Sticky information and sticky prices

In the U.S. and Europe, prices change somewhere between every six months and once a year. Yet nominal macro shocks seem to have real effects lasting well beyond a year. "Sticky information" models, as posited by Sims (2003), Woodford (2003), and Mankiw and Reis (2002), can reconcile micro flexibility with macro rigidity. We simulate a sticky information model in which price setters do not update their information on macro shocks as often as they update their information on micro shocks. Compared to a standard menu cost model, price changes in this model reflect older macro shocks. We then examine price changes in the micro data underlying the U.S. CPI. These price changes do not reflect older information, thereby exhibiting a similar response to that of the standard menu cost model. However, the empirical test hinges on staggered information updating across firms; it cannot distinguish between a full information model and a model where firms have equally old information.Prices

A Computer-Vision-Guided Robot Arm for Automatically Placing Grids in Pioloform Film Preparation

Preparing pioloform/formvar support films on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids is a routine laboratory procedure in practically all electron microscopy units. In current practice, these grids are manually placed on the support film one by one using special tweezers, a process requiring a steady hand. The work is often ergonomically awkward to continue for a longer period of time. In this article, we describe a low-cost, computer vision-guided robot arm that automatically places the grids on the film. The success rate of the prototype robot is 90%, which is comparable to an experienced laboratory technician.</p

Semi-Structured multigrid methods on Voronoi meshes to the resolution of the Darcy-Oberbeck-Boussinesq model

La mayoría de los problemas en física e ingeniería se modelan mediante ecuaciones en derivadas parciales. Como mayores exponentes de este hecho tenemos las ecuaciones de Maxwell, el problema elástico o las ecuaciones de Navier-Stokes. La resolucíon de las ecuaciones en derivadas parciales se basa en el uso de métodos numéricos que están basados en un proceso de discretización. Lo cual, conduce al planteamiento de un sistema de ecuaciones algebraicas cuya resolución puede llegar a ser muy costosa. Por tanto, desarrollar métodos eficientes repercute en la posibilidad de realizar más ensayos con un menor costo de recursos. Hay dos grandes grupos de resolución de estos sistemas de ecuaciones, uno serian los métodos basados en el método del gradiente conjugado, y el otro los métodos multimalla. Es importante remarcar, que los métodos multimalla se pueden usar como precondicionadores de los métodos de gradiente conjugado. Esta tesis, se va a centrar en los métodos multimalla. Los métodos multimalla, son conocidos por ser muy rápidos resolviendo problemas de tipo parabólico y elíptico. Dentro de los métodos multimalla, nos encontramos dos familias. Los métodos geométricos son especialmente rápidos y tienen un bajo consumo de memoria, pero tienen la limitación de que el dominio debe ser regular y la malla estructurada, lo que limita su aplicación. Por otra parte, tenemos los métodos algebraicos, los cuales son mas lentos y requieren más memoria pero se pueden aplicar a dominios de cualquier complejidad. Una alternativa que pretende obtener lo mejor de ambos métodos es el uso de métodos geométricos en mallas semi-estructuradas. Estos consisten en crear una malla inicial no estructurada que se adapte a la geometría del dominio para posteriormente, refinar regularmente esta malla inicial hasta alcanzar la precisión deseada. De esta manera, obtenemos una malla que se adapta al dominio, y dentro de esta malla, dominios estructurados donde podemos aplicar métodos multimalla geométricos. Se han realizado estudios con mallas rectangulares y con triangulares, estas ultimas con nodos en los vértices. Generalmente, las mallas utilizadas para triangular un dominio son las mallas de Delaunay porque se construyen muy rápidamente y además, tienden a dar una triangulación con pocos triángulos puntiagudos y muchos triángulos acutángulos. La malla dual de Delaunay es conocida como malla de Voronoi. La línea que une los vértices de Voronoi es perpendicular a la triangulación de Delaunay. Por tanto, su uso para discretizar ecuaciones en derivadas parciales es muy interesante, ya que para discretizar las derivadas en la dirección normal basta con un cociente de diferencias. Utilizaremos triángulos acutángulos, por lo que el punto de Voronoi siempre estará dentro del triángulo. Pero su posición cambia en función de la forma del triángulo, lo cual, puede dar lugar a grandes anisotropías debidas al mallado y no al problema. Uno de los componentes más importantes de los métodos multimalla es el suavizador. El estudio de suavizadores para mallas centradas en celdas es escaso y nulo para mallas semi-estructuradas. Por tanto, el estudio de nuevos suavizadores es uno de nuestros objetivos. Para ello, deberemos estudiar la complejidad del problema y diseñar nuevos suavizadores que sean capaces de tratar con esta anisotropía inducida por la malla. A la vez que desarrollamos el método multimalla genérico, nos centraremos en la resolución del modelo Darcy-Oberbeck-Boussinesq. Este modelo tiene a su vez un sistema de ecuaciones de tipo mixto con incógnitas de presión y de velocidad. Por tanto, deberemos extender lo estudiado para resolver este sistema. Localizaremos las proyecciones de la velocidad en los lados de los triángulos. En este punto tenemos dos opciones, el uso de suavizadores de tipo Vanka, dentro del cual deberemos resolver cada vez un sistema de ecuaciones de tipo punto silla, o de tipo distributivo. Como no podemos saber de antemano cual sería mas eficiente, deberemos analizar ambos. El modelo Darcy-Oberbeck-Boussinesq, es un modelo que se utiliza para calcular el comportamiento de flujos en medios porosos saturados, los cuales son movidos por diferencias de densidad dentro del fluido. Este modelo puede ser utilizado en el problema de almacenaje de CO2 en acuíferos salinos. Notemos que la velocidad y la concentración están acopladas, haciendo que el problema sea altamente no lineal. De hecho, al poco tiempo del comienzo del proceso se crean inestabilidades difícilmente modelizables que exigen pasos de tiempo muy pequeños

Symmetry in Applied Mathematics

Applied mathematics and symmetry work together as a powerful tool for problem reduction and solving. We are communicating applications in probability theory and statistics (A Test Detecting the Outliers for Continuous Distributions Based on the Cumulative Distribution Function of the Data Being Tested, The Asymmetric Alpha-Power Skew-t Distribution), fractals - geometry and alike (Khovanov Homology of Three-Strand Braid Links, Volume Preserving Maps Between p-Balls, Generation of Julia and Mandelbrot Sets via Fixed Points), supersymmetry - physics, nanostructures -chemistry, taxonomy - biology and alike (A Continuous Coordinate System for the Plane by Triangular Symmetry, One-Dimensional Optimal System for 2D Rotating Ideal Gas, Minimal Energy Configurations of Finite Molecular Arrays, Noether-Like Operators and First Integrals for Generalized Systems of Lane-Emden Equations), algorithms, programs and software analysis (Algorithm for Neutrosophic Soft Sets in Stochastic Multi-Criteria Group Decision Making Based on Prospect Theory, On a Reduced Cost Higher Order Traub-Steffensen-Like Method for Nonlinear Systems, On a Class of Optimal Fourth Order Multiple Root Solvers without Using Derivatives) to specific subjects (Facility Location Problem Approach for Distributed Drones, Parametric Jensen-Shannon Statistical Complexity and Its Applications on Full-Scale Compartment Fire Data). Diverse topics are thus combined to map out the mathematical core of practical problems

Hierarchical search strategy for the detection of gravitational waves from coalescing binaries: Extension to post-Newtonian wave forms

The detection of gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries would be a computationally intensive process if a single bank of template wave forms (i.e., a one step search) is used. In an earlier paper we had presented a detection strategy, called a two step search}, that utilizes a hierarchy of template banks. It was shown that in the simple case of a family of Newtonian signals, an on-line two step search was about 8 times faster than an on-line one step search (for initial LIGO). In this paper we extend the two step search to the more realistic case of zero spin 1.5 post-Newtonian wave forms. We also present formulas for detection and false alarm probabilities which take statistical correlations into account. We find that for the case of a 1.5 post-Newtonian family of templates and signals, an on-line two step search requires about 1/21 the computing power that would be required for the corresponding on-line one step search. This reduction is achieved when signals having strength S = 10.34 are required to be detected with a probability of 0.95, at an average of one false event per year, and the noise power spectral density used is that of advanced LIGO. For initial LIGO, the reduction achieved in computing power is about 1/27 for S = 9.98 and the same probabilities for detection and false alarm as above.Comment: 30 page RevTeX file and 17 figures (postscript). Submitted to PRD Feb 21, 199

On Optimistic and Pessimistic Bilevel Optimization Models for Demand Response Management

This paper investigates bilevel optimization models for demand response management, and highlights the often overlooked consequences of a common modeling assumption in the field. That is, the overwhelming majority of existing research deals with the so-called optimistic variant of the problem where, in case of multiple optimal consumption schedules for a consumer (follower), the consumer chooses an optimal schedule that is the most favorable for the electricity retailer (leader). However, this assumption is usually illegitimate in practice; as a result, consumers may easily deviate from their expected behavior during realization, and the retailer suffers significant losses. One way out is to solve the pessimistic variant instead, where the retailer prepares for the least favorable optimal responses from the consumers. The main contribution of the paper is an exact procedure for solving the pessimistic variant of the problem. First, key properties of optimal solutions are formally proven and efficiently solvable special cases are identified. Then, a detailed investigation of the optimistic and pessimistic variants of the problem is presented. It is demonstrated that the set of optimal consumption schedules typically contains various responses that are equal for the follower, but bring radically different profits for the leader. The main procedure for solving the pessimistic variant reduces the problem to solving the optimistic variant with slightly perturbed problem data. A numerical case study shows that the optimistic solution may perform poorly in practice, while the pessimistic solution gives very close to the highest profit that can be achieved theoretically. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to propose an exact solution approach for the pessimistic variant of the problem

Free-Decay Heave Motion of a Spherical Buoy

We examined the heave motion of a spherical buoy during a free-decay drop test. A comprehensive approach was adopted to study the oscillations of the buoy involving experimental measurements and complementary numerical simulations. The experiments were performed in a wave tank equipped with an array of high-speed motion-capture cameras and a set of high-precision wave gauges. The simulations included three sets of calculations with varying levels of sophistication. Specifically, in one set, the volume-of-fluid (VOF) method was used to solve the incompressible, two-phase, Navier–Stokes equations on an overset grid, whereas the calculations in other sets were based on Cummins and mass-spring-damper models that are both rooted in the linear potential flow theory. Excellent agreements were observed between the experimental data and the results of VOF simulations. Although less accurate, the predictions of the two reduced-order models were found to be quite credible, too. Regarding the motion of the buoy, the obtained results indicate that, after being released from a height approximately equal to its draft at static equilibrium (which is about 60% of its radius), the buoy underwent nearly harmonic damped oscillations. The conducted analysis reveals that the draft length of the buoy has a profound effect on the frequency and attenuation rate of the oscillations. For example, compared to a spherical buoy of the same size that is half submerged at equilibrium (i.e., the draft is equal to the radius), the tested buoy oscillated with a period that was roughly 20% shorter, and its amplitude of oscillations decayed almost twice faster per period. Overall, the presented study provides additional insights into the motion response of a floating sphere that can be used for optimal buoy design for energy extraction