The Household Encyclopedia as Magic Kit: Medieval Popular Interest in Pranks and Illusions*

Each of us has wished at some time to send in three box tops andget a magic kit that contains itchingpowder to give to our enemies, instructions for tricks designed to baffle our friends, and potions to make us more desirable. Exactly so in the Middle Ages. Bruno Roy's delightful essay on medieval do-it-yourself magic reveals the strong popular interest in practical jokes, illusions and tricks. People in the Middle Ages were playful and high-spirited, waiting to entertain and be entertained. The transformative power implicit i n the tricks played by jugglers or entertainers appealed to all classes of society; these same jugglers not only dealt in illusory tricks but often used various chemicalpreparations, giving a “scientific” cast to their pranks. That so many of these tricks were related to the household in terms of the joke itself or the ingredients used suggests the widespread popularity of magic kits, a popularity that today perhaps resides only with the children who save the box tops.     

Size does matter: Passive sampling in urban parks of a regional bat assemblage

Urban Ecosystems - We studied the occurrence of bats in urban parks in the city of Madrid (Spain), and the resulting patterns were compared with bat occurrence in the surrounding region. In this...     

Venezuelan Rainfall Data Analysed by Using a Bayesian Space–time Model

We consider a set of data from 80 stations in the Venezuelan state of Guárico consisting of accumulated monthly rainfall in a time span of 16 years. The problem of modelling rainfall accumulated over fixed periods of time and recorded at meteorological stations at different sites is studied by using a model based on the assumption that the data follow a truncated and transformed multivariate normal distribution. The spatial correlation is modelled by using an exponentially decreasing correlation function and an interpolating surface for the means. Missing data and dry periods are handled within a Markov chain Monte Carlo framework using latent variables. We estimate the amount of rainfall as well as the probability of a dry period by using the predictive density of the data. We considered a model based on a full second-degree polynomial over the spatial co-ordinates as well as the first two Fourier harmonics to describe the variability during the year. Predictive inferences on the data show very realistic results, capturing the typical rainfall variability in time and space for that region. Important extensions of the model are also discussed.     

CREDIT,WAGES, AND BANKRUPTCY LAWS

We analyze how bankruptcy laws affect the general equilibrium interactions between credit and wages. Soft laws reduce the frequency of liquidations and thus ex post inefficiencies, but they worsen credit rationing ex ante. This hinders firm creation and thus depresses labor demand. Rich agents who need few outside funds can invest even if creditor rights are weak. Hence, they favor soft laws that exclude poorer agents from the credit market and reduce the competition for labor. Such laws can generate greater utilitarian welfare than under perfect contract enforcement: By barring access to credit to some agents, soft laws lower wages, which increases the pledgeable income of richer agents and decreases the liquidation rates they must commit to. When they induce strong credit rationing, however, soft laws are Pareto‐dominated by tougher laws combined with subsidies to entrepreneurs. (JEL: D82, G33, K22)     

A Review of: “Dattilio,Frank M. (2010). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy with Couples and Families: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians.”

This conceptual study focuses on health disparities among African Americans in the Arkansas Delta. The author uses an ecosocial perspective to explore several social and individual-level influences upon patients' perceptions of health care quality, including health beliefs and life experiences of discrimination that can lead to not accessing health care systems. The study findings identify community-based strengths that can inform the development of strategies and programs to reduce rural health disparities. The discussion includes the potential implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for progress in health care quality and health equality, especially for rural racial/ethnic minorities.     

Employability of Young Italian Men after a Jobless Period, 1989–98

In this paper we investigate the existence of negative jobless duration dependence and the impact of jobless spells on future wages. Our findings are somewhat out of line compared with analogous explorations. We find evidence of very long unemployment duration of the young male labor force, higher than reported anywhere else in Western Europe, as well as large negative unemployment duration dependence. On the other hand, young Italian men experiencing jobless periods in their early careers face small re‐employment wage losses. Such losses do increase with the duration of joblessness, but they are lower than reported in the USA, Canada, the UK, France, and Spain.     

Capital Mobility and Asset Pricing

We present a model for the equilibrium movement of capital between asset markets that are distinguished only by the levels of capital invested in each. Investment in that market with the greatest amount of capital earns the lowest risk premium. Intermediaries optimally trade off the costs of intermediation against fees that depend on the gain they can offer to investors for moving their capital to the market with the higher mean return. The bargaining power of an investor depends on potential access to alternative intermediaries. In equilibrium, the speeds of adjustment of mean returns and of capital between the two markets are increasing in the degree to which capital is imbalanced between the two markets, and can be reduced by competition among intermediaries.     

Die Transformation der Jugendhilfe in Ostdeutschland im Kontext von Tradition, Diskontinuität und Strukturbildung

Changes in the child care legislation in 1990 led to the development of a new helping culture both in West and East Germany at the same time. Paternalistic relations to the clients had to be replaced by autonomy focused and thus professional interaction patterns. So clients were involved in the process of choosing adequate educational support. By comparing two East German youth welfare agencies we show the factors that impede the process of restructuring an appropriate professional-client relationship. The most important factor is the fallacy of mistaking educational support for education itself.