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Does a strong commitment to an exchange rate peg reduce the cost of financial capital to less developed countries? We use a sample of twelve Caribbean countries to examine the impact that the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), a currency board/monetary union, has in lowering the cost of borrowing to its members. Results from estimations on individual and pooled annual data from 1976–1999 indicate that membership in the ECCU, in addition to other policy variables, significantly reduces the cost of financial capital.

This paper aims to assess the feasibility of the proposed Caribbean Monetary Union (CMU) by examining the synchronization of business cycles within CARICOM. According to the literature on optimum currencies, the synchronization of business cycles is a key requirement for the formation of a monetary union.

In order to extract the business cycles we use the Hodrick‐Prescott (HP) filter and the band pass (BP) filter. For the purposes of measuring synchronization two concepts are used: the simple correlation coefficient and the Concordance statistic of Pagan and Harding. First, the feasibility of enlarging the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union is examined and then consideration is given to the formation of a new monetary union with Trinidad and Tobago as the center.

The paper finds the degree of business cycle synchronization to be weak. This casts doubt on the feasibility of the proposed CMU.

This paper has placed emphasis on the synchronization of business cycles. While the synchronization of business cycles is necessary, is not sufficient for a successful monetary union. Other factors such as political cohesion may be just as important.

This paper's main contribution is that it employs a more rigorous framework and a more comprehensive data set than previous studies.

In the second part of this report the action of nitrogen peroxide on flour is discussed at some length in an account of a series of researches that have been carried out by DR. MONIER‐WILLIAMS. His conclusions may be briefly stated as follows. The maximum bleaching effect is obtained when each kilogram of flour is treated with from 30 to 100 cubic centimetres of nitrogen peroxide. The bleaching effect becomes more pronounced after keeping for several days. The amount of nitrous acid or nitrites that are present in bleached flour corresponds to about 30 per cent. of the total nitrogen absorbed, the proportion of nitrites present remaining nearly constant after the lapse of several days in the more slightly bleached samples. After the lapse of a short time it is still possible to extract about 60 per cent. of the nitrogen absorbed by the flour by means of cold water, but after several days the nitrogen that can be extracted by this means decreases. This may perhaps be attributed to the “absorption” of nitrous acid by the glutenin and gliadin. In highly bleached flour (300 cubic centimetres of nitrogen peroxide per kilogram of flour) a considerable increase in the amounts of soluble proteins and soluble carbohydrates takes place. In highly bleached flour, after some time, about 6 or 7 per cent. of the nitrogen introduced as nitrogen by the nitrogen peroxide is absorbed by the oil, which acquires the characteristics of an oxidised oil. No evidence is forthcoming as to the formation of diazo compounds nor the production of free nitrogen. Bleaching was found to exercise an inhibitory action on the salivary digestion of flour.

This study introduces the concept of audiovisual alerts and warnings as a way to reduce phishing susceptibility on mobile devices.

This study has three phases. The first phase included 32 subject matter experts that provided feedback toward a phishing alert and warning system. The second phase included development and a pilot study to validate a phishing alert and warning system prototype. The third phase included delivery of the Phishing Alert and Warning System (PAWS^TM mobile app) to 205 participants. This study designed, developed, as well as empirically tested the PAWS^TM mobile app that alerted and warned participants to the signs of phishing in emails on mobile devices.

The results of this study indicated audio alerts and visual warnings potentially lower phishing susceptibility in emails. Audiovisual warnings appeared to assist study participants in noticing phishing emails more easily and in less time than without audiovisual warnings.

This study's implications to mitigation of phishing emails are key, as it appears that alerts and warnings added to email applications may play a significant role in the reduction of phishing susceptibility.

This study extends the existing information security body of knowledge on phishing prevention and awareness by using audiovisual alerts and warnings to email recipients tested in real-life applications.

The statements which have recently been made in various quarters to the effect that Danish butter is losing its hold on the English market, that its quality is deteriorating, and that the sale is falling off, are not a little astonishing in face of the very strong and direct evidence to the contrary furnished by the official records. As an example of the kind of assertions here alluded to may be instanced an opinion expressed by a correspondent of the British Food Journal, who, in a letter printed in the March number, stated that “My own opinion is that the Danes are steadily losing their good name for quality, owing to not using preservatives and to their new fad of pasteurising… .”

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

THE question of the advisability of exercising a censorship over literature has been much before the public of late, and probably many librarians have realised how closely the disputed question affects their own profession.