The historical background of tolerance education for blind learners in Cyprus

Tolerance, in its broadest sense, can be understood as accepting all the differences in the society. Some people in society have limitations on certain parts of their bodies or their organs, which can lead to impairment on their physical functioning. Some of these people in society who have disabilities are those who have sight impairments. In order for blind people to be able to function in society in the same manner as other individuals it is possible that they can receive a private education in a similar manner to other people with disabilities. In Cyprus, the first school for the sight impaired was established under the British administration. The institution was opened in Nicosia in 1929 under the initiative of the wife of the Governor Ronald Storss as the St. Barnabas School for Blind Children, where Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots had the opportunity to be educated together. By the end of 1963, the Turkish Cypriot sight impaired children from various regions of the island were educated at St. Barnabas School for the Blind. At the school, English, Greek and Turkish teachers worked together. The main aim of the school was to educate the blind children and reintegrate them into the society. In the present study, information obtained from Blue Book and Cyprus Gazette has been supported by the information compiled from domestic and foreign publications as well as verbal sources. Consequently, it is understood that children in society who became blind for various reasons were educated at the St Barnabas School for Blind Children.

     

Current Accounts in the Long Run and the Intertemporal Approach: A Panel Data Investigation

This paper is a theory‐based study of the long‐run determinants of the current account (CA). For many OECD economies after the Second World War, there has been more long‐run variation in the CA data than is emphasised by a ‘Permanent Income’ version of the intertemporal approach that is based on consumption‐smoothing and that allows only transitory CA imbalances. A theoretical model of the CA is developed, based on the ‘broader’ variant of the intertemporal approach that stresses the long‐term component of the CA. We find that some key theoretical predictions hold, while others fail, validating the approach but also pointing to its limitations.     

How do interdependencies among human‐capital deployment,development, and diversification strategies affect firms' financial performance?

Using key insights from the resource‐based view of the firm, we develop and test a theory of how firms can successfully deploy and develop their strategic human assets while managing the trade‐offs in their service and geographical diversification strategies. In a sample of large law firms we find that, even though firms profit from expert human‐capital leveraging strategy and service and geographical diversification strategies individually, pursuing these strategies simultaneously at high levels produces negative interaction effects on firm profitability. In addition, the internally developed, firm‐specific associate human capital strategically fits better with high levels of expert human‐capital leveraging. While lateral hiring helps firms build new knowledge bases and take advantage of growth opportunities, pursuing high levels of both expert human‐capital leveraging and lateral hiring of associates results in lower profitability. To fully capture the economic benefits from strategies of diversification, human‐capital leveraging and lateral hiring, firms should understand and manage the complex interdependencies among multiple levels of strategy. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exchange Rate Volatility and Trade: An Empirical Investigation from Cross‐country Comparison

Abstract: This paper investigates empirically the impact of exchange rate volatility on the trade flows of six countries over the quarterly period of 1980–2005. The impact of a volatility term on trade is examined by using an Engle‐Granger residual‐based cointegrating technique. The major results show that increases in the volatility of the real exchange rate, approximating exchange‐rate uncertainty, exert a significant negative effect on trade for South Korea, Pakistan, Poland and South Africa and a positive effect for Turkey and Hungary in the long run.     

Probability Forecasts of Macroaggregates in the Turkish Economy

We provide probability forecasts of key Turkish macroeconomic variables such as inflation and output growth. The probability forecasts are derived from a core vector error correction model of the Turkish economy and its several variants. We use model and window averaging to address uncertainties arising from estimated models and possible structural breaks. The performances of the different models and their combinations are evaluated using relevant forecast accuracy tests in different pseudo out-of-sample settings. The results indicate that successful directional forecasts can be obtained for output growth and inflation. Averaging over both the models and the estimation windows improves the level of accuracy of the forecasts.     

Stock index futures trading and volatility in international equity markets

This article examines stock market volatility before and after the introduction of equity‐index futures trading in twenty‐five countries, using various models that account for asynchronous data, conditional heteroskedasticity, asymmetric volatility responses, and the joint dynamics of each country's index with the world‐market portfolio. We found that futures trading is related to an increase in conditional volatility in the United States and Japan, but in nearly every other country, we found either no significant effect or a volatility‐dampening effect. This result appears to be robust to model specification and is corroborated by further analysis of the relationship between volatility, trading volume, and open interest in stock futures. An increase in conditional covariance between country‐specific and world returns at the time of futures listing is also documented. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 20:661–685, 2000