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The search for the elusive twin goals of monetary and financial stability

ABSTRACT For many years, scalable routing for wireless communication systems was a compelling but elusive goal. Recently, several routing algorithms that exploit geographic information (e.g., GPSR) have been proposed to achieve this goal. These algorithms refer to nodes by their location

The study and design of computer systems requires good models of the workload to which these systems are subjected. Until recently, the data necessary to build these models---observations from production installations---were not available, especially for parallel computers. Instead, most models were based on assumptions and mathematical attributes that facilitate analysis. Recently a number of supercomputer sites have made accounting data available that make it possible to build realistic workload models. It is not clear, however, how to generalize from specific observations to an abstract model of the workload. This paper presents observations of workloads from several parallel supercomputers and discusses modeling issues that have caused problems for researchers in this area. 1 Introduction We like to think of building computer systems as a systematic process of engineering---we define requirements, draw designs, analyze their properties, evaluate options, and finally construct a w...

By 1985, the debt crisis was as major a problem as it had been in 1982, but it had changed greatly in character. Among all three of the principal players in the drama—the indebted countries, their commercial creditors, and the official creditors and multilateral institutions—there was an increasing realization that not even a full resolution of the initial financial crisis and successful implementation of traditional adjustment programs would produce a resumption of growth in the most heavily indebted countries. Furthermore, in some important respects, the initial financial crisis was already over and had been overtaken by longer-run problems. The commercial banks at mid-decade were putting the systemic financial crisis behind them in several ways. First, the combination of concerted lending packages and adjustment programs had bought enough time for many banks (especially those outside the United States, in countries with relatively favorable tax and regulatory treatment) to set aside adequate liquid reserves as a provision against potential losses. By 1986, banks in continental European countries had provisions averaging

efficiently harness energy from the sun and convert it into electricity. The ob-jective is to develop an artificial pro-cess comparable to photosynthesis un-dertaken by green plants. One approach that has been cov-ered periodically in this column is the preparation of more efficient solar cells. Most of the solar cells are based on inorganic silicon. In a previous TLT article, the development of an organic solar cell based on naturally derived cellulose nanocrystals is described.1 This cell exhibited the highest power conversion efficiency yet seen with a

We describe the results of an effort to assess the computer competency level of the entire incoming freshman class at Slippery Rock University. A competency test was developed and administered to more than 1500 students during the spring and summer of 2008. We found that 58 % of the students failed to meet the normally passing grade of 60 % on the test. These results conform to results found by every other study we could find in the literature. Any formal testing of current college students, no matter who the authors, subjects or content areas were, has returned the same bad news: well over half of students do not have the necessary computer skills to function in an information-based society.

nificant achievement because for the first time, a comprehensive set of disciplines was placed on trade-distorting measures affecting agricultural products. The negotiations applied limits to and cuts in both export subsidies and market access barriers, while recognizing that domestic support measures can also distort trade. The Agreement on Agriculture served to both define the problem and place some loose bounds around it. More than that, the Agreement on Agriculture altered the climate of farm policymaking in both advanced and devel-oping countries, and raised the consciousness of policymakers on the international implications of their actions. However, although agriculture was included in the multilateral framework for trade, it was not fully integrated into that framework. The Agreement on Agriculture applies a set of rules and disciplines that are different from those applied to trade in other goods and has resulted in the continuation of much higher levels of assistance for agriculture (particularly for processed food products) than for other goods. Indeed, little reduction in agricultural protection will have occurred by the end of the implementation period (2000 for developed countries and 2004 for developing countries). It is notable that, in 1998, agricultural support by the Organization for Economic Coopera-tion and Development (OECD) countries totaled some $362 billion— $36 billion higher than at the start of the Uruguay Round. Moreover, market access barriers in the primary agricultural sector and the processed food sector tend to be much higher than for other sectors. Such differences in protection between sectors result in severe distor-

Complete knowledge of all direct and indirect inter-actions between proteins in a given cell would represent an important milestone towards a com-prehensive description of cellular mechanisms and functions. Although this goal is still elusive, consid-erable progress has been made

Abstract Executive functions include abilities of goal formation, planning, carrying out goal-directed plans, and effective performance. This article aims at reviewing some of the current knowledge surrounding executive functioning and presenting the contrasting views regarding this concept