Price Stability and the ECB'S monetary policy strategy

This paper focuses on the price stability objective within the framework of the single monetary policy strategy. It starts by reviewing what this objective, which is common to all central banks, means. Second, this paper focuses exclusively on the anchoring of short- to medium-term inflation expectations (Part 2). Several measures show that this anchoring is effective. A 'two-pillar' small structural macro-economic model framework is used to analyze the impact that this anchoring of expectations has on the determination of the short- to medium-term inflation rate. From this point of view, observed inflation in the euro area seems to be in line with the theory and the ECB's action seems to be very effective. Third, we focus on the other aspect of monetary stability: the degree of price-level uncertainty and the anchoring of inflation expectations in the medium to long term. Even though this assessment is more difficult than it is in the short to medium term, since we only have a track record covering 6 years, various indicators from the theoretical analysis paint a fairly reassuring picture of the effectiveness of the device used by the ECB.European Central Bank • Inflation • Monetary policy

Factors influencing the distribution of Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L. and Rumex hydrolapathum Huds. in a mowed low-lying marshland, Réserve de Cheyres, lac de Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Using environmental parameters we studied the distribution of two endangered species, Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L. and Rumex hydrolapathum Huds., in a low-lying marshland of the Swiss Plateau, a region in which aquatic vegetation is particularly threatened. A large part of the study site is regularly mown by a machine for site management purposes. The caterpillar mower digs ruts, which are especially pronounced along the tracks used to reach the mown compartment. To assess the effects of site management on these species, we have tested six environmental parameters (vegetation unit, water conductivity, water supply indicated by altitude, time elapsed since the last cut, distance from major ruts and disturbance of major ruts) that can potentially influence plant distribution. All the plots of these two species have been found in mowed compartment, which seems to indicate a correlation between site management operations and occurrences. The other factors driving the distribution of these plants are vegetation unit, distance from major ruts and water suppl

Jitter-Adaptive Dictionary Learning - Application to Multi-Trial Neuroelectric Signals

Dictionary Learning has proven to be a powerful tool for many image processing tasks, where atoms are typically defined on small image patches. As a drawback, the dictionary only encodes basic structures. In addition, this approach treats patches of different locations in one single set, which means a loss of information when features are well-aligned across signals. This is the case, for instance, in multi-trial magneto- or electroencephalography (M/EEG). Learning the dictionary on the entire signals could make use of the alignement and reveal higher-level features. In this case, however, small missalignements or phase variations of features would not be compensated for. In this paper, we propose an extension to the common dictionary learning framework to overcome these limitations by allowing atoms to adapt their position across signals. The method is validated on simulated and real neuroelectric data.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, minor correction

Distribution and functional traits of Solidago gigantea in a Swiss lakeshore wetland

Abstract.: Güsewell S., Zuberbühler N. and Clerc C. 2005. Distribution and functional traits of Solidago gigantea in a Swiss lakeshore wetland. Bot. Helv. 115: 63-75. Alien plant species are of particular ecological concern when they invade native vegetation of high conservation value and alter its functioning.We mapped the area and cover of stands of invasive alien species in the lakeshore wetland "Grande Cariçaie” (CH) and examined whether the main invader, Solidago gigantea Ait., differs functionally from the resident vegetation. Seven alien species considered to be invasive in Switzerland occurred with a total area of 22.2ha. The most frequent invaders were S. gigantea (60 stands) and Robinia pseudoacacia (42 stands, mostly in forest). Less than 1 area was colonised by alien species, mostly S. gigantea. Dense stands of S. gigantea (> 50 vegetation, suggesting that its spread is limited by high water level rather than by low nutrient availability. S. gigantea appeared functionally similar to the invaded wetland vegetation: its shoot size, specific leaf area, and biomass N and P concentrations were similar to or lower than those of co-occurring native species. Total soil N and P concentrations under S. gigantea stands did not differ from those under non-invaded vegetation. Thus, the impact of invasive alien species on the non-forested wetlands of the Grande Cariçaie currently seems rather low but possible changes in soil processes as well as effects on other biota remain to be investigate

Topography-Time-Frequency Atomic Decomposition for Event-Related M/EEG Signals.

International audienceWe present a method for decomposing MEG or EEG data (channel x time x trials) into a set of atoms with fixed spatial and time-frequency signatures. The spatial part (i.e., topography) is obtained by independent component analysis (ICA). We propose a frequency prewhitening procedure as a pre-processing step before ICA, which gives access to high frequency activity. The time-frequency part is obtained with a novel iterative procedure, which is an extension of the matching pursuit procedure. The method is evaluated on a simulated dataset presenting both low-frequency evoked potentials and high-frequency oscillatory activity. We show that the method is able to recover well both low-frequency and high-frequency simulated activities. There was however cross-talk across some recovered components due to the correlation introduced in the simulation

PCB Design and Fabrication for NEMS Applications

In this project, a resonator was theoretically defined and modelled in an effort to choose appropriate impedance matching between the resonator and outside electronics. Quite Universal Circuit Simulation (QUCS) was used to model the S-parameter of potential electronic circuits. Two types of impedance were tested: LC and transformer. Based on the commercial availability of the components and the S-parameter results, a 3 transformer matching design was chosen. The schematic library and the PCB library of all the components were made on Altium and a first design of the PCB is presented

Vibroacoustique des deux-roues motorisés

Le projet Ascoot a eu pour objet l'acoustique des 2 roues en milieu urbain, de la conception à la perception par les riverains. Ce projet pluridisciplinaire a mobilisé des capacités de mesures sur piste et sur banc, de modélisation et de prototypage, de développement logiciel, mais également d'études de perception acoustique. Les principaux résultats ont été : une première insertion des 2-Roues dans les modèles de prédiction de bruit de trafic, la réalisation de 2 démonstrateurs plus silencieux, une étude de la perception des 2 roues dans le trafic. La perception par les riverains d'une réduction significative d'émission sonore mesurée sur un démonstrateur a notamment pu être analysée

Approche Calcul/Mesure pour l'optimisation dynamique d'un drone

Ce papier présente la démarche technique mise en place pour l'optimisation de la conception d'un drone. L'optimisation de la conception a pour but d'améliorer la qualité des images acquises en vol qui sont altérées par les vibrations du drone. Avant de concevoir et tester des solutions sur un modèle Elément Finis (EF), un diagnostic expérimentale est réalisé permettant d'identifier le comportement dynamique du drone à l'origine de l'altération des images. Une forte interaction entre le calcul et la mesure est essentiel à l'obtention d'un modèle EF fiable. Une série de mesures sur les différents composants du drone est nécessaire afin d'acquérir les données nécessaire au recalage du modèle EF. L'optimisation de la conception du drone est réalisée à partir d'un modèle EF fiabilisé permettant d'évaluer un grand nombre de solutions à moindre coût

Variabilité expérimentale des caractéristiques modales d'une pompe in-situ

Le projet Sicodyn s'inscrit dans une démarche générale de développement de méthode de simulation robuste et s'appuie sur 2 volets : la variabilité numérique et la variabilité expérimentale. L'étude présentée porte sur la variabilté expérimentale liée à l'expérimentateur appliquée à l'analyse modale expérimentale d'une pompe industrielle. Les différents résultats d'AME et la méthode utilisée pour comparer les bases modales sont présentés