A General Analysis of Sequential Merger Games with an Application to Cross-Border Mergers

This paper seeks to uncover why the pattern of equilibria in sequential merger games of a certain type is similar across a fairly wide class of models much studied in the literature. By developing general conditions characterising each element of the set of possible equilibria, I show that the solution to models that satisfy a certain sufficient condition will be restricted to the same subset of equilibria. This result is of empirical relevance in that the pattern of equilibria obtained for this wide class of models is associated with mergers not happening in isolation but rather bunching together. I extend the results to the analysis of cross-border mergers, studying two standard models that satisfy the sufficient condition --Sutton's (1991) vertically-differentiated oligopoly and Perry and Porter's (1985) fixed-supply-of-capital model.Mergers, sequential mergers, cross-border investment, technology transfer.

A Deep Learning integrated mortality model for Longevity Swap pricing

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Risk Analysis and ManagementThis research empirically investigates the usage of Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) to improve the accuracy of mortality rates forecasting within the context of Longevity linked securities pricing. The benchmark model in the mortality field is the classical Lee-Carter; the forecasting procedure of these model is often conducted with ARIMA models. I consider a fixed forecasting time horizon in order to compare the performance of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) with different hyperparameter and data input choices against that produced by the best fitted ARIMA models. The results are then applied to Longevity Swap pricing in order to better estimates the premium of the derivatives contracts. The investigation is conducted for six countries, using mortality data from 1950 onwards, differentiating by gender. The research shows how RNN outperform the classical ARIMA models in the forecasting procedure. Although the advantages of RNN’s techniques are strictly bounded to the set of hyperparameter used for the comparison; the outcomes of such approaches can vary greatly using different input choices. In the end the results shows that an RNN approach can bring significant changes to the price of Longevity Linked securities. The research is in the first place one of the few to test the forecasting accuracy of Deep Learning methods accounting for alternative methodological, hyperparameter and data input choices. Afterwards the investigation demonstrate the necessity of revisit the classical mortality models in order to better estimates prices of derivatives contracts that are very useful in the context of Longevity risk

"Inferring Conduct under the Threat of Entry: The Case of the Brazilian Cement Industry."

This paper demonstrates that when an industry faces potential entry and this threat of entry constrains pre-entry prices, cost and conduct are not identified from the comparative statics of equilibrium. In such a setting, the identifying assumption behind the well-established technique of relying on exogenous demand perturbations to empirically distinguish between alternative hypotheses of conduct is shown to fail. The Brazilian cement industry, where the threat of imports restrains market outcomes, provides an empirical illustration. In particular, price-cost margins estimated using this established technique are considerably biased downward, underestimating the degree of market power. A test of conduct is proposed, adapted to this constrained setting, which suggests that outcomes in the industry are collusive and characterised by market division.Conduct, Multimarket competition, Market division, Limit pricing, Cement

Price competition, mergers and structural estimation in oligopoly.

This thesis examines the exercise of market power by oligopolistic firms. The first part deals with a phenomenon that has important implications for market power: horizontal mergers. I seek to uncover why the pattern of equilibria in sequential merger games of a certain type is similar across a fairly wide class of models studied in the literature. By developing general conditions characterising each element of the set of possible equilibria, I show that the solution to models that satisfy a certain sufficient condition will be restricted to the same subset of equilibria. This result is of empirical relevance in that the pattern of equilibria obtained for this class of models is associated with mergers happening, not in isolation, but rather in bunches. I extend the results to the analysis of cross-border mergers, studying two standard models that satisfy my sufficient condition: Sutton's (1991) vertically-differentiated oligopoly and Perry and Porter's (1985) fixed-supply-of-capital model. The second part is concerned with the structural inference of market power, a central theme in empirical Industrial Organisation. I demonstrate that when an industry faces potential entry and this threat of entry constrains pre-entry prices, cost and conduct cannot be identified from the comparative statics of equilibrium. In such a setting, the identifying assumption behind the well-established technique of relying on exogenous demand perturbations to distinguish empirically between alternative hypotheses of conduct is shown to fail. The Brazilian cement industry, where the threat of imports restrains market outcomes, provides an empirical illustration. In particular, price-cost margins estimated using this established technique are biased heavily downwards, underestimating the degree of market power. I propose a test of conduct, adapted to this constrained setting, which suggests that outcomes in the industry are collusive and characterised by market division. Robustness of this result is verified along several dimensions: by considering simple dynamic multimarket games which in equilibrium give rise to market division; by reviewing the spatial competition literature; and by resorting to a gravity model to statistically analyse shipments

Internet traffic modeling by means of Hidden Markov Models

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SiC foam sandwich structures obtained by Mo-wrap joining

SiC foams sandwiched between two Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) skins are of interest for several high temperature applications ranging from aeronautics to energy production. In this paper, SiC foams were joined to C/SiC composites by the “Mo-wrap” method to obtain sandwich structures. The Mo-wrap method is a recently developed joining technique: it consists of wrapping Si foils inside a Mo wrap in order to prevent molten silicon leaking from the joined area and infiltrating SiC foam and C/SiC during the joining process. Compression and thermal shock resistance tests were performed on the C/SiC – SiC foam – C/SiC sandwich obtaining sound results

Temperature-and pH-sensitive wearable materials for monitoring foot ulcers

Foot ulcers account for 15% of comorbidities associated with diabetes. Presently, no device allows the status of foot ulcers to be continuously monitored when patients are not hospitalized. In this study, we describe a temperature and a pH sensor capable of monitoring diabetic foot and venous leg ulcers developed in the frame of the seventh framework program European Union project SWAN-iCare (smart wearable and autonomous negative pressure device for wound monitoring and therapy). Temperature is measured by exploiting the variations in the electrical resistance of a nanocomposite consisting of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and poly(styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene). The pH sensor used a graphene oxide (GO) layer that changes its electrical potential when pH changes. The temperature sensor has a sensitivity of ~85 Ω/°C in the range 25°C-50°C and a high repeatability (maximum standard deviation of 0.1% over seven repeated measurements). For a GO concentration of 4 mg/mL, the pH sensor has a sensitivity of ~42 mV/pH and high linearity (R2=0.99)

The effects of detraining and retraining periods on fat-mass and fat-free mass in elite male soccer players

The aim of the study was to examine the effects of a detraining period (DTP) (i.e., offseason) with an individually prescribed training program, and a retraining period (RTP) (i.e., pre-season) combining soccer and flywheel-based strength training on fat-free mass (FFM) and fat-mass (FM) in 10 elite professional male soccer players. The present study used a controlled repeated-measures research design to investigate the changes in FFM and FM using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Whole body %FM increased (effect size (ES) = 0.87 ± 0.46) and FFM reduced after DTP (ES = -0.30 ± 0.19), returning to values comparable to the end of the previous season after RTP. At regional levels, arms, legs, and trunk %FM increased (ES = from 0.42 to 1.29) while trunk-FFM was reduced (ES=-0.40±0.26) after DTP, returning to the values observed at the end of the previous season after RTP. Legs-FFM did not change after DTP, with a substantial increase after RTP in comparison with pre-season values (ES = 0.34 ± 0.29 and 0.53 ± 0.36 for the right and left leg, respectively). Despite the small sample size of the present study, the findings indicate that elite soccer players can be allowed 2 weeks of rest during a five-week DTP, since the changes in %FM and FFM were relatively small, and FM and FFM returned to the optimal initial values for competition after the proposed RTP during the pre-season

Individual variability in cardiac biomarker release after high intensity rowing in elite and amateur athletes

The release of cardiac biomarkers with exercise has been previously suggested, however the influence of training level in continuous strenuous efforts in rowing is currently unknown

Cyclic AMP efflux through MRP4 regulates actin dynamics signalling pathway and sperm motility in bovines

Previously we demonstrated that multidrug resistance-associated protein 4 transporter (MRP4) mediates cAMP efflux in bovine spermatozoa and that extracellular cAMP (ecAMP) triggers events associated to capacitation. Here, we deepen the study of the role of MRP4 in bovine sperm function by using MK571, an MRP4 inhibitor. The incubation of spermatozoa with MK571 during 45 min inhibited capacitation-associated events. MRP4 was localized in post-acrosomal region and mid-piece at 15 min capacitation, while at 45 min it was mainly located in the acrosome. After 15 min, MK571 decreased total sperm motility (TM), progressive motility (PM) and several kinematic parameters. The addition of ecAMP rescued MK571 effect and ecAMP alone increased the percentage of motile sperm and kinematics parameters. Since actin cytoskeleton plays essential roles in the regulation of sperm motility, we investigated if MRP4 activity might affect actin polymerization. After 15 min capacitation, an increase in F-actin was observed, which was inhibited by MK571. This effect was reverted by the addition of ecAMP. Furthermore, ecAMP alone increased F-actin levels while no F-actin was detected with ecAMP in the presence of PKA inhibitors. Our results support the importance of cAMP efflux through MRP4 in sperm capacitation and suggest its involvement in the regulation of actin polymerization and motility.Fil: Chiarante, Nicolás Agustín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; ArgentinaFil: Alonso, Carlos A. I.. McGill University; CanadáFil: Plaza, Jessica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Investigación y Tecnología en Reproducción Animal; ArgentinaFil: Lottero Leconte, Raquel María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; ArgentinaFil: Arroyo Salvo, Camila Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; ArgentinaFil: Yaneff, Agustín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas; ArgentinaFil: Osycka Salut, Claudia Elena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Davio, Carlos Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas; ArgentinaFil: Miragaya, Marcelo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Investigación y Tecnología en Reproducción Animal; ArgentinaFil: Perez Martinez, Silvina Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Centro de Estudios Farmacológicos y Botánicos; Argentin