a better position to manage temporary positive external trade shocks or commodity price booms in three important respects: diversifying the economy; efficiently saving and investing boom income; and appropriately managing the macro-economy in the face of a positive trade shock

The Voluntary Adjustment of Railroad Obligations

Automatic memory management techniques eliminate many programming errors that are both hard to find and to correct. However, these techniques are not yet used in embedded systems with hard realtime applications. The reason is that current methods for automatic memory management have a number of drawbacks. The two major ones are: (1) not being able to always guarantee short real-time deadlines and (2) using large amounts of extra memory. Memory is usually a scarce resource in embedded applications. In this paper we present a new technique, Real-Time Reference Counting (RTRC) that overcomes the current problems and makes automatic memory management attractive also for hard real-time applications. The main contribution of RTRC is that often all memory can be used to store live objects. This should be compared to a memory overhead of about 500% for garbage collectors based on copying techniques and about 50% for garbage collectors based on mark-and-sweep techniques

Towards energetically viable asymmetric deprotonations : selectivity at more elevated temperatures with C2-symmetric magnesium bisamides

A novel chiral magnesium bisamide has enabled the development of effective asymmetric deprotonation protocols at substantially more elevated temperatures. This new, structurally simple, C2-symmetric magnesium complex displays excellent levels of asymmetric efficiency and energy reduction in the synthesis of enantioenriched enol silane

Simulation and life cycle assessment of algae gasification process in dual fluidized bed gasifiers

We present simulation results for the production of algae-derived syngas using dual fluidized bed (DFB) gasifiers.Part of this work was funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) grant programme, “Carbon Abatement Technologies, Phase 2 competition for collaborative R&D and feasibility”, Grant No. TS/J004553. MK acknowledges support by the Singapore National Research Foundation under its Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise (CREATE) program.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2015/GC/c4gc01698j#!divAbstract

Gladiator Gear: The unintended consequences of protective equipment in gridiron football compared to rugby union

Sports equipment has evolved over time to both enhance performance and reduce the injury risk. Protective equipment is particularly important in contact sports where injuries are frequent. In American and Canadian football, helmets and shoulder pads are two pieces of protective equipment that are strictly implemented to absorb hits of massive force to reduce the risk of head and upper body injuries respectively. While the risk of injury is reduced, the athlete's calculated perspective of risk might be altered. This change in risk equilibrium has the potential unintended consequence of the individual foregoing caution and playing in a faster and more aggressive style. This altered behavior not only increases the individual's own injury risk, but also puts other athletes who are on the receiving end of contact at greater risk. This displacement of risk is particularly dangerous when an athlete is hit in an area that is unprotected and vulnerable, or in an area where the equipment is not as effective as perceived. Drawing on existing research, theories of risk in sport, and qualitative interviews with 11 male, adult athletes who have competed in both football with significant protective equipment and rugby with minimal protective equipment, this study examines the relationships and potential disjuncture between sports equipment changes, athlete perceptions of injury risks, and actual injury risks. The purpose of this study is to compare physical contact, safety, and risk between the two high-contact sports, focusing on the different uses of mandated, protective equipment