Private investment in the countryside: an assessment of the role of new houses and estates in sustaining the rural economy and environment

The British countryside has been shaped and sustained over the years by the establishment of landed estates. Some of our best known, and now most protected, landmarks derive from this tradition by which money, that was often sourced from outside the rural economy, was invested in land. Whilst there was some reversal in this trend during the last century, there is again a widespread desire among people of means to invest in new country property. Paragraph 3.21 of Planning Policy Guidance Note 7: The Countryside - Environmental Quality and Economic and Social Development was introduced in 1997 as a means of perpetuating the historic tradition of innovation in the countryside through the construction of fine individual houses in landscaped grounds. That it was considered necessary to use a special provision of this kind reflects the prevailing presumption of planning authorities against allowing private residential development in open countryside. The Government is currently reviewing rural planning policy and is focusing on higher density housing, affordable homes and the use of brownfield sites. There is an underlying conception that individual private house developments contribute nothing and are seen as the least attractive option for most development sites. The purpose of paragraph 3.21 lies outside the government’s priorities and its particular provisions may therefore be excluded in forthcoming ‘policy statements’. This paper seeks to examine the role of private investors wishing to build new houses in the countryside, and the impact that that might have on local economies. It explores the interpretation placed on PPG7 through an investigation of appeal sites, and concludes by making recommendations for the review process, including the retention of some form of exceptions policy for new build houses.

Adaptive recursive control of a soil testing load frame

Recursive Learning Control (RLC) has the potential to significantly reduce the tracking error in many repetitive trajectory applications. This paper presents an application of RLC to a soil testing load frame where non-adaptive techniques struggle with the highly nonlinear nature of soil. The main purpose of the controller is to apply a sinusoidal force reference trajectory on a soil sample with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability. The controller uses a feedforward control structure, recursive least squares adaptation algorithm and RLC to compensate for periodic errors. Tracking error is reduced and stability is maintained across various soil sample responses.

Padé approximants for the acoustical properties of rigid frame porous media with pore size distributions

Expressions for the viscosity correction function, and hence bulk complex impedance, density, compressibility, and propagation constant, are obtained for a rigid frame porous medium whose pores are prismatic with fixed cross-sectional shape, but of variable pore size distribution. The lowand high-frequency behavior of the viscosity correction function is derived for the particular case of a log-normal pore size distribution, in terms of coefficients which can, in general, be computed numerically, and are given here explicitly for the particular cases of pores of equilateral triangular, circular, and slitlike cross-section. Simple approximate formulae, based on two-point Pade´ approximants for the viscosity correction function are obtained, which avoid a requirement for numerical integration or evaluation of special functions, and their accuracy is illustrated and investigated for the three pore shapes already mentioned

Padé approximants for the acoustical characteristics of rigid frame porous media

In this paper it is shown that a number of theoretical models of the acoustical properties of rigid frame porous media, especially those involving ratios of Bessel functions of complex argument, can be accurately approximated and greatly simplified by the use of Padé approximation techniques. In the case of the model of Attenborough [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 81, 93–102 (1987)] rational approximations are produced for the characteristic impedance, propagation constant, dynamic compressibility, and dynamic density, as a function of frequency and the material parameters. The model proposed by Stinson and Champoux

Optimal frame length for keeping normalized goodput with lowest requirement on BER

This paper presents an adaptive frame length mechanism based on a cross-layer analysis of intrinsic relations between the MAC frame length, bit error rate (BER) of the wireless link and normalized goodput. The proposed mechanism selects the optimal frame length that keeps the service normalized goodput at required levels while satisfying the lowest requirement on the BER, thus increasing the transmission reliability. Numerical results are provided and show that an optimal frame length satisfying the lowest BER requirement does indeed exist. The performance of BER requirement as a function of the MAC frame length is evaluated and compared for transmission scenarios with and without automatic repeat request (ARQ). Furthermore, issues related to the MAC overhead length are also discussed to illuminate the functionality and performance of the proposed mechanism.

Accounting information systems as institutional carriers: a case study of regulatory compliance in UK asset management houses

Previously, governments have responded to the impacts of economic failures and consequently have developed more regulations to protect employees, customers, shareholders and the economic wellbeing of the state. Our research addresses how Accounting Information Systems (AIS) may act as carriers for institutionalised practices associated with maintaining regulatory compliance within the context of UK Asset Management Houses. The AIS was found to be a strong conduit for institutionalized compliance related practices, utilising symbolic systems, relational systems, routines and artefacts to carry approaches relating to regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive strands of institutionalism. Thus, AIS are integral to the development and dissipation of best practice for the management of regulatory compliance. As institutional elements are clearly present we argue that AIS and regulatory compliance provide a rich context to further institutionalism. Since AIS may act as conduits for regulatory approaches, both systems adopters and clients may benefit from actively seeking to codify and abstract best practices into AIS. However, the application of generic institutionalized approaches, which may be applied across similar organizations, must be tempered with each firm’s business environment and associated regulatory exposure. A balance should be sought between approaches specific enough to be useful but generic enough to be universally applied.