Public expenditure and national income - Time series evidence from Greece

The paper investigates the existence and nature of long-run relationships between Greek national income and four categories of public expenditure. Our results suggest that there exists a positive long-run relationship between GDP on the one hand; and public expenditure and “productive” public consumption on the other, with causality running both ways. There appears to be no long-run relationship between GDP and public-sector personnel expenditure; and GDP and public-debt service expenditure. From that point of view, it would appear that in terms of output growth, the fiscal policy followed by Greece during the 1975-1990 period has rather been ineffective

Debt sustainability, structural breaks and non-linear fiscal adjustment: A testing application to Greek fiscal policy

Non-linear public debt adjustment and structural breaks in fiscal policy may affect tests of public debt sustainability. Existing studies address these issues separately. No study has considered both. We address this gap by focusing on Greece, one of the most highly-indebted EMU countries. We find evidence of previously undetected non-linear fiscal adjustment; and two structural breaks in fiscal policy. Excluding these from the analysis, or allowing for non-linearities only, affects the nature of the empirical findings. Accounting for both, we find Greek public debt to be sustainable. This is in contrast to the findings of previous studies on Greece

Competitiveness and the external trade performance of Greece in the 1990s: a cross-sectoral investigation.

We examine Greece’s external trade following accession to the EU, placing particular emphasis on the 1990s. A large part of our analysis is based on unpublished, disaggregated data sets. Our main findings are: (i) in the 1990s Greece sustained heavy competitiveness losses in those sectors where she traditionally held a comparative advantage; (ii) Greek trade becomes increasingly intra-industry, especially in those sectors where Greece holds a comparative advantage; (iii) regarding imports, EU participation has caused mutually offsetting, stable over time, trade creation for the EU and trade diversion for third countries; (iv) EU participation has not boosted Greek exports. A negative structural break in exports to the Netherlands and Germany (Greece’s most important exporting market) has occurred in the 1990s (v) Demand for Greek exports is highly sensitive to movements of the real exchange rate and presents high income-elasticity. Hence, the deterioration of Greece’s trade deficit in the 1990s is related to the strong-drachma policy and unfavourable external conditions. Overall, our findings indicate that the real sector of the Greek economy has not yet closed the performance gap dividing it from the EMU’s hard core. JEL Classification: F02, F10, F15 Keywords: Greece, EU, trade, competitiveness, 1990s. We would like to thank Christos Ioannidis, Yannis Georgellis and Kul Luintel for useful suggestions and comments. The usual disclaimer applies. *Corresponding author: Michael Arghyrou, Department of Economics and Finance, Brunel University, Uxbridge, London, UB8 3PH; United Kingdom. – e-mail: [email protected]

Fast Dictionary Learning for Sparse Representations of Speech Signals

© 2011 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. Published version: IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing 5(5): 1025-1031, Sep 2011. DOI: 10.1109/JSTSP.2011.2157892

Mutation testing from probabilistic finite state machines

Mutation testing traditionally involves mutating a program in order to produce a set of mutants and using these mutants in order to either estimate the effectiveness of a test suite or to drive test generation. Recently, however, this approach has been applied to specifications such as those written as finite state machines. This paper extends mutation testing to finite state machine models in which transitions have associated probabilities. The paper describes several ways of mutating a probabilistic finite state machine (PFSM) and shows how test sequences that distinguish between a PFSM and its mutants can be generated. Testing then involves applying each test sequence multiple times, observing the resultant output sequences and using results from statistical sampling theory in order to compare the observed frequency of each output sequence with that expected

On the non-negative first-order exponential bilinear time series model

In this paper the bilinear model BL(1,0,1,1) driven by exponential distributed innovations is studied in some detail. Conditions under which the model is strictly stationary as well as some properties of the stationary distribution are discussed. Moreover, parameter estimation is also addressed. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Intramitochondrial sorting of the precursor to yeast cytochrome c oxidase subunit Va.

We have continued our studies on the import pathway of the precursor to yeast cytochrome c oxidase subunit Va (pVa), a mitochondrial inner membrane protein. Previous work on this precursor demonstrated that import of pVa is unusually efficient, and that inner membrane localization is directed by a membrane-spanning domain in the COOH-terminal third of the protein. Here we report the results of studies aimed at analyzing the intramitochondrial sorting of pVa, as well as the role played by ancillary factors in import and localization of the precursor. We found that pVa was efficiently imported and correctly sorted in mitochondria prepared from yeast strains defective in the function of either mitochondrial heat shock protein (hsp)60 or hsp70. Under identical conditions the import and sorting of another mitochondrial protein, the precursor to the beta subunit of the F1 ATPase, was completely defective. Consistent with previous results demonstrating that the subunit Va precursor is loosely folded, we found that pVa could be efficiently imported into mitochondria after translation in wheat germ extracts. This results suggests that normal levels of extramitochondrial hsp70 are also not required for import of the protein. The results of this study enhance our understanding of the mechanism by which pVa is routed to the mitochondrial inner membrane. They suggest that while the NH2 terminus of pVa is exposed to the matrix and processed by the matrix metalloprotease, the protein remains anchored to the inner membrane before being assembled into a functional holoenzyme complex

Cell for simultaneous synchrotron radiation x-ray and electrochemical corrosion measurements on cultural heritage metals and other materials

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Non-linear and non-symmetric exchange-rate adjustment: new evidence from medium and high inflation countries

This paper analyses a model of non-linear exchange rate adjustment that extends the literature by allowing asymmetric responses to over- and under-valuations. Applying the model to Greece and Turkey, we find that adjustment is asymmetric and that exchange rates depend on the sign as well as the magnitude of deviations, being more responsive to over-valuations than under-valuations. Our findings support and extend the argument that non-linear models of exchange rate adjustment can help to overcome anomalies in exchange rate behaviour. They also suggest that exchange rate adjustment is non-linear in economies where fundamentals models work well

Seasonal changes in serum testosterone, 11-ketotestosterone, and 1713-estradiol levels in the brown bullhead, Ictalurus nebuIosus Lesueur

The seasonal changes in gonadosomatic index (GSI) and strum testosterone, I I-ketotestosterone, and 17&estmdiol levels were measured in adult feral brown bullheads, Ictalurus nebulosus Lzsueur. The maximum GSI of both male and femalz brown bullheads was consjderably lower than that of most other teleostean species investigated. lo males, the GSI began to increase in April concomitant with an increase in water temperature from 3 to 6°C. The maximum GSI levels were evident throu_ghout May and June (during the prespawning and spawning periods). Peaks of serum testosterone and serum 11-ketotesrosterone leveb were evident in mid-April and late May to June, and in mid-April and mid-May, respxtively. In females here was a rapid increase in GSI during May, when the ambient water temperamre reached 16°C. The peak GSI was evident in mid- to late-May and had declined by early June. Peak serum testosterone and I 1-ketotestosterone levels were evident .in mid-April and again in late May. wbereas peak 17P-estradiol levels were fou.nd in mid-May and mid-June. The peak serum teswsterone levels in females were 4.5-fold higher than in the males, whereas che I I-ketotestosterone levels were similar in males and females