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Bennett R. J. (1974) Process identification for time series modelling in urban and regional planning, Reg. Studies8, 157-174. Present dynamic urban and regional models are shown to be largely a priori in their specifications. In developing an a posteriori approach to model building two criteria are defined: operationality and parsimony of the resulting model. One particular family of processes that satisfy these criteria are the family of autoregressiv-moving average and transfer function processes. The identification of a set of time series for North-West England in the time domain, the frequency domain, and by iterative estimation is shown to lead to models of the processes by this family which are operational and parsimonious. It is suggested that the techniques used in this identification can be made the basis of an inferential methodology for model building which leads naturally to statistical forecasts and policy.

Bennett R. J. (1978) Regional monitoring in the U.K.: imperatives and implications for research, Reg. Studies12, 311-321. Monitoring has been advocated as part of continuous planning in place of the view that a plan is an unchangeable document for the future. In recent years regional monitoring has been undertaken in several regions of the U.K. This paper briefly summarizes the aims and role of regional monitoring and of the present state of the art. The main body of discussion, however, is concerned with asking three sets of interrelated questions with respect to regional monitoring in the U.K. First, what issues should regional monitoring attempt to deal with; second, what technical questions need to be answered before these issues can be dealt with; and third, what political and administrative structures are required in order to allow regional monitoring to be accomplished. It is argued that although present regional monitoring systems can achieve a useful degree of success, future developments in regional monitoring can and should be linked only with a meaningful level of devolution.

High Tech America: The What, How, Where and Why of Sunrise Industries, A. MARKUSEN, P. HALL and A. GLASMEIER, George Allen and Unwin, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. (1986). xvii + 227 pp. £20.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 04 338139 1.Handbook of Urban and Regional Economics, P. NIJKAMP (Ed.), North-Holland, Amsterdam (1986). xxii + 702 pp. US$ 65.00/Dfl. 215.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 444 87969 2.Energy, Planning and Urban Form, S. OWENS, Pion, London (1987). 118 pp. £9.00 (pbk). ISBN 0 850 861187.Land at the Centre: Choices in a Fast-Changing World, J. C. HOLLIDAY, Shepheard-Walwyn, London (1986). xiii + 241 pp. £7.95 (pbk). ISBN 0 05683 084 4.Lay Participation in a Local Public Inquiry: A Sociological Case Study, N. HUTTON, Gower, Aldershot, Hants. (1986). x + 203 pp. £18.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 566 05192 3.The Designation of Cumbernauld New Town: A Case Study of Central-Local Government Relationships in Scotland During the 1950s, C. CARTER and M. KEATING, Open University, Social Sciences Working Paper 2, Milton Keynes (1986). 100 pp. £2.50. No ISBN given.Western Europe: Economic and Social Studies, R. KING, Harper & Row, London (1987). x + 222 pp. £6.95 (pbk). ISBN 0 06 318364 1.The British Transport Industry and the European Community, P. MACKIE, D. SIMON and A. WHITEING, Gower, Aldershot, Hants. (1987). xvi + 184 pp. £22.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 566 05368 3.Jura Separatism in Switzerland, J. R. G. JENKINS, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1987). xv + 221 pp. £25.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 19 823247 0.Uneven Development and Regionalism: State, Territory and Class in Southern Europe, C. HADJIMICHALIS, Croom Helm, Beckenham, Kent (1986). 343 pp. £29.95 (hbk). ISBN 0 7099 3700 8.West European Population Change, A. FINDLAY and P. WHITE (Eds.), Croom Helm, Beckenham, Kent (1986). xv + 253 pp., £25.00 (hbk). ISBN 0 7009 3667 2.Decentralization and Change in Contemporary France, M. KEATING and P. HAINSWORTH, Gower, Aldershot, Hants. (1986). 143 pp. £17.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 566 05206 7.Self-Reliant Development in Europe, M. BASSAND, E. A. BRUGGER, J. M. BRYDEN, J. FRIEDMAN and B. STUCKEY (Eds.), Gower, Aldershot, Hants. (1986). vi + 234 pp. £17.50 (hbk). ISBN 0 566 05095 1.Contemporary Studies of Migration: Proceedings of the Second British-Dutch Symposium on Population Geography, 1983, B. VAN DER KNAAP and P. WHITE (Eds.), Geo Books, Norwich (1986). 184 pp. No price given. ISBN 0 96094 192 2.

Parental and progeny isolates of the endophytic fungus Epichloë festucae were tested for compatibility with five grass species: Lolium perenne, Festuca arundinacea, F. longifolia, F. pratensis, and F. rubra subsp. rubra. One parental and some progeny isolates adversely affected the growth of plants, causing increased mortality of inoculated seedlings, stunted growth and chlorotic leaf symptoms. Growth of hyphae from surface-sterilized leaf sheaths and blades was more vigorous and concentrated from stunted than from symptomless plants. In addition, the growth of isolates was influenced by the host species, whereby estimates of hyphal concentration were consistently highest in meadow fescue associations and lowest in tall fescue associations. Light microscopic and transmission electron microscopic examination of stunted plants indicated no changes in host cells. Intercellular hyphae were observed within vascular bundles of leaf blades and sheaths of many of the endophyte–grass associations. The frequency of infected vascular bundles and the concentration of hyphae within them was highest in plants infected with the stunting parental isolate and lowest in plants infected with the symptomless parental isolate. Hyphae within vascular bundles were typically in close contact with sieve-tube elements and appeared to be functioning as powerful sinks, diverting assimilates and restricting growth.

This paper describes the spatial distribution of tax base, local expenditures, and local tax rates over the period from 1974/1975 to 1980/1981. The paper then analyses the extent to which resource and expenditure patterns are related to inner-city stress (as measured by partnership and other statutory status following the 1978 Inner Urban Areas legislation) and local political party colour. From the use of analysis of covariance methods, the conclusion is drawn that urban stress has little relation to resource and expenditure differences, but that local party colour is strongly correlated with expenditure and tax base differences. Deriving from the role of the rate support grant, tax rates show no significant relation to urban status or local party colour.

Attempts to forecast in situations in which the leading indicators are also used as policy variables are beset by a number of statistical problems which affect the specification of the forecasting model, estimation of its parameters, and the design of policy itself. The main effects are that when there is perfect policy feedback the forecasting model cannot be identified at all; when there is partial or imperfect feedback the forecasting model is collinear, underidentified, and least-squares parameter estimates will be biased. Estimation procedures available in closed loops are reviewed, and the application of these methods to road and air traffic forecasting is discussed.

In this paper a simple introduction and guide to a widely applicable method for estimating missing data in fields of enquiry such as census maps or LANDSAT images are presented. The method given is a maximum likelihood procedure. This is argued to have the particularly favourable characteristics (1) that its distribution properties are known, (2) it is applicable both to regularly and to irregularly spaced observations, (3) it can handle different spatial configurations of missing cells, (4) it makes full use of the information contained in the known spatial data (particularly its spatial autocorrelation), (5) it has no systematic tendency to error, and (6) it provides ‘probability limits’. The algorithm is presented in the form of a simple tutorial guide. An example, of median income levels in Houston, is worked through in detail for missing cells in census data. The example is characterised by a variable mean and a general variance — covariance matrix.

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sgs1 protein is a member of a family of DNA helicases that include the Escherichia coli RecQ protein and the products of human Bloom's syndrome and Werner's syndrome genes. To study the enzymatic characteristics of the protein, a recombinant Sgs1 fragment (amino acids 400-1268 of the 1447-amino acid full-length protein) was overexpressed in yeast and purified to near homogeneity. The purified protein exhibits an ATPase activity in the presence of single- or double-stranded DNA. In the presence of ATP or dATP, unwinding of duplex DNA or a DNA-RNA heteroduplex by the recombinant Sgs1 fragment was readily observed. Similar to the E. coli RecQ helicase, displacement of the DNA strand occurs in the 3' to 5' direction with respect to the single-stranded DNA flanking the duplex. The efficiency of unwinding was found to correlate inversely with the length of the duplex region and was enhanced by the presence of E. coli single-stranded DNA-binding protein. In addition, the recombinant Sgs1 fragment was found to bind more tightly to a forked DNA substrate than to either single- or double-stranded DNA.

The financial health of local authorities in England and Wales is examined over the period 1974/1975-1980/1981 to determine the manner in which financial positions have been affected by central government transfers under the rate support grant. The results of the analysis are preliminary pending fuller analysis of needs positions, but they do demonstrate that local party control has very little relation to grant allocations. This is mostly because of the interrelation with levels of urban stress, which is found to be a very significant correlate with levels of grant received. It is concluded, therefore, that in contrast to the USA, local authorities in England and Wales have received progressively larger grants in relation to higher levels of urban stress.

This paper contains a review of the local systems of taxation in Britain and Germany as well as the policy debate. The main contribution, however, is to evaluate the burdens of the two fiscal systems on the user costs of capital. Comparisons are made first within each country of the burdens of local business taxes on different assets, sectors, owners, and sources of finance. Comparisons are then made between Britain and Germany over the period 1960–84 by adding progressively higher levels of standardisation: Standardised depreciation rates, inflation rates, distribution of assets and ownership, and capital allowances. From the empirical results it is demonstrated that local taxes decrease the aggregate real rates of return on investment projects by 0.6% (1960 and 1970) and 0.8% (1984) in Germany, and by 0:6% (1960), 0.7% (1970), and 1.1% (1984) in Britain. Thus, although aggregate burdens were comparable in the 1960s and 1970s, recent developments in Britain have resulted in a significant increase in local tax effects. These developments are even more strongly developed for particular assets and industries.

In this paper the question of tax assignment in multiple-level systems of government is addressed. Existing economic theory of fiscal federalism, which is the main source of information on tax assignment, is reviewed and various criticisms of this theory, as a normative theory, are outlined which indicate major difficulties in application to practice. Where a strong desire for decentralisation exists, such as in Spain, an alternative political-economic approach is suggested. This is then used to comment on developments in Spain where, it is concluded, the present assignment of taxing powers is insufficient to guarantee the autonomy of the regional governments. For Spain, regional access to a share of the VAT or personal income tax is suggested as the best option for tax reform in order to offer sufficient regional tax autonomy.

In this paper the activities of regional and nationalist movements in Britain are analysed with respect to five hypotheses: The degree and form of representation, including the role of elites; the extent of participation in regional identity; the form of existing and desired forms of decentralisation; the extent of specificness of regional issues; and the extent of central economic and political dominance. Seven major areas are analysed: Shetland, Orkney, Western Isles, Cornwall, Wessex, the North, and North Devon, with some analysis also of Scotland and Wales. The existence of a considerable level of participation in regional identity in some regions, and a remarkable degree of success, by working through existing institutions, of movements in Shetland, Orkney, and North Devon will be demonstrated. For other regions, however, participation is ‘dormant’.

This paper outlines a number of possible reforms of local government finance in Britain against the philosophical background of reducing the power of government in aggregate and reasserting the independence of local authorities. The reforms suggested are for a simpler central grant, a local income tax (combined with self-assessment and year-end adjustment for present PAYE payers, with eventual noncumulative PAYE and credit income tax), a land value tax at national level to replace local nondomestic rates, charges for use of local services by industry and commerce, and a new independent revenue source for parish and community councils. These proposals are proffered as a review of one aspect of the political platform for change offered by the ‘centre’ political parties in Britain.

Models of spatial structure, spatial interaction, and integrated location-interaction models are reviewed and the nature of their contribution to the geographer's understanding of patterns and change is explored. The main discussion focuses first on spatial structure and then on spatial interaction. Integrated models are explored in relation to six categories employed by Zeeman, the first of these being concerned with pattern, the rest with increasingly complicated aspects of dynamics. The categories are: equilibrium, ‘fast’ dynamics, ‘slow’ dynamics, feedbacks, noise, and diffusion. The argument is illustrated by examples at each stage.