The Impact of Imports on Price-Cost Margins: An Empirical Illustration

This article decomposes the impact of imports on domestic price-cost margins into separate price and cost effects. Using data from 24 food-processing industries, the empirical results show that although the direct impact of imports on prices is always negative, a positive net impact on price-cost margins occurs in industries characterized by low own-price elasticity of demand and diseconomies of scale. Further results show that the disciplining effect of imports is more preponderant the lower the degree of domestic competition.Market power, imports, market structure, international trade, food industry, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade,

Light dynamics in glass-vanadium dioxide nanocomposite waveguides with thermal nonlinearity

We address the propagation of laser beams in Si02-VO2 nanocomposite waveguides with thermo-optical nonlinearity. We show that the large modifications of the absorption coefficient as well as notable changes of refractive index of VO2 nanoparticles embedded into the SiO2 host media that accompany the semiconductor-to-metal phase transition may lead to optical limiting in the near-infrared wave range.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Optics Letter

Area spectrum of the d-dimensional Reissner-Nordstrom black hole in the small charge limit

A conjecture by Hod states that for the black hole horizon the spacing of its area spectrum is determined by the asymptotic value of its quasinormal frequencies. Recently to overcome some difficulties, Maggiore proposes some changes to the original Hod's conjecture. Taking into account the modifications proposed by Maggiore we calculate the area spectrum of the d-dimensional Reissner-Nordstrom black hole in the small charge limit.Comment: 11 page

On the Time Times Temperature Bound

Recently Hod proposes a lower bound on the relaxation time of a perturbed thermodynamic system. For gravitational systems this bound transforms into a condition on the fundamental quasinormal frequency. We test the bound in some spacetimes whose quasinormal frequencies are calculated exactly, as the three-dimensional BTZ black hole, the D-dimensional de Sitter spacetime, and the D-dimensional Nariai spacetime. We find that for some of these spacetimes their fundamental quasinormal frequencies do not satisfy the bound proposed by Hod.Comment: 11 page

Area spectrum of the D-dimensional de Sitter spacetime

The determination of the quantum area spectrum of a black hole horizon by means of its asymptotic quasinormal frequencies has been explored recently. We believe that for D-dimensional de Sitter horizon we must study if the idea works. Thus taking into account the local description of the thermodynamics of horizons proposed by Padmanabhan and the results of Hod, Kunstatter, and Maggiore we study the area spectrum of the D-dimensional de Sitter horizon.Comment: 6 pages, accepted for publication in Physics Letters