Growth and Pollution Convergence: Theory and Evidence

Stabilizing pollution levels in the long run is a pre-requisite for sustainable growth. We develop a neoclassical growth model with endogenous emission reduction predicting that, along optimal sustainable paths, pollution growth rates are (i) positively related to output growth (scale effect) and (ii) negatively related to emission levels (defensive effect). This dynamic law reduces to a convergence equation that is empirically tested for two major and regulated air pollutants - sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides - with a panel of 25 European countries spanning the years 1980-2005. Traditional parametric models are rejected by the data. More flexible regression techniques confirm the existence of both the scale and the defensive effect, supporting the model predictions.Air pollution, convergence, economic growth, nonparametric regressions

Norm reasoning services

Norms are used in open Multi-Agent Systems as a formal specification of deontic statements aimed at regulating the actions of agents and the interactions among them. In this paper, we propose a set of services facilitating the development of both non-normative and normative agents for norm-governed MAS. Specifically, we propose to provide agents with norm reasoning services. These services will help agent designers/developers to programme agents that consider norm reasoning without having to implement the needed mechanisms to reason about norms by themselves. This article shows how these services perform as well as the results of the experiments that we conducted to evaluate their performance

Bioinformatic analysis of outer membrane proteome of Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria lactamica

Two-dimensional electrophoresis (isoelectric focusing/SDS-PAGE) and Western-blotting techniques were used to analyze and compare common and/or specific outer-membrane proteins and antigens from Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria lactamica. Bioinformatic image analyses of proteome and immunoproteome maps indicated the presence of numerous proteins and several antigens shared by N. meningitidis and N. lactamica, although the inter-strain variation in the maps was of similar magnitude to the inter-species variation, and digital comparison of the maps did not reveal proteins found to be identical by MALDI-TOF fingerprinting analysis. PorA and RmpM, two relevant outer-membrane antigens, manifested as various spots at several different positions. While some of these were common to all the strains analyzed, others were exclusive to N. meningitidis and their electrophoretic mobilities were different than expected. One such spot, with a molecular mass of 19 kDa, may be the C-terminal fragment of RmpM (RmpM-Cter). The results demonstrate that computer-driven analysis based exclusively on spot positions in the proteome or immunoproteome maps is not a reliable approach to predict the identity of proteins or antigens; rather, other identification techniques are necessary to obtain accurate comparisons. [Int Microbiol 2007; 10(1):5-11

Locus NMB0035 codes for a 47-kDa surface-accessible conserved antigen in Neisseria

A 47 kDa neisserial outer-membrane antigenic protein (P47) was purified to homogeneity and used to prepare polyclonal anti-P47 antisera. Protein P47 was identified by MALDI-TOF fingerprinting analysis as the hypothetical lipoprotein NMB0035. Two-dimensional diagonal SDS-PAGE results suggested that, contrary to previous findings, P47 is not strongly associated with other proteins in membrane complexes. Western blotting with the polyclonal monospecific serum showed that linear P47 epitopes were expressed in similar amounts in the 27 Neisseria meningitidis strains tested and, to a lesser extent, in commensal Neisseria, particularly N. lactamica. However, dot-blotting assays with the same serum demonstrated binding variability between meningococcal strains, indicating differences in surface accessibility or steric hindrance by other surface structures. Specific anti-P47 antibodies were bactericidal against the homologous strain but had variable activity against heterologous strains, consistent with the results from dot-blotting experiments. An in-depth study of P47 is necessary to evaluate its potential as a candidate for new vaccine designs. [Int Microbiol 2006; 9(4):273-280

Investigating employee harassment via social media

Previously the investigation of employee harassment within the workplace would typically have involved obtaining evidence regarding physical contact, verbal contact (face to face or via telephone) or written contact (via letters or notes or email) between a suspect and a victim. Social media has added a new avenue to the investigation of employee harassment that goes beyond the physical workplace and normal working hours. In this paper we examine the process of computer forensic investigation of employee harassment via social media and the legal aspects of such. In particular we examine employee harassment via social media in terms of the reporting of harassment, the computer forensic investigation process, the relevant UK legislation and its application, and discuss good practice guidelines for educating employers and employees regarding how to use social media in the workplace and beyond in an acceptable manner

Growth and the pollution convergence hypothesis: a nonparametric approach

Abstract The pollution-convergence hypothesis is formalized in a neoclassical growth model with optimal emissions reduction: pollution growth rates are positively correlated with output growth (scale effect) but negatively correlated with emission levels (defensive effect). This dynamic law is empirically tested for two major and regulated air pollutants -nitrogen oxides (NOX) and sulfur oxides (SOX) -with a panel of 25 European countries spanning over years . Traditional parametric models are rejected by the data. However, more flexible regression techniques -semiparametric additive specifications and fully nonparametric regressions with discrete and continuous factors -confirm the existence of the predicted positive and defensive effects. By analyzing the spatial distributions of per capita emissions, we also show that cross-country pollution gaps have decreased over the period for both pollutants and within the Eastern as well as the Western European areas. A Markov modeling approach predicts further cross-country absolute convergence, in particular for SOX. The latter results hold in the presence of spatial non-convergence in per capita income levels within both regions. JEL Classification numbers: C14, C23, Q5

Is there something of the MCT in orientationally disordered crystals ?

Molecular Dynamics simulations have been performed on the orientationally disordered crystal chloroadamantane: a model system where dynamics are almost completely controlled by rotations. A critical temperature T_c = 225 K as predicted by the Mode Coupling Theory can be clearly determined both in the alpha and beta dynamical regimes. This investigation also shows the existence of a second remarkable dynamical crossover at the temperature T_x > T_c consistent with a previous NMR and MD study [1]. This allows us to confirm clearly the existence of a 'landscape-influenced' regime occurring in the temperature range [T_c-T_x] as recently proposed [2,3].Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, REVTEX

A new method for comparing rankings through complex networks: Model and analysis of competitiveness of major European soccer leagues

In this paper, we show a new technique to analyze families of rankings. In particular, we focus on sports rankings and, more precisely, on soccer leagues. We consider that two teams compete when they change their relative positions in consecutive rankings. This allows to define a graph by linking teams that compete. We show how to use some structural properties of this competitivity graph to measure to what extend the teams in a league compete. These structural properties are the mean degree, the mean strength, and the clustering coefficient. We give a generalization of the Kendall's correlation coefficient to more than two rankings. We also show how to make a dynamic analysis of a league and how to compare different leagues. We apply this technique to analyze the four major European soccer leagues: Bundesliga, Italian Lega, Spanish Liga, and Premier League. We compare our results with the classical analysis of sport ranking based on measures of competitive balance.This paper was partially supported by Spanish MICINN Funds and FEDER Funds MTM2009-13848, MTM2010-16153 and MTM2010-18674, and Junta de Andalucia Funds FQM-264.Criado Herrero, R.; García González, E.; Pedroche Sánchez, F.; Romance, M. (2013). A new method for comparing rankings through complex networks: Model and analysis of competitiveness of major European soccer leagues. Chaos. 23(4):1-10. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4826446S110234Dobson, S., & Goddard, J. (2009). The Economics of Football. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511973864Kendall, M. G., & Smith, B. B. (1939). The Problem of $m$ Rankings. The Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 10(3), 275-287. doi:10.1214/aoms/1177732186KENDALL, M. G. (1938). A NEW MEASURE OF RANK CORRELATION. Biometrika, 30(1-2), 81-93. doi:10.1093/biomet/30.1-2.81Fagin, R., Kumar, R., Mahdian, M., Sivakumar, D., & Vee, E. (2006). Comparing Partial Rankings. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics, 20(3), 628-648. doi:10.1137/05063088xLegendre, P. (2005). Species associations: the Kendall coefficient of concordance revisited. Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics, 10(2), 226-245. doi:10.1198/108571105x46642Emond, E. J., & Mason, D. W. (2002). A new rank correlation coefficient with application to the consensus ranking problem. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, 11(1), 17-28. doi:10.1002/mcda.313Blumm, N., Ghoshal, G., Forró, Z., Schich, M., Bianconi, G., Bouchaud, J.-P., & Barabási, A.-L. (2012). Dynamics of Ranking Processes in Complex Systems. Physical Review Letters, 109(12). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.109.128701Radicchi, F. (2011). Who Is the Best Player Ever? A Complex Network Analysis of the History of Professional Tennis. PLoS ONE, 6(2), e17249. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017249Chartier, T. P., Kreutzer, E., Langville, A. N., & Pedings, K. E. (2011). Sensitivity and Stability of Ranking Vectors. SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing, 33(3), 1077-1102. doi:10.1137/090772745Park, J., & Newman, M. E. J. (2005). A network-based ranking system for US college football. Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, 2005(10), P10014-P10014. doi:10.1088/1742-5468/2005/10/p10014Callaghan, T., Mucha, P. J., & Porter, M. A. (2007). Random Walker Ranking for NCAA Division I-A Football. The American Mathematical Monthly, 114(9), 761-777. doi:10.1080/00029890.2007.11920469Motegi, S., & Masuda, N. (2012). A network-based dynamical ranking system for competitive sports. Scientific Reports, 2(1). doi:10.1038/srep00904Pawlowski, T., Breuer, C., & Hovemann, A. (2010). Top Clubs’ Performance and the Competitive Situation in European Domestic Football Competitions. Journal of Sports Economics, 11(2), 186-202. doi:10.1177/1527002510363100A. Feddersen and W. Maennig, “ Trends in competitive balance: Is there evidence for growing imbalance in professional sport leagues?” Hamburg contemporary economic discussions No. 01/2005, University of Hamburg, 2005.Pedroche Sánchez, F. (2010). Competitivity groups on social network sites. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 52(7-8), 1052-1057. doi:10.1016/j.mcm.2010.02.031PEDROCHE, F. (2012). A MODEL TO CLASSIFY USERS OF SOCIAL NETWORKS BASED ON PAGERANK. International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, 22(07), 1250162. doi:10.1142/s0218127412501623Pedroche, F., Moreno, F., González, A., & Valencia, A. (2013). Leadership groups on Social Network Sites based on Personalized PageRank. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 57(7-8), 1891-1896. doi:10.1016/j.mcm.2011.12.026García, E., Pedroche, F., & Romance, M. (2013). On the localization of the personalized PageRank of complex networks. Linear Algebra and its Applications, 439(3), 640-652. doi:10.1016/j.laa.2012.10.051BOCCALETTI, S., LATORA, V., MORENO, Y., CHAVEZ, M., & HWANG, D. (2006). Complex networks: Structure and dynamics. Physics Reports, 424(4-5), 175-308. doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2005.10.009Humphreys, B. R. (2002). Alternative Measures of Competitive Balance in Sports Leagues. Journal of Sports Economics, 3(2), 133-148. doi:10.1177/152700250200300203M. Kringstad, “ Competitive balance in complex professional sports leagues,” Doctoral thesis (The University of Leeds. Leeds University Business School, 2008).Owen, P. D., Ryan, M., & Weatherston, C. R. (2007). Measuring Competitive Balance in Professional Team Sports Using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. Review of Industrial Organization, 31(4), 289-302. doi:10.1007/s11151-008-9157-

Quantitative Nanomechanical Properties of Multilayer Films Made of Polysaccharides through Spray Assisted Layer-by-Layer Assembly.

Nanomechanical properties of alginate/chitosan (Alg/Chi) multilayer films, obtained through spray assisted layer-by-layer assembly, were studied by means of PeakForce quantitative nanomechanical mapping atomic force microscopy (PF-QNM AFM). Prepared at two different alginate concentrations (1.0 and 2.5 mg/mL) and a fixed chitosan concentration (1.0 mg/mL), Alg/Chi films have an exponential growth in thickness with a transition to a linear growth toward a plateau by increasing the number of deposited bilayers. Height, elastic modulus, deformation, and adhesion maps were simultaneously recorded depending on the number of deposited bilayers. The elastic modulus of Alg/Chi films was found to be related to the mechanism of growth in contrast to the adhesion and deformation. A comparison of the nanomechanical properties obtained for non-cross-linked and thermally cross-linked Alg/Chi films revealed an increase of the elastic modulus after cross-linking regardless alginate concentration. The incorporation of iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs), during the spray preparation of the films, gave rise to nanocomposite Alg/Chi films with increased elastic moduli with the number of incorporated NPs layers. Deformation maps of the films strongly suggested the presence of empty spaces associated with the method of preparation. Finally, adhesion measurements point out to a significant role of NPs on the increase of the adhesion values found for nanocomposite films.journal article2017 01 092016 12 15importe

Percolation properties of the 2D Heisenberg model

We analyze the percolation properties of certain clusters defined on configurations of the 2--dimensional Heisenberg model. We find that, given any direction \vec{n} in O(3) space, the spins almost perpendicular to \vec{n} form a percolating cluster. This result gives indications of how the model can avoid a previously conjectured Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition at finite temperature T.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures. Revised version (more clear abstract, some new references