The Euro: The Battle for the New Global Currency

Book Revie

Allowing for unemployment in productivity measurement

The labour productivity index is a mainstay measure for comparing countries’ relative economic performance, but the Covid-19 pandemic could expose some of its inherent limitations: it focuses on people in work and ignores unemployment, and it is not standardised. In theory, a country’s index value could increase, even though its GDP might fall, because of significant increased unemployment in low-productivity sectors such as tourism and retail. It follows that the index value could fall when these sectors recover. Also, high-performing countries could see their index value fall because of the pandemic’s impact in high-value sectors, such as demand for oil.Consequently, a wider perspective of productivity is necessary. This paper, therefore, proposes a complementary index which adjusts labour productivity for levels of unemployment—the social labour productivity index (SLPI)—and recommends that the labour productivity index itself should be standardised. The relationship between employment and productivity is complex. For example, the UK’s economic performance, involving comparatively low labour productivity and low unemployment, has been deemed a ‘productivity puzzle’. A literature review discusses this relationship, but it is clear that econometric worldwide evaluation requires very large data sets, that are unlikely to be routinely available in practice to monitor international performance. By contrast, data sets on national productivity are small and already available, although they contain little or no data on causal factors. SLPI values were calculated for differing levels of unemployment and relative labour productivity for newly employed workers for countries where data was available; with patterns over the period 1986–2016 established for the G7 countries, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain. There were marked variations between the two indices for countries with high unemployment. The SLPI presents a practicable measure which can be utilised quickly in these unprecedented times. Using available data to compare countries’ GDP with their total workforce, it arguably provides a better measure of their overall economic and social health. Sensitivity analyses varying assumptions can model differing potential scenarios to sit alongside GDP and labour productivity index predictions

Information and Communication Technology, Well-being, and Ethnicity

The relationship between use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and well-being is an increasingly debated public health issue. Currently, there is limited understanding of how the ethnic digital divide influences this association. Thus, this study assessed how ethnicity has historically moderated relations between ICT (mobile phone, computer, TV) uptake, and several well-being indicators; (a) long-term health (chronic illness), (b) cigarette smoking, and (c) self-perceptions of personal health. Archived data from a UK Office for National Statistics household survey 2007-2011 (97,697 participant records) was analysed, controlling for multiple socio-demographic confounders. Mobile phone dependence was associated with poorer health perceptions in Caucasian women, but more favourable appraisals in ethnic minority females (OR = 0.51). Furthermore, mobile phone uptake was more strongly related to increased behavioural risk (cigarette smoking) in Caucasian men compared with ethnic minority males (OR = 1.68). Ethnicity did not influence relations between ICT uptake and long-term health. Overall, ethnicity was implicated in relations between mobile phone use and well-being indicators: unfavourable associations occurred primarily in Caucasians

Structural model of a complex between the heterotrimeric G protein, Gsα, and tubulin

AbstractA number of studies have demonstrated interplay between the cytoskeleton and G protein signaling. Many of these studies have determined a specific interaction between tubulin, the building block of microtubules, and G proteins. The α subunits of some heterotrimeric G proteins, including Gsα, have been shown to interact strongly with tubulin. Binding of Gα to tubulin results in increased dynamicity of microtubules due to activation of GTPase of tubulin. Tubulin also activates Gsα via a direct transfer of GTP between these molecules. Structural insight into the interaction between tubulin and Gsα was required, and was determined, in this report, through biochemical and molecular docking techniques. Solid phase peptide arrays suggested that a portion of the amino terminus, α2–β4 (the region between switch II and switch III) and α3–β5 (just distal to the switch III region) domains of Gsα are important for interaction with tubulin. Molecular docking studies revealed the best-fit models based on the biochemical data, showing an interface between the two molecules that includes the adenylyl cyclase/Gβγ interaction regions of Gsα and the exchangeable nucleotide-binding site of tubulin. These structural models explain the ability of tubulin to facilitate GTP exchange on Gα and the ability of Gα to activate tubulin GTPase

Measurement of the Strong Coupling Constant from Inclusive Jet Production at the Tevatron pˉp\bar pp Collider

We report a measurement of the strong coupling constant, $\alpha_s(M_Z)$, extracted from inclusive jet production in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$1800 GeV. The QCD prediction for the evolution of $\alpha_s$ with jet transverse energy $E_T$ is tested over the range 40<$E_T$<450 GeV using $E_T$ for the renormalization scale. The data show good agreement with QCD in the region below 250 GeV. In the text we discuss the data-theory comparison in the region from 250 to 450 GeV. The value of $\alpha_s$ at the mass of the $Z^0$ boson averaged over the range 40<$E_T$<250 GeV is found to be $\alpha_s(M_{Z})= 0.1178 \pm 0.0001{(\rm stat)}^{+0.0081}_{-0.0095}{\rm (exp. syst)}$. The associated theoretical uncertainties are mainly due to the choice of renormalization scale (^{+6%}_{-4%}) and input parton distribution functions (5%).Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, using RevTeX. Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Inclusive Search for Anomalous Production of High-pT Like-Sign Lepton Pairs in Proton-Antiproton Collisions at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV

We report on a search for anomalous production of events with at least two charged, isolated, like-sign leptons with pT > 11 GeV/c using a 107 pb^-1 sample of 1.8 TeV ppbar collisions collected by the CDF detector. We define a signal region containing low background from Standard Model processes. To avoid bias, we fix the final cuts before examining the event yield in the signal region using control regions to test the Monte Carlo predictions. We observe no events in the signal region, consistent with an expectation of 0.63^(+0.84)_(-0.07) events. We present 95% confidence level limits on new physics processes in both a signature-based context as well as within a representative minimal supergravity (tanbeta = 3) model.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. Minor textual changes, cosmetic improvements to figures and updated and expanded reference

Search for Narrow Diphoton Resonances and for gamma-gamma+W/Z Signatures in p\bar p Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV

We present results of searches for diphoton resonances produced both inclusively and also in association with a vector boson (W or Z) using 100 pb^{-1} of p\bar p collisions using the CDF detector. We set upper limits on the product of cross section times branching ratio for both p\bar p\to\gamma\gamma + X and p\bar p\to\gamma\gamma + W/Z. Comparing the inclusive production to the expectations from heavy sgoldstinos we derive limits on the supersymmetry-breaking scale sqrt{F} in the TeV range, depending on the sgoldstino mass and the choice of other parameters. Also, using a NLO prediction for the associated production of a Higgs boson with a W or Z boson, we set an upper limit on the branching ratio for H\to\gamma\gamma. Finally, we set a lower limit on the mass of a `bosophilic' Higgs boson (e.g. one which couples only to \gamma, W, and Z$ bosons with standard model couplings) of 82 GeV/c^2 at 95% confidence level.Comment: 30 pages, 11 figure

Measurement of the Lifetime Difference Between B_s Mass Eigenstates

We present measurements of the lifetimes and polarization amplitudes for B_s --> J/psi phi and B_d --> J/psi K*0 decays. Lifetimes of the heavy (H) and light (L) mass eigenstates in the B_s system are separately measured for the first time by determining the relative contributions of amplitudes with definite CP as a function of the decay time. Using 203 +/- 15 B_s decays, we obtain tau_L = (1.05 +{0.16}/-{0.13} +/- 0.02) ps and tau_H = (2.07 +{0.58}/-{0.46} +/- 0.03) ps. Expressed in terms of the difference DeltaGamma_s and average Gamma_s, of the decay rates of the two eigenstates, the results are DeltaGamma_s/Gamma_s = (65 +{25}/-{33} +/- 1)%, and DeltaGamma_s = (0.47 +{0.19}/-{0.24} +/- 0.01) inverse ps.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; as published in Physical Review Letters on 16 March 2005; revisions are for length and typesetting only, no changes in results or conclusion

Measurement of the ttˉproductioncrosssectionint\bar{t} production cross section in p\bar{p}collisionsat collisions at \sqrt{s}$ = 1.8 TeV

We update the measurement of the top production cross section using the CDF detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. This measurement uses $t\bar{t}$ decays to the final states $e+\nu$+jets and $\mu+\nu$+jets. We search for $b$ quarks from $t$ decays via secondary-vertex identification or the identification of semileptonic decays of the $b$ and cascade $c$ quarks. The background to the $t\bar{t}$ production is determined primarily through a Monte Carlo simulation. However, we calibrate the simulation and evaluate its uncertainty using several independent data samples. For a top mass of 175 $GeV/c^2$, we measure $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=5.1 \pm 1.5$ pb and $\sigma_{t\bar{t}}=9.2 \pm 4.3$ pb using the secondary vertex and the lepton tagging algorithms, respectively. Finally, we combine these results with those from other $t\bar{t}$ decay channels and obtain $\sigma_{t\bar{t}} = 6.5^{+1.7}_{-1.4}$ pb.Comment: The manuscript consists of 130 pages, 35 figures and 42 tables in RevTex. The manuscript is submitted to Physical Review D. Fixed typo in author lis

Search for the Supersymmetric Partner of the Top-Quark in ppˉp \bar{p} Collisions at s=1.8TeV\sqrt{s} = 1.8 {\rm TeV}

We report on a search for the supersymmetric partner of the top quark (stop) produced in $t \bar{t}$ events using $110 {\rm pb}^{-1}$ of $p \bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.8 {\rm TeV}$ recorded with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. In the case of a light stop squark, the decay of the top quark into stop plus the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) could have a significant branching ratio. The observed events are consistent with Standard Model $t \bar{t}$ production and decay. Hence, we set limits on the branching ratio of the top quark decaying into stop plus LSP, excluding branching ratios above 45% for a LSP mass up to 40 {\rm GeV/c}$^{2}$.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure