The Optimal Rate of Decline of an Inefficient Industry

This paper considers the problem of the optimal time path of contraction of an industry which has been hit by foreign competition, and shows that in general, along the optimal path, a production subsidy is warranted. The optimal subsidy trades off the benefit of unemployment in speeding up the approach to the new long-run equilibrium against the cost of lost output in the ‘inefficient’ industry. The dynamic shadow price of labour in this industry is also derived and shown to be always positive, though below the industry wage rat

Electrophysiological evidence for changes in attentional orienting and selection in functional somatic symptoms

Neurophysiology Objective: We investigated changes in attention mechanisms in people who report a high number of somatic symptoms which cannot be associated with a physical cause. Method: Based on scores on the Somatoform Disorder Questionnaire (SDQ-20; Nijenhuis et al., 1996) we compared two non-clinical groups, one with high symptoms on the SDQ-20 and a control group with low or no symptoms. We recorded EEG whilst participants performed an exogenous tactile attention task where they had to discriminate between tactile targets following a tactile cue to the same or opposite hand. Results: The neural marker of attentional orienting to the body, the Late Somatosensory Negativity (LSN), was diminished in the high symptoms group and attentional modulation of touch processing was prolonged at mid and enhanced at later latency stages in this group. Conclusion: These results confirm that attentional processes are altered in people with somatic symptoms, even in a non-clinical group. Furthermore, the observed pattern fits explanations of changes in prior beliefs or expectations leading to diminished amplitudes of the marker of attentional orienting to the body (i.e. the LSN) and enhanced attentional gain of touch processing. Significance: This study shows that high somatic symptoms are associated with neurocognitive attention changes

The Optimal Rate of Decline of an Inefficient Industry

This paper considers the problem of the optimal time path of contraction of an industry which has been hit by foreign competition, and shows that in general, along the optimal path, a production subsidy is warranted. The optimal subsidy trades off the benefit of unemployment in speeding up the approach to the new long-run equilibrium against the cost of lost output in the ‘inefficient’ industry. The dynamic shadow price of labour in this industry is also derived and shown to be always positive, though below the industry wage rate

Fractional Operators, Dirichlet Averages, and Splines

Fractional differential and integral operators, Dirichlet averages, and splines of complex order are three seemingly distinct mathematical subject areas addressing different questions and employing different methodologies. It is the purpose of this paper to show that there are deep and interesting relationships between these three areas. First a brief introduction to fractional differential and integral operators defined on Lizorkin spaces is presented and some of their main properties exhibited. This particular approach has the advantage that several definitions of fractional derivatives and integrals coincide. We then introduce Dirichlet averages and extend their definition to an infinite-dimensional setting that is needed to exhibit the relationships to splines of complex order. Finally, we focus on splines of complex order and, in particular, on cardinal B-splines of complex order. The fundamental connections to fractional derivatives and integrals as well as Dirichlet averages are presented

Neural correlates of endogenous attention, exogenous attention and inhibition of return in touch

Selective attention helps process the myriad of information constantly touching our body. Both endogenous and exogenous mechanisms are relied upon to effectively process this information; however, it is unclear how they relate in the sense of touch. In three tasks we contrasted endogenous and exogenous event-related potential (ERP) and behavioural effects. Unilateral tactile cues were followed by a tactile target at the same or opposite hand. Clear behavioural effects showed facilitation of expected targets both when the cue predicted targets at the same (endogenous predictive task) and opposite hand (endogenous counter-predictive task), and these effects also correlated with ERP effects of endogenous attention. In an exogenous task, where the cue was non-informative, inhibition of return (IOR) was observed. The electrophysiological results demonstrated early effects of exogenous attention followed by later endogenous attention modulations. These effects were independent in both the endogenous predictive and exogenous tasks. However, voluntarily directing attention away from a cued body part influenced the early exogenous marker (N80). This suggests that the two mechanisms are interdependent, at least when the task requires more demanding shifts of attention. The early marker of exogenous tactile attention, the N80, was not directly related to IOR, which may suggest that exogenous attention and IOR are not necessarily two sides of the same coin. This study adds valuable new insight into how we process and select information presented to our body, showing both independent and interdependent effects of endogenous and exogenous attention in touch

The attentive homunculus: ERP evidence for somatotopic allocation of attention in tactile search

Our brain constantly receives tactile information from the body’s surface.We often only become aware of this information when directing our attention towards the body. Here, we report a study investigating the behavioural and neural response when selecting a target amongst distractor vibrations presented simultaneously to several locations either across the hands or body. Comparable visual search studies have revealed the N2pc as the neural correlate of visual selective attention. Analogously, we describe an enhanced negativity contralateral to the tactile target side. This effect is strongest over somatosensory areas and lasts approximately 200 ms from the onset of the somatosensory N140 ERP component. Based on these characteristics we named this electrophysiological signature of attentional tactile target selection during tactile search the N140-central-contralateral (N140cc). Furthermore, we present supporting evince that the N140cc reflects attentional enhancement of target rather than suppression of distractor locations; the component was not reliably altered by distractor but rather by target location changes. Taken together, our findings present a novel electrophysiological marker of tactile search and show how attentional selection of touch operates by mainly enhancing task relevant locations within the somatosensory homunculus

Electrophysiological evidence for changes in attentional orienting and selection in functional somatic symptoms

Objective We investigated changes in attention mechanisms in people who report a high number of somatic symptoms which cannot be associated with a physical cause. Method Based on scores on the Somatoform Disorder Questionnaire (SDQ-20; Nijenhuis et al., 1996) we compared two non-clinical groups, one with high symptoms on the SDQ-20 and a control group with low or no symptoms. We recorded EEG whilst participants performed an exogenous tactile attention task where they had to discriminate between tactile targets following a tactile cue to the same or opposite hand. Results The neural marker of attentional orienting to the body, the Late Somatosensory Negativity (LSN), was diminished in the high symptoms group and attentional modulation of touch processing was prolonged at mid and enhanced at later latency stages in this group. Conclusion These results confirm that attentional processes are altered in people with somatic symptoms, even in a non-clinical group. Furthermore, the observed pattern fits explanations of changes in prior beliefs or expectations leading to diminished amplitudes of the marker of attentional orienting to the body (i.e. the LSN) and enhanced attentional gain of touch processing. Significance This study shows that high somatic symptoms are associated with neurocognitive attention changes

Single-particle and collective excitations in a charged Bose gas at finite temperature

The main focus of this work is on the predictions made by the dielectric formalism in regard to the relationship between single-particle and collective excitation spectra in a gas of point-like charged bosons at finite temperature $T$ below the critical region of Bose-Einstein condensation. Illustrative numerical results at weak coupling ($r_s = 1$) are presented within the Random Phase Approximation. We show that within this approach the single-particle spectrum forms a continuum extending from the transverse to the longitudinal plasma mode frequency and leading to a double-peak structure as $T$ increases, whereas the density fluctuation spectrum consists of a single broadening peak. We also discuss the momentum distribution and the superfluidity of the gas.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

The Remarkable Mid-Infrared Jet of Massive Young Stellar Object G35.20-0.74

The young massive stellar object G35.20-0.74 was observed in the mid-infrared using T-ReCS on Gemini South. Previous observations have shown that the near infrared emission has a fan-like morphology that is consistent with emission from the northern lobe of a bipolar radio jet known to be associated with this source. Mid-infrared observations presented in this paper show a monopolar jet-like morphology as well, and it is argued that the mid-infrared emission observed is dominated by thermal continuum emission from dust. The mid-infrared emission nearest the central stellar source is believed to be directly heated dust on the walls of the outflow cavity. The hydroxyl, water, and methanol masers associated with G35.20-0.74 are spatially located along these mid-infrared cavity walls. Narrow jet or outflow cavities such as this may also be the locations of the linear distribution of methanol masers that are found associated with massive young stellar objects. The fact that G35.20-0.74 has mid-infrared emission that is dominated by the outflow, rather than disk emission, is a caution to those that consider mid-infrared emission from young stellar objects as only coming from circumstellar disks.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; 4 pages; 2 figures; a version with full resolution images is available here: http://www.ctio.noao.edu/~debuizer