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Selected Abstracts

Contagion Phenomena in Financial Crises: Evidence from the Portuguese and Spanish Exchange Rate Crises in the Early 1990s

INTERNATIONAL FINANCE, Issue 2 2003
Margarida AbreuArticle first published online: 3 SEP 200
Based on the experience of the Portuguese and Spanish financial crises in the early 1990s, this paper suggests that the spillover of exchange rate crises may reveal a particular dimension of the financial contagion effect: the presumption of mimetic behaviour by monetary authorities. This paper analyses the evolution of the credibility of the Escudo and the Peseta. We set out to test the existence of a contagion effect: that is, in what way does the polarization of exchange rate expectations in a scenario of devaluation of one currency explain the building up of a similar scenario for the other currency? We also examine the transmission mechanisms of such a scenario. Our results suggest the existence of a one-way contagion effect, of the Escudo by the Peseta. Speculative attacks against the Peseta necessarily give rise to speculative attacks against the Escudo, regardless of the evolution of the ,fundamentals' of the Escudo. In this case, the spillover of financial crises could be better understood by the anticipated mimetic behaviour of monetary authorities, rather than by the geographical proximity of the countries in question or by the identical performance of the economies of both. [source]

The rise and fall of the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) during Pleistocene glaciations: expansion and retreat with hybridization in the Iberian Peninsula

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2007
J. MELO-FERREIRA
Abstract The climatic fluctuations during glaciations have affected differently arctic and temperate species. In the northern hemisphere, cooling periods induced the expansion of many arctic species to the south, while temperate species were forced to retract in southern refugia. Consequently, in some areas the alternation of these species set the conditions for competition and eventually hybridization. Hares in the Iberian Peninsula appear to illustrate this phenomenon. Populations of Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis), brown hare (Lepus europaeus) and broom hare (Lepus castroviejoi) in Northern Iberia harbour mitochondrial haplotypes from the mountain hare (Lepus timidus), a mainly boreal and arctic species presently absent from the peninsula. To understand the history of this past introgression we analysed sequence variation and geographical distribution of mitochondrial control region and cytochrome b haplotypes of L. timidus origin found in 378 specimens of these four species. Among 124 L. timidus from the Northern Palaearctic and the Alps we found substantial nucleotide diversity (2.3%) but little differentiation between populations. Based on the mismatch distribution of the L. timidus sequences, this could result from an expansion at a time of temperature decrease favourable to this arctic species. The nucleotide diversity of L. timidus mtDNA found in Iberian L. granatensis, L. europaeus and L. castroviejoi (183, 70 and 1 specimens, respectively) was of the same order as that in L. timidus over its range (1.9%), suggesting repeated introgression of multiple lineages. The structure of the coalescent of L. granatensis sequences indicates that hybridization with L. timidus was followed by expansion of the introgressed haplotypes, as expected during a replacement with competition, and occurred when temperatures started to rise, favouring the temperate species. Whether a similar scenario explains the introgression into Iberian L. europaeus remains unclear but it is possible that it hybridized with already introgressed L. granatensis. [source]

Accessing the mental space,Spatial working memory processes for language and vision overlap in precuneus

HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 5 2008
Mikkel Wallentin
Abstract The "overlapping systems" theory of language function argues that linguistic meaning construction crucially relies on contextual information provided by "nonlinguistic" cognitive systems, such as perception and memory. This study examines whether linguistic processing of spatial relations established by reading sentences call on the same posterior parietal neural system involved in processing spatial relations set up through visual input. Subjects read simple sentences, which presented two agents in relation to each other, and were subsequently asked to evaluate spatial (e.g., "Was he turned towards her?") and equally concrete nonspatial content (e.g., "Was he older than her?"). We found that recall of the spatial content relative to the nonspatial content resulted in higher BOLD response in a dorsoposterior network of brain regions, most significantly in precuneus, strikingly overlapping a network previously shown to be involved in recall of spatial aspects of images depicting similar scenarios. This supports a neurocognitive model of language function, where sentences establish meaning by interacting with the perceptual and working memory networks of the brain. Hum Brain Mapp 2008. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Multiple Wrongdoing and Offence Structure: A Plea for Consistency and Fair Labelling

THE MODERN LAW REVIEW, Issue 3 2001
Barry Mitchell
Crimes come in all shapes and sizes, but relatively little work has been done on offence structure , Robinson's recent functional analysis is perhaps the one obvious exception. This article concentrates on incidents of multiple wrongdoing and suggests that the current substantive law is both inconsistent and confusing. Burglary, for example, is unnecessarily narrowly defined and should be expanded to include broadly similar scenarios. The law is confusing because it conflates qualitatively very different incidents under the same umbrella , serial killers, for example, commit the same crimes as those who kill multiple victims by one act. Not only does the law fly in the face of common sense but it conflicts with the principle of fair labelling , that crimes be defined to reflect their wrongfulness and severity , which seeks to fulfil some important functions in the criminal justice system. [source]