Modeling great depressions: the depression in Finland in the 1990s

This article is a primer on the great depressions methodology developed by Cole and Ohanian (1999, 2007) and Kehoe and Prescott (2002, 2007). We use growth accounting and simple dynamic general equilibrium models to study the depression that occurred in Finland in the early 1990s. We find that the sharp drop in real GDP over the period 1990?93 was driven by a combination of a drop in total factor productivity (TFP) during 1990?92 and of increases in taxes on labor and consumption and increases in government consumption during 1989?94, which drove down hours worked in Finland. We attempt to endogenize the drop in TFP in variants of the model with an investment sector and with terms-of-trade shocks but are unsuccessful.Depressions

Modeling Great Depressions: The Depression in Finland in the 1990s

This paper is a primer on the great depressions methodology developed by Cole and Ohanian (1999, 2007) and Kehoe and Prescott (2002, 2007). We use growth accounting and simple dynamic general equilibrium models to study the depression that occurred in Finland in the early 1990s. We find that the sharp drop in real GDP over the period 1990-93 was driven by a combination of a drop in total factor productivity (TFP) during 1990-92 and of increases in taxes on labor and consumption and increases in government consumption during 1989-94, which drove down hours worked in Finland. We attempt to endogenize the drop in TFP in variants of the model with an investment sector and with terms-of-trade shocks but are unsuccessful.

Modeling great depressions: the depression in Finland in the 1990s

This paper is a primer on the great depressions methodology developed by Cole and Ohanian (1999, 2007) and Kehoe and Prescott (2002, 2007). We use growth accounting and simple dynamic general equilibrium models to study the depression that occurred in Finland in the early 1990s. We find that the sharp drop in real GDP over the period 1990?93 was driven by a combination of a drop in total factor productivity (TFP) during 1990?92 and of increases in taxes on labor and consumption and increases in government consumption during 1989?94, which drove down hours worked in Finland. We attempt to endogenize the drop in TFP in variants of the model with an investment sector and with terms-of-trade shocks but are unsuccessful.Depressions

Open-beauty production in ppPb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5 TeV: effect of the gluon nuclear densities

We present our results on open beauty production in proton-nucleus collisions for the recent LHC $p$Pb run at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=5 TeV. We have analysed the effect of the modification of the gluon PDFs in nucleus at the level of the nuclear modification factor. Because of the absence of measurement in $pp$ collisions at the same energy, we also propose the study of the forward-to-backward yield ratio in which the unknown proton-proton yield cancel. Our results are compared with the data obtained by LHCb collaboration and show a good agreement.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings IS2013 submitted to Nuclear Physics

Production of Neutral Pions and Eta-mesons in pp Collisions Measured with ALICE

Invariant cross sections for neutral pions and eta mesons in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 0.9, 2.76, and 7 TeV were measured by the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations describe the pi0 and eta spectra at 0.9 TeV, but overestimate the measured cross sections at 2.76 TeV and 7 TeV. The measured eta/pi0 ratio is consistent with mT scaling at 2.76 TeV. At 7 TeV indications for a violation of mT scaling were found.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the XXII International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Quark Matter 2011, Annec

Effects of salinity and B excess on the growth, photosynthesis, water relation and mineral composition of laurustinus grown in greenhouse

Trabajo presentado en el XXVIII International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC2010): International Symposium on Greenhouse 2010 and Soilless Cultivation, celebrado en Lisboa, Portugal, del 22 al 27 de agosto de 2010A greenhouse study was conducted to determine the interactive effects of NaCl salinity and boron on the growth, plant water status, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence and concentrations of sodium (Na), chloride (Cl) and boron (B) in laurustinus (Viburnum tinus L.). Potted plants were grown in a factorial combination of salinity (2 and 6 dS m-1) and boron (1 and 6 mg L-1). Plant dry weight (DW) decreased with salinity and B excess, particularly as a result of the former. The salinity × B interaction on the plant DW was not significant (additive effects). Salinity increased Na and Cl concentrations in leaf (20 and 35 mg g-1 DW, respectively) resulting in foliar injury. The application of 6 mg L-1 of B (B toxicity or B excess) produced injury symptoms in old leaves (leaf tip and edge burn). Salinity and B toxicity led to leaves dropping, especially the former. B toxicity led to higher B concentrations in insured leaves (1385 mg kg-1 DW) and salinity reduced it to 425 (B x NaCl antagonistic effect). Boron excess did no alter Na and Cl concentrations in leaf. Salinity decreased stomatal conductance (gs) as a regulatory mechanism against osmotic stress, which resulted in a dropping photosynthesis (Pn). Leaf water parameters were only affected by salinity, which enhanced a process of osmotic adjustment and improving the plant water status. Salt-stressed plants showed an adaptive response to salinity, which decreased gs, Pn and quantum yield of photosystem II (éPSII), and dissipated the excess radiant energy as heat (increased non-photochemical quenching [NPQ]). The combination of salinity and B excess maintained éPSII and decreased the effectiveness of stomatal regulation, NPQ and Pn. This caused the lowest plant DW and suggests disorders in electron transport (photorespiration). Our findings suggest that: (1) laurustinus is a B excess sensitive species, (2) salinity reduced the accumulation of B in leaves of the B excess stressed plants but was not enough to prevent injuries in PSII, and (3) B excess or/and salinity provide plants of poor commercial quality.This research was supported by CICYT projects (CICYT AGL2008-05258-CO2- 1-AGR and CICYT AGL2008-05258-CO2-2-AGR), SENECA project (08669/PI/08) and by the Consejería de Agricultura y Agua de la Región de Murcia, program (UPCTCEBAS- IMIDA 2008).Peer Reviewe

Impact of a cognitive stimulation program on the reading comprehension of children in primary education

Introduction: At present, numerous studies can be found in which influences and relationships between the principal executive functions, reading comprehension, and academic performance associated with reading are reported. However, there is still a lack of convergence regarding the impact of computerized cognitive training on children’s executive development and its transfer in academic reading performance and comprehension of written texts. Methods: This study analyzes the effect of implementing a cognitive stimulation program on the performance of reading comprehension and academic performance in the subject of Spanish Language and Literature. To this end, a total sample of 196 children from 23 educational centers received the cognitive intervention for 8 weeks, with three weekly sessions of between 15 and 20 min each occurring on non-consecutive days. Pre-test and posttest measurements were collected and analyzed. Results: The results demonstrate a significant increase in the reading comprehension scores. In addition, a significant impact of the training on the participants’ academic performance in the subject Spanish Language and Literature was found. Discussion: These results highlight the usefulness of computerized cognitive stimulation programs for reading comprehension enhancement

Prompt Photon Identification in the ALICE Experiment: The Isolation Cut Method

Submitted for publication in NIMThe ALICE experiment at LHC will detect and identify prompt photons and light neutral mesons with the PHOS and EMCal detectors. Charged particles will be detected and identified by the central tracking system. In this paper, a method to identify prompt photons and to separate them from the background of hadrons and decay photons in PHOS with the help of isolation cuts is presented