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The subject matter of the scientific studies comprises a study of key issues of the protection of copyright as well as enforcement of other intellectual property rights. The basic methods of study used in the works are comparative, historical and teleological. The model of legal regulation of the protection of intellectual property rights chosen is the one existing in the states of droit d' auteur and copyright systems, and based on this model the key issues of copyright protection are analysed by way of comparing and assessing the aspects provided for in the Lithuanian legislation. Lithuania follows the droit d' auteur system. In general, the Lithuanian copyright law does not reflect any unique tradition. The development of intellectual property rights protection in Lithuania essentially coincided with the accession to international and regional organisations and to international agreements. When Lithuania decisively implemented one of its foreign policy aims — to become a member of the European Union — the approximation of its national law to the European Union legislation commenced in the field of intellectual property law as well as in the whole legal system. The scientific monograph and the few scientific articles analyse the main aspects of the protection of copyright: main principles of copyright, legal sources, subject matter of the protections, the author or other copyright owner, contents of protection (economic rights and moral rights), limitations and exceptions, tendencies, problems and perspectives of the development of copyright. The few scientific articles deal with the analysis of the implementation of the Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. Legal remedies applied by the court when passing the decision on the merits can in principle be grouped into preventive (including also corrective) measures and compensatory remedies. The first group covers: (1) injunctions, (2) corrective measures, (3) alternative measures, (4) publication of judicial decisions, whereas the second group covers all possible ways of compensating for damages or, otherwise stated, damages. The laws also provide for the right of access to information, which as a copyright protection measure is applied in the course of judicial proceedings and facilitates the application of other measures and remedies. The legislative provisions pertaining to requirements for collecting evidence and provisional measures are also to be attributed to the rules of a procedural nature. Paragraph 1(2)(b) of Article 13 of the Directive provides that the amount of damages can be set as a lump sum on the basis of elements such as at least the amount of royalties or fees that would have been due if the infringer had requested authorisation to use the intellectual property right in question. This provision has been implemented in Lithuanian legal acts, where it is envisaged that instead of requesting compensation for actual damages, right holders may claim royalties or fees which would have been due if the infringer had requested authorisation to use the works or other objects (i.e., had obtained a licence), and if the infringer acted intentionally or with gross negligence, in the amount of up to double such royalties and fees.

Not Available ; In the changing agricultural scenario in the world as a result of globalization. Agriculture in India has to face new challenges to compete at the global level in many agricultural commodities. Indian agriculture is now facing second generation problems like rising or lowering of water table, nutrient imbalance, soil degradation, salinity, resurgence of pests and diseases, environmental pollution and decline in farm profit. Crop diversification shows lot of promise in alleviating these problems through fulfilling the basic needs and regulating farm income, withstanding weather aberrations, controlling price fluctuation, ensuring balanced food supply, conserving natural resources, reducing the chemical fertilizer and pesticide loads, environmental safety and creating employment opportunity. Diversification is gradually taking place as a consequence of either launching macro-economic reforms in agriculture sector or rising domestic demand due to urbanization and increasing income levels. Crop diversification has been recognized as an effective strategy for achieving the objectives of food security, nutrition security, income growth, poverty alleviation, employment generation, judicious use of land and water resources, sustainable agricultural development and environmental improvement. The ability of the country to diversify the cropping pattern for attaining various goals depends on the opportunities available for diversification, the need for diversification and responsiveness of the farmers to these needs and opportunities. The opportunities for crop diversification emerge from technological breakthroughs, changes in demand pattern, development of irrigation, availability of marketing infrastructure and new trade arrangements. The necessity for crop diversification arise on account of the need for (i) reducing risks associated with yield, market and prices.,(ii) arresting the degradation of natural resources and the environment and (iii) attaining national goals like employment generation, self-reliance in critical crop products and for earning foreign exchange. Diversification is the process to take advantage of emerging opportunities created by technology, new markets, changes in policy etc. to meet certain goals, challenges and threats and to reduce risk (Chand and Chauhan,2002). Crop diversification is one of the major components of diversification in agriculture. Crop diversification may be adopted as a strategy for profit maximization through reaping the gains of complementary and supplementary relationships or in equating substitution and price ratios for competitive products. It also acts as a powerful tool in minimization of risk in farming. These considerations make a strong case for farm/crop diversification in India.( Gupta and Tewari,1985).Crop diversification in India is generally viewed as a shift from traditionally grown less remunerative crops to more remunerative crops. Market infrastructure development and certain other price related supports also induce crop shift. Higher profitability and also the resilience/stability in production also induce crop diversification. Crop diversification and large number of crops are practiced in rainfed areas to reduce the risk factor of crop failures due to drought. Crop substitution and shift are also taking place in the areas with distinct soil problems for example, the growing of rice in high water table areas replacing pulses and cotton., promotion of soybean in place of sorghum in Vertisols (medium and deep black soils).The crop diversification also takes place due to government policies and thrust in some crops over a given time, for example creation of Technology Mission on Oilseeds (TMO) to give thrust on oilseed production as a national need for country's requirement to reduce imports. ; Not Available

The subject matter of the scientific studies comprises a study of key issues of the protection of copyright as well as enforcement of other intellectual property rights. The basic methods of study used in the works are comparative, historical and teleological. The model of legal regulation of the protection of intellectual property rights chosen is the one existing in the states of droit d' auteur and copyright systems, and based on this model the key issues of copyright protection are analysed by way of comparing and assessing the aspects provided for in the Lithuanian legislation. Lithuania follows the droit d' auteur system. In general, the Lithuanian copyright law does not reflect any unique tradition. The development of intellectual property rights protection in Lithuania essentially coincided with the accession to international and regional organisations and to international agreements. When Lithuania decisively implemented one of its foreign policy aims — to become a member of the European Union — the approximation of its national law to the European Union legislation commenced in the field of intellectual property law as well as in the whole legal system. The scientific monograph and the few scientific articles analyse the main aspects of the protection of copyright: main principles of copyright, legal sources, subject matter of the protections, the author or other copyright owner, contents of protection (economic rights and moral rights), limitations and exceptions, tendencies, problems and perspectives of the development of copyright. The few scientific articles deal with the analysis of the implementation of the Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. Legal remedies applied by the court when passing the decision on the merits can in principle be grouped into preventive (including also corrective) measures and compensatory remedies. The first group covers: (1) injunctions, (2) corrective measures, (3) alternative measures, (4) publication of judicial decisions, whereas the second group covers all possible ways of compensating for damages or, otherwise stated, damages. The laws also provide for the right of access to information, which as a copyright protection measure is applied in the course of judicial proceedings and facilitates the application of other measures and remedies. The legislative provisions pertaining to requirements for collecting evidence and provisional measures are also to be attributed to the rules of a procedural nature. Paragraph 1(2)(b) of Article 13 of the Directive provides that the amount of damages can be set as a lump sum on the basis of elements such as at least the amount of royalties or fees that would have been due if the infringer had requested authorisation to use the intellectual property right in question. This provision has been implemented in Lithuanian legal acts, where it is envisaged that instead of requesting compensation for actual damages, right holders may claim royalties or fees which would have been due if the infringer had requested authorisation to use the works or other objects (i.e., had obtained a licence), and if the infringer acted intentionally or with gross negligence, in the amount of up to double such royalties and fees.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY One of the aims of the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is to identify and foster methodological innovation in the UK. The aim of this project was to identify methodological innovations outside the UK and draw NCRM's attention to them. The project sought out research practices that have not yet filtered through to typical research methods courses or that impact on the research process in novel ways. These usually entailed (i) technological innovation, (ii) the use of existing theoretical approaches and methods in new ways and (iii) interdisciplinary. The project's focus on innovative research practices ranged from data collection to analysis and covered disciplines such as (social) psychology, sociology, social work, socio-legal studies, political science (including public health and public policy) and international studies, (social) geography (area studies, demography, environmental and urban planning), (social) anthropology, (socio-)linguistics, education, communication studies, economic and social history, economics (management and business studies), science and technology studies, statistics, methods and computing. The work was conducted between October 2008 and March 2009 and written up in April and May 2009. The project gathered evidence by reviewing previous reports, carrying out desktop research, conducting an e-mail survey with academics, practitioners, research methods experts and others (N=215) - registering data entries in the form of nominations of experts, institutions and links to explore (N=670) - and holding interviews with gatekeepers (N=36) and telephone interviews with nominated experts (N=40). The project concluded, firstly, that innovative methodologies usually entail the use of one or more technological innovation(s) (visual, digital or online). This could be the advent of new software or the development of online methods and the use of the Internet to conduct research. Secondly, innovative methodologies often entail crossing disciplinary boundaries. This is observed in combinations of disciplines and methods such as in ethnography, anthropology and psychology. Thirdly, innovative methodologies often entail the use of existing theoretical approaches and methods in reformed or mixed and applied ways. This is observed in participatory methods, action research, professional work, social and consultancy work. Finally, innovative methodologies reside both inside traditional academic institutions (universities) and outside (research centres, institutes, consultancy agencies and organisations), yet even in the latter methods developers and experts usually have academic backgrounds and previous or current affiliations, status or posts. Overall, psychology figured prominently in methodological innovations and developments followed by survey methodology, ethnography, sociology and management. These developments were classified into mixed (N=8), qualitative (N=7) and quantitative (N=7) types of research. The institutional structures identified as 'hosting' these developments are primarily Academic followed by both Academic and Professional, then Research Centres and finally Professional and Consultancy institutions. The majority of the innovations are a consequence of working across disciplinary boundaries, followed by developments within methods and disciplines and then by developments in technology. Innovations were mainly spotted in North America – the USA and Canada – Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. The report includes summary descriptions of the methodological innovations located by the project. As a follow up to this project a workshop will be organised to bring together some of the developers and experts identified of these innovations. The workshop is planned to be adjacent to the NCRM Research Methods Festival to be held in July 2010.

The subject matter of the scientific studies comprises a study of key issues of the protection of copyright as well as enforcement of other intellectual property rights. The basic methods of study used in the works are comparative, historical and teleological. The model of legal regulation of the protection of intellectual property rights chosen is the one existing in the states of droit d' auteur and copyright systems, and based on this model the key issues of copyright protection are analysed by way of comparing and assessing the aspects provided for in the Lithuanian legislation. Lithuania follows the droit d' auteur system. In general, the Lithuanian copyright law does not reflect any unique tradition. The development of intellectual property rights protection in Lithuania essentially coincided with the accession to international and regional organisations and to international agreements. When Lithuania decisively implemented one of its foreign policy aims — to become a member of the European Union — the approximation of its national law to the European Union legislation commenced in the field of intellectual property law as well as in the whole legal system. The scientific monograph and the few scientific articles analyse the main aspects of the protection of copyright: main principles of copyright, legal sources, subject matter of the protections, the author or other copyright owner, contents of protection (economic rights and moral rights), limitations and exceptions, tendencies, problems and perspectives of the development of copyright. The few scientific articles deal with the analysis of the implementation of the Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. Legal remedies applied by the court when passing the decision on the merits can in principle be grouped into preventive (including also corrective) measures and compensatory remedies. The first group covers: (1) injunctions, (2) corrective measures, (3) alternative measures, (4) publication of judicial decisions, whereas the second group covers all possible ways of compensating for damages or, otherwise stated, damages. The laws also provide for the right of access to information, which as a copyright protection measure is applied in the course of judicial proceedings and facilitates the application of other measures and remedies. The legislative provisions pertaining to requirements for collecting evidence and provisional measures are also to be attributed to the rules of a procedural nature. Paragraph 1(2)(b) of Article 13 of the Directive provides that the amount of damages can be set as a lump sum on the basis of elements such as at least the amount of royalties or fees that would have been due if the infringer had requested authorisation to use the intellectual property right in question. This provision has been implemented in Lithuanian legal acts, where it is envisaged that instead of requesting compensation for actual damages, right holders may claim royalties or fees which would have been due if the infringer had requested authorisation to use the works or other objects (i.e., had obtained a licence), and if the infringer acted intentionally or with gross negligence, in the amount of up to double such royalties and fees.

The subject matter of the scientific studies comprises a study of key issues of the protection of copyright as well as enforcement of other intellectual property rights. The basic methods of study used in the works are comparative, historical and teleological. The model of legal regulation of the protection of intellectual property rights chosen is the one existing in the states of droit d' auteur and copyright systems, and based on this model the key issues of copyright protection are analysed by way of comparing and assessing the aspects provided for in the Lithuanian legislation. Lithuania follows the droit d' auteur system. In general, the Lithuanian copyright law does not reflect any unique tradition. The development of intellectual property rights protection in Lithuania essentially coincided with the accession to international and regional organisations and to international agreements. When Lithuania decisively implemented one of its foreign policy aims — to become a member of the European Union — the approximation of its national law to the European Union legislation commenced in the field of intellectual property law as well as in the whole legal system. The scientific monograph and the few scientific articles analyse the main aspects of the protection of copyright: main principles of copyright, legal sources, subject matter of the protections, the author or other copyright owner, contents of protection (economic rights and moral rights), limitations and exceptions, tendencies, problems and perspectives of the development of copyright. The few scientific articles deal with the analysis of the implementation of the Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. Legal remedies applied by the court when passing the decision on the merits can in principle be grouped into preventive (including also corrective) measures and compensatory remedies. The first group covers: (1) injunctions, (2) corrective measures, (3) alternative measures, (4) publication of judicial decisions, whereas the second group covers all possible ways of compensating for damages or, otherwise stated, damages. The laws also provide for the right of access to information, which as a copyright protection measure is applied in the course of judicial proceedings and facilitates the application of other measures and remedies. The legislative provisions pertaining to requirements for collecting evidence and provisional measures are also to be attributed to the rules of a procedural nature. Paragraph 1(2)(b) of Article 13 of the Directive provides that the amount of damages can be set as a lump sum on the basis of elements such as at least the amount of royalties or fees that would have been due if the infringer had requested authorisation to use the intellectual property right in question. This provision has been implemented in Lithuanian legal acts, where it is envisaged that instead of requesting compensation for actual damages, right holders may claim royalties or fees which would have been due if the infringer had requested authorisation to use the works or other objects (i.e., had obtained a licence), and if the infringer acted intentionally or with gross negligence, in the amount of up to double such royalties and fees.

Development of the contemporary society in the past few decades is followed by dynamic change of social, economic and political relations. One of the main characteristics of liberal society is obsession with fears of real or virtual danger; the fear witch is modeling human conscience and configuring state institutions. As a result there is a wide array of social control measures that also have its reflection in the field of criminal justice. Faced with worrying increase of crime during 1990s in the USA decided to get tough with offenders. The concept of "new penology" emerged with the notion that the primary aim of justice system is to control the risk offenders pose to society. Relative abandonment of individual in defining and managing offender population is noticeable. Rehabilitation is no longer in the focus of new penology, because "dangerous offender derived from an underclass abandoned to a fate of poverty and despair can not be corrected". Instead the relevant question for criminal policy makers became how to manage risk and identify criminogenic situations and behaviors at the lowest possible cost. In this paper authors are inquiring whether the American "three strikes and you are out" logic is just a temporary decline of rehabilitation idea or as some criminologists say, modern penology is becoming "the art of punishment and the science of oppression". ; Dominacija američke kriminološke i penološke literature, kao i mnoštvo ideja u ovim oblastima nesumnjivo su rezultat kreativnosti američkih teoretičara, ali svakako i posledica okolnosti da SAD predstavljaju državu sa najvećom stopom kriminaliteta među zapadnim zemljama. Gotovo 3% od ukupnog broja odraslih Amerikanaca nalazi se pod nekom vrstom korekcionog nadzora. Istovremeno, tehnološka dostignuća koja su odavno iznad domena naučne fantastike omogućavaju primenu mera kontrole ne samo kriminala, već kontrole društva u celini. "Strogo kontrolisano društvo" koje ne uspeva da se izbori sa kriminalom ipak ne može predstavljati dobar uzor, pa je, kako navodi E. Currie, transplantiranje američkih rešenja često pogrešna opcija za rešavanje problema kriminala u Evropi. Ukoliko je osnovni cilj penalne politike, kao što principi nove penologije impliciraju, održavanje stope kriminaliteta na zadatom nivou upravljajući sistemom uz minimalne materijalne troškove, takva perspektiva ne deluje nimalo optimistički. Kada logika slobodnog tržišta dominira u sferi društvenih odnosa, krivičnopravni sistem postaje sredstvo prinude, a traganje za socijalnom pravdom suvišan zadatak. Situacija u kojoj statistička procena određuje da li će neko završiti na "smetlištu društva" donosi pomalo zastrašujuću viziju Orvelovog sveta budućnosti. Odustajanje od ideja rehabilitacije i individualizacije pragmatičnim potezom izbacivanja "trule jabuke iz korpe" se ne bi moglo oceniti kao korak napred penološke misli. Iako je koncept nove penologije naišao na odobravanja u SAD, čija administracija pozdravlja primenu oštrih mera prema prestupnicima i svako nastojanje za uštedom "para poreskih obveznika", izostala je njegova šira popularnost čak i u Velikoj Britaniji koja je oduvek više podložna hegemoniji američke kulture. Evropski kulturni prostor, sa svojom tradicijom i raznolikošću socijalnih i političkih podneblja ipak nije spreman da prihvata lekcije društvene kontrole od zemlje koja, kako jedan autor duhovito navodi, može govoriti o tome koliko i Saudijska Arabija o poštovanju prava žena. Stoga i možemo ovaj rad zaključiti učtivim rečima: "Thanks, but not thanks".

Computer-based Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are revolutionary in that they change the meaning of distance and accessibility in society. People can now access opportunities (jobs, shopping, education, recreation etc.) in virtual space in a matter of seconds, which in physical space would have needed hours of travelling. But still due to the nature of opportunities and human need to have face to face contact, majority of the opportunities are being accessed in physical space. Hence there is now hybrid space, where physical and virtual spaces are interwoven. In this hybrid space nature of opportunities, skills and capabilities of the opportunity seekers become even more important than those were in physical space alone. People having ICTs skills, by telecommuting will have the possibilities to have access to a wider range of opportunities. In practice it was found that telecommuters still commute in physical space as well but with a lesser frequency than regular commuters. This overall saved commute time by lower number of commuting trips makes it possible for telecommuters to commute longer distances. This reduced friction of distance, between workplaces and homes by telecommuting, is expected to have profound effects on future urbanization patterns. These impacts of the use of ICTs are extensively discussed in the literature, but still lack sufficient empirical underpinning. The Netherlands is a small country in geographical context, but with a larger share of the working people telecommuting than the EU average and in the USA. It therefore is a good laboratory to explore the spatial impacts of telecommuting. The focus in this study is the spatial impact of telecommuting on job accessibility which influences residential land-use suitability surfaces. These changes can be expected to influence residential location preferences and resulting pattern of new residential land-use when telecommuting really takes off. Scenario-based projections of likely locations of new residential land-use have been made with a dedicated hybrid model that combines cellular automata, accessibility modelling, and regular GIS analysis methods. Analyses and modelling of telecommuting consequences for the Netherlands reveals that ICTs enhance job accessibility which will further widen residential location margins for telecommuters, as telecommuters are more likely to prefer their future residence located in a green urban environment and a regional town compared to other types of residential environmental settings. Spatial pattern analyses of future residential areas revealed that a strengthening of existing agglomerations continue, but in the meanwhile dispersed deconcentration to attractive regions beyond present spatial labour market borders is also observed. This will influence the processes of concentrated suburbanization and poly-centric urban development that have a long tradition in Dutch spatial policies and developments. Although, the urban deconcentration may get a new boost, but the effects will work out differently at the regional level. For example, the dominant urban-economic position of Randstad (the comprising of four major cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, in the western part of the Netherlands) will hardly erode. The northern and south-western part of the country will become even more peripheral. The areas next to Randstad due to the improved job accessibility in hybrid space and having attractive green environment will benefit the most. These empirical insights into possible future urbanization trends under the influence of ICTs are useful for researchers, urban and regional planners and policy makers. They can support the formulation of the future spatial land-use policies.

Executive Summary Energy consumption is a major cause of carbon dioxide emission, and also largely determines the uncontrolled emissions of many other pollutants. In consequence, energy scenarios are key inputs to the projection of pollution emission, and the formulation of strategies to reduce pollution and achieve environmental objectives. Alternative energy strategies including behavioral change, demand management, energy efficiency, and low carbon fuels are explored in this report. In addition to abating greenhouse gas emissions, these strategies can facilitate cheaper and greater abatement of other atmospheric pollutants as compared to higher carbon scenarios. In general, achieving a given air pollution emission target costs less in a low carbon scenario than in a high carbon scenario. This work is aimed at producing policies that exploit the positive synergy between strategies to limit global warming, and strategies for reaching other environmental objectives such as reduced acidification and improved air quality. Low carbon energy scenarios can improve energy security by reducing the consumption if finite fuels and reducing import requirements. The given objective was to produce scenarios in which the total emission of carbon dioxide from the twenty-five countries of the European Union is reduced by at least 30% over the period 1990 to 2020. To this end scenarios have been produced for each of the twenty-five EU countries taking into account recent historical data and assumed economic and population growths taken from other studies, and selections of policies measures. The scenarios show that, as compared to 1990, CO2 reductions of more than 30% are feasible by 2020, and that larger reductions are possible, especially in the longer term as technologies with long lifetimes such as power stations, are replaced. Data from the energy scenarios were input to the GAINS (Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies) model of IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis), and the reductions in air pollution and the costs of air pollution control were there calculated. Apart from emission control, the policy options lead to a reduction in the import of finite fossil and fissile fuels into the EU and so they enhance supply security in a world with increasing competition for these dwindling resources. The policies required to implement the technical changes to demand and energy systems assumed have not been explored here. ; Svensk sammanfattning Produktion och konsumtion av energi är viktiga källor till utsläpp av koldioxid och andra luftföroreningar. Därför är energiscenarier viktiga vid upprättandet av strategier för att minska luftföroreningars miljöpåverkan. I denna rapport behandlas alternativa energistrategier för EU 25 som inkluderar livsstilsförändringar, efterfrågestyrning, energieffektivisering och användandet av bränslen med låg kolhalt. Jämfört med att enbart titta på varje förorening eller växthusgas för sig kan samordnade strategier leda till större utsläppsminskningar till en lägre kostnad. Syftet med denna rapport är att visa på de positiva synergier som finns mellan begränsningar av växthuseffekten och strategier för att uppnå andra miljömål såsom minskad försurning och förbättrad luftkvalitet. Alternativa energiscenarier som ger minskningar av koldioxidutsläppen på mer än 30 % över EU fram till år 2020 jämfört med 1990, har tagits fram och effekterna på andra luftföroreningar och kostnader studerats med hjälp av den så kallade GAINS modellen.

Diese Arbeit besteht aus vier Essays, die empirische und methodische Beiträge zu den Gebieten der Finanzmarktökonomik und der Makroökonomik liefern. Der erste Essay beschäftigt sich mit der Spezifikation der Investoren verfügbaren Informationsmenge in Tests bedingter Kapitalmarktmodelle. Im Speziellen schlägt es die Verwendung dynamischer Faktoren als Instrumente vor. Diese fassen per Konstruktion die Information in einer Vielzahl von Variablen zusammen und stellen daher intuitive Maße für die Investoren zur Verfügung stehenden Informationen dar. Es wird gezeigt, dass so die Schätzfehler bedingter Modelle im Vergleich zu traditionellen, auf einzelnen Indikatoren beruhenden Modellvarianten substantiell verringert werden. Ausgehend von Ergebnissen, dass die Zentralbank zur Festlegung des kurzfristigen Zinssatzes eine große Menge an Informationen berücksichtigt, wird im zweiten Essay im Rahmen eines affinen Zinsstrukturmodells eine ähnliche Idee verwandt. Speziell wird die Dynamik des kurzfristigen Zinses im Rahmen einer Faktor-Vektorautoregression modelliert. Aufbauend auf dieser dynamischen Charakterisierung der Geldpolitik wird dann die Zinsstruktur unter der Annahme fehlender Arbitragemöglichkeiten hergeleitet. Das resultierende Modell liefert bessere Vorhersagen US-amerikanischer Anleihenzinsen als eine Reihe von Vergleichsmodellen. Der dritte Essay analysiert die Vorhersagekraft der Zinsstrukturkomponenten "level", "slope", und "curvature" im Rahmen eines dynamischen Faktormodells für makroökonomische und Zinsdaten. Das Modell wird mit einem Metropolis-within-Gibbs Sampling Verfahren geschätzt, und Überraschungsänderungen der drei Komponenten werden mit Hilfe von Null- und Vorzeichenrestriktionen identifiziert. Die Analyse offenbart, dass der "curvature"-Faktor informativer in Bezug auf die zukünftige Entwicklung der Zinsstruktur und der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Aktivität ist als bislang vermutet. Der vierte Essay legt eine monatliche Chronologie der Konjunkturzyklen im Euro-Raum vor. Zunächst wird mit Hilfe einer verallgemeinerten Interpolationsmethode eine monatliche Zeitreihe des europäischen BIP konstruiert. Anschließend wird auf diese Zeitreihe ein Datierungsverfahren angewandt, das kurze und flache Konjunkturphasen ausschließt. ; This thesis consists of four essays of independent interest which make empirical and methodological contributions to the fields of financial economics and macroeconomics. The first essay deals with the proper specification of investors' information set in tests of conditional asset pricing models. In particular, it advances the use of dynamic factors as conditioning variables. By construction, dynamic factors summarize the information in a large number of variables and are therefore intuitively appealing proxies for the information set available to investors. The essay demonstrates that this approach substantially reduces the pricing errors implied by conditional models with respect to traditional approaches that use individual indicators as instruments. Following previous evidence that the central bank uses a large set of conditioning information when setting short-term interest rates, the second essay employs a similar insight in a model of the term structure of interest rates. Precisely, the dynamics of the short-term interest rate are modelled using a Factor-Augmented Vector-Autoregression. Based on this dynamic characterization of monetary policy, the term structure of interest rates is derived under the assumption of no-arbitrage. The resulting model is shown to provide superior out-of-sample forecasts of US government bond yields with respect to a number of benchmark models. The third essay analyzes the predictive information carried by the yield curve components level, slope, and curvature within a joint dynamic factor model of macroeconomic and interest rate data. The model is estimated using a Metropolis-within-Gibbs sampling approach and unexpected changes of the yield curve components are identified employing a combination of zero and sign restrictions. The analysis reveals that the curvature factor is more informative about the future evolution of the yield curve and of economic activity than has previously been acknowledged. The fourth essay provides a monthly business cycle chronology for the Euro area. A monthly series of Euro area real GDP is constructed using an interpolation routine that nests previously suggested approaches as special cases. Then, a dating routine is applied to the interpolated series which excludes business cycle phases that are short and flat.

Als Konzept ist die "historische Stadt" relativ neu. Entwickelt wurde sie während der 1970er und 1980er Jahre aus den Grundideen der städtebaulichen Moderne. Das lässt sich besonders gut am Beispiel Ost-Berlin belegen. In dieser Zeit setzte sich hier eine heterogene Allianz von Führungskadern, Architekten und Intellektuellen für ein städtisches Umfeld ein, das die individuelle Erfahrung von Geschichtlichkeit vermittelt. Diese Ideen schlugen sich in den 1980er Jahren in einer Reihe von Prestigeprojekten nieder. In der Vorbereitung auf die 750-Jahrfeier von Berlin 1987 ließ die DDR-Führung einige der jahrzehntelang geschmähten Mietshausviertel renovieren und mit Insignien historischen Alltagslebens ausschmücken. Gleichzeitig wurden eine Reihe repräsentativer Bauprojekte geplant und teilweise realisiert, die sich stark an historische Bauformen anlehnen. Die historische Stadt vermengte Elemente verschiedener vergangener Epochen zu einer undifferenzierten Vorstellung von "der Vergangenheit." Diese Entwicklung beruhte auf einer Elastizität der sprachlichen Äußerungen von Städtebauern und Theoretikern. Im Laufe der 1970er und 1980er Jahre behielten Begriff wie "Wohnraumerhaltung" oder "Rekonstruktion" einerseits ihren positiven Klang bei, veränderten andererseits aber radikal ihre Bedeutung. In ähnlicher Weise wurde die quasi-biologische Konzeption der Stadt als Organismus, aus dem "überaltete" Wohnviertel nach Beendigung ihrer "Lebensdauer" entfernt werden müssen, Schritt für Schritt außer Kraft gesetzt. Durch Renovierungs- und Neubauprojekte initiierte die Ost-Berliner Führungsspitze und ihre ausführenden Organe eine Renaissance zahlreicher, lange vernachlässigter Stadtteile, die nach der Wiedervereinigung zu gehobenen Wohn- und Geschäftsvierteln wurden. Trotz der umfassenden personellen Neuordnung nach dem Ende der DDR muss die Ost-Berliner Städtebaupolitik vor und nach der Wiedervereinigung als Kontinuität und nicht als Bruch verstanden werden. Ungeachtet der politischen und wirtschaftlichen Unterschiede weist die städtebauliche Entwicklung in Ost-Berlin in den 1970er und 1980er Jahren starke Parallelen zu der im Westen auf. Sowohl in der DDR als auch in zahlreichen westlichen Ländern wurde mit der Erfindung der historischen Stadt reale und imaginäre Stadtgeschichte zunehmend kommerzialisiert und an lokale Eliten und Touristen vermarktet. Die historische Stadt wurde auch zum konzeptuellen Hintergrund für die zunehmend verbreitete Inszenierung und Deutung historischer Spuren im Stadtbild, mit der die neuen Mittelschichten politische und soziale Legitimation beanspruchten. ; The idea of a "historic city" is a rather recent phenomenon. As a conceptual framework, it evolved over the course of the 1970s and 1980s from the intellectual foundations of modernist urban design. This is especially well illustrated in East Berlin, where a heterogeneous group of politicians, architects, and scholars called for an urban environment that provides the individual experience of historicity. Their ideas were most prominently infused in a series of showcase projects built during the 1980s. For the celebration of Berlin's 750th anniversary in 1987, some of the long-despised late-19th-century tenement neighborhoods were remodeled and fitted out with the insignia of historic every-day life. In addition, a number of representative architectural ensembles were built that made use of different historic styles. The invention of the historic city collapsed the memories of different historic periods into a generic notion of "the past." This process relied on a specific elasticity of the language employed by designers and theorists. Over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, terms such as preservation or reconstruction retained a positive connotation while simultaneously time undergoing a radical change in meaning. In the same way, the quasi-biological conception of the city as a body with a life cycle, where "obsolete" neighborhoods had to be regularly demolished, was gradually suspended. Through both remodeling and new construction, the East German leaders and their collaborators initiated a renaissance of once neglected neighborhoods, which after the German reunification became prime locations for upscale housing and retail. Construction policy before and after the German reunification therefore has to be seen as a continuous development rather than a break. Despite the different political and economic system in the German Democratic Republic, East Berlin design politics during the 1970s and 1980s paralleled the approaches in Western countries, where real and imagined urban history was increasingly commodified and marketed to local elites and tourists. The historic city also became the conceptual background for a widely practiced exegesis of historic residues, through which Berlin's middle classes claimed social and political legitimacy.

The following article is taken as an excerpt from the proceedings of the annual Acquisition Research Program. This annual event showcases the research projects funded through the Acquisition Research Program at the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School. Featuring keynote speakers, plenary panels, multiple panel sessions, a student research poster show and social events, the Annual Acquisition Research Symposium offers a candid environment where high-ranking Department of Defense (DoD) officials, industry officials, accomplished faculty and military students are encouraged to collaborate on finding applicable solutions to the challenges facing acquisition policies and processes within the DoD today. By jointly and publicly questioning the norms of industry and academia, the resulting research benefits from myriad perspectives and collaborations which can identify better solutions and practices in acquisition, contract, financial, logistics and program management. For further information regarding the Acquisition Research Program, electronic copies of additional research, or to learn more about becoming a sponsor, please visit our program website at: www.acquisitionresearch.org. For further information on or to register for the next Acquisition Research Symposium during the third week of May, please visit our conference website at: www.researchsymposium.org.;Contingency efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and several other countries in the last few years have been subjected to close scrutiny and critique. Contingency Contracting operations are increasingly the major source of support and provisioning in forward theaters, especially in light of reductions in organic (non-contracted) support capabilities. Recently, theater combatant commanders have come to rely on contingency contracting officers to support coalition forces, and concurrently, to achieve a transformation of the economic landscape essential for achieving theater objectives. But, critics of recent operations cite deficiencies in DoD's ability to effectively and efficiently conduct a coordinated contracting support effort that integrates the combatant commander's theater objectives with the myriad stakeholders deemed essential for success. Can we, the military, achieve better results? The author contends that with proper understanding of integrated planning and execution, contingency contracting operations can, and will, provide significant leverage for achieving the combatant commander's objectives. The author formally presented, on August 7th, 2003, a Yoder three-tier model for contingency contracting operations to the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School. Subsequent to the NPS faculty presentation, the author published a synoptic interest article in the Army AL&T Magazine's January-February 2004 edition, entitled, Contingency Contracting Operations--Achieving Better Results. Because of continued interest in the Yoder three-tier model expressed by academics, force planners, and contracting offices from several agencies, the author believes a more comprehensive write-up of the Yoder three-tier model is appropriate. The NPS Acquisition Symposium provides the in-depth coverage, broad dissemination and recognized avenue for open dialogue of the model and its potential efficacy. As such, this paper proposes the Yoder three-tier contingency contracting officer model structure for Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force support of theater contingency contracting operations. The creation of this Yoder three-tier model and its employment will allow for better planning and coordination; likewise, it will allow for better tactical, operational, and theater objective support. ; Second Annual Acquisition Research Symposium ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

This thesis consists of three self-contained essays. The first two essays address the consumption of culture and are closely related in terms of the theoretical framework used. The third essay is a separate analysis of international trade and competition. The studies of culture are motivated by the special treatment of culture consumption in most modern societies: there are usually large, government-provided subsidies, the aim of which is to stimulate both the production and the consumption of culture. The purpose of the present work is to explore reasons for this special treatment. Using a stylized theoretical framework, the essays contrast culture with another, generic, good or activity. Culture is thus regarded as an "experience good": previous consumption of the good enhances the current appreciation of the good. The generic good is one where experience is assumed not to be at all relevant for the appreciation of the good. For experience goods, decisions made today will influence future utility and future choices. This makes the intertemporal preferences essential. If, in particular, consumers have time-inconsistent preferences of the type that can be characterized as a present-bias---modeled with "multiple selves" using quasi-geometric discounting---as opposed to standard, time-consistent preferences, there will be a case for government subsidies. The first essay explores this possibility in detail in a framework where experience is mainly of importance in the short run. The second essay then studies cases where experience is more potent and can cause persistent diversity in culture consumption across individuals. "Culture and Control: Should There Be Large Subsidies to Culture?" studies the circumstances under which public support for culture is warranted. A policy example is designed to illustrate important aspects of public support systems currently in place, and is calibrated to Swedish data. The essay concludes that, given present-biased agents with self-control problems, public support of culture can work as a commitment device and improve long-run welfare. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that welfare-maximizing subsidies to culture can be substantial if the present-bias is profound and the taste-cultivation property of culture consumption is pronounced. "Origins of the Diversity of Culture Consumption" analyzes the diversity of culture consumption among individuals. If the culture good and the generic good are sufficiently close substitutes in a static sense, very large and persistent differences in the consumption of highbrow culture across consumers can be explained by differences in initial experience levels alone. Moreover, slight differences in preferences and time endowments can cause significant diversity between individuals, both in the long- and short-run levels of culture consumption. In addition, if consumers have time-inconsistent preferences, further diversity can be rationalized. If there is a present-bias, there may also be Pareto-ranked multiple equilibria with "optimism" and "pessimism": high (low) culture consumption of the current self is rationalized, based on the belief that future culture consumption will be high (low). "Has international competition increased? Estimates of residual demand elasticities in export markets" studies the impact of the last decades of intense economic integration on the competitive conduct of Swedish export industries. The functional relationship between the inverted residual demand elasticity and the Lerner index is used to estimate markups in eight industries. The econometric evidence suggests a deviation from competitive behavior in all industries. Moreover, the results demonstrate a trend of decreasing market power.

The paper recounts that in the mid 80,s and during one of the main boom periods of the spanish economy there was also a rise in building that, in turn, led to another steep one in ground prices that harshened the problem of housing access This was not so much one of an overall supply of housing but rather of an important part of the demand for its' being unable to meet its asking price.The author thus sees this problem as having to do with an imbalance here between family incomes and market prices. The sharpest price rises have shown in the metropolitan areas where the cost of ground has frequently become a very major part of the overall price to the buyer of housing. An all but unanimous acceptance of the fact that one of the basic causes for this situation had its roots in this over-pricing of ground led to a discussing of the matter that gelled in the 8/90 Law as to The Reforming of Planning Legislation and the Valuing of Land as well as the setting up of housing schemes by various governing bodies, outstanding amongst which being the Plan 1992-95. The setting up of the Select Committee on Town and Country planning and irs recommendations expressed in, «A Prolegomena for Policy and Regulations as to Land» are but the latest features of this process in itself expressive of a will to go further into the roots of an outstanding political and economic problem. The paper after so defining the issue, goes on to express some of the author's thoughts as to the findings and recommendations put out in the final report of this Select Committee. ; A mediados de los años ochenta, coincidiendo con una de las etapas de mayor crecimiento de la economia española, se registró un auge inmobiliario, con un fuerte crecimiento de los precios, que acentuó el problema de acceso a la vivienda. El problema producido no es tanto el de la existencia de un déficit global de vivienda, como el de la dificultad que tienen importantes segmentos de la demanda para acceder a la misma. Se trata, por tanto, de un problema que es básicamente de relación precio/ingresos familiares. Los mayores aumentos de precios han tenido lugar en las áreas metropolitanas, en las que el coste del suelo ha alcanzado con frecuencia participaciones muy elevadas en la composición del precio de venta final de las viviendas. La práctica unanimidad en el reconocimiento de que una de las causas fundamentales de esta situación se deriva del sobrecoste impuesto por el precio del suelo, favoreció el inicio de un proceso de debate que tuvo su primera expresión en la Ley 8/90 sobre Reforma del Régimen Urbanístico y Valoración del Suelo y en los planes de vivienda puestos en marcha por las distintas administraciones, sobre todo el Plan 1992-95. La constitución del Comité de Expertos sobre Urbanismo y sus recomendaciones de Avance Normativo y Políticas de Suelo son el último episodio de este proceso, reflejo de la voluntad de seguir ahondando en Ias causas de este problema de evidente trascendencia social y económica. Se recogen, a continuación, algunas reflexiones a propósito de Ias conclusiones y recomendaciones recogidas en el documento emanado de la citada Comisión de Expertos.

A sharp rise in house prices became a political issue in Korea in the late 1980's. It opened a heated debate among scholars and experts on the causes of house price rises. In the debate, a common belief was that high land prices had been one of the main causes of high house prices. In fact, the proportion of land cost in new house prices has steadily increased as the latter has risen in Korea during the past two decades. This research calls into question the notion underlying that common belief that land prices exist independently of housing development. Most policy measures are sought on the basis of this notion. This research argues that land prices are an outcome of conflicts between landowners and developers in the process of housing development. In exploring the idea that the determination of land cost for housing is a result of conflicts between landowners and developers, the research came to the question of what the source of conflicts is, a question of why and how the two actors enter into conflictive relations. It was a suggestion of Marx's concept of rent that surplus profits are the material source of conflicts; the ability of developers to create higher surplus profits provides possibility of landowners to demand more payments for their land; landowners' appropriation of increasingly larger portions of surplus profits then conditions the way developers produce housing; thus both enter into a conflictive and contradictory relationship. It was thus hypothesised that the rising land cost for housing has been primarily a result of that conflicting and contradictory interaction, which is permanently operating in housing development. However, how far and in what forms the conflict affects housing development and the determination of land cost are affected by social mediation of the interaction. Thus the research, the test of the above hypothesis, comprises two parts: the identification of the material aspect of the process by which landowners and developers entered into conflicting relations resulting in increasing land prices for housing as suggested in Marx's concept of rent; and the examination of political and economic circumstances in which social relations between the two actors were conditioned to leave that material process unregulated. This hypothesis was tested with reference to the case of housing development in Seoul during the 1970's and 1980's. The empirical examination disclosed that the rising land cost for housing in Korea has been due to the conflictive nature of the relationship between landowners and developers. Developers have created large surplus profits by exploiting rapidly growing speculative demand for housing and government housing programmes relying on private development; this have provided room for landowners to raise land prices such that increasingly larger portions of new house prices have been allocated to land cost; increasing government intervention have been unsuccessful in controlling this conflictive and contradictory process and the consequent spiral rises in land cost and house prices because of its inability to break from its self-financing housing development strategy; this inability has been due to historical circumstances which, characterised by strong state and weak labour relations and the subordination of finance to industrial capital, have conditioned housing development to be driven by the private appropriation of development gains.