Suchergebnisse

We study the effects of a bank's engagement in trading. Traditional banking is relationship-based: not scalable, long-term oriented, with high implicit capital, and low risk (thanks to the law of large numbers). Trading is transactions-based: scalable, short-term, capital constrained, and with the ability to generate risk fromconcentrated positions. When a bank engages in trading, it can use its 'spare' capital to profitably expand the scale of trading. However there are two inefficiencies.A bank may allocate too much capital to trading ex-post, compromising the incentives to build relationships ex-ante. And a bank may use trading for risk-shifting.Financial development augments the scalability of trading, which initially benefits conglomeration, but beyond some point inefficiencies dominate. The deepening of financial markets in recent decades leads trading in banks to become increasingly risky, so that problems in managing and regulating trading in banks will persist for the foreseeable future. The analysis has implications for capital regulation, subsidiarization, and scope and scale restrictions in banking.

Abstract Since 2004, the US Air Force (USAF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have persecuted insurgents in Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan with armed drones. Despite its alleged efficiency, this practice has been widely criticised on the grounds that it contravenes international humanitarian law. In order to understand the controversies involving this practice, we examine how this new technology was linked to and allowed the emergence of a new US international security strategy first applied in the Middle East. Drawing on James Der Derian's post-structuralist theories about virtuous wars, the sociotechnical approach allowed by Science and Technology Studies (STS), and Gregoire Chamayou's theories about drones, we argue that the US intention in adopting these technologies was not to enhance its military capability but to allow the USA to remain active in several risky theatres while avoiding the political and social costs of conventional military engagement.

In this article, we examine Kinky Boots, a musical that won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2013 and continues to win over audiences with its positive message about acceptance, as a rhetorical text through William K. Rawlins' theoretical construct of relational dialectics regarding friendship. Through rhetorical criticism as a research method, we apply Rawlins' concepts of political and personal friendships, as well as the dialectics of affection and instrumentality, expressiveness and protectiveness, judgment and acceptance, and the ideal and the real to examine notable relationships between characters in the musical. Specifically, we examine the relationships between Charlie and Nicola, Charlie and Lola, and Don and Lola. Through this analysis, we suggest that when participants in the musical's relationships fail to negotiate dialectic tensions, their relationships can resultantly cease to exist. We also note that the balance of relational dialectics appears to be conducive to healthy relationships. We posit that Kinky Boots provides theatre-goers with life lessons regarding relational dialectics that they can apply to their own real-life relationships, and that Kinky Boots may serve as an effective teaching tool for undergraduate students learning about relational dialectics.

International audience ; This article examines the role of women in public diplomacy operations on and around U.S. military bases in France, especially during the Cold War. It aims to illustrate the diplomatic role of military officers' wives in France and shows the vested interest of the military establishment in cooperating with civilian offices of public diplomacy. The more the United States demonstrated its leadership on the global scene, manifested by a wave of unprecedented military incursions into foreign territories, the more tight government control gave way to a strategy focusing on informal contacts between women of both countries at the local level. This article argues that military wives, often considered a traditional instrument of America's effort to engage with foreign populations, contributed to the 'parabellicist' approach in U.S. public diplomacy, a strategy which aimed to generate 'a nation in arms', as has been suggested. The article contends that women's social and cultural initiatives intended not to influence French women by pushing American values, but to support the U.S. national security effort from the bottom up, which was the most critical challenge underlying the 'American Century' in France.

This paper examines the US military's impact on climate by analysing the geopolitical ecology of its global logistical supply chains. Our geopolitical ecology framework interrogates the material‐ecological metabolic flows (hydrocarbon‐based fuels, water, sand, concrete) that shape geopolitical and geoeconomic power relations. We argue that to account for the US military as a major climate actor, one must understand the logistical supply chain that makes its acquisition and consumption of hydrocarbon‐based fuels possible. Our paper focuses on the US Defense Logistics Agency – Energy (DLA‐E), a large yet virtually unresearched sub‐agency within the US Department of Defense. The DLA‐E is the primary purchase‐point for hydrocarbon‐based fuels for the US military, as well as a powerful actor in the global oil market. After outlining our geopolitical ecology approach, we detail the scope of the DLA‐E's operations, its supply chain, bureaucratic practices, and the physical infrastructure that facilitates the US military's consumption of hydro‐based carbons on a global scale. We show several "path dependencies" – warfighting paradigms, weapons systems, bureaucratic requirements, and waste – that are put in place by military supply chains and undergird a heavy reliance on carbon‐based fuels by the US military for years to come. The paper, based on comprehensive records of bulk fuel purchases we have gathered from DLA‐E through Freedom of Information Act requests, represents a partial yet robust picture of the geopolitical ecology of American imperialism.

In this commentary, we consider the motivations and implications of Vancouver Coastal Health's place-based population health strategy called the Downtown Eastside Second Generation Health Strategy (2GHS) in light of a broader historical view of shifting values in population and public health and structural health reforms in Canada over past three decades. We argue that the tone and content of the 2GHS signals a shift towards a neoliberal clientelist model of health that treats people as patients and the DTES as a site of clinical encounter rather than as a neighbourhood in its own right. In its clinical emphasis, the 2GHS fails to recognize the political dimension of health and wellbeing in the DTES, a community that faces compounding health risks associated with colonialism, gentrification, human displacement, the criminalization of poverty, sex work, and the street economy. Furthermore, we suggest that in its emphasis on allocating funding based on a rationalist model of health system access, the 2GHS undermines well-established insights and best practices from community-driven health initiatives. Our aim is to provide a provocation that will influence both the public health leadership at VCH and the wider community that it serves to consider the long legacy of community-based health leadership as well as the broader structural health determinants that are at the root of the present circumstances of the people who live in the DTES today. ; Non UBC ; Reviewed ; Faculty ; Graduate

This paper argues for the continued significance of the text as a source and focus in critical geopolitical inquiry. It establishes the utility of the military memoir in explorations of popular contemporary geopolitical imaginaries, and considers the memoir as a vector of militarism. The paper examines the memoirs written by military personnel about service in Afghanistan with the British armed forces, specifically about deployments to Helmand province between 2006 and 2012. The paper explores how Afghanistan is scripted through these texts, focussing on the explanations for deployment articulated by their authors, on the representations they contain and promote about other combatants and about civilian non-combatants, and the constitution and expression of danger in the spaces and places of military action which these texts construct and convey. The paper then turns to consider how a reading of the military memoir with reference to the genre of testimonio might extend and inform our understanding and use of these texts as a source for exploring popular geopolitics and militarism.

Eight male subjects performed drop jumps from a 0.8 m high platform onto a force plate and landing forces were sampled at 1000Hz. Six jumps were completed wearing military boots fitted with three different insoles (Saran, Poron and Sorbathane), and also when barefoot. Comparison of the last five jumps in each case showed that mean peak forces were similar (7.5 BW) for all insoles, though the forefoot impact mean (±SE) loading rate was higher for Sorbathane (754 ± 77 BWs-1) than for Saran (552 ± 58 BWs-1) or Poron (636 ± 77BWs-1). Mean peak loading rates for Poron, Saran and Sorbathane from forefoot to heel contact were similar for Saran (249 BWs-1) and Poron (254 BWs-1) and slightly higher for Sorbathane (300 BWs-1). Barefoot peak forces and both forefoot impact and peak loading rate were less than when a boot was worn with an insole.

Social media has transformed the awareness of events around the world as it allows for instant, up-to-the-second data transmission and communication for a variety of interested parties. Due to the ongoing turmoil surrounding the Middle East and its heightened media attention, I chose to research what types of emotions and interactions are found on Twitter with regard to the region and related topics. I selected Twitter due to the relative accessibility, workability, and anticipated sufficient size of data samples available. Twitter reports 1 billion created accounts with 320 million active accounts as of December 31, 2015. These active accounts, defined as a ratio of followers to followed accounts, generate roughly 500 million tweets per day from around the world. In this research, I am looking at scholarly works, journalism sources, and other reports to learn more about some of the ways Twitter has been used as it relates to the Middle East and better establish context for my data analysis. This information helps guide me in performing real-time sentiment analysis – or opinion mining – on Twitter data using open-source sentiment dictionaries with machine learning algorithms to provide highly accurate analysis of emotional response as it relates to the Middle East. This sentiment analysis is performed by assigning numerical values to words to help quantify positive, neutral, or negative emotion associated with my topic. My findings will help to draw conclusions as to whether there are specific emotions correlated with the region and associated topics, the degrees of emotion felt when tweeting about specific subjects, and how spot-checked dates after different events influence the sentiment broadcast on Twitter. This unfiltered look at people's emotions on Twitter serves to quantify how Twitter users perceive the Middle East and related topics.

The definitive peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Water Science and Technology, 60(3), pp. 623-631, 2009, DOI:10.2166/wst.2009.441 and is available at www.iwapublishing.com. ; Urban on-site sanitation services present challenges for emptying, transporting, disposing and treating faecal waste. Transfer stations can be used by household-level emptiers to safely dispose of faecal sludge, but they rarely exist. Accra"s use of transfer stations has provided an opportunity to research their functioning, as part of broader faecal sludge management arrangements. The paper discusses the benefits offered by use of transfer stations, as well as reasons currently limiting their operation. While costs associated with operating and emptying these stations are passed to householders, an illegal sector thrives offering lower cost emptying services, typically with disposal of faecal sludge directly into the environment. At present, bucket latrines offer sanitation services to low-income households unable to afford higher service levels, such as septic tanks. The local government aims to phase-out all bucket latrines by 2010, but affordable alternatives have not been found. Where limited access to land inhibits investment in permanent facilities, families may abandon household sanitation altogether. The paper concludes that correct use of transfer stations can provide improvements for existing faecal sludge management and reduce indiscriminate dumping. They must be made available to all workers, through effective public-private arrangements for ownership and operation.

Historically, regulators of diesel emissions have formulated their legislation in gravimetric terms (i.e., in g/km or g/kWh). This quantitative approach, while arguably valid for gaseous emissions such as NO x , does not appreciate the complexity of particulate matter. More recently, much research, along with new legislation, views particulate matter in a more qualitative way and focuses on such metric as the total particle count and size distribution. While the trade-off in gravimetric particular matter and NO x is well known as the "diesel dilemma" this study, for the first time, demonstrates that there is also a trade-off in particulate size modes (accumulation-nucleation). To this end, a wide range of fuel properties and engine operating conditions are tested on a dedicated heavy-duty test rig. The main message that can be drawn from the results is that the optima for both the classical and newly presented accumulation-nucleation trade-off appear to be concurrent in nature. This implies that when the position on the curve of any given data point is known for one trade-off, the associated location on the other can be qualitatively predicted. Given the breadth of the operation conditions and fuel properties tested in this study, it would appear that this concurrence, which could help guide engine calibrators and aftertreatment specialists, is quite robust indeed.

This article evaluates in the laboratory the physical and rheological properties of the modified asphalt cement (AC) with different contents of rubber (R) from used military boots. For the evaluation of the modified AC, laboratory tests of penetration, softening point, ductility, viscosity, short-term aging and determination of the rheological parameters in the DSR dynamic shearing rheometer were performed. In addition, the mechanical performance of a conventional asphaltic dense mixture (control) and three dense asphalt mixtures with modified asphalt cement with different rubber contents, wet-added, was evaluated by means of monotonic load tests (Marshall Stability) and dynamic (dynamic module). The physical and rheological evaluation of the AC modified with R indicates a significant increase in stiffness as a function of the R content. The asphalt mixtures studied, in reference to the control mixture, presented the same optimum content of asphalt and an increase in the Mar-shall rigidity and dynamic module. Therefore, it was found that the addition of rubber from military boots used in the asphalt cement and later in the mixture, can be considered viable from the technical and environmental point of view, due to the improvement in the mechanical properties of these materials and to allow a form of correct final disposal of the rubber. ; Este artículo evalúa en laboratorio las propiedades físicas y reológicas del Cemento Asfáltico (CA) modificado por vía húmeda con diferentes contenidos de caucho (C) proveniente de botas militares usadas. Para la evaluación del CA modificado fueron realizados ensayos de laboratorio de penetración, punto de ablandamiento, ductilidad, viscosidad, envejecimiento a corto plazo y determinación de los parámetros reológicos en el reómetro de corte dinámico DSR. Además, se evaluó el desempeño mecánico de una mezcla asfáltica densa convencional (control) y de tres mezclas asfálticas densas con cemento asfáltico modificado con diferentes contenidos de caucho, adicionado por vía húmeda, mediante de ensayos de carga monotónica (estabilidad Marshall) y dinámicos (módulo dinámico). La evaluación física y reológica del CA modificado con C indica un aumento significativo de la rigidez en función del contenido de C. Las mezclas asfálticas de estudio, en referencia a la mezcla de control, presentaron el mismo contenido óptimo de asfalto y un aumento de la rigidez Marshall y módulo dinámico. Por lo tanto, se encontró que la adición de caucho de botas militares usadas en el cemento asfáltico y posteriormente en la mezcla, puede considerarse viable desde el punto de vista técnico y ambiental, debido al mejoramiento en las propiedades mecánicas de dichos materiales y por permitir una forma de disposición final correcta del caucho.

This work was partly funded by the World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF 2012/590) and European Commission (FP7-PEOPLE-618308). The Netherlands Cohort Study on diet and cancer was supported by the Dutch Cancer Society. The RERF atomic bomb survivors Study was supported by The Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, a public interest foundation funded by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) and the US Department of Energy (DOE). The research was also funded in part through DOE award DE-HS0000031 to the National Academy of Sciences. This publication was supported by RERF Research Protocol RP-A5-12. The VITamins and Lifestyle Study (VITAL) was supported by a grant (R01CA74846) from the National Cancer Institute. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) was carried out with financial support of the `Europe Against Cancer' Programme of the European Commission (SANCO); Ligue contre le Cancer (France); Societe 3 M (France); Mutuelle Generale de l'Education Nationale; Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM); Institute Gustave Roussy; German Cancer Aid; German Cancer Research Centre; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research; Danish Cancer Society; Health Research Fund (FIS) of the Spanish Ministry of Health; the Spanish Regional Governments of Andalucia, Asturias, Basque Country, Murcia and Navarra; Cancer Research UK; Medical Research Council, UK; Stroke Association, UK; British Heart Foundation; Department of Health, UK; Food Standards Agency, UK; Wellcome Trust, UK; Greek Ministry of Health; Greek Ministry of Education; Italian Association for Research on Cancer; Italian National Research Council; Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports; Dutch Prevention Funds; LK Research Funds; Dutch ZON (Zorg Onderzoek Nederland); World Cancer Research Fund; Swedish Cancer Society; Swedish Scientific Council; Regional Government of Skane, Sweden; Norwegian Cancer Society; Norwegian Research Council. Partial support for the publication of this supplement was provided by the Centre de Recherche et d'Information Nutritionnelles (CERIN). ; Purpose Diet may play an essential role in the aetiology of bladder cancer (BC). The B group complex vitamins involve diverse biological functions that could be influential in cancer prevention. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between various components of the B group vitamin complex and BC risk. Methods Dietary data were pooled from four cohort studies. Food item intake was converted to daily intakes of B group vitamins and pooled multivariate hazard ratios (HRs), with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs), were obtained using Cox-regression models. Dose–response relationships were examined using a nonparametric test for trend. Results In total, 2915 BC cases and 530,012 non-cases were included in the analyses. The present study showed an increased BC risk for moderate intake of vitamin B1 ( HRB1: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.00–1.20). In men, moderate intake of the vitamins B1, B2, energy-related vitamins and high intake of vitamin B1 were associated with an increased BC risk (HR (95% CI): 1.13 (1.02–1.26), 1.14 (1.02–1.26), 1.13 (1.02–1.26; 1.13 (1.02–1.26), respectively). In women, high intake of all vitamins and vitamin combinations, except for the entire complex, showed an inverse association (HR (95% CI): 0.80 (0.67–0.97), 0.83 (0.70–1.00); 0.77 (0.63–0.93), 0.73 (0.61–0.88), 0.82 (0.68–0.99), 0.79 (0.66–0.95), 0.80 (0.66–0.96), 0.74 (0.62–0.89), 0.76 (0.63–0.92), respectively). Dose–response analyses showed an increased BC risk for higher intake of vitamin B1 and B12. Conclusion Our findings highlight the importance of future research on the food sources of B group vitamins in the context of the overall and sex-stratified diet. ; World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF) WCRF 2012/590 ; European Commission European Commission Joint Research Centre FP7-PEOPLE-618308 ; KWF Kankerbestrijding ; Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) ; Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan public interest foundation - Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) ; United States Department of Energy (DOE) DE-HS0000031 ; RERF Research Protocol RP-A5-12 ; United States Department of Health & Human Services ; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA ; NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI) R01CA74846 ; European Commission European Commission Joint Research Centre ; Ligue contre le Cancer (France) 3M ; Mutuelle Generale de l'Education Nationale ; Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm) ; Institute Gustave Roussy ; Deutsche Krebshilfe ; German Cancer Research Centre ; Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF) ; Danish Cancer Society ; Instituto de Salud Carlos III ; Spanish Regional Governments of Andalucia, Asturias, Basque Country, Murcia and Navarra ; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Medical Research Council UK (MRC) Cancer Research UK Stroke Association, UK ; British Heart Foundation Department of Health, UK Food Standards Agency, UK ; Wellcome Trust ; Greek Ministry of Development-GSRT ; Fondazione AIRC per la ricerca sul cancro Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) ; Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports Dutch Prevention Funds ; LK Research Funds ; Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) ; World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF) ; Swedish Cancer Society Swedish Scientific Council Regional Government of Skane, Sweden ; Norwegian Cancer Society Research Council of Norway ; European Commission ; Centre de Recherche et d'Information Nutritionnelles (CERIN)

A Gasoline Compression Ignition combustion strategy was developed and showed its capabilities in the heavy duty single cylinder test-cell, resulting in indicated efficiencies up to 50% and low engine out emissions applying to EU VI and US 10 legislations while the soot remained at a controllable 1.5 FSN. For this concept a single-cylinder CI-engine was used running at a lambda of ~1.6 and EGR levels of ~50% and a modified injection strategy. Part of this strategy was also the use of a gasoline blended with an ignition improver, giving the blend a cetane number in the range of regular diesel; ~50. In this paper a step is taken towards implementation of this combustion concept into a multi-cylinder light duty standalone CI-engine. A standard CI-engine was modified so that its gas-exchange system could deliver the requested amounts of EGR and lambda. A long-route EGR system was installed, furthermore a two stage turbocharger system delivered the boost and increased the overall engine efficiency. A blend of gasoline RON 87 and 5 vol.% EHN was tested and with a cetane number of 55 it showed the right auto-ignition capabilities. Injection sweeps regarding: EGR amount, rail pressure, timing main combustion peak, separation between pilot and main injection and pilot amount were performed. These sweeps resulted in an optimal injection strategy for this test engine in two engine load points both at 6 bar BMEP but at 1000 and 1500 rpm. As requested the soot emissions remained below 1.5 FSN, the NO x levels were at 2.82 and 3.20 g/kWh for 1000 and 1500 rpm respectively. Efficiency for the engine load point at 1000 rpm was 34.4 % for the load point at 1500 rpm this was 23.4% due to the excessive pressure loss over the engine created by the modified gas-exchange system.

[Resumen] La presente tesis analiza las complejas relaciones entre cine e Historia y más concretamente la representación de la batalla de Little Bighorn en las películas "Pequeño Gran Hombre", "Murieron con las botas puestas", "Sitting Bull, casta de guerreros" y "El gran jefe". La primera está centrada en la personalidad de George Armstrong Custer, la segunda en su carrera militar, la tercera en la vida de Sitting Bull y la última en la vida de Crazy Horse. Después de haber establecido los hechos concernientes a la batalla de Little Bighorn a través de los libros de los diferentes autores y la comparación de los hechos por ellos narrados, se han estudiado las cuatro películas, comparando las secuencias de las películas con los hechos establecidos en la historia. La tesis también da una perspectiva de la historia de las películas de Indios y los dos grandes conflictos entre los Indios y los Estados Unidos. ; [Resumo] A presente tese analiza as complexas relacións entre cinema e Historia e máis concretamente a representación da batalla de Little Bighorn nas películas "Pequeño Gran Home", "Morreron coas botas postas", "Sitting Bull" e "O gran xefe". A primeira está centrada na personalidade de George Armstrong Custer, a segunda na súa carreira militar, a terceira na vida de Sitting Bull e a última na vida de Crazy Horse. Despois de establecer os feitos concernientes á batalla de Little Bighorn a través dos libros dos diferentes autores e a comparación dos feitos narrados por eles, estas catro películas foron estudiadas, comparando as secuencias das películas cos feitos establecidos na Historia. Esta tese tamén dá unha perspectiva da historia das películas sobre Indios e os dous conflitos entre os Ini¡dios e os Estados Unidos. ; [Abstract]The present thesis analyses the complex relationships between cinema and History and more concretely the representation of the battle of Little Bighorn in the films "Little Big Man", "They Died with their Boots On", "Sitting Bull" and "Chief Crazy Horse". The first one is centred on the personality of George Armstrong Custer, the second on his military career, the third on the life of Sitting Bull and the last on the life of Crazy Horse. After having established the facts concerning the battle of Little Bighorn through the books of the different authors and the comparison of the facts narrated by them, these four films have been studied, comparing the sequences of the films with the facts established in history. The thesis also gives a perspective of the history of Indian films and the two great conflicts between the Indians and the United States.