Irresponsible Lending?: A Case Study of a U.K. Credit Industry Reform Initiative

There are major concerns about the level of personal borrowing, particularly sourced from credit cards. This paper charts the progress of an initiative to create a Responsible Lending Index (RLI) for the credit industry. The RLI proposed to voluntarily benchmark lending standards and promote best practice within the credit industry by involving suppliers of credit, customer representatives and regulators. However, despite initial support from some banks, consumer bodies and the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, it failed to gain sufficient support from financial institutions in its original format. The primary reasons for this were related to the complexity of building such a robust index and the banks trade body’s fear of exposing its members to public scrutiny. A revised alternative, the Responsible Lending Initiative, was proposed which took into account these concerns. However, the Association of Payment Clearing Service (APACS), the trade body of the credit industry, then effectively destroyed the proposal. This article describes an attempt to address the challenges in the credit card industry with the initiation of the RLI, reflected in stakeholder discourse and in the context of a wider concern expressed by the involved stakeholders in terms of the need for greater responsibility in the banking industry’s lending practices.

An integrated wideband multifunctional antenna using a microstrip patch with two U-slots

In this paper a multifunctional microstrip antenna is designed, fabricated and experimentally verified for operation in AWS, GSM, WiMAX and WLAN bands. This microstrip patch antenna has two U-shaped slots to achieve the dual wideband operation required to meet these specifications. The dimensions and locations of the U-slots are designed appropriately. The thick substrate used here helps in integrating the antenna with the existing aircraft panel material while achieving wide bandwidths. Experimental results of this single feed antenna indicate that it meets all current requirements for in-cabin wireless communication needs.

A double U-slot patch antenna with dual wideband characteristics

Microstrip patch antennas are strong candidates for use in many wireless communications applications. This paper proposes the use of a patch antenna with two U-shaped slots to achieve dual band operation. A thick substrate helps broaden the individual bandwidths. The antenna is designed based on extensive IE3D simulation studies. A prototype antenna is fabricated and experimentally verified for the required performance.

Law, Politics and Financial Development: The Great Reversal of the U.K. Corporate Debt Market

This article examines the role of creditor protection in the development of the U.K. corporate bond market. This market grew rapidly in the late nineteenth century, but in the twentieth century it experienced a reversal, albeit with a short-lived post-1945 renaissance. Such was the extent of the reversal that the market from the 1970s onwards was smaller than it had been in 1870. We find that law does not explain the variation in the size of this market over time. Alternatively, our evidence suggests that inflation and taxation policies were major drivers of this market in the post-1945 era. Copyright © The Economic History Association 2013

A Microscopic Study of Iron and Manganese Oxide Distribution in Soils from East Tennessee (U.S.A.)

Soils and saprolites developed from interbedded shales and limestones of the Conasauga Group are widespread in the Valley and Ridge Province of East Tennessee. Thin sections from four soil profiles were examined by petrographic and scanning electron microscopy including backscatter electron and energy-dispersive X-ray analyses. Iron and manganese released by weathering had migrated differentially downward and precipitated as crystalline and noncrystalline oxides. Oxides were observed as nodules, granular particulates, pore fillings, and coatings on other minerals, packing voids, vesicles, channels, and chambers. Iron oxides formed predominantly as coatings on packing-void walls and on laminated clays in vesicles and channels. Manganese oxides occurred as an early replacement phase of packing voids and of fracture-filling carbonate minerals. Iron oxides were dominant in moderately well-drained and oxidized horizons of the soil solum, whereas manganese oxides were abundant in the oxidized and moderately leached saprolite zone where the water table fluctuates seasonally. Therefore, a manganese enrichment zone, on a bulk soil basis, occurred generally below the iron oxide zone in the soil profile. Such differential migration and accumulation of iron and manganese have been controlled by localized soil microenvironments. Micromorphologic features observed in this study are important in land-use evaluation for hazardous waste disposal. © 1990.

Mitigation of concrete cover separation in frpstrengthened RC beams using FRP U-jackets

Concrete cover separation is a common failure mode of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with a fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) plate bonded to the tension face (FRP-plated RC beams). Plate-end FRP U-jackets have previously been explored as a mitigation measure to delay or suppress concrete cover separation, although its effectiveness needs further clarification. The paper presents the first systemic experimental study on the use of FRP U-jackets of different forms for mitigating the concrete cover separation failure. A total of ten full-scale FRP-plated RC beams were tested. The test results show that both the ultimate load and the ductility of the beams were enhanced by the U-jackets. Among the forms of U-jackets explored, those inclined at 45o are the most effective.

Beyond the Academy: Applying Anthropological Research, A Case Study of Demonstrating Impact in the U.K. 2014 REF

The 2014 Research Excellence Framework sought for the first time to assess the impact that research was having beyond the boundaries of the university and the wider academic sphere. While the REF continued the approach of previous research assessment exercises in attempting to measure the overall quality of research and teaching within the higher-education sector, it also expected institutions to evidence how some of their research had had ‘an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia’ (REF 2012: 48). This article provides a case study in how researchers in one U.K. anthropology department were able to demonstrate the impact of their work in the public sphere successfully as part of this major audit exercise.

Introducing the CTA concept

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a new observatory for very high-energy (VHE) gamma rays. CTA has ambitions science goals, for which it is necessary to achieve full-sky coverage, to improve the sensitivity by about an order of magnitude, to span about four decades of energy, from a few tens of GeV to above 100 TeV with enhanced angular and energy resolutions over existing VHE gamma-ray observatories. An international collaboration has formed with more than 1000 members from 27 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America. In 2010 the CTA Consortium completed a Design Study and started a three-year Preparatory Phase which leads to production readiness of CTA in 2014. In this paper we introduce the science goals and the concept of CTA, and provide an overview of the project. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.