Economics of Domestic Cultural Content Protection in Broadcasting, The

We analyze the economics of domestic cultural content protection in terrestrial broadcasting, the most widespread policy instrument used in broadcasting. Using the love-of-variety approach, we model a representative consumer deriving utility from broadcasting services net of advertising,and allocating scarce time between consuming the various broadcasting services and leisure. Advertising is a nuisance; it costs time yet brings no utility. Broadcasting is a pure public good; broadcasters make profit in the monopolistic competition environment by bundling advertising with valuable cultural content. We impose a discrete domestic content requirement and then investigate the effects of its marginal changes on consumption of domestic broadcasting. Domestic content requirement may reduce (increase) consumption of domestic programs when consumer's demand is highly elastic (inelastic), the degree of preference for foreign content over domestic content is high (low) and opportunity cost of listening time is high (low). The reduction occurs because the consumer reshuffles her consumption bundle towards leisure away from high domestic-content stations thereby reducing the overall aggregate consumption of broadcasting, and subsequently, the overall aggregate consumption of domestic programs.boradcasting; domestic content; radio; cultural protection

Tail and free poset algebras.

We characterize free poset algebras F(P) over partially ordered sets and show that they can be represented by upper semi-lattice algebras. Hence, the uniqueness, in decomposition into normal form, using symmetric difference, of non-zero elements of F(P) is established. Moreover, a characterization of upper semilattice algebras that are isomorphic to free poset algebras is given in terms of a selected set of generators of B(T).We characterize free poset algebras F (P ) over partially ordered sets and show that they can be represented by upper semi-lattice algebras. Hence, the unique ness, in decomposition into normal form, using symmetric difference, of non-zero elements of F (P ) is established. Moreover, a characterization of upper semi lattice algebras that are isomorphic to free poset algebras is given in terms of a selected set of generators of B (T )

The economics of protection of cultural goods

Many countries claim that foreign cultural goods threaten their national identities and culture and engage in protectionism. In this dissertation, I analyze the economics of trade protection in cultural services, focusing on domestic cultural content protection in terrestrial television and radio broadcasting, and cultural tariffs in the movie industry. My the first essay considers the impact of cultural quota imposed of radio stations in increasing consumption of domestic programs. Domestic content requirement may reduce (increase) consumption of domestic programs when consumer\u27s demand is highly elastic (inelastic), the degree of preference for foreign content over domestic content is high (low) and opportunity cost of listening time is high (low). The reduction occurs because the consumer reshuffles her consumption bundle towards leisure away from high domestic-content stations thereby reducing the overall aggregate consumption of broadcasting, and subsequently, the overall aggregate consumption of domestic programs. My second essay analyzes direct regulation of the proportion of the domestic programs in the total volume of broadcasting and tax-cum-subsidy policies. Marginal changes in content requirement increase (decrease) consumption of domestic shows when individuals are sensitive (insensitive) to the provided content. Tax-cum-subsidy polices have negative (no) effect on consumption of the domestic content when preferences of individuals of the country subject to regulation are highly sensitive (insensitive). Finally, we find that capping advertising increases consumption of domestic programs. The last essay addresses the question of whether a cultural tariff is a proper policy to raise consumption of domestic movies, especially artistic ones, as opposed to foreign blockbuster movies. Hollywood blockbuster movies allegedly have low-cultural value and cultural tariff intends to increase the average cultural level in the country implementing the policy. Starting from free trade, a small cultural tariff decreases the average blockbusterness of the domestic market as intended although the number of local producers willing to enter the blockbuster market increases and reduces the number of local producers specializing in the production of artistic movies. The cultural tariff introduces a distortion into the relative price of movies. Aggregate consumption of artistic movies that are locally made increases and so does the self-sufficiency ratio of local producers

Set mapping reflection

In this note we will discuss a new reflection principle which follows from the Proper Forcing Axiom. The immediate purpose will be to prove that the bounded form of the Proper Forcing Axiom implies both that 2^omega = omega_2 and that L(P(omega_1)) satisfies the Axiom of Choice. It will also be demonstrated that this reflection principle implies that combinatorial principle Square(kappa) fails for all regular kappa > omega_1.Comment: 11 page

Nail dystrophy: a rare sign of sarcoidosis

A 29-year-old woman presented to our clinic for subungueal hyperkeratotic lesion of the fourth left toenail. In 1997, she developed systemic sarcoidosis with lung and cutaneous lesions. The patient required gradually tapered systemic corticosteroids for 4 years and methotrexate for 1 year to control lung disease. A few months previously a hyperkeratotic verrucous lesion developed beneath the distal portion of the forth left toenail plate. There was no history of trauma. A biopsy specimen of the nail bed revealed epithelioid granulomas in the dermis without central necrosis. An X-ray of the feet showed severe osteolysis of the terminal phalanx of the forth left toenail. After 2 weeks application, once daily, of hight potency topical steroids, the subungueal hyperkeratosis rapidly improved without relapse after eight months. Nail dystrophy in sarcoidosis is rare. The most common nail changes described in sarcoidosis include thickening of the nail plates associated with fragility and longitudinal ridging , brown discoloration of the nail bed , convex nails and layering, splinter hemorrhage also occur. Such changes are usually associated with lupus pernio and cystic bone change of the phalanx. Our patient did not show lupus pernio like lesions, but radiological examination of the left foot showed bone cyst of the terminal phalanx. Treatment options for nail dystrophy in sarcoidosis include systemic treatment with 10mg/day of prednisone and 200mg/day of hydroxychlorochine sulphate, hight- potency topical steroids application once daily and steroid injections into the nail fold

Performance of passive UHF RFID in cascaded correlated generalized Rician fading

Ultra high frequency radio frequency identification (UHF RFID) systems can use passive tags to reflect the signal from the reader’s transmitting antenna back to the reader’s receiving antenna for information delivery. This gives a cascaded channel that is a product of two fading components. In this work, the probability of detection, defined as the probability that the received power is above the receiver sensitivity, is derived when the two fading components suffer from correlated generalized Rician fading. This includes the Rayleigh, Rician and Nakagamim channels in the literature as special cases. Numerical results are presented to show the effects of link distances, receiver sensitivities and channel parameters on the detection probability

Analyses-diagnostics des vulnérabilités d’une organisation face aux utilisations des technologies de l’information et de communication

RÉSUMÉ : Les technologies de l’information et de communication (TIC) représentent un élément incontournable pour le développement des organisations. Elles interviennent dans tous les aspects de la chaîne de valeur et leurs utilisations aident les organisations à atteindre leurs objectifs stratégiques et à réaliser leurs missions. Le Centre risque & performance (CRP) oriente actuellement ces travaux de recherche pour développer une nouvelle approche pour mieux identifier et comprendre les vulnérabilités liées aux utilisations effectives des TIC dans les organisations. Ce mémoire présente la démarche proposée aux gestionnaires des organisations de type petite et moyenne taille pour effectuer des analyses-diagnostics des vulnérabilités liées aux utilisations des TIC. Le premier objectif vise à amener les gestionnaires à caractériser les vulnérabilités technologiques que leurs organisations doivent considérer dans les prises de décision concernant le choix d’une technologie et le choix des stratégies à mettre en place pour assurer le maintien, le rétablissement, la reprise et la sécurité de ces technologies. Le deuxième objectif est de permettre la compréhension des dépendances avec les fournisseurs de ces technologies et les vulnérabilités liées à ’externalisation des TIC. La démarche proposée est centrée sur la caractérisation des vulnérabilités internes et externes face aux utilisations des TIC. La prise en compte des connaissances obtenues à partir du portrait de l’organisation, du profil des vulnérabilités et du portrait de l’état de préparation permet aux gestionnaires des organisations de concevoir une vision globale sur les enjeux technologiques de leurs organisations. La considération des dépendances avec les fournisseurs des services de TIC dans les analyses-diagnostics des vulnérabilités technologiques a permis de commencer une réflexion chez les gestionnaires sur les critères de choix de leurs fournisseurs de TIC et de les soutenir dans les prises de décision concernant les choix stratégiques.----------ABSTRACT : Information and communication technologies (ICT) are considered an essential element for the development of organizations. Their uses help organizations achieve their strategic goals and accomplish their missions. The research center risk & performance of Polytechnique Montreal is currently trying to develop a new approach to better identify and understand vulnerabilities related to the actual uses of ICT in the organizations. This thesis presents the approach proposed to the managers of organizations of small and medium size to carry out diagnostic analyzes of vulnerabilities related to the uses of ICT. The main purpose is to help managers to characterize all the technological vulnerabilities that their organizations need to consider when making decisions about selecting or changing technology and to choose the useful strategies to maintain, recover and to secure the selected technology. The second purpose is to get the managers to better understand the dependencies link between their organizations and its ICT suppliers and the vulnerabilities related to the outsourcing of their ICT. The proposed approach focuses on characterizing internal and external vulnerabilities related to the uses of ICT. Using the knowledge obtained from the organization's portrait, the vulnerability profile and the readiness profile, the managers have a global vision on the technological issues of their organizations. Including the dependency link between the organizations and its ICT suppliers in the diagnostic analyzes has made it possible for managers to think about selecting new criteria for choosing their ICT suppliers and to support them in their decision-making about certain strategic choices

Spezifische Wärme von Holmium und YNi2B2C: Kritisches Verhalten und supraleitende Eigenschaften: Spezifische Wärme von Holmium und YNi2B2C: Kritisches Verhalten und supraleitende Eigenschaften

Gegenstand der Arbeit ist die Untersuchung der spezifischen Wärme von Holmium und YNi2B2C in den Temperaturbereichen von 50 bis 200 K bzw. von 380 mK bis 20 K in Magnetfeldern bis 9 T. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden das kritische Verhalten von YNi2B2C und Eigenschaften des supraleitenden Zustands des nichtmagnetischen Seltenerd-Nickel-Borkarbids YNi2B2C mit Hilfe eines selbstentwickelten Messaufbaus der spezifischen Wärme nach der quasiadiabatischen Heizpulsmethode sowie von Holmium mit Hilfe der Relaxationsmethode untersucht. In dieser Arbeit konnten zuverlässige Aussagen über die kritischen Exponenten an einkristallinem Holmium gemacht werden. Die Untersuchung an Holmium beweist, dass das kritischen Verhalten der spezifischen Wärme nicht im Rahmen der Vorhersagen der chiralen Universalitätsklassen beschrieben werden kann. Anhand von Messungen der spezifischen Wärme konnte in dieser Arbeit bestätigt werden, dass YNi2B2C ein Multibandsupraleiter ist. Die positive Krümmung der Grenzlinie unterhalb Tc im Phasendiagramm liefert einen ersten Hinweis auf den Mehrband-Charakter von YNi2B2C. Im Nullfeld kann die elektronische spezifische Wärme im supraleitenden Zustand, ces(T), nicht im Rahmen der reinen BCS-Theorie erklärt werden. Bei tiefen Temperaturen konnte ein Restbeitrag durch normalleitende Elektronen nachgewiesen werden, der auf eine nicht vollständig geöffnete Energielücke hinweist. Eine mögliche Erklärung wäre, dass ein Band (oder mehrere Bänder) mit geringer Ladungsträgerkonzentration nicht zur Supraleitung beitragen. Dieses Ergebnis deckt sich mit de Haas-van Alphen-Messungen an isostrukturellen supraleitenden LuNi2B2C-Einkristallen, welche den Mehrband-Charakter der Supraleitung sowie eine verschwindende Energielücke in einem Band nahe legen. Das Fluktuationsverhalten der spezifischen Wärme von YNi2B2C in der Nähe des supraleitend-normalleitenden Übergangs stimmt gut mit demjenigen des 3D-XY-Modells überein