On the Sluggish Response of Prices to Money in an Inventory-Theoretic Model of Money Demand

We exposit the link between money, velocity and prices in an inventory-theoretic model of the demand for money and explore the extent to which such a model can account for the short-run volatility of velocity, the negative correlation of velocity and the ratio of money to consumption, and the resulting stickiness' of the aggregate price level relative to a benchmark model with constant velocity. We find that an inventory-theoretic model of the demand for money is a natural framework for understanding these aspects of the dynamics of money, velocity and prices in the short run.

Simultaneous tracking & activity recognition (star) using many anonymous, binary sensors

Abstract. In this paper we introduce the simultaneous tracking and activity recognition (STAR) problem, which exploits the synergy between location and activity to provide the information necessary for automatic health monitoring. Automatic health monitoring can potentially help the elderly population live safely and independently in their own homes by providing key information to caregivers. Our goal is to perform accurate tracking and activity recognition for multiple people in a home environment. We observe a “bottom-up ” approach that primarily uses information gathered by many minimally invasive sensors commonly found in home security systems. We describe a Rao-Blackwellised particle filter for roomlevel tracking, rudimentary activity recognition (i.e., whether or not an occupant is moving), and data association. We evaluate our approach with experiments in a simulated environment and in a real instrumented home.

Sluggish Responses of Prices and Inflation to Monetary Shocks in an Inventory Model of Money Demand

We examine the responses of prices and inflation to monetary shocks in an inventory-theoretic model of money demand. We show that the price level responds sluggishly to an exogenous increase in the money stock because the dynamics of households ’ money inventories leads to a partially offsetting endogenous reduction in velocity. We also show that inflation responds sluggishly to an exogenous increase in the nominal interest rate because changes in monetary policy affect the real interest rate. In a quantitative example, we show that this nominal sluggishness is substantial and persistent if inventories in the model are calibrated to match U.S. households ’ holdings of M2. I

Interactive multi-modal robot programming

As robots enter the human environment and come in contact with inexperienced users, they need to be able to interact with users in a multi-modal fashion—keyboard and mouse are no longer acceptable as the only input modalities. Humans should be able to communicate with robots using methods as similar as possible to the concise, rich, and diverse means they use to communicate with one another. This thesis is an investigation of how one can improve user’s ability to control and program a mobile robot. The goal is a comprehensive multi-modal human-machine interface that allows non-experts to compose robot programs conveniently. Two key characteristics of this novel programming approach are that the system infer the user’s intent to support interaction, and that the user can provide feedback interactively through intuitive interface, at any time. The framework takes a three-step approach to the problem: multi-modal recognition, intention interpretation, and prioritized task execution. The multimodal recognition module translates hand gestures and spontaneous speech into a structured symbolic data stream without abstracting away the user’s intent. The intentio